Soul Survivors - From Staged Reading to Production

From Staged Reading to Production -
"Soul Survivors"

by Robert Armin

In January of 1993, David Diamond called to invite me to direct the next reading in the SDC Foundation's invaluable playreading series at Lincoln Center, produced in conjunction with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Although I had been on the waiting list for more than a year, I was a little startled to realize that, as a last minute substitute, I would have just two weeks to select, cast and stage a reading of a new play in what, I hoped, would be a reasonably polished presentation.

Fortunately, I had recently received in the mail the latest draft of a new play, Soul Survivors, a seven-character comic drama about a group of women who come together to help out a friend in crisis. The author, a Chicago-area playwright named Nancy Crist, had sent me an earlier draft of the script almost two years earlier in response to my ad in the Dramatists Guild Newsletter. Out of nearly one hundred submissions, Nancy's play stood out because of the six wonderfully drawn roles for women, each a unique and recognizable human being. Free from the caustic, "bitchy" confrontationalism so often found in plays about women, Soul Survivors was about genuine friendship and the wide range of personal responsibilities that come with it.

With so little time to prepare, I quickly plowed through my file of photos and resumes, assembled primarily from the casting sessions of my recent production of The Male Animal. Of the seven performers, Dene Nardi, Lucy McMichael, Virginia Seidel, Gusti Bogard, Jake Daehler, Andrea Kolb and Jeanne Lehman, all but Dene would be working with me for the first time. Since Jeanne was available for the Monday reading only (she was about to begin rehearsals as Julie Andrews' understudy in Putting It Together), Kristine Nevins agreed to perform the Wednesday reading, allowing me to see two wildly diverse but equally effective versions of the pivotal role of ex-model Betty. The rehearsal process went very smoothly and the two presentations at Bruno Walter Auditorium were very well received.

The most welcome surprise was the presence of former SSDC president, Gene Saks, at the second reading. As it turned out, a brief note from him in response to my query letter helped me considerably in my resolve to pursue a full production of the play, an event that ultimately took place in October of last year. Featuring two of the women from the Lincoln Center reading, the West End Theatre production of Soul Survivors became the most successful new play (both financially and artistically) ever presented by that small off-off-Broadway theatre company. Although we were unable to attract any theatre critics during the play's four-week run, I feel confident that Soul Survivors will have a long and healthy life on the regional theatre circuit.

http://www.robertarmin.com/souls.htm