Interview: Stan Zimmerman on THE GOLDEN GIRLS and YES, VIRGINIA

Stan Zimmerman is a playwright who has two events coming up at Owens Auditorium inside Bradshaw Performing Arts Center, both of which will be presented by Judson Theatre Company in Pinehurst, North Carolina. On November 14th, he'll be sharing some behind the scenes stories from his days of working as a writer on the first season of THE GOLDEN GIRLS in an event titled AN EVENING ON THE LANAI. Meanwhile, a new holiday comedy he co-wrote with Christian McLaughlin titled YES, VIRGINIA starring Mindy Sterling & Arnetia Walker will be running from November 18th-21st. I had the great pleasure of interviewing him about all of this and more.

He also directs and produces theatre in L.A., including such productions as the LatinX THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, HEARTBREAK HELP, PLEDGE, WARM CHEESE, ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE, BLINK & YOU MIGHT MISS ME, GEMINI, and the virtual three play reading benefit for Playbill.com, A WENDY WEEKEND. In television, he has been nominated for two WGA Awards for his work on THE GOLDEN GIRLS and ROSEANNE. He's also written and produced on GILMORE GIRLS, co-created the Lifetime sitcom RITA ROCKS, and the Emmy nominated webseries SECS & EXECS. He was the host/showrunner on Sean Hayes' Bravo reality show SITUATION: COMEDY. In film, he wrote both BRADY BUNCH movies. Most recently, he starred in a virtual production of his suicide notes play, RIGHT BEFORE I GO, with Vanessa Williams, Blair Underwood, Wilson Cruz, and Hari Nef for the Quick Center in Connecticut.

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To start things off, how excited are you to be starting rehearsals here in North Carolina
SZ: I am so excited to come to North Carolina. I've been to Charlotte a bunch of times. I've only done the play in Los Angeles twice and a reading in Detroit, my hometown and the story is set in Detroit. To come to a new part of the country and to bring these two marvelous actresses there, I'm very thrilled to hear the laughter from all of you.

How did the idea for YES, VIRGINIA come about?
SZ: A number of years ago, my mother was living in Santa Barbara. She had moved out from Detroit so she could be near me. She started experiencing early dementia. So my sister and I were talking with her about how she needs to find a place, maybe not assisted living or someplace where she was not living alone because she refused to buy a medical alert. She loved her house and she loved her independence. She was a very strong woman. So one day she asked why couldn't Virginia (who was our African-American housekeeper growing up) come live with her. I said, "Well, that's a brilliant idea, but Virginia's dead." Then I'm driving back to my home in Los Angeles, and I'm thinking, "Wait a minute. I think there's a play in this." So I spoke with Christian, my writing partner for theater. We created this two character play about a kind of role reversal of a housekeeper that's always taking care of this woman and her family, and then suddenly the roles reversed, and she has to take care of Virginia.

This play has been produced with both of your stars before. How has it been working with them?
SZ: We've done it twice. We did once live in person in 2018 in L.A. It was in a very intimate, small theater. So you actually felt like you were sitting in the living room with these two women. Then we did a virtual production because obviously COVID changed everything theater wise. I was having none of that last year, so I was like "We've got to keep doing theater." I had done many plays where everyone was in these little boxes. I just couldn't do that anymore. So what we did was with my co-producing partner, we created virtual backgrounds. So even though our Arnetia was in Maryland and Mindy was in Santa Monica, California, it looked like they were literally in the same room together. We had a lot of fun with that. I started using film techniques. So I would do green screens where I would shoot them looking out of the green screen. Then I had someone send me a recording of snow falling in Michigan so that it looked like they were looking at snow and started playing with that and using the form and being a little adventurous.

Before YES, VIRGINIA, there's another event you'll be participating in at Judson Theatre Company titled AN EVENING ON THE LANAI. There, you'll be sharing some behind the scenes stories from your days of working as a writer on the first season of THE GOLDEN GIRLS. What can audiences expect from that?
SZ: Lots of gossip, some cheesecake orange juice, and some fun stories of what it was like to be there. I was a very young writer, it was one of my first jobs, and to suddenly be thrown into that group of such highly respected actresses, really the best of the best actresses in season one of a show that nobody thought would ever be popular was suddenly extremely popular and kind of took the nation by storm. Right before COVID hit, I was on two back-to-back Golden Girls fan cruises called Golden Fans at Sea. To see over a thousand Golden Girls fans of all ages, all types of people, it was just filled with love. A lot of people wore caftans and gray wigs for costume night. Golden Girls was a phenomenon and during COVID, it became a place where people could go watch kind of their old friends and have some laughs and think of other thoughts than what we were all going through during that period.

As the whole world is slowly coming out of this pandemic, what does it mean to you to have these projects presented to an in-person audience?
SZ: I actually just closed my new play, Have a Good One, in L.A. I think it was the first play presented live on a stage in 19 months. There was just something about being in a room with real people and hearing that laughter and having that connection. That's why coming to North Carolina for both of these events is for these shared experiences, and that's the beauty of theater. It's not television when you're in your own room at home when you could be eating or wearing whatever or whatever you don't want to wear, and they're getting up and going to the bathroom or getting more food. you're in the theater and you have this event happen together and it's a collective event and you're feeling the other people in the room. When one person starts laughing, it just invites everyone to laugh. That's just a cool thing. I can not wait to be down there in that beautiful part of the country and have that experience.

Going back to the beginning, how did you first get started in the theatre?
SZ: I studied at Cranbrook Theater School. I luckily got in at the age of seven and a half and you were supposed to be eight years old, but they took me. I think they wanted an extra boy on stage. I just fell in love with the first moment I got a laugh on stage and it sent a jolt up my spine and I knew I had the talent for comedy.

You have several film and TV credits on your résumé. Are there any in particular that happen to be among your favorite experiences in that department?
SZ: I would have to say both Brady Bunch movies. They were just everything I love about writing. It was pop culture. It was able to comment on that time period of the 1970s. When we wrote the movies, those characters were so much fun. As a kid, I grew up with The Brady Bunch. It was a lot of work to have to watch all the episodes again, but it was really fun and silly and yet also very smart. It was one of the first adaptations of a TV show to film that worked and was successful. I think that's because they let us reach young kids, but also touch people that had never seen the show and all those diehard fans of The Brady Bunch and really pushed the envelope as far as our humor. It was just really fun. We've been figuring out a way to do a new TV show, like a Netflix show called The Brady Ladies, where we see the three Brady girls now separated, divorced, and/or widowed. Of course, Jan never met anybody because you know, nobody likes Jan. Though I'm a middle child, so I understand that.

For those who'd like to have a career in the theatre, where do you think would be a good place to start?
SZ: Definitely start acting, take classes, be in a play. It doesn't matter where it is. You can even do a Zoom reading with friends. I started young and one of the best lessons that I was taught, "They said go to a mall and just watch people as a writer or an actor, observe people." That's why when people say, "How could you write for all these characters?" It's because I watched and I listened. That is so key. So I recommend all actors and writers or anybody creative, really anybody in the world just watch and listen to each other. You know, we're not all that far apart. We all just want, love and want to be loved.

Before we go, do you have any other upcoming projects that you'd like to share with us?
SZ: I'm very active as far as I always have ideas for what my next project will be. Whether I'm just directing it or writing and directing it or producing it. I would love to see Yes, Virginia get to New York somehow. So maybe our next stop after North Carolina will be Off-Broadway. How about that?

Stan, I thank you very much for devoting your time to this interview. It was great getting to talk to you.
SZ: Thank you for inviting me.

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AN EVENING ON THE LANAI will be presented at Owens Auditorium inside Bradshaw Performing Arts Center on November 14th while Judson Theatre Company's production of YES, VIRGINIA will run from November 18th-21st. For more information, please visit: www.judsontheatre.com

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