Christine Lahti Inhabits Gloria Steinem
by Michele Willens
Christine Lahti has performed on stage many times, but she has never enjoyed a theatrical experience as much as the one she continues through January. She put ego aside to perform in a small venue off-Broadway, not to mention sharing the stage in the second “act” with the audience.
When her participation comes to a close, Lahti will have spent four months portraying her hero, Gloria Steinem, in Gloria..A Life, at the Daryl Roth Theatre. “It has been the perfect marriage between my acting and my activism,” says Lahti, 68. It was Steinem’s idea — and insistence — that after 90 minutes of having her career and personal life examined, an interactive postscript should be added. Recalls Lahti; Gloria said, ‘If the first act is about me, the second has to be about the audience.’”
That unique addendum — called a “talking circle” — lasts for about thirty minutes, during which the audience is led in a consciousness raising-style discussion about how they were affected by what they have just seen. “Women are sobbing and saying they never spoke up before,” says Lahti. “So many have shared the most personal, vulnerable things. And the best part is they are inspired to go out and change the world.” And it is not just women. “One night we had a gay man who said, ‘I’ve been a coward for 70 years, but the fact I am holding this microphone means something,’” she says.
Lahti has known Steinem for fifteen years, and there are similarities in how they look and how they were raised. “I’m living the unlived life of my mother,” says Gloria in the show. Lahti says her mother too was not free to expand beyond housewife and mom. While Gloria — A Life is a combo of Ted Talk and dramatic theatre, it still reminds us that while we’ve come a long way, we could slip back at any time. “I certainly remember when women had it so much worse,” says Lahti, “though of course there has been progress. But one does feel a backlash, and it’s no secret that there are a lot of terrified and entitled white men out there.”
While the show does not specifically refer to the current administration, there are occasional references to some ominous signs: “Can you believe that they’ve just opened the first Playboy club in 30 years?” Lahti tosses off at one point. Steinem, of course, famously went undercover as a bunny. More harrowing were things said to her, such as by author Gay Talese, who once described her as “that year’s pretty girl” who thinks she’s a writer.
Lahti seems open to doing the show elsewhere, especially a Los Angeles theatre. (She is bi-coastal) “Just as important, I’d like to see it travel to high schools and colleges across the country,” she says. “I’ve been so happy to see a lot of young women in our audience who may just be learning that their voices matter. We stood on the shoulders of people like Gloria and we need to keep the shoulders moving through the generations. I’ve not only raised a kick-ass feminist daughter, but two sons who have learned that it’s not only okay to cry, but a gift.”
TV and film stars taking on (largely) single character plays provides a way for them to spread their wings, and often tell the stories of lesser known heroes. Mike Farrell has been performing Dr. Keeling’s Curve, about a prescient astrophysicist. Farrell’s old MASH buddy, Alan Alda, has performed in QED,about physicist Richard Feynman. Personal stage memoirs also continue. John Lithgow has done multiple performances enacting the stories his father read to his kids. Joely Fisher has been performing Growing Up Fisher,talking about life with Eddie, Debbie and Carrie. And, of course, Bruce Springsteen just spent a year singing and telling his story on Broadway. (Now on Netflix)
These are generally cathartic experiences for both performer and, hopefully, audience. It’s certainly been an emotionally satisfying year for Christine Lahti. Besides this show, she wrote a well-reviewed memoir called True Stories From An Unreliable Eyewitness. But little compares with being able to bring her idol to dramatic life. “I can honestly say that I was a wreck during our first rehearsal in front of Gloria,” she recalls. “But she has pushed us to be as honest as possible. She changed my life and those of so many women. To be able to do this is such an honor.”