![AllMySons](/sierrasuntimes/images/2014/august/AllMySons.jpg)
Viets, along with Dennis and Sara Jones, the theater’s producing and managing directors, chose the play in part because it drives people to think about right and wrong. It’s based on a true story, which Miller’s then mother-in-law pointed out in an Ohio newspaper. The news story described how in 1941-43 the Wright Aeronautical Corporation had conspired with U.S. Army inspection officers to approve defective aircraft engines intended for the military.
Miller’s play, though, focuses on Joe Keller, the fictional head of the company, who is accused of releasing the defective parts. That decision sets off a series of events that highlight the play’s complex characters.
“On the surface they’re an average family,” Viets said. “But they evolve in very surprising, even shocking, ways as their secrets are exposed.”
There’s Kate, the wife who defends her husband and insists that one of her sons, missing in action, is alive. There’s Ann, who was engaged to the missing son and now plans to marry his brother. There’s Chris, the brother, a decorated war veteran who could potentially inherit the company, unknowingly profiting from his father’s business practices.
“This is a play about morals, about ethics,” Viets said. “It’s about living life at the expense of others. It comes down to deliberately doing something wrong and making peace with yourself, at least on the surface.”
That appeals to actor John Combs, who will come to Sonora from Los Angeles to play Joe Keller. The 60-year-old first saw the play when he was a drama student in his 20s.
“I remember thinking, ‘I want to play Joe Keller someday,’” he said. “What really jumped out at me were the layers of things beneath the surface. It’s the conundrum and the difficulty of what he is living with, the lies he has to tell. It makes for a rich character.”
Combs most recently played parts in The Love List by Norm Foster and An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde. He’s been in two episodes of Law and Order and had a small part in the film When Harry Met Sally. This is his first Sierra Rep production.
It’s also the first time the theater has staged a play by Miller, considered by many to be one of the great American playwrights. Miller wrote All My Sons after his first play, The Man Who Had All The Luck, failed on Broadway, lasting only four performances. It was his final attempt at producing a commercially-successful play. He vowed to “find some other line of work” if the play did not find an audience. But All My Sons won the Drama Critics Award for Best New Play in 1947, won multiple Tony Awards and established Miller as a leading voice in American theater. He went on to write other well-known plays, including Death of a Salesman and The Crucible.
All My Sons was twice adapted for film, in 1948 and again in 1987. Still, the work is not often seen on stage today, said Viets, who went on to explain that the theater chose it because it is one of Millers lesser-produced works.
“Can you believe we’ve never done an Arthur Miller before?” Viets remarked. “It’s actually kind of incredible, considering our 35-year history. So we wanted our first Miller play to be something special – a piece not done as often.”
Another thing about All My Sons that appealed to Viets is the play’s timeline. It’s set in a 16-hour time period, a “day in the life” of the Keller family.
“You see it practically in real time, with no flashbacks or exposition – just two several hour time lapses,” he said. “These characters encounter painful discoveries, revelations, exposure and confusion at the same time the audience does. The audience becomes involved in the immediacy of their journey.”
The production will leave the audience with a lot to mull over, both Combs and Viets predicted.
“I think it will leave them thinking about all the things we have going on under the surface,” Combs said. “I think the audience will leave feeling like we all have this very complex character in us.”
All My Sons runs Aug. 29-Sept. 21 in East Sonora. Friday performances begin at 7 p.m., Saturday evening shows begin at 8 p.m. and Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees begin at 2 p.m. Check Sierra Rep’s schedule for Thursday times, which fluctuate between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. performances. General admission ranges from $26 to $32. The show is rated PG-13.
For more information or reservations, call Sierra Rep’s box office at 209-532-3120 or visit Sierra Rep at: www.sierrarep.org.
Sierra Repertory Theatre Presents
All My Sons
WHEN: Friday, August 29 – Sunday, September 21
WHERE: East Sonora Theatre, 13891 Mono Way Sonora, CA 95370
PRICES: $26 to $32 General admission, Child, group, senior & student discounts available
BOX OFFICE: (209) 532-3120
WEBSITE: www.sierrarep.org
By Arthur Miller
Winner of the Drama Critics' Award for Best New Play in 1947 and multiple Tony Award-winner, All My Sons established Arthur Miller as a leading voice in the American theatre. All My Sons introduced themes that thread through Miller's work as a whole: the relationships between fathers and sons and the conflict between business and personal ethics. In this classic American drama, Joe Keller and Steve Deever-partners in a manufacturing plant during World War II-turned out defective airplane parts, causing the deaths of many men. They were sent to prison but Keller was exonerated and went on to have a successful business. In a work of tremendous power, a love affair between Keller's son and Deever's daughter, the bitterness of George Deever, and the reaction of a son to his father's guilt escalate toward a climax of electrifying intensity. "...the quality of its writing hasn't tarnished, its moral issues haven't aged, and its tragic events can still pack a wallop." Los Angeles Times (Rated PG-13)
About Sierra Repertory Theatre
SRT is a professional non-profit theater producing a year-round season of classic and contemporary plays at two locations — the SRT theater in East Sonora and the historic Fallon House Theatre in Columbia. The talented resident company and visiting guest artists include members of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers. High quality performances, production values and management have established Sierra Rep as a model for regional theater. Sierra Rep's 200-seat theater in East Sonora is intimate, attractive and comfortable; with excellent sight lines and acoustics, and no seat more than 10 rows from the stage. The Fallon House is a restored Gold Rush-era theater and inn located in Columbia State Historic Park. It seats 274. Both theaters are centrally heated and cooled and wheelchair accessible. The East Sonora Theater has an assistive listening system for hearing-impaired patrons.