Soap writer revisits acting days in St. Charles
An Emmy-winning writer who produced decades of soap opera plots finds himself living out a story line in real life that could have been plucked from a TV script. Not only did writer Richard Culliton return to his stage roots after decades in TV to star in a play with a former co-star from his college days, he's playing the part of a man who rekindles a relationship with a woman from his distant past.
In A.R. Gurney's play “Later Life” at the Steel Beam Theatre in St. Charles, Culliton stars as Austin, a stoic banker who rekindles a long-ago relationship with Ruth (played by Donna Steele). In real life, Culliton, 62, also rekindled his long-ago acting relationship with Steele.
“I met Donna in college,” said Culliton, who performed in two college productions at Northwestern University with Steele. “I remember seeing her and thinking, ‘Boy is she good.' She made a big impression on me back in college.”
Culliton ended up in New York, where he established an award-winning career writing for daytime television. He has won four Writer's Guild of America awards, and three Daytime Emmys. Currently nominated for an Emmy for his 15th time, Culliton has written for “Days of Our Lives,” “As the World Turns,” “All My Children,” “Another World,” “Sunset Beach,” “Port Charles,” “General Hospital,” “Guiding Light,” “Search for Tomorrow,” “Santa Barbara” and “Texas.” He'll find out June 17 if he wins his fourth Emmy, but in a profession devastated by the cancellations of several long-running soap operas, Culliton said he is happy to still be writing “Days of our Lives.”
Steele, who founded the theater in St. Charles, reconnected with her college co-star through an unlikely coincidence. In 2007, a woman phoned the theater to buy tickets to a production. When she gave the unusual name of Culliton, Steele asked the caller if she was related to Richard Culliton and discovered the ticket-buyer was Culliton's sister-in-law.
The next time the writer came to town, he and Steele rekindled their acting relationship over a cup of coffee.
“He agreed to come back in February and we performed ‘Love Letters,' also by Gurney,” Steele said of Culliton. “He hadn't acted in many years and he was hooked. The very next season, he returned to play Shelley Levene in ‘Glengarry Glen Ross.' ”
Now he's back for his third production at the St. Charles theater, which is located at 111 W. Main Street. Noting that soap operas sometimes take bizarre twists (when Culliton or his writer wife would kill off a character, even their kids would ask, “Is he dead, or dead-dead-dead?”), the writer said he loves the twist in his own life.
“I enjoy appearing at Steel Beam Theatre,” Culliton said. “The intimate setting facilitates a close connection with the audience that I love. I'd come back in a heartbeat. I love working with Donna and she's so good onstage.”
Ÿ “Later Life” runs through Sunday. Show times are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $25 for adults, $23 for students and seniors and $22 for groups of 10 or more. For more information, visit steelbeamtheatre.com or call (630) 587-8521.