When Sara Athans got the job as executive director of Anchorage Community Theatre last year, she didn't think she'd have to direct a show in her first season. And she certainly didn't count on being "creeped out" by a mechanical cat in the cast.
"I was only hired in April," she said. "I wasn't on the committee that picked the shows we're doing this year." Including the one that opens March 4, "Visit to a Small Planet."
Born and raised in Anchorage, Athans studied both theater and theater management in Texas and England before returning to her hometown. Her first year as the head of Anchorage's oldest performing arts group has been dedicated to dealing with the business end of things and expanding ACT's services and offerings. She only found out that she'd have to direct the play in January after the original director had to drop out.
"As the executive director, I read through the play thinking, 'Oh yeah, this is going to be a lot of fun,'" she said. "When I found out I'd have to do the stage direction, I re-read it and it was like, 'Oh no, there's a lot of hard things to do to make this work.' The props list is ridiculous."
Among other special effects that have to be achieved onstage are objects that levitate, an exploding globe and Rosemary the cat. "The script calls for a live cat," Athans said. "Vidal was a writer. He didn't think about how to do things from a theatrical point of view."
After Jack London, Gore Vidal (1925-2012) is probably the best-known writer to have had any association with Alaska. He served in the Aleutians during World War II and his first novel, "Williwaw," is set there. He'd been out of uniform for 10 years when he wrote "Visit to a Small Planet" for "Goodyear Television Playhouse." It went on to have a successful Broadway run and was later turned into a movie.
The plot involves a bored, arrogant alien who decides to travel through space and time in order to see the Civil War. But his intergalactic navigation skills aren't so good and he ends up 90 years later, in the middle of the Cold War.
"He decides to start his own war so he can see one," Athans said. "He's excited by all the weapons of the 20th century, the tanks and nuclear bombs. And he doesn't seem to connect with the fact that all these people will die. It doesn't register with him as a problem."
So far we have the premise for a lost episode of "Mork and Mindy," a TV series somewhat inspired by Vidal's creation. But, being a fine writer, Vidal turned the sitcom setup into literature by placing the action in the living room of a human family, the Speldings. "Their little issues and quibbles are played out against the backdrop of this potential catastrophe," Athans said, "and everyone sort of likes Kreton," the alien.
It makes for an evergreen, comic yet highly intellectual investigation of human nature. Though 60 years old, "Small Planet" remains brightly contemporary as both a family story and a commentary on world affairs.
"The female characters are surprisingly dynamic and interesting," Athans said. "And the subject -- Kreton says 'anyone different must be hostile' -- is still with us. In the 1950s it was the Russians. Today the danger is different, but it's still relevant."
The play continues to enjoy timely productions as a viable satire that can be applied to the Patriot Act as plainly as it was to the McCarthy hearings. Cyril Ritchard received a Tony Award as the snooty, disdainful Kreton on Broadway. The slapstick film, with Jerry Lewis as the visiting alien, is largely considered a disappointment. The screenplay was completely rewritten, which Vidal apparently understood when he sold the rights. Though best known as a writer of fiction and essays, he made good money in Hollywood tweaking the dialogue in movies like "Ben-Hur."
The movie version, on the other hand, has plenty of special effects made possible by the magic of the cutting-room floor. Theater allows no retakes. Vidal understood that, too. "Goodyear Television Playhouse" was done live, as most television was in 1955. The original director must have faced the same problems that confront Athans.
Including the cat. Rosemary usually appears a prop or a puppet. In the ACT version it's a "robotic comfort animal," a stuffed creature that responds to touch and is said to have a therapeutic effect on patients with dementia and other conditions. It purrs when petted, falls asleep when ignored and rolls over to have its tummy scratched. And it mews.
"I don't understand how they can call it a comfort animal," Athans said, with a bit of a shudder. "It creeps me out. It does things when you don't touch it. We had it in the lobby for a while and I finally had to put it backstage."
As for the other special effects, she's received help from engineers and a slew of volunteers recruited by veteran set designer Brian Saylor from students in a class he's giving as part of UAA's Opportunities for Lifelong Education program. OLE offers a range of not-for-credit studies mainly for senior citizens interested in continuing to learn new things.
"We had some practice doing this with 'Blithe Spirit,'" Athans said. The ghost comedy by Noel Coward also had levitations and crashing objects. "But it's theater. People have to suspend their (dis)belief. I have to count on my actors doing a good job with how they react to things. If they're surprised, the audience is surprised. And I've got a great cast.
"This will be a fun play to see."
Visit to a Small Planet
When: 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday from March 4-27
Where: Anchorage Community Theatre, 1133 E. 70th Ave.
Tickets: $17 at actalaska.org or 907-344-4713 (Thursday tickets are two for the price of one. A pay-what-you-can preview will take place on Thursday, March 3)