Fool For Love
What can I say about Fool for Love? The gritty motel room drama by Sam Shepard, with the old man sitting quietly in the background, and Eddie and May turning their world upside down as Martin innocently stands by. Yeah, that one. Fool for Love has always been one of my favorite Shepard plays, and for some reason incest kept creeping up in our shows. I don’t know why. It wasn’t our intentions but it did. So, we decided to do it. Christa was cast as May, myself as Eddie, Greg Gondek as the innocent bystander Martin, and newcomer Steve Zinkgraf as the old man. And for all those people that have asked, “Wow, where did Steve come from?” You’re welcome. We also had three gorgeous Western/Las Vegas dancing girls played by Rhian Baker, Celina Herenandez, and Dona Mesler. Now one might say,” I don’t remember there being any dancing girls in Fool for Love.” Well, you would be correct. But, we had dancers.
So, that was the cast. Now, Christa and myself had never played opposite of each other, which made things interesting. I mean we had done shows together, shared the stage and so on, but we had never played lovers before. This was a whole new experience. Now, this was an incredible opportunity. We trusted one another. We knew we could push one another like never before. We also knew each other bad habits, and could easily point them out. And did we. Now this made things a bit interesting. I mean, it was a great experience, and I would love to have the opportunity to perform with my wife again, but…Fool for Love!?! I mean, come on. Yeah, they love one another. Right? But talking about dysfunctional. “I love you!” “I hate you!” “No you don’t!” “Yes I do!” “Well, I hate you too!” “Okay, I love you!” “I’m leaving!” “Don’t leave” ”Okay!” ”We’re brother and sister!””AHHHH!””My horse trailer is on fire!” ”Bye!” ”Bye!” Do that for six weeks and see how you feel. Now, don’t get me wrong it was a great experience and I had a lot of fun playing Eddie. And I had fun dry humping Greg every night, and I am proud of the show. It was just one of the most difficult things that I have experienced. Which is a good thing. No, it was a great thing.
I also had an incredible experience with Laura. She was absolutely amazing to work with. She had an absolute gift for pushing and pulling and kicking our asses and helping us turn out a great show. She had an incredible vision for the show. Everything from the dancing girls to taking the Old Man out of his seat, donning him in all white, and giving him an elegant, evil, Elvis twinge.
It was just an incredible experience.
To sum it all up, I’ll leave you with this final thought. My in-laws came to see the show, and after the performance Christa and I went out to greet them. Christa’s mother asked,” Now what lesson am I to take from that?” Frank replied,” Don’t screw you sister.”
— Judson Jones
