THEATER : Feminist Play Reaches Out to Men Too

Barbara Tarbuck is calling all men.

Women have turned out in numbers to see her solo show, “Changes,” at Stages Theatre Center. But men--especially middle-aged and older male audience members--have been, well, scarce.

“The fear of menopause can be so isolating,” admitted the actress, 53, who assembled her piece from the works of feminist writer Germaine Greer and her own reflections on gender, aging and body identity. “A young man who’d seen the show told me, ‘I found an estrogen kit in my mother’s room and she was so embarrassed about it, we didn’t speak.’ I’m going to call her now.”

It was the onset of Tarbuck’s own menopause, 1 1/2 years ago, that was the springboard for this show.

“I was having these (hot) flashes,” she recalled. “I’d walk into the studio to teach an acting class and wouldn’t know whether to turn on the air conditioner or the heat. I was embarrassed, humiliated, unsure. I didn’t even know how to talk about it.”

Around the same time, the actress rediscovered Greer’s work. “I realized I’d lost touch with her,” she said simply. “Reading it made me feel strong, braver. It made me feel better.”

Tarbuck believes the labeling of feminist Greer as anti-male is nonsense. “I think she has a strong need, as I do, not to alienate men,” said the actress, who is married to an earthquake-preparedness consultant, Dennis Connolly, and has a 14-year-old daughter, Jennifer.

“Germaine does not want to be exclusive or self-pitying,” she said. “She’s irreverent and funny. But I know men have been scared away from this show. Of course, it’s not without criticism of men--but they’re not going to get brained. Germaine loves men, and I love men. To always perceive ourselves as victims is a real problem.”

The artistic director of Stages Theatre Center, Paul Verdier (who earlier directed Tarbuck in “Miss Margarida’s Way” and “La Bete”), acknowledged that delving into the woman’s perspective has been an education for him.

“I was very intrigued,” said Verdier, who serves as the play’s producer-director, “and I wanted to learn more.” When Tarbuck originally brought the piece to Verdier, it was solely written in Greer’s voice. “I told her, ‘Why don’t you weave your reflections and thoughts, use it as a form of departure?’ ” he recalled. The resulting mix, Verdier said, is roughly one-third Tarbuck, two-thirds Greer.

“Germaine is 56,” Tarbuck noted of the Australian-born writer, who teaches in England. “Originally I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting to work on her? Maybe I could be funnier and stronger’--because when you do someone, it affects you. I had seen Eileen Atkins do Virginia Woolf, and I got the idea of teaching people without beating them over the head. Then I did a 20-minute reading at Ensemble Studio Theatre, and I found both men and women were interested. Then I had to do a lot of research because most of her stuff is out of print.”

Last weekend, Tarbuck, who has been corresponding with Greer about this project, returned to her alma mater, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, for two performances of “Changes.” Born in Detroit, the actress followed up bachelor’s and master’s degrees in acting with doctoral studies at Indiana University before heading off to the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art on a Fulbright scholarship.

After working for several years in New York, Tarbuck was summoned to Los Angeles to do a TV pilot (the short-lived “California Fever”), met her husband, and--with some time out for national tours, including “Broadway Bound”--settled here. Along with regular TV work, her stage credits include “Blue Window” at South Coast Repertory and the Mayfair, “Better Living” at the Matrix and “Sarcophagus” at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. At the end of the Stages run, she hopes to take “Changes” to other colleges and is even planning its sequel.

“Part 2,” Tarbuck announced wryly, “will be women and men.”

“Changes” plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. at Stages Theatre Center, 1540 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood, closing May 14. There will be no performance today. Tickets: (213) 465-1010.