Christine Lahti: Jumping Off a Theatrical Cliff

About the author:
Before she won an Oscar for the short film Lieberman in Love and an Emmy and Golden Globe in the still-famous “she was in the bathroom when they called her name” incident for Chicago Hope, Christine Lahti got her start on the New York stage. After winning a Theatre World Award for David Mamet’s The Woods, she starred in notable productions of John Guare’s Landscape of the Body, Noel Coward’s Present Laughter and Jon Robin Baitz’s Three Hotels, among others. For the past 15 years, Lahti has lived in Los Angeles, raising three children with her producer/director husband Thomas Schlamme The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. But this versatile star has recently felt the call of the stage again, and she’s making a rare off-Broadway appearance in Lee Blessing’s puzzle of a play, A Body of Water, at Primary Stages. How does it feel to come back to New York three decades after proving her talent in the theater? The gracious Lahti recorded her impressions for Broadway.com.

Wow. It’s been 15 years since I did a play in New York City. I can’t believe it! Oddly enough, I still consider myself a New Yorker. I mean, I lived here for 18 years doing tons of plays way off and on Broadway, so that qualifies me, right? OK, so then I moved to L.A., for just 15 years! had three kids, and worked mostly in film and television. But then last fall, I did Wendy Wasserstein’s Third at the Geffen and I got hooked doing theater again.

So when the wonderful director of Third, Maria Mileaf, called and asked if I wanted to do Lee Blessing’s A Body of Water at Primary Stages, I was very intrigued. Admittedly, I had to read it three times and have extensive conversations with Maria before I understood it, but it fascinated me and moved me—and since my husband wasn’t working and could be home with the kids, I decided to jump in. I had been craving something creatively challenging and boy, did I get it!

A Body of Water is deeply provocative and mysterious and will hopefully challenge an audience as it has challenged me. My co-stars, Michael Cristofer and Laura Odeh, are fiercely talented and a joy to work with. Together we take a journey together that is unlike any I’ve ever been on. The play is basically a love story about a married couple who messed up tragically the first time around and are given a second chance. I tend to be drawn to stories about people who get second chances and a shot at redemption. I am always attracted to stories about dysfunctional families, and they don’t come much more dysfunctional than Wren, Moss and Avis, the family in A Body of Water.

The rehearsal process, my favorite part of being an actor, was exhilarating but also at times deeply frustrating. The audience may not be completely clear what is going on every moment, but Michael, Laura and I had to be very specific and clear about every single moment ourselves. Luckily, we had the playwright there for a lot of the time and Maria was, as always, patient, collaborative and incredibly wise. Performing A Body of Water is quite thrilling. I feel a little like I’m jumping off a cliff every night and there’s no net! It’s funny to me that that is precisely what attracted me to doing this play!

At this stage of my career and my life except for when I have to take jobs simply to help pay the rent, I am really mostly looking for things that feel risky and dangerous, for things that scare me, things that I have no idea if I can really pull off. I know that sounds weird, but I find that that’s how I’m able to grow and stretch. If I find that fear is starting to prevent me from doing something for whatever reason, I’m inclined these days to push through and do it. Maybe it’s because I feel the clock ticking more acutely now, but I feel like throwing caution to the wind more than ever. Even though I never read reviews, I have even stopped the pathetic practice of asking my husband for hints about them. Maybe in my oldish age, I am no longer the “approval junkie” of my earlier days, when everyone’s opinion mattered way too much. I have begun to really own MY reasons for doing something.

The most challenging part for me, quite honestly, has not been the creative one, it’s been the challenge of being away from my kids. They are in high school and college now, so I know I miss them way more than they miss me, and that’s as it should be. But I am blessed with a husband who is not only incredibly supportive to me but who is also the most extraordinary father in the world. Luckily, this is a short run and I will be home probably before my kids have even noticed that I was gone. But 15 years is way too long to be away from the greatest theater city in the world. I love doing this play.

I love my co-stars and my director and, well, living in New York City in the fall? I love my daily jogs through Central Park, where I get to watch the trees change into their exquisite fall colors and where I get to watch the glorious circus of humanity that is New York. I love walking to the theater every night and never having to get into a car! Except for being away from my family, I think I’m in heaven. And the very best thing about it? I can now legitimately call myself a New Yorker again! Even if it’s only for a couple of months!