Viewing the DVD of Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN presents one of the greatest delights for a theatergoer. Not only is Paul Newman in superb form as the Stage Manager, but Maggie Lacey's luminous portrayal of Emily Webb is preserved for generations to come.
Lacey's performance spans the development of a teenaged girl in an America that may never really have existed, to a young bride filled with Freudian doubts, and finally to a deceased woman longing for the life she never fully appreciated while living it. It is a sublime portrayal and Lacey glows throughout.
Currently, Maggie Lacey is giving another masterful performance on the stage of New York's Laura Pels Theater, where she is appearing in The Roundabout's production of Tennessee Williams' THE MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE in which she is seen as the widowed Frances Black, the secretary of Flora Goforth (played brilliantly by Olympia Dukakis). Also sharing the stage are Edward Hibbert and Darren Pettie-both in fine form. As directed by Michael Wilson, it provides for a very memorable evening in the theater.
Speaking by phone on a wintry afternoon, Lacey sounds both bright and reflective as she discusses her past accomplishments and the challenge of appearing in what might be one of the playwright's most problematic efforts, as well as the experience of sharing the stage with an Oscar-winning star.
When told that her performance is captivating audiences, Lacey responds with an obvious smile in her voice and says, "I love that you use the word ‘captivating' because that's what we're going for. We're trying to draw you in. Hopefully we achieve that." Obviously she and the other members of the cast are attaining that goal because conversations overheard during intermission indicate that people are fascinated by the play and are making comparisons between it and earlier works of the playwright.
Lacey hails mostly from Cleveland Heights, Ohio. However, her peripatetic family caused her to live in Tennessee for a while and Andover, Massachusetts--and even lived in Hartford, Connecticut for about six months when she was still a child. "We actually lived on Michael Wilson's street, maybe three houses down from him, " she recalls with a giggle, "It was the funniest thing," she continues, "because I wound up spending so much time later on in Hartford. I'd go out to Michael's house or go jogging out to my old house and back. It's odd how things can go full circle, isn't it?"
The actress recalls that her interest in theater began when she asked her mother if she could attend summer camp and she and her sister became involved in several Gilbert and Sullivan productions that the camp sponsored. "There was always a scarcity of boys so we often wound up playing boys parts. Sometimes my sisters and I would wind up marrying each other!"
The actress was an English major in college and appeared in several plays. "I didn't even know there was such a thing as graduate school for acting. I just had a hankering for it and knew I wanted formal training. I knew I'd regret it if I didn't try it so I enrolled in NYU's graduate program and things just kept panning out. I loved NYU."
Still, the actual genesis of her acting career can be charted to those Gilbert and Sullivan productions at summer camp. "It's funny to allow our nine year old selves to tell us something like that, but it really began when I was a kid. It took me years to trust it and try it for real, but the older I get the more in tune I feel with that child."
One of the professors she credits as being inspiring to her was Ron Van Lieu , who had been taught by Olympia Dukakis. "It's amazing now to hear her say things that had come to me previously through Ron. I feel like I'm part of some sort of history cycle at times." There was another man named Jim Calder who taught masque and commedia and clown. "He's still there and in my mind he's one of the great cornerstones of that program," Lacey remarks.
