All My Sons, produced by Racquel Lehrman for Wasatch Theatrical Ventures, plays Thurs.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 7 pm; through July 25. Tickets: $25. Raven Playhouse, 5233 Lankershim Blvd., No. Hollywood; 323.960.4420 or wasatchtheatricalventures.com.

In the past three years, Arthur Miller’s classic play All My Sons has seen revivals in major theatre hotspots: London, New York and the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood. Now it is winding up a successful run in North Hollywood. Why has a 63 year old play written and set in post-World War II America suddenly recaptured our interest?

The current production, directed by Kiff Scholl for Wasatch Theatrical Ventures (WTV) at the Raven Playhouse, proves Miller’s play needs no dressing up. Mark Belnick, who plays Joe Keller, explains the choice to do the play traditionally reflects how Miller’s writing stands on its own. “You don’t have to mold anything. He’s given it all to you.”

One thing they were determined to do, says Belnick, was to be true to the play. “Not to make it derivative or draw any fancy tricks, just to do it the way he wrote it,” he explains. “If you recorded this cast and then checked it against the script, it’s word for word.”

The cast spent days discussing the text to gain insight into its meaning. “We spent at least a week just talking about the play before we did one rehearsal,” says Belnick. “We had a table read one day, then there was eight full days of talking. I mean, we could have gone on ’til the night we opened… And it was wonderful.”

CaroleAnne Johnson, who plays his wife Kate, comments she still finds new meaning in the production. “Even though we’ve been working on this for what, three months now? I still all of the sudden will go-that! He repeated that! You know, I catch some new meaning I didn’t catch before. To still be realizing how amazing his writing is this far into the run is pretty incredible.”

Mark Belnick and CaroleAnne Johnson

As an audience member, it becomes clear the regard the cast members feel for the text translates into their performance. The emotions they bring, combined with the small venue, create an impact with the audience. Watching a performance feels like sitting in the Kellers’ backyard. Gasps are heard at each revelation-one woman is so involved that every so often she says “I knew it!” and has to be shushed by her friend.

Belnick attributes the resurgence of the play’s popularity to the fact it deals with issues especially relevant in modern times. “Right now, with the US involved officially in two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, kids coming–kids, not only kids but men and women young and old–coming back from those wars, there’s a lot of disillusion.” This disillusionment is a strong theme throughout the play, present most emphatically in the character of the Keller son Chris, played by Nicholas S. Williams.

When Chris returns from the war, he expects to find every person has been affected as he has. He expects to see a personal regard from man to man; instead what he sees shames him. There is no such regard, or “monument,” as he calls it. When he explains this to his girlfriend Annie it is one of the most emotionally raw moments of the play.

Williams finds Chris to be the most intriguing character because he believes his struggle is one that is still an issue today. “I mean everyone was so patriotic back then. Now, there is such a tension in the US when you talk about patriotism and what that means. Back then there was no question about it. So it’s really interesting to have him bringing it up back then and it’s so relevant now.”

Belnick agrees. “Take Frank, the character Matt Shea plays so brilliantly. Miller’s got you focused on the fact he was always safe from the draft. But when you think of it, he never enlisted. And in the good war, everybody was enlisting. He would have been what Kate said; he would have been the not good guy in the neighborhood.”

The way Miller writes the character of Frank translates well to the way Shea performs him. He is annoying. Contrast his character with that of Chris, who is soulful and principled, and it is easy to see what Miller (and perhaps most Americans at the time) thought of people like Frank.

“I didn’t live during that time period,” continues Belnick, “but when you read about it or talk to people, everybody wanted to get into that war. Only in a neighborhood where Joe Keller felt guilt could Frank have survived and be welcomed ’cause Joe wanted to have everybody around him. But he was a gutless coward. He never enlisted. Chris was there.”

Lauren Dobbins Webb, David Kirkpatrick
and Nicholas S. Williams

In addition to this issue of patriotism, Williams points out with this play, Miller was one of the first to allude to what we know now as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. “Miller was so smart putting up this PTSD. And he was talking about World War II! This isn’t Vietnam he’s talking about. I don’t know who brought it up before him-”

“Nobody!” Belnick interjects.

Williams agrees. “But it’s pretty crazy that he wrote it in the time of World War II and he brought it up when no one else was talking about it.”

When asked if she sees any correlation between other events in the play and events occurring now, Johnson addresses the questioning of capitalism. “I think there is so much going on in how our government is choosing to not make choices that are not right for any other reason than capitalism. And that’s an age old story. I can remember being told by my grandfather, back in the 9/11 time period. He said this is nothing new. This is what we saw in every war.”

But, as Belnick points out, Miller is not firmly against capitalism, he is merely questioning some of its effects on society. As Joe, who is at the center of this problem, Belnick perhaps understands this better than anyone.

“This play gives the other side as well. Joe is not all bad. He’s got a point. In his mind, it wasn’t gonna happen.” He adds, “And none of it justifies what he did, especially having his business partner take the fall. But it’s not as if all businessmen are evil,” says Belnick.

The meaning of the play and the issues it presents are clearly very relevant today. The cast knows they are a part of something special because of the resonance the play has with modern audiences.

Johnson explains her feelings about the production which ends in a couple of weeks. “I think for all of us, these are dream roles. I mean, I’m having a hard time thinking of what to do next because how do you go from this type of material, and this type of cast, and then go to… I don’t know what! I can’t figure that one out.” Johnson laughs a little, but she is quite serious.

Belnick feels the same. Jokingly, he remarks, “What do you do after this? You’ve been to the top of the mountain. Now where? It’s time to die!”

Feature image of Mark Belnick, CaroleAnne Johnson and Nicholas S. Williams by Ed Krieger.

Article by Samantha Mehlinger.