A Touch of Mysticism

Jenny Sullivan wanted to interject a mystical element into the production of “The Rainmaker” that she’s directing for the Rubicon Theatre Company. So she decided that Starbuck, the wanderer who promises to bring rain to a parched Southwestern town, should represent “indigenous people--native Americans--people who are really committed to the Earth and the environment.”

Darren McGavin created the role on Broadway; Burt Lancaster played him in the 1956 film. But Sullivan cast Carlos Sanz, a Latino, in the role. Stephanie Zimbalist plays Lizzie, the local who is captured by Starbuck’s magic, in the production, which opens for previews tonight.

“When I was [directing] ‘The Little Foxes’ for Rubicon in April,” Sullivan said, “I was struck by the fact that so many Hispanic kids showed up at the student matinees. Many of them had never seen a play before, and they were just [struck by] live theater. They were a fantastic audience and talked very passionately and intelligently in the question-and-answer sessions we had after the performances.

“I was thinking about bringing those kids back, and their parents. Jim O’Neil, Rubicon’s co-artistic director, and I were struck by the same idea in casting Starbuck. Nothing in the play indicated anything about him, except that he has this magical quality and charisma.”

Now that they’ve rehearsed for some time, Sullivan notes that Sanz fits in well.

“I was thinking that we’re really making a statement, but people watching the play for the first time are going to think that it was supposed to be cast this way,” she said.

Already, the company has experienced what might be considered a touch of magic. Searching for props, Sullivan wanted Starbuck to bang on a Native American drum instead of the parade-style instrument called for in the script.

“I got a catalog from a group called All One Tribe and searched for a picture of something that looked appropriate,” Sullivan said. “Only after I’d decided on one in particular did I read the description under the picture, that it’s called the Rain-Bringer Drum.

“When the people at All One Tribe found out what we were doing, and that Rubicon is a nonprofit organization, they offered us a 50% discount, because they consider theater to be a healing art.”

The director was raised in a theatrical household--her father was actor Barry Sullivan and her mother was an actress who retired from the stage after marrying. Jenny Sullivan has worked in regional theaters around the country.

She has known Rubicon’s O’Neil and Karyl Lynn Burns for several years, dating to when all were working in Santa Barbara. Most of her directing experience, she said, has been with new works, most notably, Jane Anderson’s “The Baby Dance,” which she took from the Pasadena Playhouse to off-Broadway. Co-starring in “The Baby Dance” were Stephanie Zimbalist, “Little Foxes” star Linda Purl and John Bennett Perry, who also appears in “The Rainmaker.”

She finds the opportunity to work with an established play refreshing, she said, explaining that “it isn’t necessary to work with [rewriting and developing] the text all that much.”

Still, her next project may be a play she is writing, based on the relationships among herself, her father and her mentally disabled brother. The play will almost certainly debut at Rubicon, Sullivan said, with John Ritter--an old friend--playing the brother.

“I can tell you this because John told me I can tell people,” she reports with pride: “He says it’s the best part he’s been offered since ‘Sling Blade.’ ”

DETAILS

“The Rainmaker” opens tonight and runs through Nov. 5 at the Laurel Theatre, 1006 E. Main St. in Ventura. Preview performances are today and Friday at 8 p.m., with tickets costing $20, $17 for students and seniors. Tickets for Saturday’s opening gala at 7 p.m. are $125, which includes a dinner party with the cast at a nearby restaurant. Regular performances begin Sunday afternoon and continue Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets for those performances are $20 to $35, with senior, student and group discounts available. Tickets are available from the theater box office (call for hours) and by phone, 667-2900.

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Todd Everett can be reached at teverett@concentric.net.