Posts Tagged ‘David Rambo’

Tammy Frame (left), owner of Frame’d Images Hair Design in Amana, works with Meg Merckens of South Amana to replicate the hairstyle of Ann Landers on a mannequin before it is transferred to a wig Merckens will wear in the Iowa Theatre Artists Company’s production of “The Lady with all the Answers.” Photo by Brian Ray

By Diana Nollen
The Gazette
AMANA – Legendary advice columnist Ann Landers is everything Meg Merckens says she’s not: straightforward, gutsy and sassy.

But Merckens is excited to be taking on Landers’ persona in “The Lady with all the Answers,” a one-woman show launching the Iowa Theatre Artists Company’s second season.

“She just faced everything straight on and dealt with it,” says Merckens, 56, of South Amana. “I tend to be a little more careful, always afraid I’m going to hurt someone’s feelings. I’m very, very sensitive. But she just felt like this was a question from one of her readers. They needed a straightforward answer and they’re going to get it.”

The show is new, written in 2006, and will make its Eastern Iowa premiere in the Amana troupe’s new home in the renovated Barn restaurant. Merckens cautions potential audience members that the show deals with some adult subject matter.

Landers’ character talks with audience members as if they are her readers and gives some glimpses into her personal life, as well as her life as a columnist dealing with deadlines and an impossible volume of mail.

“In one case, she got 9,800 letters a day,” Merckens says, “and she would go through them all. If they had a return address, they got a response. I find that phenomenal. I would guess she’s somewhat of a workaholic.”

And no topic was taboo. “The things she dealt with in 1955-56 no one would touch, like sexuality and homosexuality,” Merckens says. “When she wrote her first column, that word couldn’t be printed in the newspaper until she did it. She felt if they were reaching out, she would answer that (question) and get it into the paper.

“The people who wrote to her had nowhere else to turn. I’m amazed people would turn to a newspaper columnist for advice, and that’s what they had – for the price of a stamp.”

Audiences will learn that Landers was “a Sioux City native. They’ll learn about her marriage, her relationship with her sister Dear Abby, their feud and competition and later, their reconciliation,” Merckens says. “They’ll get bits and pieces about her personal life. She didn’t share her personal life in her columns – just two or three times. There are things she’ll talk about that were never known by her readers.”

And the show is not without its humorous moments. “It is funny,” Merckens says. “There are many funny letters. She was the queen of quips. There are expressions used in the play that people remember, like ‘20 lashes with a wet noodle.’ She was very witty; that comes through and that’s why I like this piece so much.

“It deals with a lot of hard-hitting subjects, but humor can turn it around. A sense of humor is always a great way to approach life when you can.”

Performing a one-person show is not without its challenges.

“No one else is out there to help you out,” Merckens says. “The amount of line-learning is a bit daunting, keeping it in order. There are many letters that I read, but keeping that flow going, keeping focused and on track” can be tough. “I love to talk to the audience as an actor, but I have to know my material so well it won’t throw me off by the reactions. I have to have a real security in my material to pull that off.

“The other part is that I just really admire Eppie Lederer (Landers’ real name) so I want to do her justice when I do a clip of her life. David Rambo has written a really nice script for that.”

Added to the acting challenges are the challenges of portraying a cultural icon.

Merckens realizes audiences will have “certain expectations” of what Landers should look like and be like. “She often joked about the fact she had a very distinctive hairstyle. Obviously, I’ll have to be an essence of her,” Merckens says. “At the time the play takes place, we’re exactly the same age, which is really interesting. I remember growing up with her column. I always thought of her as a much older woman. Wait! I’m the same age. How can that be? Of course, she was born in 1918,” so their ages only line up in the script.

Premiering a play is fun, too, she says. “I love that. I’m a little surprised no one else (in the area) has done it, but I’m glad no one has, so I get to do it.” It fits well into the plans Merckens and her husband, Tom Johnson, have for their new theater troupe.

“Tom and I discussed starting smaller and building up as the season went along. It establishes a direction we’re going, trying some new things. It’s just a good fit.”

Merckens laughs when asked if she’s working on the new facility around her rehearsal schedule or rehearsing around her facility schedule. “A little of both,” she says. “We’ve put down the wooden dance floor – 2,400 square feet – and over 1,000 square feet of porcelain tile in the lobby. If the acting thing doesn’t pan out, we’re going into Meg’s Floors and More.

“Tom’s heading up the building crew. It’s a volunteer effort from phenomenal friends of our theater and our effort. It’s an amazing core group. We just bought used movie theater seats from the General Cinema at the Mall of America, and spent an entire week washing them, chipping off gum, assembling them and bolting them to the floor,” she says.

“It’s starting to look wonderful, despite and because of the hard work. We just couldn’t be prouder. The community has been fantastic with support.”

© 2009, Gazette Communications

For more information: www.iowatheatreartists.org