Valley residents will enjoy play, director says

By Guy D’Astolfo

Artistic Director Ted Pappas is eager for Youngstowners to see the play.

Ted Pappas, artistic director of the Pittsburgh Public Theater, instantly knew that Rob Zellers’ play “Harry’s Friendly Service” deserved to be produced.

“Rob and I have been successful before,” said Pappas, referring to “The Chief,” the ever-popular play about Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney. “We have become a team. Plus, I happen to like the play, personally. It’s a good play with wonderful characters.”

Pappas directs three plays a year for the Public, which is a professional theater, and “Harry’s” will be one of them.

The power of “Harry’s” became evident during early readings of the play about 18 months ago. Readings are preliminary run-throughs of a script in which the actors simply read the lines while sitting in chairs.

“During one of the first readings, I noticed people were feeling it, and you have to use your imagination to do that because there are no costumes, no sets, no action,” said Zellers.

Pappas agreed.

“The reaction we got when we did the reading did play a role [in deciding to produce it],” he said. “When a play is so much about one city, I wonder if it will have resonance outside of that city. But I really think [“Harry’s”] is about a lot of industrial towns [not just Youngstown]. I had no reservations.” After the decision to produce it was made, what came next was plenty of rewrites. “Ted is meticulous in his staging and uncanny in his understanding of what I want,” said Zellers. “He ‘gets it’ better than I do. He was able to explain the Youngstown characters even though he’s not from there.”

Pappas, however, might have had something of an advantage because he grew up in Gary, Ind., a hard-bitten steel town that is similar to Youngstown.

“I do have an understanding of the characters because of my background,” said Pappas. “My father was a steelworker, and I worked in the mills in the summer. The vocabulary was clear to me. The play transcends the issue of a steel town. It’s about family. But my history in an industrial city gave me a real sense of the kind of guys that hang out at Harry’s. I’ve seen them before.”

Pappas said the play is extremely well cast, and the set design is excellent. “It’s a white-tile gas station,” he said. “You don’t see that on stage too often.”

The lead role of Harry is played by Ed Hyland of New York. “He has done classical roles for many years, and is one of the great classical players in the country,” said Pappas. “He plays a working stiff but brings to it the power of a classical character.”

Pappas said he hand-picked Hyland and the entire cast. “I got all of my first choices,” he said. “No one said no, and these are people from New York and Los Angeles who have other choices.”

Pappas said he is eager for Youngstowners to see the play. “What is exciting is the possibility of Youngstown people seeing a play that reflects their world and their history,” he said. “They will probably enjoy it more than anyone else.”