INTERVIEW WITH JOHN TESSMER OF RIFORD READERS

Interview with John Tessmer of Riford Readers Theatre

Words by Kristen Fogle

The best kept theater secret in La Jolla is probably the Riford Readers Theatre. Housed out of the Riford Center, which is now being referred to as the La Jolla Community Center, John Tessmer helped form the group, which does staged readings and impromptu readings on an almost monthly basis. From “Steel Magnolias” to “Harvey,” Tessmer has brought some fine plays to the center (along with some skilled actors) since 2010. Here Tessmer sits down with me to reveal his past theatrical accomplishments, including how he helped create the Riford Readers, and shares why seeing a staged reading might be an even better experience for an audience than watching a traditional play.

Kristen Fogle: Did you grow up doing theater? Is that what your degree is in?

John Tessmer: I grew up in San Diego from ages seven to 18 and attended La Jolla Country Day School, where under the influence of many wonderful and encouraging teachers, I delved into all sorts of subjects and pursuits. Music and theatre were two of them, and my interest in both continued into and throughout college and beyond. I didn’t major in theatre at Yale, but sang in the Yale Glee Club, took classes in the theatre department, and acted in a play every semester but one–by such playwrights as Ionesco, Odets, Shakespeare, and Shaw. My English major’s thesis examined Eugene O’Neill’s play “A Moon for the Misbegotten” and how and why it only became to be considered one of O’Neill’s great works after Jose Quintero directed Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst in a production of it in the early 1970s.

KF: After that you came back to San Diego.

JT: Upon graduating, yes, I moved back to San Diego, where I took a series of day jobs while beginning to act in community theatre at night. At that time, the Actors Alliance of San Diego was still called the San Diego Actors Co-op and, in a practice carried out by the Alliance as well for many years, we brought regional theater directors to town to audition members. I got my first out-of-town job with The Western Stage, in Salinas, California, and while there in my second season, I decided if I was really going to pursue an acting career, it would behoove me to go to graduate school.

I went to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and received my M.F.A. in Acting there in 1995, and then continued working regionally throughout the ‘90s. In addition to The Western Stage, to where I returned for a third stint in ‘95, from 1990 through 2001 I worked at such places as the Idaho Repertory Theatre, Cape Cod’s Monomoy Theatre, the Laguna Playhouse, Santa Monica’s Morgan-Wixson Theatre, and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, where I acted for six seasons between 1994 and 2000. I also taught for the Festival and the University of Colorado-Boulder.

KF: What theaters have you worked with in San Diego?

JT: I have now been back in San Diego for more than 10 years, and since (and before, when I was occasionally back in the area as well), I have worked with Lamb’s Players, GrassRoots Greeks, 6^th @  Penn/Compass Theatre, Intrepid Shakespeare, Mo’olelo, Diversionary, Poor Players, the San Diego Shakespeare Society, and North Coast Rep. Early last decade I also taught acting for the Old Globe and have coached actors on monologues and scene study.

KF: What was your experience with staged readings before you formed the Riford Readers?

JT: Well, I might dare to say that I have done as many staged readings as anyone in the area. In addition to doing them with some of the above-mentioned companies, I have performed them with the Actors Alliance’s OnBook OnStage series, independent efforts, and Carlsbad PlayReaders since its founding in 1996.

KF: Tell me about how the Riford Readers was created.

JT: Well, I have also performed with my good friends Ron Jones and Jef Olson in several Radio Theatre productions through the years, and staged readings bear a close resemblance to these. Jef would adapt certain skits, episodes (of programs such as “The Jack Benny Show,” the Bickersons, and “The Shadow”), and even plays to this format, as well as write his own material. We had a blast with these, and the audiences loved them!

Ron was the Director at the Riford Center, now called the La Jolla Community Center, in 2009-2010, and he encouraged fellow-La Jollan and theatre enthusiast Davida Huchel and me to form a group, which we did–in the spring of 2010. Our first staged reading performance was of Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge,” and then we followed that up with ones of the comedy “Social Security,” which Davida directed, and Mitch Albom’s stage adaptation of his own book, “Tuesdays With Morrie.”

KF: Besides your relationship with Ron Jones, why at the Riford?

JT: The Riford has been known for many years as a senior center, and we wanted to continue to involve seniors of course as well as bring adults of other ages (and even children, when appropriate!) to the center; the new direction of the center perfectly coincides with the mission of theatre—to involve and engage all members of the community—in events and exploration of all kinds, for all ages.

KF: Why should people check out staged readings in lieu of a full production?

JT: I would hardly discourage anyone from going to see a full production. (Laughs.) But, staged readings have become an extremely popular mode of sharing a play with an audience and giving actors (and directors) opportunities to work on their craft…Rehearsal time is limited–anywhere from one rehearsal to half a dozen depending on the piece and the project; this means that if there is a budget for the production, expenses are limited and so is the time commitment necessary for the artists. They can perhaps participate in the project while doing another show or not tie themselves down too long while waiting for their next one.

It can also be a wonderful way for a playwright to see and hear his or her new work and discover what’s working and what may need revision…A staged reading can tell the playwright’s story just as well–and sometimes even better, I’ve found. The emphasis is by necessity and design even more on the playwright’s words, with a focus on the actors. Often, in a good staged reading, the audience may even forget that the actors are carrying scripts, as they get swept up in the story and the playwright’s vision brought to life.

KF: I know you're a huge Shakespeare fan. Any plans to do anything from him as a reading?

JT: You are certainly are correct about that! I try to do one full production every year and have managed that all but one of the last 22 years. At least in the year I missed, I did do a staged reading, of “King Lear.” I have done about a dozen staged readings of Shakespeare’s works or “Shakespeare-based” material; by that last category, I refer to three pieces by San Diegans actually. One was “Shakespeare Remembers,” which I staged for the San Diego Shakespeare Society at Judith and Walter Munk’s Folley Garden Theatre in the La Jolla Farms area back in 2004. The piece is a one-person show, written by the late priest and writer Lawrence Waddy, who also profoundly sparked my interest in drama when I acted in his plays at St. James church in La Jolla as a boy. He performed his one-person biographical play himself, but I chose to break it up for this reading and cast three women and four men in it, including beloved San Diego actors Rosina Reynolds and Ron Choularton to read certain sections.

The other two plays to which I allude were written by Gary Seger, one a prequel to “Hamlet” called “Alas, Poor Yorick,” and the other called “Much About a Do-Nothing,” both of which are very worthy pieces. “Alas, Poor Yorick” actually received a reading by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival prior to the one we did with the San Diego Shakespeare Society, directed by the esteemed and long-time San Diego teacher, director, and actor Jack Winans. The playwright himself gave higher marks to our local production. I tremendously enjoyed both of his works, and I’m very much interested to give “Alas, Poor Yorick” another reading at some point–or even, if we could raise the funds to produce it, a full production.

The La Jolla Community Center last year brought to completion its beautiful courtyard in the middle of the rectangular building, and I am eager to stage readings and maybe a full production out there in the warmer months of the year.  We currently lack (especially) the needed lighting equipment for such a venture, but I hope to help raise some money for that, and should we be successful, Shakespeare outside in this wonderful courtyard space would be a sublime thing.  I’m thinking that “Julius Caesar” would be especially powerful in this context, but of course a comedy would do nicely as well. “Twelfth Night” might be my first choice for that. 

KF: What else have the Readers done in the past and what are some productions we will see in the future?

JT: Other than what I have mentioned previously, we have also done Paul Osborne’s “Morning’s At Seven,” which I would actually like to do again at some point. We just had a lot of fun with Mary Chase’s American classic, “Harvey.” And prior to that we did two productions each of “The Savannah Disputation” and “Steel Magnolias.” In both cases, we had many talented people who auditioned (or whom I knew) whom I wanted to cast, and so we did multiple productions, with different casts.

I’m eager to do some Tennessee Williams, and later in the summer I hope to direct a reading of Horton Foote’s exquisite piece, “The Trip to Bountiful,” which will be receiving a full production by the superb Carlsbad company, New Village Arts, early in 2013.  I know at some point I would like to do A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters,” taking a rather unique approach to that, and also a piece by the Norwegian master Henrik Ibsen, often called the father of modern drama, who after Shakespeare, is my favorite playwright. I would love to explore doing some collaborations with other area entities, such as The Bishop’s School, St. James, and the Athenaeum; productions could then possibly be both at one of those locations as well as at the La Jolla Community Center.

Next up though is the late 1950’s comedy, “Goodbye, Charlie,” by George Axelrod.  The film version starred Lauren Bacall, and we are pleased to welcome guest director George Bailey to take the helm for this production so I can take a break from doing double-duty and just act in this fun piece. We will be performing it twice–first, on Saturday evening, June 9^th and then again, Monday evening, June 11^th, both at 7:30pm.

KF: Do you generally use people you know in your readings? How can people audition?

JT: People I’ve never met have come to every audition we’ve ever held. We don’t hold auditions for every production as sometimes they are pre-cast; but often there are open auditions, and recently the practice has become to cast some roles from those open auditions and others from people I invite to audition or participate, based on knowing their work. 

Auditions are posted on the Center’s calendar and website, www.rifordcenter.org.

KF: For those who want to form theaters, reading groups, etc., what is some practical advice you have for them?

JT: Go for it! Seriously, though, where there’s a will there’s a way. If you’ve got an idea for a production and a way to make it happen (especially financially), jump right in… Otherwise, I would advise starting small, and try to have a nice working partnership among two to four people so you can bounce ideas off each other and benefit from mutual support. The theatre is a collaborative art, and that’s one of the best things about it! This venture would not have gotten off the ground if Davida hadn’t been there with me, and I hadn’t been there with her.  Even though she has had to step away at this point due to other interests and obligations, Roberta Wolff now has become my “right-hand woman.”  It would be hard without her–and of course impossible without support from the Center’s Director–Ron at the Beginning, Dona after, and now Nancy Walters.

KF: Anything else you would like to add or advertise?

JT: I thank you for the opportunity to share about the Riford Readers Theatre, and I would also like to say that in addition to the staged readings we perform for a public audience, in the months when we are not rehearsing/performing, we will sit around a table reading a play at the Center; anyone can come and listen or take a part. We choose what we’re going to do beforehand, but roles are doled out on the spot, and if there are more people than parts, we switch parts in “mid-stream” so that everyone who wants to participate can! We also welcome playwrights to bring their own work so we can give them the opportunity to hear their pieces–either in this spontaneous reading format (which takes place on Monday evenings) or in a staged reading performance if the play is ready for that!

The La Jolla Community Center (formerly the Riford Center) is located at 6811 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla, CA 92037. Their website is www.rifordcenter.org.