'THE Ed Asner' to perform with local actors in Naperville
Appearing in a play in Naperville portraying the voice of God will be Ed Asner.
“THE Ed Asner?” friends have asked Naperville kindergarten teacher and hobbyist actor Stuart Vance, who also has a role in the play.
“Yup, that's the one,” he tells them. “Lou Grant.”
The award-winning actor best known for his Lou Grant role in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and the “Lou Grant” series in the 1970s and 1980s is scheduled to spend a long weekend on stage in Naperville in a play called “God Help Us.”
He'll appear with Vance and three other local actors in four productions of the play at Center Stage Theater, 1665 Quincy Ave., suite 131 in Naperville. Shows are set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24; 4 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25; and 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26.
Asner, who also played Santa Claus in the 2003 movie “Elf,” and the voice of retired helium balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen in the 2009 film “Up,” actually was scheduled to appear at Center Stage Theater once before, but the performance fell through.
So theater founder and Executive Director Kandiss Hernandez of Fair Lady Productions said she was surprised when Asner's representatives called this spring and offered to drop by as part of the “God Help Us” tour.
The idea is to choose small venues and local actors to share the stage with a legend in a political comedy written by Samuel Warren Joseph and Phil Proctor, and updated to match the times.
In exchange for providing a stage and actors, the Naperville theater community gets to welcome a well-known star, someone with whom performing will be a treat.
But there's one other twist: very little practice time. Asner won't arrive long before the first show is scheduled to start, and he already knows his lines.
“I think the opportunity to work with a seasoned actor is exciting,” Vance said. “To walk into a set and do something with minimal preparation makes the challenge something that I'm up for.”
Vance and Hernandez will be Asner's cooperating actors in two of the productions, the evening show Saturday and the afternoon set Sunday. The Friday evening and Saturday afternoon shows will feature two people who aren't so much actors as business people and public speakers.
Karen Coleman of the Naperville Jaycees said she has lots of past stage experience from her time in musicals and on a traveling show choir in college, but she said fellow Jaycees member Matt Dingledein of Oak Grove Gardeners is an onstage novice who could face a steeper learning curve.
Still, Coleman said she's “floored” to be invited to play opposite Asner and looking forward to collaborating with Dingledein in a piece she describes as a political comedy with a “moral undertone,” advising people to learn to get along.
The scene of the play is a debate. A Republican and a Democrat face off and God chimes in. Unhappily.
“We do a lot of finger-pointing and blaming,” Hernandez said. “And God basically sits there and says, 'Both of you need to figure this out. You're wrong.'”
Eventually, Hernandez said God shows some mercy and helps each politician see things from his or her opponent's point of view.
“I think people will find a lot of humor in it,” Vance said.
Conveniently, Coleman said any mistakes the less seasoned actors make will meld right in to “the hilarity that ensues.”
In the earlier two shows, Coleman will play the conservative character and Dingledein the liberal. In the later editions, Hernandez takes the conservative spot and Vance the liberal.
“I think he's going to be right on target,” Coleman said of her onstage partner filling the Democratic role. “I am not a conservative, but my mother was when she was alive, so I'm going to try to emulate her. It will be fun to play somebody vastly different than myself.”
All of the local actors, no matter their level of expertise, hope to put a good foot forward for Asner.
“We want to be as prepared as we can to impress him, not disappoint him,” Hernandez said. “We want to not let our own fan excitement interfere with our performance.”
Tickets to the performances cost $16.52 for students and $21.69 for adults, available at centerstage-theater.com/shows/god-help-us-starring-ed-asner/ or www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3391948.
The 156-seat Center Stage Theater also includes a new cafe that opened in April, so audience members can have a meal before or after the show.
Hernandez said it promises to be a memorable occasion.
“I said to my rental facilitator, 'I don't care what it takes, let's get this guy here,'” she said. “This is amazing.”
Ed Asner appears in “God Help Us,” a political satire
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24; 4 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25; and 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26
Where: Center Stage Theater, 1665 Quincy Ave., Suite 131, Naperville
Who: Features Ed Asner as God; also starring Kandiss Hernandez of Fair Lady Productions, Stuart Vance of Indian Prairie Unit District 204, Karen Coleman of Naperville Jaycees and Matt Dingledein of Oak Grove Gardeners
Cost: $16.52 students; $21.69 adults
Info: centerstage-theater.com/shows/god-help-us-starring-ed-asner/