Photo Source: Joan Marcus
"I relate to being a young person in a time of change," says Gummer, who previously appeared on the Main Stem in a revival of Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia." "I was 21 when Obama was elected and I remember sitting eating pizza in Brooklyn with a group of friends and we collectively felt a sense of hope. I felt honored to be living in this era not unlike young people in the Kennedy era. And when Kennedy is killed in the play, I'm really crying back there."
Gummer is Meryl Streep's daughter and the kid sister of up-and-coming actor Mamie Gummer. Her father Don Gummer is a sculptor and her older brother Henry is a musician. Her younger sister Louisa is a college student studying psychology. Gummer's world is profoundly different from Abigail's, the significant contrasting element is Gummer's intact, tight-knit family.
"Abigail's father died years before the play begins and she is uprooted and placed in Joe's home," Gummer notes. "For this to happen at a young age, I have no idea what she feels like." Yet, Gummer's major acting challenge is aging on stage from 14 to 26. Still, through a slight physical adjustment Gummer says she captures a teenager's awkwardness that is at once bold and shy.
The young actor is keenly aware she is on stage with heavy-hitters—the cast also includes Margaret Colin and Boyd Gaines—but reports great relations with everyone. Indeed, Colin, who plays Abigail's mother, was Gummer's onstage parent in "Arcadia" and Lithgow has become her second dad. "He's kind, patient and warm to me." But equally important is what she's learned from him. "The positive attitude, the readiness to work, the ability to listen, the open mind," she says. Director Dan Sullivan also gets praise for making the artistic environment so safe.
A Supportive Family
Born in New York and raised in Connecticut, Streep's third child was not planning on following in Mom and Sis's footsteps. At Vassar, she had a double-major in Italian and art history with no special career goals in mind. "I was curious about many things and had various summer jobs over the years," she recalls. "I was creative and artistic and loved fashion and costume design. But I also loved acting in student productions. But I didn't think I'd be doing it professionally."
Gummer's foray into a theater career came about almost serendipitously. At the time, she was in Rome when she received a call from a friend to design the costumes for an Off-Off-Broadway play. But when she read the script, instead of picturing clothes for the characters, she found herself identifying with them.
Clearly, having a legendary mother as well as an frequently employed actor-sister gave her some pause, though she's not convinced it's entirely different from a kid wanting to be a doctor in a family of physicians. "I always knew my family had my back and would be supportive," she notes. "Still, I try to distinguish myself as my own person. I work hard to pave my own path. Both my parents are letting me figure it out. I don't know if more doors are being opened for me or even if I'm under greater scrutiny than anyone else. Everyone is working hard for or against something."
Gummer's credits include an Off-Broadway production of "The Sexual Neurosis of Our Parents" and "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles. But the most daunting project Gummer has tackled to date is "Arcadia" in which she played a perceptive and precociously brainy 18-year-old. "It was the first show I did with an English accent and it was wordy, wordy," she recalls. "But it also prepared me for 'The Columnist' with the attention and focus it required to perform eight shows a week."
Gummer never studied acting formally, though she still has her sights set on training when she has some free time. But she has been fortunate in working fairly steadily. Her dream part is Anna Christie and she'd also like to tackle Shakespeare and Chekhov.
Gazing into that proverbial crystal ball, she comments, "I hope when I'm 30 I'm still doing a play in New York or London. I'd also love to do TV and films."
Still, asked if she sees herself acting over a lifetime, Gummer concedes she doesn't know. "I don't even know where I'll be in July."
"The Columnist" runs though June 24 at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th St., NYC. 212-239-6200, www.telecharge.com, www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com
Outtakes
—Won a Theatre World Award for her performance in "Arcadia"
—Appeared in such films as "Meskada," "Larry Crowne," "Margin Call," and the upcoming "Untitled Noah Baumbach Project."
—Starred on the TV series "Gigantic" and guest-starred on "Smash"
