Interview: Theatre Life with Michael Rothhaar

DC'S little jewel of a theatre company Washington Stage Guild (WSG) was built on producing the works of George Bernard Shaw. In its long and distinguished history of producing high quality theatre the company has produced over thirty productions of Shaw's work.

In 1991 the company presented Mrs. Warren's Profession. Today's subject Michael Rothhaar was the director on that production. Thirty-one years later he has returned to WSG to direct their current production of that same Shaw classic. The production begins performances this evening March 3rd and runs through March 27th.

As you will read, this current version reunites Michael with one performer from the 1991 production and has a family connection as well.

Michael has a long history with WSG. He started with them as an actor in 1990 before directing Mrs. Warren's Profession the next season. That was followed the next season by The Millionairess.

Mi­chael served as the artistic director of Pennsylvania's Allenberry Playhouse from 1987 to 1992. While there he directed a staggering 40 productions. A few highlights of that mind-blowing accomplishment include Lettice and Lovage, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Agnes of God, Cabaret, Guys and Dolls and My Fair Lady. At Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, he directed South Pacific, Witness for the Prosecution, A Murder is Announced, My Fair Lady, Spider's Web, and Greater Tuna.

For Pacif­ic Resident Theatre, he has directed Becky's New Car (Los Angeles premiere), Brecht's Saint Joan of the Slaughterhouses, Otherwise Engaged, Candida, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Waiting for Godot, The Hasty Heart (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Revival in 2007), Four Dogs and a Bone and Family Planning, among others.

Elsewhere, he directed the West Coast premiere of Holy Ghost at Theatre of NOTE and The Last Flapper at the Ensemble The­atre of Santa Barbara.

Washington Stage Guild is a dying breed of theatre company because it's still run like it was back in the "old days". Many of the founding members still perform with the company and their productions are not about falling chandeliers and overblown production elements. Their work is all about storytelling and letting the material breathe.

With Michael Rothhaar's return to WSG, it also brings up the point that the company is loyal to the folks that have worked with them over the years.

I urge you to grab yourselves some seats to Mrs. Warren's Profession. Michael Rothhaar's direction is sure to give you a very pleasurable theatrical experience and you can't go wrong with the words of George Bernard Shaw when presented by DC's theatrical gem Washington Stage Guild.

Did you go to school for directing?

I did not formally train to be a director. I took directing while earning my B.A. in Speech and Drama at The Catholic University of America. My graduate work at Wayne State University was in the MFA Acting Program. I started my career as an actor.

Basically, I learned to direct on the job. I would be in rehearsal, listening to the director and think: THAT'S how to talk to an actor! Or: That's NO WAY to talk to an actor!

I also had the privilege of working with several distinguished directors including Jerry Zaks and Vivian Matalon. They taught me a great deal about directing.

The real education came when I was hired to serve as Artistic Director at Pennsylvania's Allenberry Playhouse. In a little over 4 years, I directed 40 plays and musicals.

Had you worked at any other DC theatres before coming to Washington Stage Guild to direct their original production of Mrs. Warren's Profession?

In 1975, I got my Equity card at Olney Theatre, and appeared in at least one show there in 8 of the next 10 seasons, often in more than one. I also appeared in Terra Nova at the Washington Stage Guild in 1990. But I have known the founding core members of the Stage Guild since its inception in 1986.: the late John MacDonald, Ann Norton MacDonald, Lynn Steinmetz, Bill Largess, Laura Giannarelli, among others. Many are my classmates from Catholic University. Our friendships and professional connections run long and deep.

For those not familiar, can you please give us a brief overview of Mrs. Warren's Profession?

Without letting any cats out of any bags, the play, set in 1893, concerns a bright, young, progressive woman, Vivie Warren, who has just distinguished herself at Cambridge. She is paid a visit by her mother, Kitty Warren, a wealthy businesswoman who has been largely absent from her daughter's life, paying others to rear and educate her. These very strong-willed women hold totally divergent views on how Vivie will spend her future. This collision of wills produces a series of shocking revelations that propel the story to an explosive climax. And I don't think I can say anything further.

How do see the material differently coming back to it over thirty years later?

In 1893, Shaw examined the challenges that two women, with totally different life experiences, faced in making life choices under the cloud of Victorian morality (and hypocrisy).

When I directed it in 1991, I was shocked to see how little had changed for women faced with that challenge. Now, some thirty years further on, the situation has gotten more dire, given that a woman's right to make her own life choices is under threat more than it has been in over half a century.

There is also the theme of generational and familial division. These conflicts seem to be in greater relief this time around. "A house divided" seems much more prevalent today.

There is at least one cast member in this current production that was in the 1991 version and there is a family connection for you as well in the cast. Can you please tell us about that?

When we did the show in 1991, the role of the daughter, Vivie Warren was played by Lynn Steinmetz, and Kitty was played by Nancy Linehan Charles to whom I was married at the time. This time around, Lynn is playing Kitty Warren. Frank Gardner is played by my son, WILL ROTHHAAR, whose mother is Nancy Linehan Charles. And the role of Vivie is played by Rachel Felstein, who at age four, along with Will, also four, made their stage debuts in my production of Cat on A Hot Tin Roof at Allenberry. I think that closes several circles. But this being theatre, it will likely open a few more.

Many theatre companies nowadays seem to be shying away from the classics in lieu of more edgy material. Why do you think it is still important to have companies like Washington Stage Guild produce the works of George Bernard Shaw?

The Washington Stage Guild has provided a platform for Shaw's razor wit and surgical social criticism since it opened for business in 1986. With "edgy material' in mind, if one looks at Shaw's lengthy canon, I think one will find that Shaw got there first. The tyranny of social morality, the intersection of language and the class structure, the collision of social service and the arms industry, and most particularly the role and rights of women are among just a few of the issues to which Shaw turned his scalpel and he did it over 100 years ago. Though his works may be classics, they should never be done out of reverence. They should be done out of necessity.

After this production, what does 2022 hold in store for you workwise?

After I get back home to Los Angeles, I will return to work on the development of a new play by Joshua Chamberlain, All Stations Distress. Along with our producer Brad Greenquist, we have been working on it since before the Pandemic. It is set in the pressroom of The New York Times on the night that the Titanic went down. We plan to present it at Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, California.

Special thanks to Washington Stage Guild's Board President and Founding Company Member for her assistance in coordinating this interview.

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