Five Questions with Paige Lindsey White

Beth Henley's Abundance is an epic tale of two women in the Wild West and their friendship that spans a quarter of a century. Paige Lindsey White portrays one of those women—the spunky Macon Hill. White, a favorite on numerous Los Angeles stages, makes her SCR debut in Abundance and answers our five questions.

Tell us about the character you play.
I play Macon Hill, a mail-order bride who travels west to seek her share of adventure. She's confident, eager and headstrong. And though the west is untamable, it never defeats her.

What are three words you would use to describe Abundance?
Epic. Tall. Tale.

Lily Holleman and Paige Lindsey White in Abundance.

How do you approach creating a character? 
Read the script multiple times. Question what the character wants. How do they pursue that objective (with what words and/or actions)? Who or what in script is preventing them from achieving or helping them achieve what they want? What do they ultimately get?

What first drew you to performing? 
Shel Silverstein poetry. His reading of it. My teacher played us a tape, and I loved how it made everyone laugh. I wanted to do that. It was a great escape.

What do you love most about Macon?
I love her flaws and contradictions. She is full of them. And unaware of most—like all of us.

Fun fact: This isn't White's first time in a production of Abundance! In college as an undergraduate, she portrayed Bess Johnson—Macon's best friend.

Learn more and buy tickets now.

Opening Night Audience Cheers Reprise of Beth Henley’s "Abundance"

At South Coast Repertory on Friday, Oct. 23, playwright Beth Henley was in the audience for the revival of her western drama, Abundance. When she was introduced from the stage, the clapping turned to cheers that finally brought Henley to her feet to acknowledge the welcome for her and for the fiercely funny play that had its world premiere on the same stage 26 years ago.

After the show, Henley and Founding Artistic Director Martin Benson, who directed Abundance, joined theatregoers at the Cast Party, co-hosted by The Center Club.

“I’ve always loved this play and wanted to do it,” Benson said. Then, with a nod to the playwright, he added that directing Abundance was “every bit as delightful as I expected.”

Modern bluegrass music wafted through the autumn flower-filled room as First Nighters and their guests sampled all-American delicacies, including fried chicken and biscuits, and—prepared with a nod to the play—cornbread, lemon pound cake and pumpkin pie bites.

But the conversation centered on Abundance, with past SCR trustees chiming in.

“It was filled with twists and turns—just like life,” said Betty Huang.

“I really liked it, and the acting was incredible,” added Wylie Aitken.

Carl Neisser was impressed with “the juxtaposition of nature’s players.” His remark drew chuckles from his friends, but they all agreed that the characters were well defined and portrayed superbly.

Barbara Roberts summed it up. “A wonderful play, and leave it to Martin—he always comes through with a great production.”



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A Different Definition of “Dressing for Success”

SCR's Wardrobe Supervisor Bert Henert

WHO'S THAT?

Wardrobe Supervisor: In charge of all costumes once they leave the Costume Shop (where costumes are built) and move to the performance space (Segerstrom or Julianne Argyros stages, and as needed, the Nicholas Studio). Oversees work done by any costume staff on shows to ensure that costumes are ironed, pressed, cleaned and repaired. Checks in on each show to confirm that everything related to costumes is going well. Helps actors with quick changes in general, getting into and out of costumes.

Dresser: Works on a specific show, doing specific jobs, such as costume maintenance, ironing, or steaming.

Bert Henert is backstage at South Coast Repertory, waiting for Beth Henley’s Abundance to start. He’s dressed in black, with a full-length apron that has multiple pockets. The apron is adorned with an array of items including safety pins, two small flashlights, bobby pins, a tape measure, pens, a small notepad, small scissors, tissues, bandages, zipper wax, an eyeglass repair kit, glass cleaning cloths, shoe horn, tweezers, sewing needles, thread and hand sanitizer.

He is ready for anything in his role as SCR’s wardrobe supervisor, which includes helping actors with costume changes during performances. Everything needs to run smoothly, whether a costume change takes five minutes or needs to happen in 15 seconds.

But Henert’s job goes beyond those backstage changes during a show. Once costumes have been built in SCR’s Costume Shop, the pieces move to one of the theatre’s performances spaces (in the case of Abundance, on the Segerstrom Stage), where Henert manages them.

Angela Balogh Calin designed the period costumes for Henley’s American West tale of two mail-order brides in the 19th century. Included are frock coats, working clothes, bowler hats, bonnets, fancy dresses, bustles, corsets and petticoats, and on each piece, an array of fine details—both seen and hidden.

Henert stresses that costumes are not clothing—they don’t come off a store rack ready to be worn by an actor. Even costumes for contemporary plays have special treatment or elements to ensure that they will meet the needs of the production. For example, fabric may be painted or specially dyed or have other finishing or quick-change elements built in. And costumes need to withstand wear and tear from up to three-dozen performances. Day-to-day, costumes are maintained through cleaning, maintenance and repairs. The gowns in Abundance need special attention since they may not necessarily be wash-and-wear.

Paige Lindsey White and Daniel Reichert in Abundance.

Then, it’s on to the matter of changing costumes during a performance. It takes a lot of pre-planning and, once rehearsals start on stage, coordination between the Costume Shop, stage management and Henert to ensure that this element of the production goes smoothly.

“The designers and our Costume Shop find the best way to be true to the look of the period, but to hide the use of modern elements like zippers or snaps, which are much faster to use than buttons,” he says.

The backstage wardrobe area includes a number of things to help the actors. A rolling rack, baskets, chairs and shelves help him prepare things for easy access. Lots of shelves in this case because Abundance has numerous shoes and hats. A standing mirror is one last element so that actors can do a quick check before returning to the stage.

THREE QUESTIONS

What are you watching now?
“‘Homeland’ and ‘Nurse Jackie.’ These are two shows that I’ve been meaning to watch and I’m a huge Eve Best fan!” Next up for him to watch: “The Affair.”

What do you do outside of theatre?
“I garden. I like working with plants and being outdoors. I’m trying to get into long-distance hiking nad have a goal to hike the John Muir Trail one day.”

What’s your beverage of choice?
“Tea, herbal or black iced teas. Right now, I’m sipping on a blood-orange black iced tea. It’s great!”

Henert’s non-performance-time work space includes washing machines and dryers, an ironing board with a built in steamer and vacuum, a sewing machine and lots of extra supplies. For him, this command center is right where he wants to be—he thrives on the creativity, problem-solving, organization and imagination—in short, the theatre.

Henert grew up in Wisconsin and was drawn to theatre at an early age when he took acting classes and worked in productions at Children’s Theatre of Madison. He still remembers his first production: Federico García Lorca’s Blood Wedding. (“Right? For kids!” Henert chuckles. “But it was fun and we were involved in the whole backstage process, helping out and getting to see everything.”)

He studied theatre and costume design at the University of Southern California and came to SCR seven seasons ago. He loves the artistry and inventiveness that is woven into the dramatic arts.

“I love how costumes help create a character,” he says. “And there is so much fabric to play with!”

SCR is home for Henert. He enjoys working with the many actors, directors, designers, stage managers and others, including the theatre’s regular staff.

“We do such great work here and it’s a great place to learn and to be a part of,” he says.

And the solution to the 15-second costume change? The actor wears two costumes—taking off the outer garment, revealing the costume underneath for the next scene Presto, change-o—it’s the magic of theatre.

Learn more about Abundance and buy tickets.

Photos by Ben Horak.

Artisans of SCR: Crafting the Rough Edges of "Abundance"

Abundance costume designer Angela Balogh Calin in SCR's Costume Shop. Photo: Ben Horak/SCR.

A pirate, a civil war solider and a grasshopper all have something in common. And it’s not a bad punch line. Their commonality is the mastermind behind their clothes, their style and their looks—all crafted by costume designer Angela Balogh Calin.

Calin has designed for more than 50 productions at South Coast Repertory. The list could go on for days: from last season’s Peter and the Starcatcher to Crimes of the Heart to Noises Off and more than a dozen Theatre for Young audiences productions, she’s gone from contemporary times to the 1800s to fantasy. The one place she hasn’t yet gone with her designs at SCR? The Wild West.

Until now, that is. Her time is currently being filled with fittings and finding the right pieces for costumes that she's designing for Abundance by Beth Henley, with first previews starting Oct. 16. In Abundance, the time is the late 1800s and two mail-order brides head west to the Wyoming territory in hopes of finding a more complete life. Calin couldn’t be more thrilled to be designing a western this time around. They happen to hold a special place in her heart.

“I am very fond of this period and setting for more than one reason,” says Calin. “One of my most vivid memories from growing up in Romania was watching westerns with my father. We were both mesmerized by the scenery, the harshness of life and the resilience of the human spirit. Even now, one of my favorite places to travel to is the Southwest with its amazing colors, views and endless blue skies.”

As she began work months ago for this production, Calin looked for inspiration in many places, including television. Pulling from some of her personal favorites, “Hell on Wheels” and “Deadwood,” she found the beauty of the Wild West in its rough worn edges.

Calin working in SCR's Costume Shop

“Both series were a great source for my research," she explains. "They seem to truthfully convey the harshness of life in the Wild West. At the time, clothes were expensive and ordinary people could not afford more than a few. A hat or a pair of boots would have to last for a very long time, a ribbon or a yard of lace would be a cherished accessory for a young woman.”

Calin has been scouring SCR’s collection of stored costumes to find the perfect pieces. She loves the history that previously created costumes hold. “I always enjoy recycling clothes or costumes because I believe they have a past life and stories to tell. Just like people. Past experiences add a new dimension and excitement to life,” she says.

Outside of SCR’s collections, Calin also has been looking online for companies that specialize in recreating vintage clothing. She’s even been able to find and alter modern clothing to fit the needs of the production. And, of course, she’s had a few pieces created specifically for the show, “This play needs authentic-looking clothes in order to successfully covey the journey of the two couples,” she says. “We only built a few costumes, mainly the ones that we need doubles of and two of the more elegant ones.”

With technical rehearsals starting today and performances just around the corner, Calin keeps in mind what might make a costume design stand out, “Have you noticed those times, when watching an old movie, that the design looks so outdated and it’s almost sad? And then, there are the movies that always are as exciting as the first time you watched them! I think successful costume designs are about creativity, imagination, humor and the courage to speak about the characters they are made for.”

Learn more and buy tickets now.

The Not-So Old West

by Kat Zukaitis

Paige Lindsey White and Lily Holleman in Abundance.

It’s 1868. Two women with dreams as big as the wide Wyoming skies head west to find fortune, adventure and love. But the frontier is unforgiving, and dreams and friendships will both be put to the test.

In 1976, Beth Henley moved to Los Angeles. The young writer and actress was looking for a big break in the film industry—and was disappointed to find that, for so many, the West remains an inhospitable place for young people with big dreams.

Playwright Beth Henley

Henley proved to be one of the lucky (and talented) exceptions. Dismayed by the lack of compelling roles for women, she began to write, and her first full-length play struck critical and commercial gold. Crimes of the Heart garnered her the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best new American play and an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay. Audiences quickly fell in love with her richly painted characters, quirky voice and dark, distinctive humor.

But Henley never forgot the years when her goals seemed maddeningly elusive, and circled back to the theme in 1989’s Abundance. “I was dealing with what happens with people's dreams,” she says. “People come out to California so full of hope to be an actress or to be in movies and slowly they find themselves working at Chicken Bob's or they want to be great novelists and they're trying to write bad TV scripts. How do your dreams get chipped away?” Inspired by the bleak images of 19th-century settlers in a book called Wisconsin Death Trip, she began thinking about the mythology of the American West and what happens when the reality proves to be more complicated than the myth. She found her subject in two young women who, like Henley and so many others, traveled west with high hopes.

In Abundance, Macon Hill and Bess Johnson come to the Wyoming Territory in 1868 as mail-order brides. Both have received “partial fare” from their husbands-to-be. The long journey, during which Bess had practiced saying “I do,” has put her near the end of her tether. Macon, however, is invigorated by the adventures that surely await, and by the opportunity to become whoever she wants to be.

Macon’s husband turns out to be William Curtis, a stolid and decent farmer who has lost an eye in a mining accident. Bess’s new spouse is Jack Flan, as wild a man as Wyoming has to offer. The two couples marry and begin their lives as settlers. They soon learn that the seemingly endless promise of the Western Territories comes with a price.

Abundance follows the Flans and Curtises from 1868 to 1893. What occurs during the 25-year span involves the dreams of all four confronting the reality of what they can create together and separately. Not surprisingly, the characters don’t always get what they want. With perhaps one exception they do face despair in their lives but ultimately find hope in themselves. And interestingly, that hope sometimes has its foundation in answers taught and things given to us by those who may have also had a hand in our despair.

Twenty-six years after Abundance premiered at South Coast Repertory, its lyricism and epic scope continue to resonate with audiences. New York Times critic Laura Collins-Hughs described a recent off-Broadway revival as “the sort of production that makes you realize how much you’ve missed a playwright’s voice.” Like Crimes of the Heart, Abundance is steeped in Henley’s signature sense of humor, which mines humanity’s highs and lows for moments of comic absurdity.

We are proud to welcome Beth Henley’s Abundance back home to SCR as part of our 2015-16 season. “I’ve always loved Beth’s work,” says Founding Artistic Director Martin Benson, who helms the current production. “She has some of the most beautiful imagery in her plays, and they’re always tremendously interesting in where they go. John Millington Synge once said about a play that it should be full flavored like a berry or a nut, and all Beth’s plays are totally full flavored.”

Benson is joined by two members of the original 1989 world premiere production team. In addition to their considerable artistic talents, composer Michael Roth and dramaturg Jerry Patch have provided the current cast and production team with insights into the play’s history and development—plus a few choice stories from the "good old days."

Belita Moreno and O-lan Jones in the 1989 production of Abundance.

Michael Roth: Composer,
1989 and 2015

Michael Roth

Michael Roth has never been to Wyoming. “I’m the worst person to be composing this show,” he jokes—although the record suggests otherwise. Roth composed the original music for Abundance in 1989, and his vibrant score was so successful at conveying the poetry and scope of Henley’s writing that Martin Benson asked him to return for this year’s production.

When Roth was asked to work on the world premiere of Abundance, he wasn’t sure it was a story he would relate to. Then he read the script and found it stunning. “It has the resonance of a lifetime,” he says. “The play takes you through time in a really interesting way that is unique to Beth Henley’s writing—there’s this kind of mythic quality to it.” That epic journey is reflected in his score, which echoes the desolate beauty of the Western frontier before transitioning into early ragtime at the end of the play.

Roth, whose style a colleague once described as “solo fiddle Philip Glass,” is revisiting and expanding his earlier compositions for this year’s production. He observed the actors during the first several days of rehearsal to get a sense of their dynamic together, and of the rhythm of Martin Benson’s direction.

Listen to more of Roth’s work.

Belita Moreno, Bruce Wright, Jimmy Ray Weeks and O-lan Jones in the 1989 production of Abundance.

Jerry Patch: Dramaturg,
1989 and 2015

Jerry Patch

Early in Act Two of Abundance, one character mentions a "Captain Patch at Fort Sully." That captain is named after none other than SCR’s Jerry Patch, who served as the dramaturg on the world premiere production of the play in 1989. He and playwright Beth Henley worked so well together that she decided to pay tribute to him in the script. Talk about naming rights!

Patch returns as dramaturg for the 2015 production, bringing with him a wealth of information about the play’s history, insights into its dramatic structure, and anecdotes from back in the day. He remembers  an early reading of Abundance at Henley’s L.A. house, in which the roles of the principal couples were played by Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Holly Hunter and John Lithgow. At SCR, the cast joked that they were simply keeping the costumes warm for those four to take to Broadway. "But the cast was wrong," says Patch. "They were terrific, giving us a hit, and the New York cast was completely different from that first reading and SCR's premiere." 

Patch, who now splits his time between SCR and the Manhattan Theatre Club, where he serves as the Artistic Development Consultant, is excited to revisit Beth Henley’s play at the theatre where it began. “Its characters are beautifully orchestrated, and she's managed to cover a time period lasting decades in an incredibly economic way,” he says. “I think Abundance is one of Beth’s very best plays.”

Learn more and buy tickets.

Women Went West

These daughters of ranchman Joseph M. Chrisman took homesteads, timber claims and preemption claims in the Goheen Settlement. Pictured from left to right are: Harriet, Elizabeth, Lucie, Ruth in 1883.

Words of Women Pioneers

The freedom and promise of the American West prompted many people to migrate in the 1800s. Beth Henley’s play, Abundance (Segerstrom Stage, Oct. 16-Nov. 15), follows the story of two women who come to the Wyoming Territory in the 1860s as mail-order brides and follows their epic adventure.

Woman and daughter gathering buffalo chips, American prairie 1850s

The reality for women pioneers was that their new life—the adventure—was harsh and often unforgiving. By moving west, they had given up the relative comfort of life in established Eastern cities and towns, where family and women friends were nearby, for sparsely populated areas.

“To make thousands pounds of butter every year for market ...to sew and cook and wash and iron; to bake and clean and stew and fry, to be in short a general woman drudge, and never a penny of my own was a hard lot,” wrote Abigail Scott Duniway, whose family traveled from Illinois to Oregon in the mid-1850s.

It wasn’t uncommon for women to handle heavier work: they chopped wood, hauled water, plowed, hoed and planted fields, managed small herds and other animals, and drove horses and other working animals.

Women in the 1880s performing their daily chores.

To help ease the isolation and severe conditions of their new life—and even though they might have been miles from their nearest neighbor—women often came together to help each other out.  Also, women found comfort in writing—letters, diaries and journals—and their words help shed light on the challenges and triumphs of their lives.

In a letter to her family, Mary Jane Megquier described the small hotel that she ran with her husband: “I make the biscuit, then I fry the potatoes, then broil 2 pounds of steak and as much liver. . . . I bake six loaves of bread, then 4 pies, or a pudding, then we have lamb, beef and pork, baked turnips, beets, potatoes, radishes, salad, and that everlasting soup, every day. .. . I have cooked every mouthful that has been eaten. .. . If I had not the constitution of six horses I [should] have been dead long ago. .. . I am sick and tired of work . . . three nights a week I have to iron. I do not go to bed until midnight and often until 2 o'clock.”

The nearest neighbor to Anna Howard Shaw’s family was six miles away, and the nearest general store and post office was more than 30 miles away.  It was hard work to set up a home in the middle of nowhere.

A woman homesteader in North Dakota.

“The hardest thing to bear is the solitude,” she wrote. “We are awful lonesome. But I am too busy to think much about it daytimes. I must wash, and boil, and bake, or look after the cows which wander off in search of pasture; or go into the valley and hoe the corn and potatoes, or cut the wood ... In five or six years we shall have a nice house farther down and shall want for nothing.”

Wrote Mollie Dorsey Sanford: "[After a full day of work on the farm,] I feel stiff and lame tonight. Have raised my eyes to look into the glass. I see that Mollie Sanford [now] does not look as fair as Mollie Dorsey did one year ago. Mountain air has given her a browner tinge,” Mollie Sanford wrote.

Women carry milk cans at their farm near Topeka, c. 1890.

An added layer of challenge for widowed and single women was a lack of property rights. As Duniway recorded: [If] my husband had lived and I had died, he could have spent everything we had earned in 20 years of married life and nobody could have cared what became of my children. . . . My girls and I have sold butter, eggs, poultry, cordwood, vegetables, grains and hay . . . but after I've earned [the money] I can't even buy a pair of shoes without being lectured by the court for my extravagance.”

But some independent women did carve out different lives—building and running hotels or saloons, establishing and running mills, serving as storekeepers, running ranches and other businesses. The residents in some areas accepted these entrepreneurs to varying degrees because of the harsh life that everyone faced, regardless of gender. Mary Ellen Todd, who moved west with her family in the 1850s, wrote that she felt “a secret joy in in being able to have a power that set things going.”

Martha Jane Cannary (Calamity Jane).

Among those who gained notoriety for their choice of livelihood were outlaw Myra Belle Shirley (Belle Starr), professional scout and sharpshooter Martha Jane Cannary (Calamity Jane), sharpshooter Phoebe Anne Mosey (Annie Oakley), gamblers Eleanor Dumont (Madame Moustache) and Alice Ivers (Poker Alice) and stagecoach robber Pearl Hart.

Cannary learned her skills on the go. She wrote: “By the time we reached Virginia City I was considered a remarkable good shot and a fearless rider for a girl of my age.”

Shirley is said to have stated: “I am a friend to any brave and gallant outlaw.”

"My mother…was perfectly horrified when I began shooting and tried to keep me in school, but I would run away and go quail shooting in the woods or trim my dresses with wreaths of wildflowers,” wrote Mosey.

While the difficult life took a toll on women, many survived and thrived by adapting to the challenges and opportunities, building new lives from scratch, learning different skills and creating new bonds of family and friendship.

Learn more and buy tickets.

Here’s More About Women and the American West

• Branded, But Unbroken: Thirty-two tenacious women who left their mark on the Old West.
  http://www.truewestmagazine.com/jcontent/history/history/history-features/7319-branded-but-unbroken
• Women of the Wild West
  http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/women-of-the-wild-west/
• Wild Women of the West: Not all of them made their living as soiled doves.
  http://www.truewestmagazine.com/jcontent/history/history/history-features/6356-wild-women-of-the-west
• Women and the Myth of the American West
  http://time.com/3662361/women-american-west/