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Family affair
(by Kara Krekeler - August 13, 2008)
Actors can wait upwards of 50 years to play the role of a lifetime, the role they were born to play. But Jack Bourgeois is playing that role at the age of 18.
This weekend, Jack will perform as returning World War II hero Timmy in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Subject Was Roses at the Black Cat Theatre in Maplewood. The play is a longtime favorite of Jack’s father, Bob Bourgeois, who will play Timmy’s father in the production.
“I call this project 18 years in the making,” Jack said, adding that his dad has wanted him to play Timmy since Jack first expressed interest in acting eight years ago. “He always said that we’d do this the summer I turned 18, and he’d direct me. But this summer, we realized that he can’t direct me in this — he needs to play the father in it.”
Set in 1946 — the same year the movie It’s a Wonderful Life came out — the play centers on the changing dynamics of a family as they try to adjust to a son who has just returned from a three-year stint in the war.
“It’s a story of how this family tries to come together,” Bob Bourgeois said. “There have been problems in the marriage, a lot of blame being passed around, dreams that haven’t been fulfilled. The son comes back from war with a new perspective on his childhood and takes it upon himself to mend this family.
“It’s so well-constructed. It’s one of those gems that really stands on its own,” he continued. “It’s just a little three-person ‘kitchen sink’ play and it won the Pulitzer in 1965, which surprised everyone.”
So in a somewhat unusual move, Bob and Jack Bourgeois pitched the play to Black Cat Theatre owners Scott Sears and Edie Avioli, the latter of whom serves as artistic director for the Black Cat and stars in The Subject Was Roses with the Bourgeoises.
The pair decided that the play would be a perfect fit for the late summer, as it represents a hybrid between a mainstage performance and a production by the Black Cat’s teen education program, a program Jack Bourgeois has been involved since it started.
Usually, the teen program involves kids writing and performing original cabaret or adaptation productions, but this time the teenagers have worked on the technical side of theater, creating the set and designing costumes, lighting and sound.
“They’ve done the writing and been onstage and heard the applause. This time, I wanted to put [the teens] behind the curtain and experience that side of things,” said Ellie Schwetye, the director of both the play and the teen education program.
As the only teenager on stage this time around and playing a character three years his senior, Jack Bourgeois is crossing the bridge between teen and adult; just a week after the play closes, he’ll be heading off to college in Chicago.
“It’s kind of weird … in one way, we’re at the place now where the play was before the son left [for the war],” Bob Bourgeois said, adding that the parallel experiences have made it easier for him to identify with his character and the play in general.
Both Bob and Jack said that preparing to play father and son has had a positive effect on their relationship, bringing them closer together as they practice lines during long car trips — Jack said the pair recently spent an entire drive to Chicago running lines — and spending evenings talking in depth about the play. The production has even changed how Bob and Jack talk to each other.
“We reference the play so much. Sometimes we’ll use actual lines of dialogue to converse with one another. It’s become kind of an inside joke,” Jack said, adding that his mom and sister are generally clueless when he and his dad swap lines like that. “We’ve always been close and joked with one another, and this has just strengthened our relationship.”
“This is kind of our father-and-son fishing trip,” Bob said.
• The Subject Was Roses shows at 8 p.m. Aug. 14 through 16 at the Black Cat Theatre, 2810 Sutton Blvd. For more information call 963-8800.
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