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Show ft Park Record Thursday, September 18, 1986 Page B7 hmbmmiu; J No cop by ROBIN MOENCH Record contributing writer For some people, money isn't enough. The opportunity to do challenging work in an atmosphere one loves means more. John Perryman is a professional actor who works in film, television and theater. "But my main love is theater, otherwise I wouldn't be here." , Perryman is in Park City on a two-month two-month sabbatical from his home base in Los Angeles. In response to a call from an old associate, Park City Performances' artistic director Richard Jewkes, he returned to his native Utah to play the Sheriff in the PCP October production of "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" at the Egyptian Theatre. He works steadily in Hollywood. "I'm successful in my own small way," he said. "I have my own little house, my own little bed and an answer machine to get calls from my agent." PCP doesn't pay actors. Its goal is to raise itself from a community level to a professional footing so that it can pay. But that is yet to come. So not only is Perryman not benefiting financially from his Park City "vacation," he is also losing jobs in more lucrative California. So why is he here? "I did it for love of the theater," he said. "There's such an imbalance between movies and theater. In movies, everybody's rich. In theater, everybody's poor. It's a tragedy. Theater is where acting springs from." Perryman was born in Gunnison, Utah. He is a graduate of the University Univer-sity of Utah and one of the founding actors of the Sundance Institute. This is his second show at the Egyptian. Egyp-tian. He played the part of Shannon in PCP's "Night of the Iguana," directed by Jewkes, in July 1982. "Richard Jewkes is my whole inspiration in-spiration for being here," he said. "He wants to give the (Egyptian) theater a reputation for good talent...I respect what he's trying to accomplish. (Ceil I me To see her in the role of Mona, the madam of a house of ill-repute in Park City Performances' "Best Little Lit-tle Whorehouse in Texas," you wouldn't jump to the conclusion that Teri Cowan is the mother of two young children and a former schoolteacher. But the mother of Jessica, 3, and Nicholas, 1, is an experienced actress ac-tress in university and regional theater, summer stock and commercials. commer-cials. Slip her onto a stage and she can make you believe just about anything even that a petite, blonde Utah matron is a tough-but-tender mother hen to hookers. Cowan is an Ogden native and a graduate of Weber State College, where her majors were theater and English. She earned a teaching certificate, cer-tificate, but after a couple of weeks on her first job she found she didn't want to teach acting. She wanted to act. And she did. In one show after another. Then Cowan and her husband, hus-band, Tom, a freelance producer of film and videotape, decided to start a family. "When we moved here (Salt Lake City), I started having babies and put my career on hold." She describes the sudden halt in theater work as a "culture shock." But even with parental repon-sibilites, repon-sibilites, she still manages to do about one show a year and snag commercial jobs through her agent. You can see her in a commercial for the Ogden Standard Examiner, in a KUTV series on families and in a Clean your Closet ! $2.50 per piece Minimum 6 pieces -clothing offer good thru Sept. 30 Drop them off on your way to work... pick them up on the way home. Holiday Village 649-1582 - out: Actor boosts PCP i y El H if I t r : II I . . i . ' - , , - i ill J J -y M f v-..: - ! - , I . Or ft' John Perryman came home to Utah to take on Sheriff role in PCP's "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." "If I can give my input, show the public this is a professional theater, then I want to contribute." But don't get the idea Perryman is all heart. "The Sheriff is a helluva good part." And again he cites Jewkes and his singlemindedness for getting the show here at all. "He begged for the rights to 'Whorehouse.' It was his tenacity in keeping on it and keeping on it even madam: Sin "I hate to call her a whore with a heart of gold, but she is everyone's mom." Teri Cowan public service announcement on the Governor's Council on Fitness. She also does industrial and corporate cor-porate films. "The money is nice, but I really like the stage," she said. Cowan is a relative late-comer to the 'Whorehouse' cast. "I met (director) Craig (Call) two weeks ago," she said. Call and 'Whorehouse' choreographer Jason Ayon were appearing in a summer production of "Damn Yankees" at Sundance. "Right before the show, I met Jason, and he said they were still looking for Mona." When a mutual friend suggested her for the part, Call on the basis of her reputation asked Cowan to audition. She came up to the Egyptian Egyp-tian the next day, sang for him and got the co-starring role. "I've heard a lot about Craig and I'm excited to work with him," she said. "What he sees in his head looks wonderful on stage." She also praises PCP artistic director Richard Jewkes for his ambitious am-bitious plans to upgrade the theater's reputation by drawing professionals pro-fessionals like Call to Park City. "I remember when it (the Egyptian) wasn't functioning. It just sat there. Dry .. ' X Robin Moench when he was told, 'We're not sure we want to release it in Utah.'" If you have only seen the Burt Reynolds-Dolly Parton movie version ver-sion of 'Whorehouse,' Perryman wants to emphasize that the play is better than the film. The development develop-ment of the love story between the Sheriff (Reynolds) and the madam (Parton) "left the film lopsided," he said. The quality is going up and he's (Jewkes) a big part of that." As a veteran of shows at Theater 138, Promised Valley Playhouse and the Lagoon Opera House, she welcomes the appearance of another active, professional, Salt Lake-area theater which is what the Egyptian promises to become. "Some actors get to where they work the same places over and over. There's a certain cer-tain advantage to me as an actress in having more choices." She is also pleased to work with a vocal coach. Dorothy Briggs Arnold is working with 'Whorehouse' singers individually. "You don't always get that with a show that one-on-one. Dorothy even makes herself available at home." She and co-star John Perryman see eye to eye on the nature of 'Whorehouse.' "Musicals are usually usual-ly so black and white, cut and dried," she said. "With this show there are character flaws in the peoplenobody's peo-plenobody's perfect, everyone makes mistakes. It's fun to work with that." She sees Mona as a businesswoman. "She sees what she does as a business, but she really cares about the girls who live in the house. I hate to call her a whore with a heart of gold, but she is everyone's mom." Ironically, Cowan walked out on a touring show of 'Whorehouse' when it came through Salt Lake City. "It was so awful." She isn't likely to do that this time. Full Service Cleaners and Shirt Laundry Same Day Service (In by 10 a.m.) ger h JL.'iJ! Member International Fabricare Institute Although 'Whorehouse is a broadly broad-ly humorous song-and-dance show about vice, politics and a lively small-town bordello, it diverts from the usual Broadway musical formula for-mula in that it has an intriguingly unhappy ending. "This is a sad play," said Perryman. Per-ryman. "They (the Sheriff and the madam) met twenty years ago, became good friends, fell in love. Then he has to kick her out of town. At the end, they still don't get together. "This is a tragedy. And (director) Craig (Call) had enough insight to pull that out of the play." '4 In the part of the Sheriff, Perryman Per-ryman is on familiar ground. Cops, firefighters and lawmen seem to be his staple roles. Producers and directors "see me, first, as an all-American all-American guy and, second, as a social service person," he said wryly- In "Footloose," he played a character identified in the credits as "Fat Cowboy." He was padded out with a rotund beer belly and gave Christopher Perm a smack. In "On the Nickel" he played a cop who harasses alcoholic bums on Skid Row and ends up killing Ralph Waite with his nightstick. In a pair of Cannon Can-non "Ninja" films "It's good money. You do it to survive." he played another cop. And in "Incident "Inci-dent at Crestridge," filmed in Park City, he played the deputy who throws down his badge and walks off the job with Eileen Brennan. Going against type, he played Merle Yates, the telephone man, on "The Waltons" in 1976-78. (Fellow series actor Will Geer was Per-ryman's Per-ryman's mentor and friend.) And on a "Divorce Court" segment to be aired Nov. 19, he'll appear as a baseball player. His advice to aspiring actors? "If you don't have a burning desire, I wouldn't recommend it." But the Hollywood rat race loses its edge in Park City's fresh mountain moun-tain air. "It's great to be up here," he said as he walked down nighttime Main Street. gets to heart of I RoDin Moench Above: Teri Cowan plays the hostess of the notorious Chicken Ranch. Right: Cowan and director Craig Call work through a rowdy show tune. g ... -: : x 4 I . ' ; I " , '.I I ' ' I . . if? ; t - : : ii - ,,XXJ IM TO IDEHTin. . CALL riART tlOQAn HOLLET 040-0910 inTERp FLnnT cme wm flowers nnni3 43 HILLSIDE III OLD TOWN m ,. ... r ,,.4 7. A'- ' i i J ; v -: y l 'v -II ...... .. j' Big cast makes a full 'Whorehouse' It doesn't have a cast of thousands, but with about 30 actors, ac-tors, singers and dancers and a dozen technical crew members, "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" is among the bigger shows produced by Park City Performances. Park City faces in the cast include in-clude Lori Groll (Angel), Val Thurnell (Doatsey Mae), Larry Sheldon (Edsel), Glenn Artist (Rufus), Karen Arenskov (Beatrice), Richard Barlow (Scruggs), Mary Jane Bird (Dawn), Debra MacFarlane (Ruby RaeImogene), Tricia McDonald (Ginger), Jackie Toy (Linda Lou), Franci Eisenberg, Laura Fetta, Bob Haedt, Karen Oliver, Becky Pratt and Dave Thomas. Performers from outside Park City include Spencer Ashby (Governor), Alice Cloud (Jewel), Teri Cowan (Mona), John Perryman Per-ryman (Sheriff), Jim Smith V Robin Moench (Senator), Laura Whipple (Shy), Debbie Church (Durla), Doug Hoyt and Joe Onstot. Mike Mitchell, Mit-chell, Kristen Vermilyea and John Warren also have parts. Technical staff includes Kevin Myhre (set designer), Ruth Ann Fitzgerald (costumer), Michael Johnson (musical director), Dorothy Briggs Arnold (vocal director) and stage managers Anita Coletti and Mitzi Ashton. Craig Call is the director, Jason Ayon is the choreographer and Richard Jewkes is the executive producer. "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" was written by Larry L. King and Peter Masterson with music and lyrics by Carol Hall. It will open at the Egyptian Theatre Oct. 3 and continue on Oct. 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25 and 31 and Nov. 1. For reservations, call theater manager David Fleisher at 649-9371. Mona V" N ' s -'Hi 2 ' . DUT HARD TO ffflD 1! |