After co-founding Renaissance Theaterworks and leading the company for 33 seasons, artistic director Suzan Fete is retiring. She’s closing the chapter by directing the final show of her final season: Barefoot in the Park. Fete says the first time she saw Barefoot, she thought: “Oh my God – it’s me and my husband!” Milwaukee Magazine caught up with Fete about her love of this Neil Simon classic, her reflections on three decades at Renaissance, and her hopes for the company’s future.
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
This production marks the closure of a fantastic 33-year career as the co-founder and artistic director at Renaissance Theaterworks. Why did you choose Barefoot in the Park as the final piece of your final season?
I’ve wanted to do Barefoot in the Park for a long time but was waiting for the right opportunity. It’s one of my favorite plays and movies. I think it’s Neil Simon’s best work. It highlights what it’s like when you first have a conflict with someone that you deeply love – that moment that you realize you’ve married a person and they’re not just the object of your desire and vice versa. But because there’s so much love in Barefoot, we never doubt for a minute that it won’t work out – so we can just enjoy.
So, Barefoot is a rom-com – for those unfamiliar, how would you sum up the story?
Neil Simon actually wrote this play about his first wife. They married after a whirlwind courtship, and he was head over heels in love with her. They moved into this apartment, and the play is inspired by that.
It’s assumed – because it was the norm in 1963 – that the couple on stage, Corie and Paul, didn’t have sex before they got married. So, they had this wonderful honeymoon, then moved in together without having known each other very long. It’s a wonderful combination for comedy, and a lot of it stems from scenarios that wouldn’t be the case today. The apartment is a fifth-floor walk-up, and walking up five flights of stairs is never not funny, even 50 years from now.
The sense of place and time are such crucial elements to Barefoot in the Park. How are you bringing them to life at Renaissance?
The whole design team is fantastic. I’m especially fortunate to have Jim Guy do the props – he’s maybe a couple years older than I am. Karin Kopischke is the costume designer, and she and I are the same age. I’ll be 68 in a couple weeks. It was really important to me to work with people who would know the period really well. There’s a big difference between 1963 and 1968. Even though it was only five years, the whole country changed in that time. Working with people who understand that has been a real joy.
If anyone out there has only seen the 1967 movie, starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford, what do you want them to know about the stage version?
Barefoot in the Park was written for the stage. Neil Simon wrote the screenplay for the movie, so many of the lines are the same. The film is very true to the play – but for instance, the movie actually shows them going to a restaurant on Staten Island, instead of them just talking about the epic voyage that they made. So, some of the lines that I think are the funniest in the play couldn’t be used in the movie. I love the movie, but I like the play better.
How does Barefoot in the Park fit into the mission of Renaissance?
Renaissance creates theater that connects audiences through their shared sense of being human. Barefoot in the Park is a celebration of the best of being human: that life is full of surprises, leaps of faith and doing your best to see it through. The deeper message of the play, I think, is that anything is possible if you’re willing to be vulnerable and patient. That’s a good way to go through life. It’s a great metaphor for the arts and certainly for Renaissance. If you work hard enough and allow yourself to be vulnerable and patient, things pretty much work out OK in the end.
This is the first comedy you’ve directed. How does it feel to tackle this genre?
I’ve directed plays that have very comedic moments, but this is the first straight-up comedy. Comedies are very hard to do – and hard to find. But I’ve always loved this one, and I think it’s kind of perfect. But you have to have the right cast. I’m incredibly lucky with this cast who have given their hearts and souls over the last four weeks. It’s really hard. You can’t teach timing. But Emily Vitrano, Neil Brookshire, Jenny Wanasek and Reese Madigan are just amazing. They certainly make my job a whole lot easier.
What do you hope people take away from this production?
I hope that people come away a little lighter. It’s such an affirming story of young love – and also that it’s never too late to find happiness. Learning how to live together is not for the faint-hearted. But what a delightful evening at the theater! It will be a really nice respite from some of what’s going on in our society right now. It’s OK to have fun for a night.
Looking back at your time at Renaissance, can you share your overarching takeaway from the experience?
One of the things I’m most proud of are the opportunities we’ve given people. We gave first-time director opportunities to Laura Gordon, Marti Gobel, Angela Iannone and Mary Kerr, and they’ve since been doing work all over the country. One of the things that unfortunately has not changed is you can be a very successful woman actor, and then around age 50 or 55, there are no roles for you anymore. Women who used to work consistently as actors tell me they don’t know if they would be working anymore if they weren’t directing. So, I’m very proud of that.
I’m also proud of the young women who have come up in Milwaukee. [Actor] Elyse Edelman once told me that her mom took her to see Renaissance shows when she was a little girl – and she believed that she could do it, because she saw us do it.
What do you wish for the future of Renaissance?
I wish them all the good things. And I will certainly be there – if anyone would like advice from an old lady, I would be more than happy to give it. I will be in their corner, cheering them on and helping out in all possible ways. I feel very confident in their continued success, and I am full of love and good feelings for Renaissance forever.
