WEST CHESTERFIELD, N.H.-In Donald Margulies's Collected Stories - the latest production of Actors Theatre Playhouse (ATP) - grad student Lisa is thrilled to be under the tutelage of her literary idol, Ruth Steiner.
Over the years, Lisa becomes Ruth's personal assistant and gradually her friend, as Ruth helps her hone her writing abilities. But as Lisa's career begins to flourish and Ruth's begins to fade, can the tenuous relationship between mentor and mentee survive ambition, rivalry, and possible betrayal?
Collected Stories explores the complicated relationship between two independent women as they struggle to define what, if anything, is off limits in art.
Director Robert "Rob" Gray, a theater veteran, said that ATP Artistic Director Sam Pilo "offered me the script and asked me if I had a connection to it, [if I would] be interested in directing it. It's a strong play."
I recently interviewed Gray to learn more about his four decades in the theater and what he has learned along the way.
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Nancy A. Olson: How did you become interested in theater?
Rob Gray: That's a long and complicated story. In the abbreviated version, I discovered theater at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, where I had started in 1980 as a pre-med student.
I did backstage work for a production of She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith (1773). It was really exciting. But some people are just not meant to go to college at 18. I was not prepared for the demands and competitiveness of a pre-med program.
In January 1982, in the middle of my sophomore year, I transferred to Keene State College as an elementary education major because I always enjoyed working with children, and I was raised by parents who were teachers.
At KSC, I attended auditions for Charley's Aunt, a farce by Brandon Thomas, which premiered in 1892, a century earlier. I was cast as Lord Fancourt Babberley, an old-time cross-dressing part. It was dinner theater in the old Mabel Brown Room. I realized theater is amazing and that theater was what I wanted.
N.A.O.: What happened next?
R.G.: My education courses seemed pointless to me. I ended up dropping out of Keene State after junior year. I had a lot of growing up to do.
I met Lorrie Luallen in 1984 at a summer camp in Illinois, where we were both working. She traveled back east with me, and we got engaged. We broke up soon after that. I still had more growing up ahead of me.
Inspired by Peter Jenkins's book A Walk Across America, about a disillusioned young man searching for meaning, I rode my bicycle across America with a ferret for company. Jenkins was walking and took his dog, but I obviously couldn't take a dog on a bicycle. The ferret served the same purpose - people see a ferret, they want to know more. I met and had wonderful conversations with countless strangers along my trek.
Lorrie and I stayed in touch during my travels. We even shared an apartment in Dallas during the winter months of my journey.
We got back together. I always knew she was the one. I just had to be sure I was mature and ready for a life together. We married in June 1988 and settled here in New Hampshire. We worked, bought a house, and got our first dog.
We were involved in several community theaters: Branch River Theater, Vermont Theater Company, Whetstone Theater. I went back to Keene State College in the early 1990s as a theater major to take theater classes for personal growth and enjoyment. By then, I was what they call a nontraditional college student - someone who didn't earn a four-year degree right out of high school. One of my theater professors said I had skills.
N.A.O.: You must have appreciated that kind of encouragement. How did you respond?
R.G.: Even though I wasn't sure it would be worth my time, I went to the New England Theatre Conference weekend auditions in Boston. Missoula (Montana) Children's Theatre (MCT) called me back for an interview, where their presentation to those of us auditioning was, "Why you don't want to work for us."
They offered me a nine-month touring contract. Before I answered, I took Lorrie out to lunch - we had now been married seven years. She had done theater all through high school. She was a voice/music minor and recreation major.
We were both hired, because a skilled married couple is an asset to a company from a relationship aspect.
N.A.O.: How did that work out for you?
R.G.: We spent 20 months with MCT Missoula. We loved what we were doing: taking 50 to 60 kids from audition to show in five days across the U.S. and in 18 communities in western Canada. In 63 weeks we had over 3,000 kids on stage.
We still owned our house here and were renting it out, which wasn't totally satisfactory. Also, we had a bad truck wreck in Canada. Now we're 36 years old. We're asking, "What's our future with MCT Missoula?" If they had offered to send us on a tour of Japan and the Pacific Rim, we would have stayed for another year. That wasn't guaranteed, so we decided to part ways, looking to build our own future.
MCT was an amazing experience. We learned we had a strong shared passion and the skill set for working with children in a theater environment. When we came back home to New Hampshire, we again took on regular jobs: teaching high school, managing an office. We were both miserable.
To get back into the local theater scene, I directed and Lorrie acted in a production of Sylvia by A.R. Gurney, 1998, a play about a dog and the couple who take her in. The production reminded us of what our true passion was and helped us to focus on our future.
N.A.O.: How did you build on your MCT Missoula experiences?
R.G.: While working for MCT, Lorrie and I were always thinking of ideas for new productions and ways to improve the process of teaching theater to children. We pitched our ideas to MCT and suggested they open an office on the East Coast, with us managing. They passed on our ideas, however, so together we decided we'd start our own company.
I returned to KSC and finished my B.A., completing 48 credits in one year and graduating summa cum laude in 1999. That year, we started our own touring theater company program, Children's Stage Adventures, Inc. (CSA).
Lorrie wrote our first show, The Sword Called Excalibur. Several of Tom Chapin's songs fit our show, so we asked him if we could use them, and he said sure, and gave them to us for a song, literally.
We built sets. We sewed 80 costumes - I learned how to sew from my mom.
Our program was for grades K–8. The first year we contracted with three schools. Then five schools - all three from the first year came back. Then 16 schools.
We quit our day jobs. By the time Covid hit in 2020, CSA had 10 complete musical productions with two full-time teams on the road.
We tried a virtual theater week on Zoom in November 2020. It worked for the children, and the parents were thrilled to have their kids focused on something interactive. We didn't continue the program, though, because there wasn't interactive learning happening between castmates, and we didn't want that, especially if it was the kids' first theater experience.
After Lorrie died of cancer in 2022, I tried to keep it going, but it wasn't the same without her.
Lorrie and I had captured lightning in a bottle, and we lived it for 25 years. Together, we were invincible. By the end, we'd worked in over 1,000 schools in 14 states and Canada, and in Australia for a month in 2009. Audience members topped 350,000, and CSA put 55,000 kids on stage. I can honestly claim to have run an international theater company. I still get one or two calls a month.
N.A.O.: When did you again become involved with community theatre?
R.G.: I didn't know what was happening in local theater, after living on the road and on tour for 20-plus years and with Lorrie's passing. My return to community theater was in 2021, when I acted in a film production of Beautiful Distances for The Edge Ensemble Theatre Company [in Keene, New Hampshire]. The next year I acted in [Marlborough, New Hampshire–based] Branch River Theatre's production of Radium Girls.
In 2023 I appeared as Max in The Walpole [New Hampshire] Players' musical Grumpy Old Men. My directing debut for Actors Theatre was one of the 10-Minute Plays in 2024: I Don't Call 911. And this year, I'm directing Collected Stories by Donald Margulies.
N.A.O.: Are you involved with other local theater? What's next for you?
R.G.: I am involved with most area theater. Being retired, I enjoy filling my time by assisting in any way I can, both backstage and on stage. Small Pond Productions [in Marlborough, New Hampshire] has asked me to direct a comedy, Ripcord, by David Lindsay-Abaire, in the fall of 2026.
And I'm always keeping my eyes open for the next audition.
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Collected Stories, by Donald Margulies, the show Rob Gray is directing, opens on Friday, July 11, at 7:30 p.m., at Actors Theatre Playhouse, 21 Main St., West Chesterfield, New Hampshire. Information and tickets at atplayhouse.org.
Nancy A. Olson is a freelance writer who lives in Putney.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.