Interview: Megan Lear of WIFE OF A SALESMAN at Contemporary Theater Of Ohio

When she was forced to study DEATH OF A SALESMAN, the Arthur Miller play didn’t make much of an impression on Megan Lear

“I’m pretty positive I had to read it in high school and when I attended (American Music and Drama Academy),” said Lear, who plays the role of the Mistress in the Contemporary Theatre of Ohio’s production of Eleanor Burgess’ WIFE OF A SALESMAN. “It just felt like homework, something I needed to do. (Prior to this show), I remembered next to nothing about it.”

Lear took a self-guided refresher course as she prepared for her role in the updated version of the Arthur Miller classic. The show runs from October 31-November 17in Studio Two at the Vern Riffe Center (77 S. High Street in downtown Columbus).

Burgess’ work lies on a big “What if?” In this case, the playwright wonders what would have happened if the wife (played by Teri Clark Linden) from DEATH OF A SALESMAN had traveled to Boston to face off with the woman who is having an affair with her husband. (For legal reasons, Burgess’ play can’t use the names of the Miller characters, Willy, and Linda Loman.)

“This brilliant new play will ignite vibrant discussions on womanhood and topics that resonate deeply in our daily lives about the choices we make,” said director Leda Hoffmann, whose troupe is only the third company to stage the play. “The writing is heartfelt, funny, and truthful, with unexpected twists that will have people talking long after the show is over.”

“I think it does a good job at exploring how women fit into society, not only in the world of DEATH OF A SALESMAN, but in the modern day world as well,” Lear added. “When I first got into the script, I was like, ‘What? No way!’”

Lear said The Mistress is one of her favorite characters she’s portrayed.

“I adore her,” Lear said. “She's witty, she's quick to combat anything the wife says, and she has many ways she will fight back. There’s kind of a sword fight with words.”

Lear fell in love with the stage when she was six. Her grandmother Marcia Calahan and her mother Lore Lehr took her to see a local production of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR in a park.

“They figured I’d just run around during the show,” Lear said. “I watched the whole thing. The two looked at each other and said, ‘Okay, maybe she likes this.’”

Lehr and Calahan enrolled her into an acting class at the Little Theater off Broadway in Grove City. When Lear attended Central Crossing High School, drama teacher Carrie Wisehart continued to foster Lear’s love for theater.

“I was very lucky,” Lear said. “Our school was very new so we had this state-of-the-art theater. Wisehart did an incredible job inspiring and pushing me.”

However, when it came time for college, the practical side of Lear said to pursue a degree in business at the now defunct Harrison College. In her third semester, she wrote a paper on German playwright Bertolt Brecht, who used his plays as a social and ideological forum for causes he believed in.

By the time she finished the paper, Lear was convinced that “Maybe I'm doing the wrong thing.” She dropped out of Harrison and applied for and was accepted into the American Musical and Drama Academy in New York City.

Lear couldn’t have done a character like The Mistress without the help of AMDA professor Ray Virta, who helped flesh out characters.

“I've never been incredible at expressing my emotions,” Lear said. “Virta pulled me aside one day and he said ‘You’re protecting your characters the way you protect yourself. They don’t need protection. Let them feel and have their emotions.’

“That not only opened my performance, but it allowed me to open myself up. As backwards as this sounds, I learned how to feel those things as characters and then used that to express how I feel and speak for myself.”

Photo credit: Lilian Kay Schmid-Lehr

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