What is your role in this production? I play Joe Keller, husband, father, and patriarch of the Keller family. Before the play begins, he and his business partner owned a munitions business that manufactured and shipped faulty aircraft engines to the Air Force during World War II. As a result, both were arrested but only Joe’s partner went to prison for the crime. Joe appears to be successful and happy, but he is actually tormented and plagued with feelings of guilt. These feelings must somehow need to be dealt in the face of family issues that are coming to a head.
What would you say would be a highlight of working on All My Sons so far? A highlight for me is to have the opportunity once again to perform on the stage at Walterdale Theatre and to have John Anderson direct me in such a powerful play.
Many of the characters in All My Sons have secrets that they keep from each other, or things in their past that people would not expect. What is something people wouldn’t guess about you? People may be surprised to learn that I was an “early bloomer” in some respects in the areas of education and employment. I started university at age 16 and, at the same time, began working as an all night disc jockey at the country music radio station to help pay for my university. By the way, they may further be surprised that I’m no longer a fan of country music.
Why should audiences come to see All My Sons? To see a production of a play written by Arthur Miller, considered one of the 20th century’s greatest dramatists. His writing career spanned over seven decades. Miller won a Tony award for All My Sons which was first performed and published in 1947.