The Director: The third act of Elia Kazan
by Ivy Farguheson
In the early 1980s, Rick Foucheux moved to the DC area to work as a broadcaster. Unfortunately, the broadcasting gig he moved here to perform didn’t last very long and so, like many people who lose their jobs unexpectedly, Foucheux decided the make a side job he loved, acting, into his full-time employment. He didn’t pick up and move to New York, Chicago, or London, but stayed in the DC Metro area, acting his way through the region’s local theaters, making a name for himself along the way. Now, two decades later, Foucheux is still working as an area actor and is demonstrating his amazing talent the Round House Theatre Silver Spring’s one man production of The Director: The Third Act of Elia Kazan.
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| Rick Foucheaux |
Written and directed by Leslie Kobylinski, “The Director” tells the story of Academy Award winning director Elia Kazan’s rise to greatness and the fall of an artist so many still detest for his name-listing of Hollywood’s communists in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952. Told from the words of the sole character, Kazan (played incredibly by Foucheux), the audience sees from his side, the complex life of a man who tried so hard to fit in, to assimilate into American society, and was later not supported by those he tried to emulate. Kazan’s life comes across on the stage as he describes the details of his life with his parents and with the Hollywood elite of the 1950s. Many may know of his story, but in “the Director” you see an Elia Kazan that many may not have known with a story common to multitudes of people in America: the journey of trying to be an insider when constantly being labeled an outsider. As such, the story of this one man becomes the story of many and what looks on the surface to be a play about a past scandal quickly becomes a tale of searching for belonging to which many can relate.
What makes this production so powerful is not only its story, but also the manner in which the story is performed. The difficulty of the one-man show is that the success and failure of the production is on the sole actor. In order not to bore the daylights out of an audience, this actor must truly become other people that enter the main character’s life. As the only actor in a one-man play, Foucheux has the pressure not only to perform well as Kazan, but also to perform well as the supporting cast in Kazan’s life, people like his parents, Tennessee Williams, Lee Strasburg, Kazan’s wife, Mollie. Foucheux truly becomes Kazan’s versions of these characters, allowing each person to be told not as a caricature or an imitator’s version of each of the supporting actors in Kazan’s life, but more like the manner in which Kazan sees their role. He plays each character, as the director Kazan may have wanted them to play their roles: with substance and compassion, not as a cartoon character. The audience is truly able to feel as if they are talking to Kazan himself, feeling sympathy for the pressures he was under and his desire to belong. They are able to feel for Kazan and see the complexity of a life that looked simple superficially, and for that, credit must be given to Foucheux.
Not all credit goes to Foucheaux, however. The script is well written, not dragging at points where you would expect (such as points when Kazan is “talking” to his wife or to his mother), and also not emotionally draining in places you would expect (such as Kazan testifying in front of Congress). Kobylinski, the writer and the director of “the Director”, who spent 3 years coming up with a script that worked, clearly based her work on time well spent. She was able to work with Foucheaux in a way that demonstrates that he is not pretending to be Elia Kazan; he is Elia Kazan, without the performance becoming contrived and boring. The set design is also responsible for the success of this show in ways you would not expect. Throughout the roughly 72 minutes of this play, Foucheaux never leaves a 4 foot area, spending most of the time sitting in a chair which resembles at times a confessional and at other times, a witness stand. Either way, it is the simplicity of the set that allows the audience to focus on Foucheux; there are no distractions from around the man himself.
Rick Foucheux, who currently lives in Silver Spring, is able to play this role with such force because he is able to call on his preparation for this role at any time. Working alongside Kobylinski in her 3-year search for the right script, Foucheux was able to watch Kazan’s films, view documentaries, and discuss the script with his director in order to bring his best to this role. Admitting that the difficulty of a one man show is that “the performance is clearly between the performer and the audience so there is an extra level of concentration needed…you can’t share that concentration level with an ensemble”, Foucheux prevents the his presentation from becoming mundane by “being in the moment..don’t think too far ahead. In that, there’s freshness.” There is also an amazing performance for which we all, and Elia Kazan, can be thankful.
THEATRE: “The Director: The Third Act of Elia Kazan,” thru May 13. Thurs-Sat (8 PM), Sun (3 PM). Round House Theatre, 8641 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. $15. Info: 240-644-1100 or www.roundhousetheatre.org.
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