On a recent evening, UCLA writing instructor Richard Creese looked like an old hand at stage direction as he guided actress Amy Urbina through a rehearsal of a play he he’s written, prompting her when she forgot lines, revising cumbersome passages and green-lighting her apt ad libs.
A stickler for detail, Creese even evaluated the fake baby bump that Urbina had donned for her portrayal of a Regency-era actress who had 14 children, many of them born out of wedlock by this mistress of a future king of England.
“It would be nice,” Creese suggested as he surveyed the pillow that Urbina held to her waist, “if you had a prosthetic thing.”
Yet as comfortable as Creese appeared at the rehearsal, he is playing a relatively new role. The 31-year veteran of UCLA’s Writing Program made his debut as playwright only two years ago. With “Solemn Mockeries,” a one-person play based on the life of a notorious 18th-century forger who fabricated letters, documents and a play that he falsely ascribed to William Shakespeare, Creese found critical acclaim.
In a review of its 2013 premiere, the LA Weekly described Creese’s portrait of forger William-Henry Ireland as “brutally funny and brutally sad.” Since then, “Solemn Mockeries” has enjoyed three other runs, including an award-winning performance at Broadway’s Theater Row as part of the United Solo Theatre Festival, the world’s largest festival devoted to one-person plays, where it was selected as best period piece.
Now Creese is putting the finishing touches on productions of two new plays. Like “Solemn Mockeries,” both are one-person plays based on historical figures from London’s Shakespearean stage. Also like “Solemn Mockeries,” the plays will go to New York, where they have been accepted to the United Solo Theatre Festival in November. In the meantime, the plays will be performed at Hollywood Fringe Festival from June 13 to 27.
Creese’s fans are crossing their fingers for the plays’ success. “We tell our students that writing is a complex activity that involves writing and rewriting,” said Bruce Beiderwell, director of UCLA’s Writing Program. “As a dedicated writer, Rick embodies much of what we want to teach our students about the continued give-and-take between yourself and a piece of paper and basically never giving up.”
The first of the new plays is “Dora and Me,” which tells the story of Dora Jordan, the live-in girlfriend of England’s King William IV and a beloved comedienne — in the spirit of a Lucille Ball — in London during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Seeing Urbina in a 2013 Independent Shakespeare Company production of “Cyrano de Bergerac” inspired Creese to tailor the play for the 29-year-old actress, who has also appeared in “Othello” and “As You Like It” as well as television commercials and an independent film.
“She’s got this wonderful sense of humor,” Creese said.
In the play, action centers around a contemporary Los Angeles actress who channels Jordan for advice on the demands of balancing a career and motherhood.
“I’m grateful that he reached out to me and thought I could bring these characters to life,” said Urbina. “It’s just a great opportunity.”
Ryan Vincent Anderson, a seasoned African-American actor who has performed in a number of Independent Shakespeare Company productions, feels the same way about “Bright Swords,” the one-person play Creese tailored from the beginning for him. It tells the story of the 19th-century African-American actor Ira Aldridge, who became a symbol of the abolitionist movement as the first black man to perform as Othello in Europe — and possibly anywhere.
“He paved the way so that Paul Robeson could do what he did,” said Anderson, referring to the 20th-century actor who broke the color barrier on Broadway with his performance as the Moor of Venice.
Anderson, who most recently played Mr. Tibbs in an L.A. Theatre Works touring production of “In the Heat of the Night,” said the new role fulfills a lifelong dream. “Ever since I was in grad school I’ve always wanted a one-man show,” he said.
Creese, who got his Ph.D. in English at UCLA, is also pursuing his dream.
“I’m always writing something,” said the Boulder, Colorado, native. “I love to write. I don’t find it hard. I find it a joy.”
Still, success had eluded this author of eight unpublished novels and 15 unperformed screenplays until he found his way to playwriting through his son’s interest in theater.
“He was always a very involved dad,” said Creese’s wife of 40 years, Patricia. Creese, would ferry his son, Geno, to see local theatrical productions, including performances by the Independent Shakespeare Company, best known for presenting free summer plays in Griffith Park.
When Geno decided to study theater at UC Santa Barbara in 2009, his father realized he would have to somehow fill the time they had spent together. So Creese began volunteering for the Independent Shakespeare Company, taking on such routine tasks as updating mailing lists. Along the way, he became inspired by the vivid personality of the company’s cofounder, actor David Melville.
“One day, I called him up and said, ‘David, I’m writing a play for you,’” recalled Creese. On Melville’s next birthday Creese delivered “Solemn Mockeries,” bound with a bow. He had stumbled upon Ireland’s autobiography as a graduate student at UCLA in the ’80s and “never forgot the story.”
“My response was, ‘Oh, my gosh — this is very good,’” Melville recalled. “It’s very funny and entertaining and surprisingly moving.”
Melville might as well be describing the joy that Creese takes from seeing his plays come to life. At a recent rehearsal for “Dora and Me,” he mostly hung back as recent UC-Santa Barbara theater graduate Lexi Lee walked Urbina through the first rehearsal off script. But he never seemed to tire of feeding Urbina lines when she forgot them or watching her and Lee resolve blocking problems.
“We’ll go through the scenes, and suddenly I realize that it’s been hours and we haven’t stopped,” Creese said enthusiastically. “It’s like doing what you like best with your best friend. It’s just the greatest pleasure I know.”
More information about performances of “Dora and Me” and “Bright Swords.”
