From left, Larry Hartley playing Willy Loman, talks to himself as his sons Happy and Biff, played by Nathan Turner, center, and Thomas Leist, overhear him during a rehearsal of “Death of Salesman” on Monday night at Royal Off-the-Square Theatre in Brownstown.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Lisa Burrell playing Linda Loman speaks with Larry Hartley who plays her husband, Willy Loman, during a rehearsal of “Death of a Salesman” Monday night at Royal Off-the-Square Theatre in Brownstown.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Larry Hartley plays Willy Loman on Monday night during a rehearsal of “Death of a Salesman” at Royal Off-the-Square Theatre in Brownstown.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Jason Harmon, left, as Charley plays a game of cards against Larry Hartley’s character, Willy Loman, right, as Bob Clark as Willy’s brother, Ben, watches and only speaks to Willy during a rehearsal of “Death of a Salesman” at Royal Off-the-Square Theatre in Brownstown.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
The Loman family listens intently to a story about a man becoming immensely wealthy quick during a rehearsal of “Death of a Salesman” at Royal Off-the-Square Theatre in Brownstown. The cast includes from left, Larry Hartley playing Willy Loman, Bob Clark playing Ben, Lisa Burrell playing Linda Loman, Nathan Turner playing Happy Loman and Thomas Leist playing Biff Loman.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Olivia Nguyen as The Woman caresses the cheek of Larry Hartley playing Willie Loman during a rehearsal of the play at Royal Off-the-Square Theatre in Brownstown.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
The Jackson County Community Theatre is bringing the critically acclaimed 1949 American classic “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller to the Royal Off-the-Stage Theatre in Brownstown.
On Monday night, the cast gathered for rehearsal to get themselves prepared for this weekend, when they will be debuting the play for the first time in 54 years of the theater’s history.
Director Zach Thompson said this is not only the first time JCCT has done this play, but this year marks its 75th anniversary, which is just one of many reasons he wanted to direct it.
What makes “Death of a Salesman” unique to many plays Thompson has worked with is the genre — it’s no laughing matter.
“It’s not just another ‘let’s have fun’ play,” he said.
Themes that run heavy in the play include mental health, substance abuse, difficult family dynamics, the complexities of concepts like the American Dream and death.
Thompson said while comedies are fun, they tend to lack substance and shy away from hard topics. A part of that lacking comes from one dimensional characters, which work great for jokes, but not for what “Death of a Salesman” is all about. Thompson said these characters are complex and realistic.
By the end of the play, he hopes the experience doesn’t just stay in the room and on stage, but audiences take it with them when they go home to ponder.
Thompson has been in theater for the past 15 years and this performance may be his last. “Death of a Salesman” is a project he has had his heart set on for over a year ago and believes this will be the peak of his career.
“This show is all encompassing of everything I’ve learned, everything I’ve done in the last 15 years,” he said.
Thomas Leist, who plays Biff Loman, will commute from Louisville, Kentucky, to get on Royal Off-the Stage Theatre’s stage for the first time in five years, like he did for rehearsal. What brought him back into the acting sphere is his passion for the craft.
“I’ve always wanted to be an actor,” he said.
When Leist was 17, he read “Death of a Salesman” for the first time. The story was relatable then and, now having graduated college and revisited it, he finds himself relating to the story and the characters’ journeys still, but with the fresh eyes of adulthood.
“It’s a very human, very relatable struggle,” Leist said.
Nathan Turner, which plays Biff’s brother, Happy, said when it comes to the play, there is a huge focus on “that good dream” — the American Dream.
Turner made an important distinction between this and American exceptionalism, which is what he believes the play is truly about. The struggles these characters face in the play are gaining success on a materialistic standard. When Turner thinks about the American Dream, he thinks about the perfect family with a white picket fence, which is seen more as a simple life.
Some of the cast had a history with the play, while others were experiencing it for the first time. Rebecca Fowler, who plays Miss Forsythe, first read it during the cast’s table read. By the end of it, Fowler was in tears.
The impact it had on her boiled down to that “secret mental battle” people face internally that no one knows.
“You don’t know how bad someone else has it,” she said.
The protagonist of “Death of a Salesman” is Willy Loman, father to Biff and Happy, played by Larry Hartley. Hartley has been involved in theater since around 1969, when he first acted in a musical.
For his role in Miller’s play, it goes beyond the stage.
Hartley will dedicate the show to his friend David E. Weills, who passed away from a stroke during his time fulfilling the role of Willy Loman on May 29, 2016, in Wichita, Kansas.
While Hartley was in Dallas, Texas, he got a call from the director of the “Death of a Salesman” show Weills was in. The director asked where Weills was, because he was 30 minutes late to their show. When Hartley stopped by to check on his friend, Weills was already gone.
At the theater, people were waiting in their seats for the performance that they would never get to see.
Now, playing Willy for JCCT, Hartley sees this as a way to honor his late friend.
“I’m going to finish his run,” Hartley said.
Besides this deeply personal connection, there were other ways that Hartley could relate to Willy’s character. The parallels between the two were hard to put into words, but one of many was that the two of them were salesmen at one point in their lives.
“I know Willy. I feel him,” he said.
Tickets are $15 for the general public and discounted to $12 for college students and senior citizens. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Sept. 20 and 21. There also will be a show at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.