INTERVIEW: Melancholy takes over in ‘Life Sucks’
Photo: Stacey Linnartz stars as Pickles in Life Sucks, a modern-day update of Uncle Vanya. Photo courtesy of Russ Rowland / Provided by BBB with permission.
Aaron Posner’s new play, Life Sucks, is an updated remix of Anton Chekhov’s classic Uncle Vanya. That means audiences should expect tons of melancholy, brooding and familial spats, but Posner’s show adds in a good dosage of comedy and contemporary commentary, making Life Sucks both an honoring of the source material and an avenue to branch off into different interpretations.
The Wheelhouse Theater Company production, which is currently playing The Acorn at Theatre Row, stars a who’s who of New York actors: Nadia Bowers as Ella, Austin Pendleton as the Professor, Barbara Kingsley as Babs, Kevin Isola as Vanya, Stacey Linnartz as Pickles, Michael Schantz as Dr. Aster and Kerry Warren as Sonia. They are under the baton of director Jeff Wise.
Linnartz, who also performed in Wheelhouse’s An Enemy of the People in 2017, said the experience of bringing this updated Vanya to life has been a memorable one. “We’re having a really, really grand time,” she said a recent phone interview.
The actor became attached to Wheelhouse thanks to an interesting connection during her time at New York University. She actually went to grad school with Wise, the future artistic director of Wheelhouse and director of Life Sucks.
“They started this theater company and started by asking people they knew,” she said.
Today, Linnartz is credited as an associate artist of the company and jumped at the chance to play Pickles. “She’s a very interesting character,” the actor said. “She’s had a lot of loss in life.”
To flesh out the character, even beyond Posner’s words, Linnartz had to put on the thinking cap and develop three or four moments from Pickles’ previous life, all of them imagined. This backstory helped Linnartz in her development of the character, and evidence of her homework is now on stage at The Acorn, where Life Sucks continues until Aug. 31.
“I spend all of Act One climbing out of that pain,” Linnartz said about her character’s loss. “I imagined her pain and her life by looking at what Pickles said about herself.”
She came to the conclusion that Pickles is bighearted and longing for all-encompassing love. During the play, she even questions this undying love as it relates to loss, and whether sentiment can live on, even despite crushing tribulations or inevitable death.
The experience of finding this character has been helped by her friend and director, Wise. “He’s really good at making sure the ensemble talks,” Linnartz said of his process. “Since he was trained as an actor, he was focused on the theatrical experience … and little moments of behavior.”
Linnartz and her fellow company members have learned from one another as well. Pendleton, for example, is a New York theater legend, having just appeared on Broadway in Choir Boy. Linnartz has been fascinated by his technique and fluidity on stage.
This collaborative spirit amongst the company and creative team helped the actors understand Life Sucks and Uncle Vanya. For Linnartz, this project has been a return of sorts because she used to teach Chekhov’s play in scene study class.
For those looking for some connective tissue between the two shows, Pickles is obviously not in the original text; however, there is a character nicknamed Waffles. That’s the way Life Sucks operates; it’s more of a sideway glance at Chekhov, using the master’s play as a starting-off point rather than restrictive source material.
“Every actor in Life Sucks is classically trained,” she said. “And knowing Chekhov helps us.”
Linnartz has been performing ever since she was 3 or 4 years old. She has fond memories of her early days singing and dancing around the house. Over time, she began to fall in love with acting because of its combination of body, heart and mind — all with the ultimate goal of letting each of these elements go.
“I think in middle school I fell in love with [acting],” she said. “I was so lucky that my parents exposed me to theater.”
Today, Linnartz passes on this love for acting to others. She is the founder and artistic director of Kids Creative Collective Inc., which provides underserved children and teenagers in New York City with tuition-free arts programming in schools and private workshops. The nonprofit focuses on body learning, dramatic structure, life skills, character education and career paths.
For Linnartz, it’s obvious that she is dedicated to the art (and gift) of acting in all aspects of her life. It turns out life doesn’t suck after all.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Life Sucks, featuring Stacey Linnartz, is now playing The Acorn at Theatre Row in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
