Willy Loman role a challenge, even for a veteran actor
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
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This weekend, he fulfills one dream — becoming Willy — in Arthur Miller's American theatrical classic, which the Hawai'i Pacific University Theatre premieres tonight at HPU's Windward campus.
"Ain't it the thing to do?" he asked a few days back during a rehearsal break. "But it could be the death of Don Pomes," he said, referring to the scope of the role, the daunting stream-of-consciousness script and the challenges in mounting the tragic story about a salesman who never quite realizes his dream.
"There's something about Willy, a dreamer who tries too hard, gets in his own way, and eventually loses sight about who and what's around him," Pomes said. "He's made a commitment to selling, but he simply tries too hard. It's something that happens to all of us sometimes in our lives. He can see the forest but not the trees."
Pomes was supposed to be in New England this fall, doing a production of "The Caretaker." When it was postponed — "a winter in New England could be rough anyway" — he heard that director Joyce Maltby was going to do "Death of a Salesman."
| • | 'Death of a Salesman'
A drama by Arthur Miller, produced by HPU Theatre Premieres at 8 p.m. today; repeats at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 8; 7:30 p.m. performance Wednesday Nov. 27 (no show Thanksgiving) Hawai'i Pacific University Theatre, Windward campus, 45-045 Kamehameha Highway $14 general, $10 seniors, military, students, HPU faculty; $5 HPU students 375-1282 |
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"My feeling of this production is that everybody knows about it (what happens in the play), but I would like to have the audience reach out and maybe think that it might turn out differently this time," Pomes said about Willy's fate. "It would be nice to — though you can't — suspend disbelief up to this point."
Pomes, who starred in "The Fantasticks" in New York, has a familiar face, and no wonder: He appeared in three soap operas, many "Hawaii Five-O" episodes, some films and numerous stage endeavors here and abroad. Locally, he's still remembered for his riveting portrayal of Roy Cohn in "Angels in America."
For Pomes, the "Salesman" text provided the real burden and ultimately the real thrills.
"I believe this was Miller's attempt at realism on the stage at the time he wrote it," Pomes said. "What this means is that there are numerous interrupted, broken speeches. Willy's ideals are repeated in dialogue that's constantly interrupted, quite often going into his own world, sometimes cut off by everyone else, so there's something in his memory that is the ultimate challenge. I mean, you say lines, then there's a break-in; I think all of us (the cast) have been struggling through it all valiantly."
Initially, Pomes tried to focus on thought processes and motivations, rather than specific lines of dialogue. "Once I got through that, it helped me understand why characters say the lines that they do."
Sure, the role was the attraction. But the lure really was a reunion with director Maltby. "She directed the first play I did, 'Chapter Two,' and we acted together in 'Diary of Anne Frank' and 'Gin Games.' "
The intimate scope of the HPU performing space posed another challenge. "In a proscenium theater, you have the house on one side and the audience on the other; here, the house practically is in the dream sequences and in some other scenes. You're really close to the viewers."
Because of his earlier involvement in professional theater, Pomes said the rehearsal process here of community theater required a particular battle plan. "With the intensity and complication of this play, the biggest thing I miss most (about equity theater) is the eight-hour rehearsal day," he said. "Here, it's three hours a night, over the Pali, and I feel some pressure from the time constraints. But you adapt. Other actors come in at their own level, so it doesn't matter if you have a California or a New York background; you bond, you work together."
