Reporting and photo by Jamie Painter
Back Stage West recently met for lunch at Campanile with Marcia Strassman and Richard Kline, currently co-starring in Michael John LaChiusa's musical "Hello Again" at the Blank Theatre Company in Los Angeles.
Strassman is best known for her role as Julie Kotter in "Welcome Back, Kotter." A native of New York, Strassman began acting onstage at the age of 15, when she replaced Liza Minnelli in an Off-Broadway production of "Best Foot Forward." During her teenage years, she continued to work in theatre, appearing in "Take Her, She's Mine" with Walter Pidgeon, and "Days of Dancing" with Shelley Winters at the Actors Studio. Her film work includes "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, "Honey, I Blew Up the Kids," and "Another Stakeout."
Kline most recently played Jeeves in the U.S. premiere of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Alan Ayckbourn musical "By Jeeves" at the Kennedy Center and Goodspeed Opera House. A former student of the late William Ball, Kline has a classical background that includes work in "Love's Labour's Lost" at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre and "Troilus and Cressida" for Joe Papp. His other stage credits include "City of Angels" on Broadway, "Jake's Women" on tour in Canada, and "How I Got That Story" with David Morse at the Coronet Theatre. On television, Kline has done more than 70 guest spots and was best known as Larry on "Three's Company." As a director, Kline won an L.A. Drama Critics Award for "Present Laughter" and helmed a revival of Neil Simon's "Rumors," as well as episodes of "Harry and the Hendersons" and "Evening Shade."
Marcia Strassman: They did not write for women on sitcoms in the '70s. A week before we shot the first episode of Welcome Back, Kotter, I was at a party and Penny Marshall said to me, "I hear you're playing a wife." I said, "Yeah." She said, "You're gonna be pushing a vacuum a lot." And the first episode I opened the script and it said, "Lights up. Julie is vacuuming." I thought, "You know something? They're not going to write for me, so I'm going to play myself." So I wore my glasses. I wore blue jeans. Sometimes on tape night I would wear what I wore to the studio that morning. I never saw the inside of a makeup room.
Consequently, I had no problems afterwards, because if they were going to cast me as Julie Kotter, they were casting me anyway. I bet you had a lot more trouble. You were on a show for eight years.
Richard Kline: After the series wrapped, I didn't have that much trouble being cast, and I've always done theatre, which to me is a godsend and a salvation. I always did theatre, even when I was doing the series, and afterwards especially. In the past two years--with the exception of a lovely NYPD Blue that I did and a silly guest spot on The Nanny--I've been doing theatre and I'm really happy about that.
I feel more that I'm an artist and craftsman when I'm working in the theatre. There is time to work on building your character. With TV, you do a situation comedy and after the third year on the show, everybody wants to go home. You go in on a Monday and shoot the thing Wednesday afternoon. In the theatre, everyone is giving birth artistically, and I find that extremely exciting.
Off Center
Marcia: I've been really lucky in that I haven't had many voids, but I'm finding them now because I'm in that 50-year-old age bracket where there's 8,000 50-year-old actresses in this town and not that many parts. Over the past few years, I've gotten to the point where I've been finding less and less joy in playing somebody's mother. So I've just gone into business with some people from Austin, Tex. to produce small movies, and I'm hoping that Hello Again is my swan song. I keep telling everybody it is.
I'm looking forward to not having to audition for people who weren't born when I got my SAG card. I'm finding that I don't need to prove myself. I've made my mark. I've done some good movies. I've done a great TV series. I've done some good plays. If something great comes up and somebody offers it to me, I won't turn it down. If I find a great role now, I can put it on film and produce it myself.
I find the producing process very creative--developing scripts, finding scripts, working with writers--and I always have. I've always done it for my friends for free. They've always given me their scripts and said, "Please read this. Give me your notes. Tell me what you think," and I've given these great notes which have ended up on the screen. I thought, You know, this is something that I love doing, that I'll be happier at, and that I'm finding is much more creative than acting has become.
Richard: An actor's creativity is--I don't want to say narrow--but when I'm directing, a lot more creative juices are in play.
Marcia: Because it's about the vision of the whole piece.
Richard: It's truly thrilling to have your vision manifest itself in all aspects of production--not just telling actors not to bump into the furniture, but how you want the lighting, and what you think of the costumes. Having all that come together is extremely exciting.
Marcia: Do you find that it's because you're not the center of your universe anymore?
Richard: Yeah, that's a really good point.
Marcia: It's like having a kid. People grow when they have a kid because they're not the center of their universe anymore. Especially when you're an actor, from the moment you wake up in the morning it's, "How do I look?" That's the other thing that I'm looking forward to as far as producing. I don't have to worry about what I wear to go to the market because I might bump into some executive's wife who's going to go home and say, "Boy, I saw Marcia Strassman at the market. She looked like shit."
That's why New York is a much more realistic place if you really want to act. Because you don't have to worry about all those variables that circle acting, that have nothing to do with acting. I love Los Angeles, but it's a hard place to be an actor, because you're judged on what car you drive, what clothes you wear. You're not judged on your acting!
Class Rats
Richard: If you look at the top people over the years who have worked, from DeNiro to Pacino to Keaton (both Diane and Michael)--these are people who studied, either in a professional acting class or at a university. Tommy Lee Jones was from Harvard. Meryl Streep was from Yale. These are people who actually have a background in theatre and know their craft. They're not overnight sensations. My advice--among other things, like get a day job--is to study your craft and consider yourself an artist. Approach it from the purest ethic and maybe, just maybe, if that sticks, it can propel you and energize you.
Marcia: But I also think there are people that think they are actors because they study. There's nothing like on-the-job training. Yeah, you can study, but while you're studying, read the trade magazines, go up for independent movies, go up for stage plays, audition. Work. There's nothing to say you can't still take classes, but just go do it.
Richard: I'm not talking necessarily about class rats--people who all they do is just study. I'm talking about learning the history of the craft, reading, observing, and being a well-rounded person, with respect to your craft. I think it gives you a step ahead.
Marcia: I agree. I'm not saying don't learn. I'm not saying don't go to school. It's that saying, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't do that take classes forever!" The actors that I love are actors that I can see their guts, and I don't think you can learn that in a class. BS