Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Duffy Wineman of Birmingham Village Players' 'Lost in Yonkers'

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Exclusive Interview: Duffy Wineman of Birmingham Village Players' 'Lost in Yonkers' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Thank you so much for being here with me, Duffy.
• 0:01
  How are you doing today?
• 0:03
  I'm great, Brian.
• 0:04
  It's a beautiful fall day.
• 0:06
  Happy Halloween.
• 0:08
  It is like the perfect day for Halloween, honestly.
• 0:10
  Like, the weather's nice, no rain, like, we love it.
• 0:14
  right, it's gorgeous.
• 0:16
  So we're so excited to be chatting with you about Birmingham Village Players' upcoming production of Lost in Yonkers, in which you're currently in rehearsal for.
• 0:23
  How has that been going?
• 0:24
  It has been great.
• 0:26
  I haven't been on stage in seven years.
• 0:29
  So this is really a treat for me at the Village Players.
• 0:33
  And I'm loving the cast and the crew and we're having a wonderful time.
• 0:39
  What made you decide to come back after seven years?
• 0:41
  That's quite a big gap.
• 0:43
  Well, I did take a little time in between to finish my theater degree down at Wayne State.
• 0:48
  ah And I was in one production down there.
• 0:51
  ah But a friend who was in the theater business actually called me and said, this is a show you need to audition for.
• 0:59
  And he was right.
• 1:01
  It's a perfect role.
• 1:04
  Well first off, congratulations for finishing your theater degree.
• 1:07
  That's super exciting.
• 1:09
  Thank you.
• 1:10
  It was very exciting.
• 1:11
  I graduated the week before my 70th birthday.
• 1:14
  So I was an older coed.
• 1:19
  But like, what a way to celebrate your 70th birthday of like getting that degree.
• 1:24
  Was that always kind of something you wanted to do?
• 1:25
  Finish your degree in theater?
• 1:27
  Yes, I had started my degree back in 1971 at Syracuse University and um got waylaid, got married, had a family, got involved in community theater.
• 1:40
  So I at least got my creativity out that way.
• 1:43
  And it was during COVID sitting on the couch watching Netflix that I decided this was something on my bucket list.
• 1:50
  Wayne was very inviting.
• 1:52
  They they love older students.
• 1:54
  And I went down there for two years.
• 1:56
  and graduated with 22 year olds.
• 1:59
  It was really fun.
• 2:00
  was great experience.
• 2:04
  And that brought you back now to the Village Players, which is super exciting.
• 2:07
  So were you familiar with Lost in Yonkers before you auditioned for it?
• 2:11
  No, I'm familiar with Neil Simon, of course.
• 2:13
  The first play I ever did in community theater was Barefoot in the Park.
• 2:18
  So I knew of his strength as a playwright.
• 2:25
  I remember my director then said, you could sit on a stool and read the lines straight and you'd still get laughs.
• 2:31
  He's a very funny playwright.
• 2:34
  However, this show is very poignant.
• 2:38
  um There's a lot of sadness in it and drama.
• 2:42
  And I love that because I can play off the kids and they have some very funny lines.
• 2:49
  And um we can become a family through hardship and laughter.
• 2:56
  It's really fabulous.
• 2:58
  This was actually one of the first Neil Simon plays that I've ever seen.
• 3:02
  And then I recently saw Laughter on the 23rd floor, which is very different.
• 3:06
  Same writing, very, that one's much funnier.
• 3:08
  This one does have a lot of heaviness to the show and the story.
• 3:12
  lot.
• 3:13
  Yes.
• 3:14
  I mean, it brings my daughter, Bella, to tears and em it's tough.
• 3:20
  And Grandma, my character, is very tough.
• 3:26
  She's put up an emotional wall because she's been through so much hardship in her life.
• 3:31
  She left anti-Semitic Germany, probably in the 20s, and brought her family um to Yonkers, New York.
• 3:39
  lost her husband, lost two children, uh was disabled um during a rally in Germany, in Berlin.
• 3:48
  um And she has taken all of this hardship and become a survivor.
• 3:56
  And in order to become a survivor, she has had to be like Steele, as she says.
• 4:01
  um She's had to do that.
• 4:03
  And so she's alienated her children, ah trying to harden them.
• 4:09
  in order to survive in the real world.
• 4:12
  I understand her, I get her.
• 4:15
  And she does soften by the end of the show.
• 4:17
  She becomes more motherly, somewhat, um but you know that she has a true love for her children and grandchildren, something which is not apparent at the beginning of the show.
• 4:32
  I was gonna say when I first saw this production of this, I can understand from a kid's point of perspective, they think she's really cold and she's really harsh, but then you
• 4:41
  talk to somebody like my mom, her dad was in World War II and she said he loved his kids, but he had that steel exterior because you've gone through so much and that's how you
• 4:52
  protect yourself.
• 4:53
  And that's exactly what you said, I was like, that's exactly who grandma is.
• 4:56
  And that's how my grandmothers both had German in them.
• 5:00
  It's kind of the German way.
• 5:03
  And the way she speaks is very clipped uh and very German.
• 5:08
  She has a heavy German accent.
• 5:10
  uh I think uh coming from that lifestyle and coming from war-torn Germany and coming to Yonkers, New York,
• 5:22
  ah has been such a switch for her and I think she's tried to survive in New York too with these children and raising these children and trying to make them strong so that they will
• 5:36
  survive because they all have their disabilities in one way or another.
• 5:40
  Bella is intellectually disabled.
• 5:42
  um Louis is a crook, uh gangster.
• 5:47
  um Eddie is just very...
• 5:50
  uh
• 5:51
  emotional.
• 5:52
  He's very uh weak in some ways.
• 5:56
  And um Gert has been damaged by her mother as well.
• 6:00
  And so this causes this language uh problem with her, speaking.
• 6:05
  uh I think she has really damaged her children.
• 6:10
  And I think she comes to that realization by the end of the show um when she's speaking with Bella and she realizes what she's done.
• 6:19
  But she says,
• 6:20
  That's how she is and there was no other way.
• 6:23
  Which I'm sure like you said too, you probably saw that with your own grandparents and stuff where they were like, they just, this is how it was you.
• 6:29
  This is how you lived life and yeah.
• 6:33
  my dad went through World War II and was on the front line.
• 6:37
  So he has a different perspective of Germany as well.
• 6:41
  um And she's Jewish, and I believe she has great faith.
• 6:47
  She makes reference to God several times uh that God made Bella the way she was.
• 6:52
  And you have to accept that.
• 6:54
  um So I think she has great faith.
• 6:56
  I think that is the only thing that's really gotten her through.
• 7:01
  You know, in the story of Lost in Yonkers, she takes on her grandchildren, then she helps raise them while their father's away.
• 7:08
  Do you feel like that really is the catalyst for kind of the change or the motivation to change for her, was raising these two young kids?
• 7:14
  um Yes, I think all of the children have an influence on her.
• 7:20
  um But certainly the grandchildren, um out of the mouths of babes, I mean, they say some very telling things to her.
• 7:29
  And they accuse her of being mean and they accuse her of using her life in Germany.
• 7:35
  And don't blame it on me, blame it on Hitler, the one little boy says.
• 7:39
  um I think she...
• 7:43
  She is educated by these young men and she's also loved by them.
• 7:50
  the end of the show, I mean, they truly love their grandmother with all her faults.
• 7:56
  And I think this is a huge catalyst for her change in demeanor.
• 8:02
  love the generational aspect of the story because I feel like she truly becomes the parent that they need by the end, even though they get their dad back ah in some ways, you know,
• 8:11
  they get pieces of him, but like she's the one that really carries him, like carries those kids and carries the family.
• 8:16
  you know, I thought about sending you the money, Louis' money.
• 8:20
  And she said, but I knew you had to learn for yourself.
• 8:23
  You had to do it yourself and you did.
• 8:27
  And she's so proud of him for doing that.
• 8:29
  And she knew by sending him the money, she was simply enabling him.
• 8:34
  And this way she ah allowed him to become the father and the man he should be.
• 8:44
  And sometimes that tough love, like that's the hardest kind of love, you know?
• 8:46
  Like, I love you so much, but you also have to learn and kind of fly for yourself to be able to get to that next stage that you need.
• 8:52
  Yes, and as a parent and a grandparent myself, I know that tough love is really, really important.
• 8:59
  It's easier as a grandmother, I think, to enable grandchildren.
• 9:05
  But I think in the real world, we have to be given education to young people.
• 9:13
  She even says, don't try to change me.
• 9:16
  She says to Artie at the end, don't try to change me because...
• 9:19
  Sometimes old people are not altogether wrong.
• 9:22
  And it's that generational wisdom that is passed down to them.
• 9:27
  Yeah, it's interesting.
• 9:30
  It's got, it's so, like there's so much to be able to kind of, I'm sure as an actor, that's so fun to be able to play with as a character.
• 9:36
  fabulous.
• 9:37
  This is an actor's dream because you have to make her change throughout the two and a half hours.
• 9:43
  ah And I have to be very, very tough.
• 9:47
  keep being reminded at the end of the scene, they're gonna hate you.
• 9:50
  They're gonna hate you.
• 9:51
  And they probably are.
• 9:53
  ah I hope they will understand me by the end of the show and accept me for who I am.
• 10:01
  ah But as an actor, it's...
• 10:05
  It's really a dream role.
• 10:07
  It's really fun to play a character like Grandma.
• 10:11
  What's interesting about that, I think that by the end of the last production I saw, Grandma was the one that I felt the softest to.
• 10:17
  I feel like that was the one, like, because you saw the humanity in her, even though, like you said, there was still that steel wall that she had, but there was like a softness.
• 10:26
  Yes, absolutely.
• 10:27
  And I have to portray that.
• 10:29
  uh And that is a challenge.
• 10:32
  That is.
• 10:33
  So what's your process for developing a character such as this?
• 10:36
  I know like obviously you get the script, you read the script, you're acting what's on the script, but there's a part of you that's also bringing grandma to life in your own way.
• 10:43
  in any role I play, I really uh pull from my own experience and I pull from my own personality in a way.
• 10:55
  And I also uh always, no matter what the role, um try to soften that role and make that character very human so that people can relate.
• 11:08
  They have to be able to relate to me.
• 11:11
  Um, so the process is just the, the rehearsal process more than anything, really understanding the show, really understanding the words that Neil Simon chose, um,
• 11:23
  understanding my fellow characters, um, and, and playing off of them.
• 11:28
  I mean, that is, there's a scene with Bella that, that it's tough, but we just love it because it is a real mother daughter relationship.
• 11:41
  and or it becomes a real mother daughter relationship and conversation.
• 11:45
  um And it is, heart wrenching, but um I draw a lot from my fellow actors, quite a bit.
• 11:54
  And speaking of that, you have such a talented cast of actors for the show.
• 11:58
  ah What is that like being on stage with them and just, like you said, that energy kind of feeding off each other?
• 12:03
  I'm sure that has to be almost intoxicating.
• 12:06
  it's fabulous.
• 12:07
  And they have become these characters and these strange Neil Simon characters in Yonkers.
• 12:13
  uh It's a blast.
• 12:14
  And the kids are just such fun.
• 12:17
  um They are both very seasoned actors in their own right, in community theater, certainly, and at their schools, I believe.
• 12:27
  um playing off of the boys, well, in one case, it's a young woman who's playing the younger son.
• 12:35
  It is just, it just opens up a whole new world to me because that's how I was at age 12, just wanting to perform.
• 12:45
  And I just, love seeing this talent in these young kids and this um emotional feeling.
• 12:53
  I mean, I really feel these kids and the oh different emotions that they are feeling as they learn to live with grandma.
• 13:05
  It's really terrific.
• 13:08
  when I saw that this cast came out and I've seen most everybody in a show, you know?
• 13:13
  uh But I've seen Elijah and quite a few.
• 13:16
  Really?
• 13:17
  they're so good.
• 13:18
  players, so I had not seen any one of them.
• 13:21
  I had seen Elijah in a few different productions and he can just become whatever role he is in.
• 13:26
  So that's, I'm super excited for that.
• 13:29
  He's just adorable.
• 13:30
  He really is.
• 13:32
  And when he gets emotional on that stage and vulnerable, he's just, you melt.
• 13:41
  You just melt.
• 13:43
  He truly is Jay.
• 13:44
  He becomes Jacob, Jay.
• 13:46
  He really becomes Jay.
• 13:48
  say every role I've seen him in, becomes whatever role that is.
• 13:51
  again, there's so many people in this.
• 13:52
  mean, Alan Neuwirth excellent actor like Lisa.
• 13:55
  I've seen her in perfect arrangements.
• 13:57
  Totally.
• 13:57
  I mean, I could go on and on about this entire cast.
• 13:59
  There's so much talent.
• 14:01
  I was, you're so lucky.
• 14:04
  Like, a show to come back to, you know?
• 14:07
  Has there been anything about this role or this production that has challenged you at all?
• 14:12
  Um, well, I have to be very honest memorization, learning lines.
• 14:18
  Um, it was easier in my twenties and in my forties.
• 14:24
  And I think your, your memory begins to go at 70.
• 14:28
  So that has been challenging, but, um, I'm doing it.
• 14:32
  So, I think it's like, watched Jeopardy every night.
• 14:36
  I think you have to, uh, in order to grow.
• 14:40
  old in a healthy way, you have to challenge yourself intellectually.
• 14:44
  That's probably one of the reasons I went back to college at 68.
• 14:48
  I love to learn.
• 14:50
  I love to soak it all up.
• 14:53
  And I think by learning lines at 72 is challenging my brain so that it, you know, and maybe putting off that dementia that comes later in life.
• 15:06
  um I have to be quick thinking.
• 15:08
  I have to listen to my fellow actors and I have to be able to fix things when I go blank.
• 15:15
  And um it's been challenging.
• 15:18
  It's been challenging, but it's, I feel sharper than ever right now because I'm doing this show.
• 15:25
  So I appreciate that.
• 15:28
  And also something like a Neil Simon show, there's a lot of lines, a lot of quick wits.
• 15:35
  I can just imagine how difficult that could be of just finding that rhythm and beat to what is Neil Simon's work.
• 15:41
  but so empowering.
• 15:44
  mean, his work is just so fabulous and I love delivering the lines.
• 15:49
  Every line has meaning and I love delivering those lines.
• 15:54
  You had mentioned earlier kind of about how there is some heavier topics.
• 15:59
  They discuss mental health, they discuss generational trauma, but they do it with such a healthy dose of humor.
• 16:06
  How do you feel like this production really highlights that?
• 16:09
  Well, I think with Bella especially, uh her wants and her limitations.
• 16:19
  She is developmentally challenged and yet she's probably the smartest one on the stage.
• 16:26
  She knows what she wants in life and she feels challenged in how to achieve that.
• 16:36
  And she really just wants family.
• 16:39
  The whole show is about family.
• 16:42
  And let's face it, we are all products of dysfunctional families.
• 16:47
  I don't know a perfect family out there.
• 16:49
  ah And I think we all have our emotional challenges within our family.
• 16:57
  ah I love the fact in this show, ah the sibling love.
• 17:05
  They, despite the differences between these four children uh and their limitations, the siblings truly, unconditionally love one another and support one another and try to lift
• 17:23
  up each other in whatever way they can.
• 17:26
  And I think that is a very healthy way uh to be part of a family.
• 17:31
  And it doesn't always happen that way.
• 17:33
  uh
• 17:35
  And I love that.
• 17:37
  It makes me feel good that my family is so supportive of one another.
• 17:44
  And truly, I love that this show highlights the importance of connection.
• 17:47
  Because I think, like you said, Bella is the one that really she just wants somebody to kind of love her in some way.
• 17:54
  and she is loved.
• 17:55
  She doesn't understand that she is so loved, but she wants love and a family and children, and it's probably something she's not able to have.
• 18:05
  Maybe, maybe she could.
• 18:07
  But oh her desires and her aspirations and the way the mother has always um tamped that down.
• 18:19
  and finally realizes that this is something that is so crucial in her life and so important to her.
• 18:26
  um And the grandmother, her mother finally accepts that and understands what her desires are.
• 18:37
  So one final question then for you before I let you go is just, what are you hoping audiences take away from this production of Lost in Yonkers?
• 18:43
  Well, I think they're going to be blown away because most people ah do not know Neil Simon writes like this.
• 18:49
  uh It is such an emotional roller coaster, this show.
• 18:54
  um We had a couple of people in the audience at our rehearsal last week and got to the end of that horrible scene with Bella and her mother, where the mother walks away from her,
• 19:10
  basically.
• 19:11
  uh
• 19:12
  And there were gasps in the uh audience.
• 19:18
  And I think that this will dredge up a lot of personal feelings, depending on how their family was and how they grew up.
• 19:29
  And both that and the trauma of that scene and then the loving aspects of it, I think they will...
• 19:39
  uh
• 19:41
  go away with a wonderful sense of family and connection, as you say, and loving one another, um being kind, ah and loving everyone.
• 19:55
  ah Despite our differences, ah we all have to take care of each other.
• 20:01
  For sure, absolutely.
• 20:03
  Thank you so much, Duffy, for being here and joining us.
• 20:06
  It's been such a pleasure talking with you.
• 20:08
  Okay, thanks so much.
• 20:10
  Lost in Yonkers arrives at Birmingham Village Players November 7th through the 23rd, so get your tickets from their website or box office and we'll see you at the show.
• 20:18
  Thanks.