Theater professional and former Meramec professor Gary Paben premieres his three year old project at his STLCC home
By: LIVIE HALL
Managing Editor
Gary Paben’s bucket list had one thing in particular to cross off, and that was to put on a play, three years in the making, at his home stage at STLCC-Meramec. Inspired by a friend who was in a coma, Paben has been working with Theater Professor Michelle Rebollo on the world premiere of his project.
Nerves? He has none.
“I’m too old to be nervous; I’m 72,” Paben said. “I wanted to complete my first item on my bucket list. And hopefully, people will like it.”
The St. Louis native taught theater at Meramec in the 1970s and went on to have a 30 year stint with Disney. Next week, his dream will come true thanks to Meramec students and community members.
Rebollo and Paben formerly met in October of 2013. Plays usually have one director, but she is co-directing “1959 Saint Ascension” with Paben, she said. Held highly in the theater industry, Paben said he thought it would be fun to come back to Meramec to host the show’s first workshop.
“This musical is about what takes place in the coma ward of this hospital where we meet the nurse of that coma ward, Reybeau, who is the main character,” Rebollo said. “We kind of live through his journey of interacting with these various coma patients that come into the ward, and that’s really the basis of the story.”
Rebollo described three subplots in the musical. One subplot involved a socialite whose adopted son has always craved her attention.
“If you can think of a modern day example, it would be kind of like Madonna going off and finding a child from Somalia,” Rebollo said. “This notion of this socialite who has the money and the altruistic tendency to go and do that, but is more concerned with her social life than her son.”
Another subplot has a “washed up magician” who Rebollo described as a “bad Vegas act.” The third story line involves a father in the hospital. Rebollo said she did not want to give too much away because there is a twist involved. The story follows the hospital stay of these patients as well as the struggle their families are going through.
“There’s a level of fantasy in this play because anytime Reybeau interacts with these patients, they come to life. They start to wake up,” Rebollo said. “We sense what their past life was like, or how they got into the predicament they’re in, or what they wish they could express, but can’t because they’re in a coma.”
2011 Meramec graduate Brian Rolf said he returned to his alma mater to help in different ways on the play. Graduating from University of Missouri-St. Louis this year with a theater degree, Rolf said he is excited to be working with Rebollo again.
He has never worked on a musical on its first opening and said things are constantly changing as they go. Paben said there have been many rewrites, edits and music changes since work on the play started. He said the students have been great to work with. Through all of the developments, Rolf said he feels really fortunate to have been cast because even with a large group, there are a lot of jobs to be done.
“What Meramec is is an opportunity for people in the community to come back and do theater that is of such high quality, that honestly, we’ll take a hit to come and do it,” Rolf said.
Rebollo said the cast members had to be “hush hush” about the musical when they received their roles. Cast members and theater personnel, including Rebollo, had to sign a waiver saying they would not talk about the play, apart from the people working on it.
“If you start chatting, and technically speaking, it’s brand new, people get ideas and then they start taking off and making their own plays. So really, it was to protect his [Paben’s] lawyer, rather than anything that would prevent them from really doing their job,” Rebollo said.
In order to get the musical in an off Broadway setting, she said “backers” are needed to see the workshop and invest in the production of the show.
For its premiere, there will be several people coming in from all over the country – not only as potential investors, but also as friends of Paben.
Paben has a team that will design the musical if it moves to Broadway.
“As to whether or not I, or the designers, or the actors would move forward, that’s just a crapshoot,” Rebollo said. “But the exposure that this play will get will be pretty large.”
She said that exposure is going to be substantial because of who is going to see it. The play is coming from Paben’s heart and is something he really feels passionate about, she said.
His inspiration came from Perrino, who had been in a coma. Paben said his wife suggested they collaborate.
“The notion of moving the story that’s personal forward, I would want them to get some pride for telling that story,” Rebollo said. “I would hope that we would do the play justice.”
She said she also hopes her students will get a chance to show their portfolios to the industry professionals that will be in attendance. Students in the region are encouraged to share their talents to the professionals who want to share their knowledge, Rebollo said. Paben said this is his first time working with Rebollo, and she said “he is a joy.”
She said he has embraced the group and is really excited to have the play be shown.
Paben said it has been great working with the actors, Rebollo and those behind the scenes. Rolf described Paben as a “big-picture director.” Paben has big emotions and Rebollo’s job is to explain those emotions.
“He sees everything like it’s in a snow globe,” Rolf said. “He’s taking care of the snow globe. She’s [Rebollo] watching the snow and making sure it’s making sense, the way it’s landing.”
The way Rebollo and set designer Darren Thompson design shows is through a gradual build up so there is a smooth transition between scenes, Rolf said.
He said the show is very stringent on how the actors perform and how their etiquette is.
“This is a unique story told from a St. Louisan about a specific time and a specific place, and I think you’re really going to feel that when you come out and see it,” Rolf said. “There’s a reason it’s ‘1959 Saint Ascension,’ not 1989 or 1929. It’s a time capsule. That’s Gary’s time capsule.”
Paben said he left Meramec after an offer to work at Disney for a number of years, never thinking he would return to the campus.
He took a leave from Disney during his career to be the Vice President of Entertainment at Madison Square Garden. He quit Disney in 2000 after he did a parade for the company as well as work for the Super Bowl XXXIV halftime show.
When he began working on “1959 Saint Ascension,” he said Meramec seemed “like a good fix” for it to premiere.
“It was fun to come back to a space where I had been working a long time ago,” Paben said. “Going back into the theater was like a very comfortable shoe.”
Starting out as a photo major himself, Rolf encourages anyone of any major to audition for plays at Meramec.
The musical premieres on Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m. and runs through Saturday, Oct. 4. There will be a matinée on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 2:00 p.m. There is no charge.
