Curtain Calls

By Nina M. Riccio

The problem started with a kiss.

Up until then, the 20 or so thespians, all Theatre Fairfield graduates who had returned to campus in April for their own mini-reunion, were working through their scripts with nary a problem. The play – actually, a staged reading of Tony Kushner's Angels in America, Part One - "is one of the most important of the second half of the 20th century," says Dr. Marti LoMonaco, professor of visual and performing arts and the play's director. She had chosen it for that reason, plus the fact that its cast-intensive nature allowed her to accommodate all the returning alumni she knew she'd get once she sent out the invitation to return. She was right; alumni from '92 to '05 flooded back to campus last April, coming in from New York and Massachusetts and Florida, with one eager actor cutting short a bachelor party and taking a red-eye from North Carolina, all for the chance to work with each other, and with "Dr. L," one more time.

"Being a theatre major is such an intense experience," explains Luke Wrobel '96, the bachelor-party drop-out, in a sentiment echoed by everyone else interviewed. "We spent so much time together. We knew everything about one another, and our lives were very exposed to one another because that's the nature of acting. My recollection of my years at Fairfield was of practically living at the theatre; I was there in my pajamas half the time."

That kind of intense, shared experience has sparked a pride and loyalty in theatre majors that's hard to miss. The genesis of the on-stage reunion began over dinner at Dr. LoMonaco's house one night, says Stefanie (LaFond) Borsari '94, a Theatre Fairfield Alumni Board member and now a major gifts officer at the University. "For three years now, we've had a fall reunion, where we have dinner on the weekend that coincides with the first undergraduate play of the year," she says. "We were looking for a fun way to get people to come back in the spring, and decided that nothing was more fun than our days in the theatre."

Creating opportunity for alumni to network and to meet undergraduates was another reason for the gathering. "Our alumni take their roles as elder statespersons very seriously, and they're very generous with their time when younger graduates call," says Dr. LoMonaco. After the Angels performance, current theatre majors were invited to work with theatre alumni on a late-night improv game session.

January LaVoy '97, the sole returnee currently making her living as an actress, admits that she used to feel "there was a lot of mystery" surrounding people who ended up in theatre. "There's no blueprint. Everyone's path is unique. It's important for those who are aspiring to have contact with others who are working in the field, to be able to create a collage of what the options might be." LaVoy, who made her film debut in War of the Worlds (she was the Brazilian neighbor's wife), stresses that Fairfield's theatre program is truly "liberal arts." "We each had the chance to design lighting, buy props, paint scenery, and do costumes, in addition to our time on stage," she says, noting that a broad theatre background like that is not the norm in schools "that are known as theater powerhouses."

Back to the play, which bills itself as "a gay fantasia on national themes." The kiss under question was supposed to be long and soulful; the problem was that Kevin Ahern '96 and Rob Esposito '94, the two actors who had to execute it, were clearly trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. "Look as if you mean it!" admonished Dr. LoMonaco. Several attempts later, just when the situation looked as if it would merely dissolve into a stretch of embarrassed laughter, veteran LaVoy stepped in to save the scene, offering a couple of quick tips - a hand on the jaw, a turn of the face - that the two were able to work with.

And that, says stage manager Megan (Ferrara) Hoover '99, is what Theatre Fairfield is all about. "Many of us didn't even know one another before that Saturday morning, yet we very quickly fell into an understanding of how to work together. We began rehearsal at 10 that morning, and that evening were able to put on a stunning performance of a really, really challenging piece." Hoover currently teaches English and theatre at Fairfield Prep but admits she ‘might take a turn on stage' the next time the opportunity arises. And that could be as early as 2008, since the Board plans to make this on-stage reunion an every-other-year performance.