Willy Loman, the title character of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, is one of the greatest roles in 20th century theater. An aging father and husband who values material success, Willy suffers from depression and a growing inability to distinguish the present from the past. His wife Linda stands by him during the last days of life.
The play premiered on Broadway in 1949 and received the Pulitzer Prize for drama and Tony Award for best play. This classic will inaugurate The Magnetic Theatre’s “Masters Series,” with the production running April 30 through May 28.
You may think this series is an odd enterprise for The Magnetic Theatre, which will have mounted 42 world premieres of original work by the time Death launches. The idea, however, came to the company’s cofounder and artistic director Steven Samuels after a coproduction between The Magnetic Theatre and Montford Park Players.
In 2014, while The Magnetic Theatre was between homes, Montford Park Players invited Steven to direct Molière’s Tartuffe. “I found the offer irresistible, since Molière had had a tremendous impact on me and my theatrical efforts dating back to college days,” says Steven.
“It occurred to me, in the process, that doing an established play no more than once a year would be a terrific way to help our audiences understand where some of our original works come from, and would offer actors and directors associated with The Magnetic an opportunity to expand their range, for us all to grow together. I also thought such experiences could prove inspiring to our playwrights, too, as proved to be the case when we had the grand opening of our new home in June of last year with my Molièresque The Merchant of Asheville.”
In launching this series, Steven considered a number of works, including Vaclav Havel’s The Increased Difficulty of Concentration and Bruce Jay Friedman’s Scuba Duba, but an out-of-the-blue conversation made him choose a different direction. Actress Jane Hallstrom recently asked him if he’d ever considered playing Willy Loman, the title character in Death of a Salesman. Steven said he had not.
After being asked the question, he began to reconsider, realizing three important things: He was about the same age as Willy; he, as did Willy, grew up in Brooklyn; Steven’s father was a travelling salesman when Steven was a child.
“It could seem like a terrible act of hubris to take on this iconic role. But I think that the key is to approach it with true humility, if not abject terror,” says Steven. “The way I see it, one doesn’t ‘act’ such extraordinary parts. You must surrender yourself to them. An actor can’t become Hamlet or Willy Loman by thinking he’s great enough to do it; instead, he must realize the greatness is in the writing and, if he’s very lucky, the role will ‘play’ and elevate him.”
Steven is joined by a wonderful cast. Jane Hallstrom will play Linda, and other actors include Erik Moellering, Allen T. Law, Elliot Weiner, David Mycoff, Dana Gillihan, Cody Magouirk, and Tavis Kelley, among others.
Magnetic 375 is located at 375 Depot Street in the River Arts District in Asheville. Tickets for preview shows on April 28–29 are $16 advance, $19 at the door. Tickets for regular shows are $21 in advance $24 at the door, and $10 student rush tickets are available (with student ID) 15 minutes before each show. Performances run Thursday through Saturday. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. nightly. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit themagnetictheatre.org.
