(Back L-R)Nelson Heggen as Captain Josiah Wicket, Ralph Ehntholt as Nellie Thimble, Jay Brock as Mr. John Darlington
(Front L-R) Leslie Maness as Miss Amelia Pickles and Jean Ann Hutsell
CHRIS WILSON’S
ACTORS THEATRE OF HOUSTON
PRESENTS
A REGIONAL PREMIERE
THE UNEASY CHAIR
A COMEDY BY
EVAN SMITH
ACTORS THEATRE OF HOUSTON TO PRESENT REGIONAL PREMIERE
OF EVAN SMITH’S HYSTERICAL NEW PLAY THE UNEASY CHAIR
By Theresa Hyde
Theresahyd@aol.com
March 26, 1999
Houston, Texas
Actors Theatre of Houston will present the regional premiere of The Uneasy Chair, a new play by
Evan Smith. This is the first production of this light-hearted comedy outside of its world premiere at
Playwrights Horizons in New York. The Uneasy Chair will play Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm
and Sunday afternoons at 2pm through May 8th. Actors Theatre of Houston is located at 2506
South Boulevard (one-half block east of Kirby Drive, one block North of Bissonnett). Tickets are
$14, $10 for students and seniors. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling the
Box Office at 713-529-6606. We accept Visa, MC, AMEX and Discover.
Heralded by critics as “the best new American comedy in years”, The Uneasy Chair follows the
unlikely romance of Miss Amelia Pickles, the proprietress of a small boarding house in London
during the latter years of the reign of Queen Victoria, and Captain Josiah Wickett, a retired cavalry
officer in search of a passive and peaceful existence. These two kindred souls are as irredeemably
difficult as they are incredibly litigious. When Pickles mistakenly concludes that Captain Wickett
wishes to marry her, they both wind up in court as principals in a breach of contract case. And
then, as they say, complications ensue. Some of these complications involve Wicket’s handsome
but simple-minded nephew, John Darlington, and his attempts to woo Pickles’ niece, Alexandrina
Crosbie. There is also the resourceful barrister, Edward Cagebee, who, among other feats,
represents both parties in their misbegotten lawsuit. Witty dialogue, fabulously funny plot twists, and
a fussy attention to matters of style and propriety make The Uneasy Chair move and feel like the
great comedies of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw.
Evan Smith had his first success in 1986 when, at the age of seventeen, his first play REMEDIAL
ENGLISH won the Young Playwrights Festival and was presented at Playwrights Horizons in New
York. Smith went on to continue his studies and in 1991 received a BA in English from Vassar and
an MFA in Playwrighting from Yale School of Drama. He also wrote and had eight other plays
produced. Five of these scripts were done for City Lights Theatre in Savannah, Georgia where he
is currently playwright in residence. In October of ’98, his latest play, THE UNEASY CHAIR was
presented by Playwrights Horizons featuring Roger Rees and Dana Ivey. The success of this
fabulous farce lead to its publication by Dramatists Play Service and subsequent production at
Actors Theatre of Houston.
Charles Bailey will direct the production. Bailey, well known for his acting work in such plays as
KAFKA’S DICK, THE OLD BOY, and EDUCATING RITA, previously helmed ATH’s
fabulous production of CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL. For seven years he was co-producer for
the Balinese Dinner Theatre in Galveston where he directed such successes as STOP THE
WORLD I WANT TO GET OFF, PLAY IT AGAIN SAM and THE HASTY HEART. The
production features Leslie Maness as Miss Pickles and Nelson Heggen as Captain Wickett.
Rounding out the cast are Jay Brock as Darlington, and Ralph Ehntholt as the Actor who plays the
various other characters in the show.
Jean Ann Hutshell who plays Miss Alexandrina Crosbie makes a comment about The Uneasy
Chair, “It’s about marriage and what people expect from it. It’s really thought -provoking. I mean,
it’s a comedy but people end up walking out, thinking.” The set décor is very Victorian with colors
of deep reds and burgundy. The Victorian Costumes blended in with the décor, but stood out in its
intricate beauty and detail to depict the time period, fashion and artistry of The Uneasy Chair.
The interviews started with RALPH EHNTHOLT. This is Ralph’s second appearance at ATH. He
was last seen as Gremio in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. Ralph is currently finishing his MFA
in Theatre at the University of Houston where he has performed in such shows as THE SKIN OF
OUR TEETH, BUS STOP, BURIED CHILD, and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Ralph
was also seen in last year’s Houston Shakespeare festival production of THE TWO
GENTLEMEN OF VERONA as well as performing around the Houston / Galveston area for the
last twenty years.
Before the show, I found him at ease, laughing, commenting on one of his roles, “Nellie has such
beautiful eyes……”
THYDE: How many parts are you playing?
RALPH: I’m playing five roles. I’m playing two women, three men: Nellie Thimble; Cagebee,
who’s a barrister or a lawyer; I’m playing Phillip Arbuthnot, who is a high society gadabout; I’m
playing Hattie who is a maid for the family, and very cockney and very pregnant;
LESLIE: (to RALPH looking through the mirrors, primping her pretty blonde locks before the
show) Oh, is that what you are? (laughs)
RALPH: Yes! (laughs) and a burglar, and so I steal everything I can see…….
THYDE: Which one is the most challenging role, the attorney? The one who does the “Examination
and Cross-Examination simultaneously.”
RALPH: Yes. Cagebee is probably the most challenging role because he spends the most time
onstage. We wanted to be able to mix the Absurdism with the script. We reveal how absurd the
script is, and at the same time with how Victorian it all is, how very proper it all is. So Cagebee is a
bit of a wild attorney who’s about to argue both FOR and AGAINST both clients, so he has to be
able to speak well of both at the same time and cross examine everybody at the same time. So it’s
very difficult because at one second he is for and the next second, he’s against, so he’s
schizophrenic. The time period is before Freud. So he needs to be definitely put into an Insane
Asylum, but he’s great in the Courts.
THYDE: Why did the playwright title this play, THE UNEASY CHAIR?
RALPH: THE UNEASY CHAIR is to let us know just exactly what’s gonna happen in this little
parlor in a very little house, in the middle class area of London, England during the turn of the
century. What we have is two people who have never been able to find love, who all of a sudden
are faced with love. And they feel a heat between one another but they’re very proper, very
Victorian. And words are what they use to be able to talk to one another. And words need to be
very correct, very guarded, and very exact. Through their use of words, they are able to very well
upset their lives and upset the lives of people around them. And I play the outside world of that. I
play all the rest of London. What’s fun about the show is the language. Because we get to listen to
them talk, the way they speak is very important, steamy passionate. They speak with a very large
amount of regard and distance because they don’t want to give themselves away. That’s not the
Victorian way.
THYDE: How did you prepare for this role?
RALPH: Just by working with everybody, that’s part of the fun. Trying to find out how our
relationships with one another worked and to find out what would work best with one another,
what would complement each character in the scene? Reading material of that period. Watching
movies of that period, to get a feel for it. Masterpiece Theatre, British Independent Films are really
great to watch because they were filmed in that period.
THYDE: Why did you choose to become a part of this production?
RALPH: When I read the script, and I saw the challenge of the language. It’s very rare you get a
chance to work with that kind of language. For the past six years I’ve been working with the
Houston Shakespeare Festival in the summers. The Shaw Festival when it was here for ten years,
in the mid 70s to 80s so I’m really founded in the Classics, that’s what I enjoy doing.
THYDE: What would you like the audience to gain from watching this play?
RALPH: A real enjoyment of language. I feel that we’ve lost language quite a lot, not quite in the
matter of how to communicate one’s feelings. And this piece shows you the danger of not really
counting on telling the truth but counting on saying the right thing at the right time. And I think that
people are very hungry to learn language in a richer, more poetic level. That’s what I like about this
show.
LESLIE MANESS who plays Miss Amelia Pickles, is making her debut at Actors Theatre of
Houston. Originally from Freeport, Tx., Leslie went to college at Fordham University at Lincoln
Center and made her home in New York for many years. She also studied at the American
Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and at the Herbert Berghof Studios in NYC. For many
years, Leslie has spent the summer in New Hampshire where first she was a company member of
the Mount Washington Valley theatre, and she then became a member of the Barnstormers, the
oldest Equity theatre in New Hampshire. Roles include such productions as THE TAMING OF
THE SHREW, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, SOUTH PACIFIC, THE MAN OF LA
MANCHA, SWEENEY TODD. Leslie has worked in television and on-film and currently does
radio and industrial work here in Houston. She and her husband, actor Tom Prior, decided to
make their home in Houston almost five years ago when their son Brendan was born.
THYDE: Tell us about the part that you’re playing……
LESLIE: Amelia Pickles, (pauses for a moment, and exhales a sweet sigh). She’s a Victorian lady
novelist and she’s very romantic. She is in her “late youth”. She’s very very sweet and very afraid, I
get the feeling maybe somebody told her to “Be careful, people are gonna be taking advantage of
you.” She’s rather prickly and kinda uptight, but she really has a good heart and means the best.
She’s also, not to be at all derogatory, she’s like a half-step behind sometimes. I don’t know, she’s
sorta fog-brained because she’s too busy working on her novels but she thinks she’s quite clever
but she’s not quite as clever as she thinks she is. She’s really precious, I adore her. I’m very
protective of her, she’s marvelous. Think Maggie Smith in her most Victorian best.
THYDE: How did you prepare for the role?
LESLIE: I read the material of that time period, very much in the same way that Ralph did. I have a
lot of that Feminist literature, a lot of wonderful books on women in the margin, Victoriana.
Upstairs, Downstairs, which is a little later. There’s Bramwell, which is on right now on PBS.
There’s been a lot of Victorian stuff, and you can always go back. I have a lot of books, Lives of
Three Victorian Women is the most fabulous thing……in fact Susan and I were just talking about
how their very underwear almost killed them.
THYDE: You’re kidding…….
LESLIE: Oh yeah, the corsets. The women were getting ruptured uteruses and the reason that all
the ladies had the vapors was really because they couldn’t breathe. And if they got emotional, they
would start to hyperventilate and they’d keel over.
THYDE: But they looked great……
LESLIE: Well, they did. I’m tellin’ you what, I have a real corset.
THYDE: Why did you choose to become a part of this…….
LESLIE: The script, the script, the script. It’s marvelous, it is just a privilege to work on such a
delightful clever piece. This part is fabulous. I couldn’t believe they wanted me. And I still haven’t
worked up the nerve to ask them. Did you hire me because you thought I was a fabulous actress to
play a spinster in her late youth? Or do I look like an actress in her late youth? (laughs)
THYDE: (laughing) You are the most gracious Amelia Pickles…….
LESLIE: Yes, indeed. I live it.
THYDE: What would you like to audience to gain from watching this play?
LESLIE: You know what, the piece is very honest, very TRUE. It’s very funny, it’s a comedy. But
I think he (the playwright Evan Smith) sorta nails “it” about human relationships. And it doesn’t
matter if we are in Victorian England or Medieval England or in present day America, the
relationship “thing” has changed. Our language has changed, but people are people and I think he
has a lot to say about relationships and how foolish we are sometimes and how we let pride get in
the way of love. It’s all about love.
NELSON HEGGEN, who plays Captain Wickett is making his first appearance at Actors Theatre
of Houston. He last appeared at Stages Repertory Theatre under the direction of Rob Bundy in his
production of The Swan. Also for Stages, he played Damis in Tartuffe directed by Ted Swindley.
For College of the Mainland, he played Hamlet in Hamlet directed by Jack Westin. Captain Scott
in Terra Nova and Bartelot in The Rear Column. He played for the Houston Shakespeare Festival,
he played in As You Like It, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Cecil Pickett. Also for
Cecil Pickett, he played Lachlan in The Hasty Heart. He has appeared in Main Street Theatre,
Theatre Suburbia, and Theatre Lab. During the interview, he looked straight at me with such
piercing blue eyes.
THYDE: Tell us about the part you’re playing, Captain Josiah Wickett.
NELSON: I’m a retired Captain of the British Military, served in India.
THYDE: How did you become a part of this production?
NELSON: (laughs) They couldn’t find anybody good, so they had to settle for me.
THYDE: Good answer. (laughs, but there was a collective groan from everyone around us.)
LESLIE: He’s the resident sweetie.
THYDE: Tell us about your past background…..
NELSON: I was born to honest but poor parents in Tulsa, Oklahoma as a very young child.
LESLIE: You were born as a very young child?
NELSON: Yes I was, unlike some people I know. I grew up in the Houston area. I’ve acted some
in New Orleans, most of it here in the Houston area, Texas City, Galveston.
THYDE: How did you prepare for this role?
NELSON: I learned my lines, and watched old movies with British military people.
THYDE: What would you like the audience to gain from watching this play?
NELSON: Peace of mind. Which they won’t find in it, but I want them to gain from it, anyway.
JAY BROCK, who plays Mr. John Darlington, has been a part of the local theatre scene for about
three years now. Previous roles at Actors Theatre of Houston include Vincentio in The Taming of
the Shrew and a Player in the recent smash hit Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Other roles
around town include Stephen in Murder Among Friends, Capitano in A Company of Wayward
Saints, Denny in Stanton’s Garage and Paul in Born Yesterday. Jay can also be seen in Channel
13’s Crimestoppers reenactments.
THYDE: Hello Jay, tell us about the part that you’re playing. Brother of George…
JAY: Brother of George, and brother-in-law to Ms. Jean Ann. I’m playing John Darlington. He is
Captain Wicket’s nephew, fresh in the Cavalry, very gung-ho young man. Fairly dimwitted, not
exactly the brightest guy in the world and is basically driven by his hormones and is willing to do
pretty much anything to hook up with Miss Alexandrina Crosbie played by Jean Ann Hutsell.
THYDE: How did you prepare for this role?
JAY: After reading it, I basically formed the preliminary focus of what I wanted this character to be
like, a fairly dandy, goofy, kinda all-around good guy. I didn’t really, like the others, watched a lot
of Victorian work in film and television, I didn’t really do that. The big thing for me was
concentrating on the accent, trying to get that right and hopefully I’m doing a good job with it.
THYDE: Tell us about your past background…….
JAY: I was one of the players in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, which was an enormous Hit here.
It’s the number one box office for the entire history of this Theatre, ever. It was a huge hit. The first
show I did here was Taming of the Shrew. And I’ve done several shows at other theatres around
town, Theatre Southwest, Theatre Suburbia. Actually, I’ve only been doing this a little over 3
years. I did some acting in school when I was a child, but then got away from it. And for the past
ten years, I have been working in the Engineering business, which I still am. And I do this every
chance I get.
THYDE: What would you like the audience to gain from watching this play?
JAY: I have to be honest, the big thing I want is that for two and a half, three hours, they’re
entertained. They’re completely entertained, and they feel that they’ve gotten their money’s worth.
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WHO ARE YOUR MOST FAVORITE ACTORS?
RALPH EHNTHOLT: The great film artists, Jimmy Stewart, Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant, David
Niven. I like actors who care, they way they relate to other people. They try to make every scene
count. My father influenced me growing up. He himself is an old Vaudeville actor. He does
Characters, in New York, here in Houston and he traveled as a Vaudeville actor, doing very broad
comedies and that’s what I learned from him.
LESLIE MANESS: Onstage, I love Anna Lee Jefferies here in town. And Ann Quackenbush is
also really fabulous, I admire her work tremendously. Meryl Streep, of course. Dana Ivey, who
played this part in New York. Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Helena Bonham Carter. I look for that
specificity, an inner light. A cleanness, a precision. You look at somebody like Maggie Smith, she’s
such a pro, every arch of the eyelid, every word is so perfect. I’m a big old movie buff just like
Ralph, you know, Irene Dunn, Carole Lombard and Katherine Hepburn, they’re old pros.
NELSON HEGGEN: I like character actors. Robert Duvall when he was younger, Meryl Streep.
JAY BROCK: I would have to say Al Pacino, Kenneth Branagh. I’m a big fan of Liam Neeson,
Timothy Dalton, not his James Bond work, but his other works which is much better. Basically
what I look for in an Actor is whether he can sell it. Honesty is the big key to me, I’m convinced
that the major key to being a good actor is that you totally commit to the role and when you’re
performing that role, that’s who you are. None of your other garbage from your real life should
invade on it at all.
