The Matchmaker, presented by Interact Theatre Company, opens Sept. 12; plays Fri.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 4 pm; through Oct. 18. Tickets: $25. The Victory Theatre Center, 3326 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank; 818.765.8732 or InteractLA.org.

Prior to starting a rehearsal for the Interact Theatre Company’s production of Thornton Wilder’s 1956 stage play The Matchmaker, director Dave Florek, actors Amanda Carlin, James Gleason and James Greene are only too happy to discuss this landmark work. The play has enjoyed countless revivals, was adapted into a feature film starring Shirley Booth and inspired the Tony Award winning musical Hello Dolly! starring Carol Channing which was then made into a movie starring Barbra Streisand.

Dave Florek

“My first involvement with Thornton Wilder was seeing Our Town when I was 20,” Florek recalls. “It was an important experience for me. It made me want to play the Stage Manager, which I eventually did. This is my first time directing a Wilder play.”

Set in mid-1890s New York, The Matchmaker follows the adventures and misadventures of widow Dolly Gallagher Levi (Carlin).  Believing it is time to move on in life, she has set her sights on the rich but miserly Yonkers merchant Horace Vandergelder (Gleason), who believes he has hired Dolly to find him a young wife. The question is: Who eventually gets paired with whom?

“Wilder has constructed this play so well, our objective is to perform the tasks he has laid out,” says Florek, whose local directorial credits include All Work and No Play, one acts by Harold Pinter and Elaine May, Rabbit Hole, Down Along the Brazos, I Never Sang for My Father, Marvin’s Room, The Laramie Project, Jerry and Tom and Mark Twain: A River Journey. “There is a flavor to his language and to his action that I want to get across with the wonderful talent I have to work with. I don’t believe there is a deep life lesson to reveal.  Wilder calls it a farce. I think it is a sweet, lovely play that tells a wonderful story. Our aim is to tell it very, very well.”

Gleason, who is playing the pompous, self-serving Vandergelder, has a special fondness for Wilder. “I actually met my wife while doing The Skin of Our Teeth at UCLA. That is the only Wilder play I’ve done until now. Vandergelder is a different kind of role for me. But I think I am of an age where I understand where he is coming from and what motivates him.  I’m just going to put on those mutton chops and give it my all.” Gleason recently finished the national tour of LA Theatre Works production of The Battle for the Pentagon Papers with John Heard and Susan Sullivan.

Carlin, a founding member of Interact, addresses the major task the playwright has set up for Dolly, which is leading a stubborn soul like Vandergelder away from wanting the younger woman and, instead, choosing Dolly. “These two people have a history,” says Carlin. “Dolly was his late wife’s oldest friend. She says at one point, ‘You danced with me at my wedding and I danced with you at yours.’ They have a friendship that is rare for that time. He accepts her as a business woman and he trusts her. I think it is all there. They have the potential for a richer relationship that Dolly eventually is able to make Horace see and appreciate.”

Greene, who played the Stage Manager (alternating with Florek) in Interact’s acclaimed 2003 revival of Wilder’s Our Town, is quite happy to play the supporting role of Malachi. “My playing Malachi probably makes him the world’s oldest apprentice merchant,” Greene chuckles, “but he’s quite a character and a lot of fun to play.”

Greene also has the distinction of not only meeting Thornton Wilder but dining with him as well. “I was appearing in one of Wilder’s one-act plays, called Infancy, directed by Jose Quintero,” he recalls. “This was 1963 in New York. Wilder was at the theatre a few times while we were in production. One day Jose invited him and a couple of us actors over to his apartment for dinner. Wilder was thoroughly charming and gracious.”

Through the years, Greene has developed a strong appreciation for Wilder’s ability to create memorable personalities on stage. “Wilder’s characters are so playable, even the minor ones,” says Greene. “Malachi is kind of a good time Charlie who talks himself into the apprentice job by making up all these stories about his experience. He’s a fun-loving guy who always has a nose for where the action is and that is appealing to play.”

“We are aiming to emphasize the colorful aspects of the characters,” Florek affirms. “I chose to disregard a lot of farcical business written into the play in italics. Wilder’s inherent genius as a playwright and this phenomenal ensemble is what will make our production of The Matchmaker memorable.”

The Interact Theatre Company’s staging of The Matchmaker is a visiting production at the Victory Theatre Center. Founded in January 1990, Interact has distinguished itself as one of the most critically acclaimed theater ensembles in Los Angeles, garnering 78 awards and 148 nominations for Outstanding and/or Distinguished Achievement in Theatre. But ITC has been without a permanent space since June 2004.

“Our desire has always been to have a theater of our own,” says actor/director John Rubenstein who joined Interact in 1992 and has served as its President (2000-2003). “Our first theater was on Hart Street in North Hollywood (the former Theatre Exchange). We tried to buy the building but zoning regulations were too restrictive.” In January of 2000, Interact leased and completely renovated a new space on Bakman Avenue in the heart of the burgeoning NoHo Arts District. “We put so much sweat and tears into that theater space,” Rubenstein recalls. “We staged highly successful productions of A Little Night Music (2001), Death of a Salesman (2002), Our Town (2003), the world première of ITC member Steven Hack’s Willie’s Son (2003) and Guys and Dolls (2003). Interact was on a great roll but unexpectedly had to leave the Bakman space.”

In June 2004, Interact began its latest transformation, operating temporarily as a transient theater ensemble. It initiated a series of staged readings at Hallenbeck’s General Store in North Hollywood. In 2004 and 2005, the company presented two series of plays, 2 x 4 and 3 x 4, at the NoHo Arts Center. In 2006 ITC had a sold-out run of the Tony Award winning musical Urinetown at the Matrix Theatre in West Hollywood, and continued in 2007 with The Boarding House at Write Act Rep in Hollywood.

“It has been a rewarding experience being hosted by Victory Theatre Center for our 2009 revivals of The Dining Room in January and now The Matchmaker,” says current ITC President Amanda Troop. “However, we have always had a desire to return to North Hollywood. I am delighted to announce we have been invited to make our new home at the NoHo Arts Center, beginning in January 2010. We will be sharing the space with the Center’s resident company, each producing two mainstage shows next year. In the spring, we will produce a musical to celebrate our return to NoHo and our 20th anniversary as a company. We have proven our resolve and resilience over the last six years. It will be deeply satisfying to settle into a new home in the community where we started.”

Article by Julio Martinez

Photos of James Gleason, Amanda Carlin, and James Greene by Amanda Troop