Grace & Glorie, presented by the Colony Theatre Company, opens June 12; plays Thurs.-Fri., 8 pm; Sat., 3 and 8 pm; Sun., 2 pm (no performances over July 4th weekend); through July 18. TIckets: $20-$42. Colony Theatre, 555 N. Third St., Burbank; 818.558.7000, ext. 15 or colonytheatre.org.

Beth Grant is one of the most prolific character actresses in Hollywood. She opens at the Colony Theatre on June 12 as Grace in Tom Ziegler’s Grace & Glorie one night after Del Shores, the playwright of The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife which garnered Grant an Ovation Award for Performance in a Leading Role, will have opened his newest play, Yellow, at the Coast Playhouse. And in case that isn’t enough serendipity, the character of the aspiring actress in Yellow is named Gracie.

Grant has been “graced” with a career unaffected by the usual problems actresses encounter as they age past the “Hollywood Golden Years” into their 40s and beyond. Although 90-year-old Grace is probably the biggest stretch, she has often been cast in older roles and even when the character was closer to her actual age, the downtrodden women (who have become her specialty) each projected an image of ladies past their prime. “I love all my characters. They are like close friends to me who are trying to change and doing their best in whatever situation the writer has created for them. They are all women first and as Maya Angelou explains, ‘All women are recovering from slavery,’ We’ve only had the vote in this country for about 85 years.”

Beth Grant and Melinda Page Hamilton

Growing up in the South, Grant was well aware she did not look like the stereotypically gentle and beautiful Southern Belle. “Women who looked like me with my square jaw, angular features and thin lips coupled with a large personality stood out. I was a bit of a misfit. I’m grateful for that now but back then it was painful.”

As Grant reveals a memory from her past, it is easy to understand how she takes her “ladies” out of the realm of film or the confines of the stage and brings them to life in a way that makes her audience instantly recognize and empathize. “I once had a meditation where I went to a white clapboard house in the country and who should come to the door but me. I was in a housedress wearing a ponytail and no make-up and I said, ‘Come in, we’ve been waiting for you.’

“I came out of the meditation and I knew all those earthy women needed me with my particular appearance and history to tell their stories and that this destiny of mine is a very high honor. I feel their pain, their joy, their love, their truths and their hearts. It is my honor and pleasure to portray them and tell their stories.”

With Grace & Glorie, Grant is once again working with her director and friend Cameron Watson. “We met when he played my son-in-law in the world premiere of Horton Foote’s The Day Emily Married. I’ve been a huge fan of his ever since and he also directed me in his feature film, Our Very Own, which was distributed by Miramax. Here is another bit of trivia: Cam and I crossed paths when we appeared on the same episode of Bones.”

The team of Watson and Grant are currently working on a play titled The New York Way (co-written by Judy Nagy), which they plan to workshop in August. “I am so excited to have the opportunity to do this deep work on Grace & Glorie guided by his careful, sensitive hand. Also, I have long been an admirer of Barbara Beckley who runs the Colony. Going to that theatre makes me feel this is what it must have been like to be welcomed into the home of Antoinette Perry or some great lady of the theatre – which Barbara is.”

Melinda Page Hamilton and Beth Grant

The recognizable but relatively unknown Grant is not bothered by her public anonymity. “It’s perfect for me although I have been getting spotted more and more as time goes on. I’ve noticed people are starting to know my name.” Her film work in Little Miss Sunshine, Donnie Darko, Rain Man and No Country for Old Men has certainly contributed to that end. “I have just enough attention to make me feel good and not so much that I feel unsafe or can’t have a moment alone. I think I’m like a turtle – slow and steady wins the race. I thought I was a sprinter but turns out I’m a long distance runner and I’m happy it turned out this way. I think I’m still moving forward and I’m highly motivated.”

As many successful actors will attest, the power of the performance is in understanding the play and honoring the writing. “I am reading the script of Grace & Glorie over and over again while making notes and asking questions. I am opening my heart to my grandmothers, my aunts and my ancestors and allowing memories from childhood to flow in as I take note of them. I am looking in the mirror at my angular, country woman’s face and imagining it as if I were uninterested in or unable to afford the expensive creams I buy to keep my skin taut and moist. I am visualizing the Southern women I’ve known and I am remembering my mother’s death.”

Grace is a feisty illiterate 90-year-old who has checked herself out of the hospital and returned to her home in the mountains of Virginia. Gloria, (played by Melinda Page Hamilton) is a transplanted New Yorker with a Harvard MBA who is volunteering as a hospice caregiver. Their cultures and generations collide in this comedy/drama about love, loss and the search for meaning in our lives.

Hamilton played Grant’s daughter last season at San Diego’s Old Globe in the world premiere of Cornelia by Mark V. Olsen. “When I work I am like an animal on the hunt and I expect I can be trying in my fevered pursuit of details. I am an obsessive Virgo and I’m so thrilled Melinda is on board because she goes the distance. What a luxury to know how each other works and to have mutual respect from the outset. It means we can dig in immediately and with Cam at the helm, this is delicious work.”

Melinda Page Hamilton and Beth Grant

The play celebrates the strength and resiliency of women at every age.  Grant explains, “If I had been born in another time, Grace could easily have been me. I have a deep faith in a higher power and at least for the moment, I have made my peace with death. I am not as afraid of it as I used to be because I have lost so many loved ones and feel that somehow they will all be waiting for me on the other side.

“When my mother was passing away about a year and a half ago the Palliative Care people at the MPTV Fund gave me a pamphlet, which is actually referenced in Grace & Glorie. It gave me a new way to look at death, particularly in a poem by Henry Van Dyke titled, Gone From My Sight. I like knowing that Gracie’s belief is that death is part of life. I now believe that to be true and I’m so excited to play a woman who, while coming to terms with death, continues to be willing to question her beliefs – to change and grow – even on her deathbed. And, she is funny. I love that this is a comedy about death. It’s also about passing what we know from generation to generation. It is about all of us.”

Despite her successful film career, Grant continues to return to the theatre – including the smaller venues where remuneration is decidedly low. “There is nothing like doing a play. It’s such hard work but oh, the pure exhilaration and physical joy of stepping onto that stage and into the unknown where anything can happen. You are going into the skin of a character you’ve carefully researched and developed in rehearsal and discovering moments of truth you didn’t even know were coming. That feeling of absolutely channeling another person – it’s the closest I come to feeling the presence of God, the creative force of the universe. And, it’s almost tangible.

“I guess you could say theatre is my drug of choice. I love film acting too and get those same feelings when the camera is rolling. But to have that divine energy racing through me for the hour or two of the length of a play is whoooo hoooo! There is nothing like it. It’s worth every penny I don’t make while doing theatre. It strengthens me, nurtures me, teaches me and builds my endurance. And, I hear learning all those lines prevents Alzheimers! Hope that’s true.”

Production photos by Michael Lamont

Article by Connie Danese