Interview: Veronika Duerr Talks THE WICKHAMS, Creative Partnerships, and Managing Public Perceptions

Do a routine search of Veronika Duerr online and you'll gain a quick insight into a remarkable theatre pedigree. A proud alumna of Savannah College of Art and Design, Veronika is an award-winning actress, director, producer, and playwright.

In 2012, she co-founded The Weird Sisters Theatre Project, a theatre collective that parlayed her creative energy into activism by developing opportunities for female artists, both on and off the stage. Her one-woman show, THE ADVENTURE OF LIFE, was a recent finalist in the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference.

Less conspicuous in cyberland is the fact that Veronika is married to Sean Daniels, Artistic Director of Arizona Theatre Company. Theirs is a working relationship forged long before they tied the knot; indeed, creative collaboration is a central component of what underpins their relationship.

Married couples in the theatre are not all that rare. If an issue makes the occasional wave, file it under public perception of conflicting interests, something Veronika is all too keen to address from personal experience.

THE WICKHAMS is Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon's second play of a Christmas trilogy, based loosely on the lives of the Bennet sisters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The first one, MISS BENNET: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY, had a winning run at ATC last season in which Veronika gave a side-splitting performance as Lady Anne. This year marks her return to directing after a years-long hiatus from the helm.

BWW: It was loads of fun watching you as Lady Anne last season. Had you known then that you would follow it with THE WICKHAMS this year?

Veronika: We were waiting to see how Miss Bennet did to see if we were going to see the sequel. It's actually a trilogy. There's a third one as well: GEORGIANA AND KITTY. MISS BENNET played marvelously and sold really well, so then they were like, "Great, let's do the sequel." They can stand alone; you don't have to have seen MISS BENNET to understand THE WICKHAMS.

BWW: Talk a little about being on the other side of the production process. When was the last time you directed?

Veronika: I have not directed since before I had a baby. After I had a baby there were opportunities to direct, and I felt like... I'm directing every second of my life in keeping this baby alive. I would rather go to rehearsal and have someone tell me what the set looks like and what we're going for.

BWW: Directing is a much bigger responsibility. I know all too well.

Veronika: It is a much bigger responsibility, and it was something I really wasn't interested in doing until now. And then when Sean said they were gonna do THE WICKHAMS - I am, of course, a huge lover of Lauren's work - he asked, who do you think should direct it? And I said, "Oh, I want to." And I think he was surprised for a moment because I had taken such a long time off. And he said, " Oh you're ready? You want to?" And I said, "I want to. I'm ready now." I just needed a break. I just felt like I had so much on my plate being an artist and a mother. Being a director and a mother was another layer that I wasn't ready for yet.

BWW: I first saw you as an actor three years ago, playing Henrietta Leavitt in SILENT SKY. I was so impressed and I couldn't imagine anyone doing a better job. Looking back, I can't help wondering what some people must think about you doing a show with your husband as the director; or, in this case you being a director under Sean's aegis as artistic director. Pardon me as I bring up the elephant in the room: How do you convince people that your marriage has nothing to do with you getting a role as an actor or director?

Veronika: I think you just stop trying to convince people that. Yes, people are gonna think that. Then I hope they come to see the show and see what a talented director I am and can be. It's unfortunate (the perception) because Sean is my favorite artist to work with and I'm his favorite artist to work with. We're not gonna NOT work together because we are married. We're going to continue working together for the rest of our lives because it's our favorite thing to do together.

Look, I had a career before him, I will have a career without him, BUT we love to work together. And as far as the directing thing...I know I can do what I do. I talked To Lauren (Gunderson) about it, Sean talked to Lauren about it, and she said, "Hell yeah, you gotta direct it, that would be amazing!"

BWW: I ran into that as a parent of a talented child. I operated a theatre company for young people for 12 years, and one of my big concerns was confronting the reality that my daughter was a part of that community, and as such she would audition for roles that other kids were going for. It didn't matter if she was the ideal person to play the leading role; If I cast her in a big role I was going to have to confront the perception of favoritism. And I can understand people for feeling that way.

Veronika: Yeah, exactly. That's the child-parent situation. In a spouse situation, in this career, you so often run into spouses who work together. Sean and I work together. My sound designers are a composer and a designer who work together, who are married. Becky is the production manager; Nils is the technical director - they're getting married. Because of the fact that the theater takes up so much of your life, and then you fall in love with somebody else in the theater, and you build your lives together in the theater - then you're telling me that you can't work together? Are you kidding me?

BWW: I suppose we have to go about doing what we do while helping people understand it's not a personal matter. I guess the bottom line, knowing we can't force people to change the way they feel, is that you have to let your work speak for itself. Let the cards fall where they may.

Veronika: That's exactly it. Let your work speak for itself. People are gonna say what they say. It took me a long time to be okay with it, but now I'm 7 years into my marriage - 10 years together -and I don't care anymore. They're gonna think that in Florida too, Robert.

BWW: Oh yeah, which reminds me, you and the family are moving to Sarasota where Sean has taken a job directing one of the spaces at Florida Studio Theatre. At the end of the day, let it be known that you are an artist independent of your husband and his perceived clout.

Veronika: You know, one of the things I did when he took the job was send an audition tape to the artistic director. And before Sean even accepted the job, Sean said, "My wife is an actor and a director and she is brilliant. We will be working together." And the artistic director said, "The executive director is my wife. I totally get it. Of course you want to work with your wife. I work with my wife everyday."

BWW: What I get out of this is that it pays to be out in the open. There's no conflict of interest if you've never been in the shadow about it in the first place.

Veronika: I agree.

BWW: Back to THE WICKHAMS. Anything else you want to say about the production?

Veronika: It's quintessential Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, in which it is that highly stylized, laugh-out-loud comedy, undercut with heart and passion and vulnerability. And strong female characters who are smashing the patriarchy and choosing their own futures. Women who are finding and re-defining themselves. Which is what I've always loved about Lauren's writing.

Photo credit: Tim Fuller

THE WICKHAMS will show in Tucson 11/05/22 - 12/02/22

Phoenix 12/08/22 - 12/23/22

For tickets and info, visit

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