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Plumbing the depths of Althea's Well

An actor's notebook

By Susan Domer

Fort Wayne Reader

2012-06-05

In Ruth Tyndall Baker’s Althea’s Well — the first place winner in this year’s Annual Northeast Indiana Playwright’s Festival — it’s 1938 and Althea Wheeler wants running water. Her husband Vernon has no intention of paying to put in a city water line and intends for her to carry buckets of water for the rest of her life. In playing the role of Althea, I have asked myself numerous times, is this enough of an event around which to frame a play? It’s water, just water. But through the eyes of playwright Tyndall Baker it is the catalyst for change for so many. So, how far into the depths of Althea’s Well would I have to go to create a believable, emotionally abused and yet emboldened woman? As it turned out, farther than I had anticipated.

Althea’s Well has turned out to be the perfect vehicle for director Gregory Stieber to showcase his vision and incredible sensibilities as an artist. With no working pump on stage, the life- giving water has become a figurative narrative as opposed to a literal one for every layer of the story. All of the relationships that the characters have with water — each of their “pump moments” as envisioned by Stieber — are seen through Althea’s eyes. Each one of those moments, for me, is filled with myriad emotion: joy, envy, sorrow, wrath, bitterness, remorse, longing, regret, tenderness. The list is at times endless.

Seemingly, the only way to navigate such complexity was to put on my thinking cap. “When in doubt, use your brain,” said Susan. “Think your way to the finish line. Don’t allow yourself to feel, don’t take on the feelings of those in the play or the woman you are portraying.” And through sheer force of will, donning my Teflon suit, I chose that route to barrel through the process. And it appears the choice I made for rehearsal is the same one these women have made to get through their daily lives. Think. Don’t feel. Stay two steps ahead of your abuser.

Unfortunately, I have known too many women who have suffered from emotional and psychological abuse and each of them has told me that as the victim, you disconnect from what is happening to you. You develop two separate personalities; one to deal with the “situation” and another to deal with your life away from the “situation.” Althea’s “situation” is her husband Vernon Wheeler, played by the brilliant actor Jeff Moore, and her other personality shines in the presence of the drifter Carl Thomas, superbly played by Brad Beauchamp.

Trying to stay two steps ahead of Jeff Moore every night was making my brain tired. From the beginning, he convened all of his acting talent into a man that neither I nor anyone would want to live with; and yet live with him we must. I have come to find that intense scenes of emotional abuse are often more intimate than if two people were disrobing on stage. To have someone strip your character bare of their dignity and self-worth requires trust. You must trust the other actor. I trust Jeff Moore.

Rehearsals were going great; all of this thinking, all of this trust and none of that troublesome feeling. How pleasant rehearsal was without the actual degradation of being isolated from one’s family; having your abuser control all of the money; dealing with your oppressor’s conceited superiority; bearing up under corrosive, humiliating sarcasm; dodging escalating threats; watching while they minimize and justify their actions.

Before long, I knew that I was on some form of auto-pilot. Disconnected, going through the motions. I felt numb. I began to suspect where all of these emotions were hidden, for my character and for myself. Deep at the bottom of Althea’s well. Night after night I avoided that well of emotion, peered down into it occasionally, danced a big wide circle around it. I was not compelled to discover what was down there. And then it finally happened.

Out in the world, I found out that I had inadvertently hurt someone else’s feelings. It was not until that episode that I started to feel again. I had been insensitive and brackish and had not even recognized that I had hurt them. Creeping up on me like a thief, I was overcome with emotion. I cried for three days. I made someone else feel terrible and that made me feel…alive. Whole again. I had finally jumped in the well.

16 days, 15 hours and 40 minutes into rehearsal and I had kept my feelings at bay. But now I had broken the seal. I had lifted the lid. I was staring into the abyss and all bets were off. I realized at that point that I would discover no more truths about dear, vulnerable Althea Wheeler until I had dealt with all the feelings that I had let bottle up inside me for the last four weeks. That translated into more journaling, more meditation and more late night conversations.

I feel safe and cared for as I sift through these last remaining insights. Thankfully, I am walking in good company with the other members of this cast. Aside from the men who keep me laughing, the beautiful Regan Kreigh, who plays the role of Elaine, is my tender sounding board and eternal champion; Leslie Hormann, playing Rose, makes me feel strong and empowered and Nate Brophy, who plays my son Joe, has done something no one else has done for decades, intensified my love affair with the stage. Feelings….ahhhhhhhh.

The Fort Wayne Civic Theater presents Althea’s Well
Arts United Center
303 East Main Street

Saturday, June 2 at 8:00 pm (with post discussion)*
Friday, June 8 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, June 9 at 2:00 pm

Tickets: $24 Adults; $16 youth/student

Tickets available at the box office; or call (260) 424-5220; or online at fwcivic.org.



Susan Domer is the marketing and public relations specialist for the IPFW College of Visual and Performing Arts. She has performed in local theatre for the past 30 years and treasures the process of creating characters for the stage.