Things are about to get ridiculous.
Every other year, local law professionals team up with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre to put on “Gridiron,” a musical that spoofs Arkansas and national people and politics. This year marks a huge milestone for the production as it celebrates 100 years on stage with “Gridiron 2016: Bake America’s Cake Again.”
According to Judge McGowan, “Gridiron” was born in 1916 as a luncheon with skits performed in the basement of the Hotel Marion downtown. It had a loose affiliation with the Little Rock Bar Association, so it was all men on stage, even in women’s roles. Though the original material is unknown, Judge McGowan possesses programs from the inaugural production.
Throughout the years, and especially during wartime, the performances grew sporadic, but it was revived in the 1970s and ‘80s by an attorney named Griffin Smith who loved musical theater. After bouncing around to different venues, “Gridiron” landed at The Rep in 1990 and has remained there since.
But when every newscast is new material and the election is already looks like a giant spoof, that just makes for an even more outrageous “Gridiron.” To learn more about the hilarious show, we sat down with producer Judge Mary Spencer McGowan; Kathryn Prior, a partner at Wright Lindsey Jennings and the show’s Hillary Clinton; Craig Wilson, the Director of Health Policy at Arkansas Center for Health Involvement and a very orange-faced Trump; and Allyson Pittman Gattin, The Rep’s Director of Marketing & Audience Engagement.
To begin, tell me about your day-to-day life and your role in “Gridiron.” By day, mild-mannered attorney, but by night…
Craig Wilson: (Laughs) There is nothing mild-mannered about anything we do on that stage. By day, I’m attorney, but i’m really in health policy. I actually work a lot with some of the politicians that we spoof on stage. It gets a bit touchy and tense sometimes, but they put me in enough makeup to keep my anonymity. I think from a professional standpoint, we work as legal professionals in our own circles and this gives us an opportunity outside of that to interact on a personal level doing something fun that we all enjoy. When we come together every couple of years, we really are a Gridiron family and we carry those relationships outside of the six weeks that we’re together in rehearsals and production mode. It’s not unlike the traditional community theater feel that you get, but it’s with your peers in the legal profession, which I think is something that’s unheralded in the Little Rock area or really outside the state.
Mary Spencer McGowan: I’ve been a judge 26 years and an attorney for 42 years and I know the days when you would duke it out in court and then you’d go have a drink together. Those days are gone. This provides an ability for polar opposites coming together and getting to know each other so they can go have a drink together. Personally, I think it increases the civility of everybody participating… It has that added piece to it that younger attorneys in particular have not had the chance to experience.
CW: I think just to drive home from a personal level, the judge married me and my wife, who I met doing “Gridiron;” the director, Jana Beard, is my mother-in-law; Kathryn and I three years ago were on stage doing company together at The Weekend Theatre down the street. It really is like a family.
Kathryn Prior: I’m a lawyer at Wright Lindsey Jennings, and have been there a long time. I’ve done a lot of theater in whatever spare time I have. Craig and I have done a couple of shows here (at The Rep). When you’re working full time, it’s hard to do productions back to back or every year or every other year. So this gives people like Craig and me a chance to exercise our theatrical skills. It’s nice.
CW: And exorcise our theatrical demons.
Ok, so by night, Craig, you’re playing Trump, and Kathryn, you’re Hillary. What’s it like becoming these characters? What’s the process?
KP: You just study and watch them on TV. You pick up their mannerisms, they both have very distinct mannerisms that they do. Craig’s are mostly facial.
CW: The thing about Trump, it’s not about watching him, it’s about watching other people impersonate him. That’s when you figure out what the nuances are and you pick that up.
KP: Hillary’s taken on a lot of Bill’s mannerisms, I’ve noticed, with the head nodding and she talks with her thumbs now and she points a lot.
Do you have a favorite thing that they do or say that you get to impersonate?
CW: For me there’s not a favorite. They are such characters in and of themselves. It’s real life theater.
MSM: It’s almost scripted that way for us, like at the convention with Trump came out, the lights went out in the arena, there was a blue tinge and he arises from the smoke with “We Are the Champions” playing.
KP: Oh, for me, it’s got to be the laugh. You watch her interviews and she just laughs at everything.
So what do you think makes “Gridiron” so special?
MSM: After the 2014 show, I was told repeatedly, “It just looks like you guys are having so much fun, I just wanted to be up there.” I’ve always subscribed to the theory that you want them to leave wanting more and dancing out through the aisles. I think the audience gets the feeling that we’re a family and that people on stage sacrifice their time for this.
CW: There’s anticipation not only in the energy of the show, but certainly about the content. There’s always anticipation from the political committee wondering if they’ll be spoofed this year. The writing starts through a clandestine committee and nobody knows who’s writing it, nobody knows the content until we come to that first rehearsal and they hand you a script. And even then, it’s on lockdown until we go on stage.
KP: It’s like Saturday Night Live, but local. People get to see the skits and musical production and everybody wants to be entertained. That’s why they come.
CW: It’s an oral tradition. It really is about capturing the events of the time, right up until the show starts. There may be a script that’s put in front of us on the first day of rehearsals, but it can change at the last minute because the events are ongoing.
MSM: It’s been evolving as we see different changes, as vice presidents are announced. Sometimes we even have something in “Gridiron” and then it happens in real life. It’s very, very topical and very much up-to-date. Jana will be tweaking it up until opening night.
Why do you think it’s important to put on a show with this type of tone?
MSM: Really, you can’t beat the material. Like we said, the script practically wrote itself. There’s so much out there. But it really involves the community in the sense that they look forward to it, they want to laugh. On the other hand, 2014 was the first time we’d done a portion about “Gridiron” members we’d lost, and people really responded to that. I hope it goes on another 100 years, that the torch is passed.
CW: Yeah, it’s part SNL, part awards show. I think that both the timing and why people enjoy it so much, particularly in presidential election seasons, everybody takes everything so seriously. This is a time for them take a step back and put aside all the partisan stuff and just either laugh at themselves or laugh at each other. It’s an opportunity for everyone to take a little breath because as soon as you walk outside those doors, it gets serious again.
Allyson Gattin: It’s very mission-driven for us at The Rep. Our mission is to engage the community in a dialogue through theater and being that outlet. We have shows like “Little Mermaid” and Macbeth” that have already been written and performed, but this is our way every other year to be a part of that oral tradition, of this history piece of what our local community, our state, our nation is going through politically. We don’t have the opportunity to really write and produce things ourselves, so we’re thrilled to be a part of that tradition. For you to be able to look back at 1928 programs, it’s exciting that someone — maybe these performers’ kids — can one day look back at what The Rep and “Gridiron” were putting on.
CW: I just think this is such a unique collaboration of two gargantuan institutions that have been on the block for years. From the legal community to the health community to the political community, it’s something that we’re modeling that, frankly, I think other industries could borrow from philosophically.
Opening night is Tuesday, Aug. 2, where you can enjoy hors d’oeuvres and complimentary wine and beer before the curtain at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday’s shows begin at 7 p.m. and Friday and Saturday’s begin at 8 p.m.
For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit The Rep’s website. You can also call (501) 378-0405 or visit the theatre box office downtown at 601 Main St., Little Rock.