More "Mauritius" with the Charming Sarah Stone Innerst

A few days ago, we heard from Kevin Paul Wickart on the subject of Theresa Rebeck's "Mauritius," opening February 16th at Heartland Theatre. Wickart plays Philip, the owner of a dusty and somewhat forlorn stamp shop. He's one of three men interested in nabbing some valuable stamps -- the Mauritius Post Office stamps -- which were left to a pair (or to one or the other) of half-sisters who don't agree on what to do with the stamps or to whom they actually belong.

Sarah Stone Innerst is playing Jackie, the younger of the two sisters, the one who is at the heart of the stamp conflict in "Mauritius." She's a very intriguing character, so I was most interested in hearing what Sarah had to say about Jackie, as well as about her own acting career, and how she got to be here.

Sarah Stone Innerst

Thanks for letting me ask you all these questions, Sarah! Let’s start with some background info. I believe your husband is Josh Innerst, one of the group of eight actors who are almost finished with their three-year MFA acting program at ISU, which means you probably came to Bloomington-Normal in 2009. Is that right?

Yes, Josh and I came to Bloomington-Normal in June 2009 so he could get his MFA from ISU and learn from its prestigious faculty. We are so happy we came - many of the people we interacted with in these past three years will no doubt be dear friends for years to come.

Where were you before that?

Josh did the internship at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre during the 2008-2009 season, and we loved our time in Milwaukee! The city has a similar feel to where I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.

I’m guessing your husband has plans to be a professional actor, given the program he’s in. What about you? Is your academic background in theater, too?

Now that Josh is wrapping up his education, it's my turn! I am auditioning for grad schools across the nation in hopes of finding the right MFA Acting program for me. My academic background is not in theatre - I have a B.S. in Family and Consumer Sciences and a B.A. in Humanities - but I did get involved in theatre in college since my minor was Speech. That's where Josh and I met: we were in a production of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None together.

I know from Kevin Wickart’s interview last week that since you’ve been in B-N, you’ve done “The Pajama Game” at Community Players. And I know from being in the audience that you were in one of last summer’s 10-minute plays at Heartland Theatre, plus you were part of the ISU/Heartland collaboration on Chekhov’s “Three Sisters,” also directed by Sandi Zielinski, who is directing “Mauritius.” Did I miss any of your B-N credits?

I also did The Diviners with Michael Pullin at Heartland last fall. I loved working with both Kevin and Michael, and I was thrilled when I found out we were all cast in Mauritius!

I can't believe I forgot "The Diviners." Good work there, too!

All in all, “The Pajama Game” is very different from “Colored Entrance Around Back,” a short play reminiscent of “The Help,” and “Three Sisters,” with its heavy emotional drama, as well as "The Diviners," which also gets pretty dark as it examines faith and consequences in a small town during the Depression. Which do you prefer, the lighter fare or the more dramatic?

Oh, that's a hard question - that's like asking if I prefer milkshakes or ice cream! I love both comedy and drama in different ways. Comedy is great because I love a fast-paced story that tells the truth in a witty way. Drama is fulfilling because it slows life down and allows you to tell a complex story with complex characters. Both genres have the core of truth, and both genres allow the audience to laugh at some point. I love that both comedy and drama can be funny.

Where did you get your start on stage?

My elementary school's production of Raise the Flag was my first stage experience; I was in first grade, and I played Daughter #2 in a very cute Pilgrim outfit that my mother made. My first speaking role was in fourth grade as Sissy Seagull in Patch the Pirate Goes to the Jungle. My cousin was also in that play, and I remember being loathe to put my head on his shoulder when the script demanded it. I like to think I've grown in my art since then.

You started young, so there was plenty of time to grow! Do you have a favorite role you’ve played over the years since Sissy Seagull?

My favorite role so far has been Doris in last summer's 10-Minute Play Colored Entrance Around Back at Heartland Theatre. I got to know the character very well, and the experience all around was delightful.

Glad to hear it. I love the 10-Minute Play Festival, too. How about something you would love to play if given the chance?

Anna from The King and I! That's the role I was born to play. I would also like to tackle Portia from Merchant of Venice; I love her intelligence and integrity.

I can see some similarities between Anna and Portia, I think. Including intelligence and integrity. There's also a certain persistence and ingenuity in both of them. Interesting. So how does “Mauritius,” with its slightly sinister story of siblings who don’t get along and nefarious stamp collectors with ulterior motives, fit into the overall picture of your acting career? Have you played someone like Jackie before?

I have a pretty broad spectrum of characters on my acting resume, but most of them tend to be fairly matronly and have their act together. I have never played anyone like Jackie before - Director Sandi Zielinski was very gracious to give me this opportunity to grow in my art! I am so grateful to be working with her; she is a great teacher, and I feel very safe creating something onstage knowing she will tell me if it works or not.

From left, Michael Pullin, Andrew Head and Sarah Stone Innerst
as they appear in "Mauritius" for Heartland Theatre.
Photo credit: Jesse Folks

I think, for me, Jackie is probably the most interesting character in “Mauritius,” since it seems obvious that there is a lot out there that this girl wants, even if she isn’t clear on how to get it. I’d say there’s quite a bit under the surface with Jackie. How would you describe her?

Oh, Jackie is a spitfire! She is a damaged girl who has missed out on a lot in life - and now she wants to create a new one. Theresa Rebeck, author of Mauritius, has done most of the character work for me; she is a brilliant author. It is hard for me to understand Jackie's feelings of betrayal, loneliness, emptiness, desperation, and anger. I have experienced these only on a small scale, so I observed people I love who have known these trials first-hand. Observation plus imagination plus empathy is what you will see onstage at Mauritius. I hope it translates into truth.

What are you enjoying most about this “Mauritius” experience?

I have loved the stage combat! I've done some dancing onstage, but this is the first time I have done any fighting.

Kevin said the same thing about the stage fighting. Sounds like a feisty cast! What would you say is the biggest challenge for you so far?

The biggest challenge I have encountered is probably the text memorization - Jackie's speech pattern is very colloquial: "I didn't, um, okay. Can you just - yeah. I don't, um. I'm not. Just get out of here." And our stage manager Melissa Mullen is a stickler about getting lines word-perfect! (Just as she should be!)

Okay, um, then, I mean... Uh, what do you do when you're not on stage?

When I'm not on stage, I am either at work or getting inspired by nature, books, or art. I work at the Bloomington Public Library during the day! I am the Support Services Manager: I am in charge of Building Maintenance & Operations and Custodial & Security Staff, and I act as a liaison between the library and its various boards. I really enjoy being at the library - as someone who grew up using the library, I understand and appreciate its importance in the community.

Do you have plans for where you’ll be heading after May?

Josh will be working at the Utah Shakespeare Festival this summer, and I will wrap things up here and join him later in the summer. If I go to grad school in the fall, that city will become our home base, and Josh will travel as necessary from there. Both of us would prefer to work in regional theatres across the country, but it's quite possible that we will end up in New York City at some point in the near future.

Thanks so much, Sarah! I hope to keep seeing you on area stages while we still have the chance. And best of luck with those grad school applications!

Alister Smith's Triumphant Return to the Gallery!

Local musician and guitar master Alister Smith has announced that he will be returning (not just returning, but triumphantly returning) to "the place where I cut my teeth and electrocuted my lips on my first ungrounded microphone."

Although he will not actually be playing at the Gallery (where he cut his teeth and electrocuted his lip), Smith will be playing at the Firehouse Pizza and Pub on Beaufort Street in Normal, which he figures to be as close to the old Gallery as he's going to get in 2012.

All of this happens on Friday, February 10, at approximately 9 pm, when Smith opens for the singer from the band Moto and Mike Felton, an acoustic/blues/folk rock performer from Chicago.

For more information, you can visit Alister Smith's Facebook page for the event here, or check out Firehouse Pizza and Pub here.

Oscar's Best Pics: "Moneyball"

On paper, "Moneyball" ought to be perfect for my household. We love baseball, we love baseball movies, and my husband is a computer programmer who loves statistics and was on-board with Bill James and SABR ages ago. I think he even wrote for some of SABR's publications back in the early 80s. SABR, by the way, is the Society for American Baseball Research, and it provides the SAB and R in "Sabermetrics," which is all about using statistics and empirical evidence to analyze baseball players to figure out who has helped and can help your team win.

It's what Jonah Hill's fictional character Peter Brand brings to the table in "Moneyball," opening the eyes of a desperate Billy Beane, GM of the then-hapless Oakland Athletics, helping the team rise from the cellar of the American League West.

Billy Beane is real. Peter Brand is not. Most of the other characters in "Moneyball" are real, even though in various cases, they're Hollywoodized, prettied up, made more conflicted or drawn in sharper lines to create drama. Obviously, that process worked for somebody, as the film has done very well and earned not only a Best Picture nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but a Best Actor nomination for Brad Pitt, playing Billy Beane, and a Best Supporting Actor nod for Jonah Hill as his schlubby numbers guy.

Frankly, I'm mystified as to what all those Oscar (and AFI, BAFTA, Golden Globes, SAG and various guilds and critics groups) voters are seeing. "Moneyball" is okay. Brad Pitt is okay. Jonah Hill is okay.

But what should be an exciting story about how technology changed baseball, how the people who ran a very old and traditional game came to accept something new and different, instead feels soft and sluggish. Brad Pitt is playing the same world-weary, down-on-his-luck, sad sack you've seen a million times in better movies, from better actors. He coulda been somebody. A contender. He screwed it up with his ex-wife. He has a cute kid. He wants to do better, to show he's not just a nobody, a loser.

Yeah, well, that line forms behind Terry Malloy, Roy Hobbs, Rocky (Balboa), Rocky (Graziano), Jake LaMotta, Bull Durham, Jim Piersall, all those Angels in the Outfield, and that guy in "Field of Dreams."

The real Billy Beane is a perfectly nice looking guy, if not a Golden Boy like Brad Pitt. But he also has intelligence, intensity, energy... None of which holds true for Brad Pitt's Billy Beane, who mostly plays like... Brad Pitt. He's sweet. He looks a little scruffy, I'm guessing so that we can see that his Billy Beane is down on his luck. In general, he acts kind of hang-dog and depressed. We mostly see him driving around, staring into space or kicking furniture (to ramp up a little intensity, I suppose.) If you're thinking I found this Billy Beane less than compelling, you would be right.

As his sidekick, Jonah Hill is amusing. Slightly. But no more than that. His real-life counterpart, Paul DePodesta, is better looking than Hill, in a weird Hollywood reversal. But DePodesta supposedly didn't care for the way he was represented in the first drafts of the "Moneyball" screenplay, so he opted out, and they created "Peter Brand," an amalgam of several different people, instead. Hill does well personifying a nerdy computer guy stereotype and looking befuddled when called upon to talk at scout meetings where they discuss players' potential. And he and Pitt create a nice buddy chemistry.

But it's all so dull... So soft-focus... So slow...

I liked the scenes with the scouts, who I think must be real-life scouts drafted to act as themselves in the film. They seemed gruff and hard-boiled enough to be the real thing, plus they offer a nice contrast to pudgy sweetpea Peter Brand and world-weary Brad Pitt-Beane. (I have a hard time calling the character Billy Beane, since there is a real Billy Beane who is so little like this one.)

And Chris Pratt, who is so good as a doofus on "Parks and Recreation," does fine as Scott Hatteburg, a player only a Sabermetrics guy could love. They even did a decent job intercutting footage of the real Hatteburg with Pratt at the plate.

But the talents of Robin Wright, who plays Beane's ex-wife, Philip Seymour Hoffman, as a very fictionalized version of Athletics' coach Art Howe, and especially Tammy Blanchard, as the mostly invisible wife of a player, are wasted. And Spike Jonze, the director, seems truly bizarre as Beane's ex's flaky new husband.

"Moneyball" strikes me as a movie with no there there. It's all mood and no content, all hunches and no statistics, and it runs at 2 hours and 13 minutes, which is about 40 minutes too long to establish Beane the character and show us how he turned around the A's against the opposition of baseball's entrenched money men.

In case you're wondering, the Sabermetrician in the house also votes thumbs down. He thinks the numbers are far more interesting.

Great Opportunity to Get Your Art Up!

It totally makes sense that the McLean County Arts Center is looking for art. But this time, they're looking for art to display at the brand-new Uptown Station, the Multimodal Transportation Center right in the center of Uptown Normal. This competition, which promises to pay artists for their work (out of a budget somewhere around $100,000) in addition to the joy of seeing that work displayed inside the station, is only open to McLean county residents, but choice of material or kind of art is wide open.

That's the Uptown Station you see under construction at right. As planned, there will be plenty of space for art in this 68,000 square foot, four-story structure. McArts tells us how the space will be used: "The first floor of the facility will accommodate Amtrak and BNPTS ticketing and office space, waiting areas, a food court, retail, and general community information. The second and third floors will accommodate Town of Normal municipal offices. The fourth floor includes public meeting space and the Town Council chambers for the Town of Normal."

McArts lists specific requirements at the link, including digital images of the work proposed and a resume that offers the artist's professional achievements and exhibitions. Although no subject matter is specified, just the location of the artists, a slice of Bloomington-Normal life is what I'd want to see on the walls of the station while I wait for my train if I got to choose. And because I know some fabulous photographers, I'd love to see some photographic art make the cut.

(Don't worry. I don't get to choose. The panel of judges is Doug Johnson, Executive Director of the McLean County Arts Center, Natalie Goken Wetzel, co-owner of the Pod, "an eclectic specialty art and gift boutique" located near the Children's Museum in Uptown Normal, and Slate Grove, an artist and MFA candidate at Illinois State University who works in glass. They sound a lot better qualified to pick art than me!)

Susan Smith Blackburn Finalists Announced

The 2012 finalists for the Susan Smith Blackburn prize, which carries an award of $20,000 to the winning playwright, have been announced. They include one Irish, five American and four British playwrights.

This year's finalists are:

Johnna Adams (U.S.), for "Gidion’s Knot," submitted by The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.

Alice Birch (U.K.), for "Many Moons," submitted by Theatre 503 in London.

Madeleine George (U.S.), for "Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England," submitted by Clubbed Thumb in New York.

Jennifer Haley (U.S.), for "The Nether," submitted by Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.

Nancy Harris (Ireland), for "No Romance," submitted by the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

Zinnie Harris (U.K.), for "The Wheel," submitted by National Theatre of Scotland.

Molly Smith Metzler (U.S.), for "Close Up Space," submitted by Manhattan Theatre Club.

Meg Miroshnik (U.S.), for "The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls," submitted by Alliance Theatre in Atlanta.

Jaki McCarrick (U.K.), for "Belfast Girls," submitted by King’s Head Theatre in London.

Alexis Zegerman (U.K.), for "The Steingolds," submitted by Playful Productions of London.

The Blackburn prize is awarded annually to "recognize women who have written works of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theatre." Previous finalists Margaret Edson, Beth Henley, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Paula Vogel and Wendy Wasserstein went on to win Pulitzer Prizes after their Blackburn honors.

Plays are nominated by professional theaters, and nominated scripts are then read by an international panel of judges. The 2012 judging panel includes familiar names like Martha Lavey, actress and Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago; actress Frances McDormand, who won the Best Actress Oscar for "Fargo;" Ben Power, Associate Director of Britain's National Theatre; and actress Imogen Stubbs, who has played Desdemona for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Stella opposite Jessica Lange in "Streetcar," as well as appearing as Viola in the 1996 film version of "Twelfth Night."

For more information about the nominated playwrights, click here. You can also read what judge Randy Gener (an award-winning writer, editor and critic) thought about the process here. He's not telling who won, though! That will be announced in London on February 28th.

The art you see with this post is an original Willem DeKooning lithograph created just for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The winning playwright gets the lithograph in addition to the $20,000 cash prize.

Lori Adams Honored with Rives Award for Teaching Excellence

The 2011-2012 Stan and Sandy Rives Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education has been awarded to Illinois State University Theatre Professor Lori Adams, who acts as head of the Undergraduate Acting Program in ISU's School of Theatre. The Rives award will be presented to Adams at the Founders Day Convocation on Thursday, February 16th, at 2 pm.

According to ISU's press release, the Stan and Sandy Rives Award was created to recognize "outstanding teaching or any significant contribution to the undergraduate experience, with special attention given to the first-year experience." That makes it a perfect match for Adams, whose position puts her in charge of more than 150 undergraduate acting majors,. She personally auditions and interviews each incoming acting undergrad, and makes it her mission to stay in touch and guide them through that crucial first year at ISU.

It is also part of Adams' responsibility to coach and prepare the student actors who will represent ISU in the Irene Ryan Award competition at the annual American College Theatre Festival. Adams' actors have done very well in the ACTF competition, with ISU's Clayton Joyner named one of two national Irene Ryan champions in 2011, and Owais Ahmed and Abby Vombrack winning at the regional level in Urbana last month, earning the right to advance to the ACTF finals at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.


Aside from her ISU responsibilities, Lori Adams is a very well-regarded director, recently earning "Best Director" honors from St. Louis Post-Dispatch critic Judith Newmark for her work on "Falling" at St. Louis's Mustard Seed Theatre, and a prominent actress, with notable credits in Alan Ayckbourn's "Woman in Mind" and Martin McDonagh's "The Beauty Queen of Lenane" at Heartland Theatre and in "Macbeth" and "Henry VIII" at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. As you can see from the poster above, Adams also starred in "Shame the Devil: An Audience with Fanny Kemble," a one-woman show written by Anne Ludlam that toured extensively around the US and Canada.

Up Close and Personal with Kevin Paul Wickart on "Mauritius"

Heartland Theatre's production of Theresa Rebeck's "Mauritius" opens two weeks from tonight. To get an inside look at the show, I put actor Kevin Paul Wickart (shown below), who plays Philip, the owner of a scruffy stamp shop, under the microscope.

Hi, Kevin! Thanks for chatting with me. Congratulations on being cast in Theresa Rebeck’s “Mauritius” for Heartland Theatre. Had you heard of the play before the audition notice went up?

Thank you, Julie. No, I hadn't heard of the play before. I had done some research on the show that Heartland had originally been looking at, and later noticed the change in the schedule. I kept in touch with (i.e. "hounded") Mike and Gail Dobbins to see about getting a review copy of the script, so I was familiar with the play before auditions were announced.

You’ve described “Mauritius” this way: “The discovery of a possibly-valuable stamp collection brings out the absolute worst in five people.” What can you add to that? What is “Mauritius” really about? And what does the title refer to?

That was my "one breath" synopsis for Facebook. The slightly longer version is: "Mauritius" is about two half-sisters whose mother has passed away after an extended illness. In going through her belongings, they find an old stamp collection that may contain the Holy Grail of stamp collecting--two incredibly rare stamps from the island country of Mauritius. When one of the sisters attempts to have the collection appraised, three men begin plotting to get hold of it.

Rebeck has taken some flak for supposedly writing “Mamet Lite” with this play, with some comparisons to “American Buffalo.” What do you think about that?

I think that some of the comparisons to Mamet are inevitable, given the use of profanity in the show. Like Mamet, Rebeck uses profanity to give her characters a measure of contemporary verity, rather than for shock value. I'm not sure what comparisons to Mamet's "American Buffalo" can be--or are being--made, other than use of the device of collecting and a bunch of people behaving badly. In plays of this type, there is always a "McGuffin," the thing that is sought by the characters, and the seeking of which invariably reveals their true natures. Whether that McGuffin is a stamp collection, coin collection, or the Hand of the Maiden Fair, the core plot is that of The Quest. What remains is the question of what each character is willing to do to get it. So...yeah, there are similarites.

How does your character, Philip, fit into things? How can you describe him?

Philip is a stamp dealer and expert, in whose store much of the play takes place. He has a history with the character of Sterling; though their views regarding stamps are quite similar, there is an "unpleasantness" between them.

As you go through rehearsals, what are you enjoying most about the play?

There are so many things! As an actor, I'm really enjoying the process of finding my character's motivations and voice, and seeing how he plays out against the other characters. And, of course, I love being part of a show that includes new and old friends.

I’m going to guess that the fight rehearsals are your least favorite part, given your description of being “slammed, punched and pummeled repeatedly about the head and body.” Or maybe you enjoyed that? Who knows?

Actually, I am loving fight rehearsals! I can only imagine what it'll all look like from the audience, but from my perspective it's completely awesome!

What is it like working with director Sandi Zielinski and the rest of the cast? Have you worked with Andrew Head, Sarah Stone Innerst, Michael Pullin or Nancy Sultan before? I would imagine a lot of snap and crackle with those scene partners.

Working with Sandi is amazing. She continually challenges us to look deeper into our characters, to keep us from getting complacent.

Also keeping me on my toes is the fact that I'm working with a group of talented and experienced actors. I worked--and sang and danced--with Sarah in "The Pajama Game" at Community Players, and I worked with Michael as an actor in last October's Discovery Walk at Evergreen Cemetery. Nancy and Andy were new to me, but we're all blending quite nicely. And yes, there is a lot of "crackle" in some of the scenes.

Although I have known you for a while, I realized I don’t actually know much about your past theater career or non-theater career, for that matter. So when did you first step on the stage and who or what were you playing?

Hmm...easier asked than answered, I think. Assuming you mean local stages, my first foray was as Mr. Meeker in Heartland's production of "Inherit the Wind" at the Historical Museum in 1990 or thereabouts.

I actually did mean your first role ever, and now that I know that’s hard to answer, I’m even more intrigued. Was it traumatic, like you were a Goose A-Laying in a Christmas pageant? Or a ham, like Scout in “To Kill a Mockingbird”? Or is it just that you’ve done so much theater that you really can’t remember? Maybe you were Cousin Oliver on “The Brady Bunch” and you don’t want to reveal your secret identity?

Ah. Well, then...my first role that I can recall was that of Baby Bear in my second grade production of "Alice in Christmasland."

How long have you been in Bloomington-Normal?

I came downstate to attend ISU in 1977, and pretty much forgot to go back home.

What did you study at ISU?

I studied a little Physics, a little Computer Science, and some Psychology.

All good things for keeping your acting honest and your singing on the beat! And what do you do when you’re not on stage?

I've been known to put some time in as a Bank Technician at State Farm Bank. In my copious free time I relax at home with my family, hang out with friends (most of whom are theatre folk), or build model rockets.

I know you have performed locally in both musicals (“Titanic” at Community Players and “HMS Pinafore” for Prairie Fire) and straight plays (“Don’t Forget to Play My Numbers” at Heartland last summer), plus you directed a Neil Sedaka revue for Prairie Fire Theatre. Do you have a favorite role you’ve played thus far? How about a role you’d love to play if you were running the world?

My favorite role so far was my debut with Community Players, playing seven characters in their production of "The Woman in Black" in 2008. As far as a role I'd love to play (if I were running the world), I think I'd have to go with something from Shakespeare--Hamlet or Puck, perhaps. I love the language, the poetry, and the intensity of his characters.

Wow. Hamlet and Puck are not usually in the same actor's repertoire. Interesting. (Note to casting directors out there: You have a potential Hamlet or Puck who can also handle the physics in "Copenhagen" and "Arcadia." Just sayin'.)

Back to "Mauritius" as we close out here. How is “Mauritius” different from what you’ve done before?

Mainly, it's my first use of violence and profanity on stage. Considering the number of shows I've done over the years, I find this rather amazing.

And, finally, what (aside from the violence and profanity) makes “Mauritius” a do-not miss for audiences?

We have a top-notch cast and crew, the characters are complex and being fine-tuned every day, and the script is excellent and fast-paced, having been crafted by an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. All the elements are there for a top-level show, under the guidance of an amazing director. All we need now is an equally fine audience.

Thanks, Kevin!

It's been my pleasure!


"Mauritius" opens at Heartland Theatre on February 16th, with performances running through March 4. For reservation information, click here.