AUSTIN, Texas — She’s back!
“Ann,” the Broadway hit written and originally performed by actress Holland Taylor, returns to the ZACH Theatre.
“Ann” brings to life Ann Richards, who served as governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. The play covers parts of her life before, during and after her time as governor – but it’s less autobiographical than a showcase of her colorful character, according to Taylor.
Taylor said she was inspired to write the one-woman show because of how affected she was by Richards’ death in 2006.
“When Ann Richards died, I was really unnaturally overcome with grief ... I couldn’t believe that she was gone – I couldn’t stand that she was gone,” Taylor said. “And I realized in time that I was sad for the country as well as for myself because she was a great voice in the American air. And we need her. We needed her then and we need her now, maybe more than ever.”
While Taylor played Ann in previous productions – from Texas to Chicago, all the way to Broadway – this ZACH production stars veteran Texas film and TV actress Libby Villari, of "Friday Night Lights," "Boyhood" and a variety of other film and TV roles, almost all shot in Texas.
Villari caught Taylor’s eye by doing productions of “Ann” on her own in small venues.
“This wonderful Texas actress … was passionately playing ‘Ann’ in small theaters all over the country – and in a stunt right out of Ann Richards’ playbook, she did it to fundraise for Beto [O’Rourke] and handed over a $20,000 check to his campaign!” Taylor said.
Villari credits Richards for her career. She said she started acting later in life, and she began to make movies around the time that Richards was pushing Hollywood to consider Texas as a potential film capital.
"She schmoozed with them [Hollywood executives] and said, ‘We’ve got everything – anything you need to film, we’ve got it. We have mountains and oceans and rivers and cities and historical places.’ And so they came, they came in droves,” Villari said. “So I made, I think I made about 10 films ... in the four years she was governor, and so my career took off thanks to her. So she’s – Ann Richards is my hero on that professional level, and she’s also my hero in terms of being a maverick patriot.”
Villari said as soon as she heard "Ann" existed, she was determined to do it. After first filling in for a friend in Shreveport two years ago, she’s been producing and co-producing the play at small venues, as well as doing sporadic performances as Richards.
She said she’s thrilled to be playing Richards but admits the play is a challenge.
“I’ve never had this kind of a challenge on stage before, as ‘Ann’ presents,” Villari said. “I’ve never done a two-hour, one-woman show – I don’t think many of those exist. And even though they do exist, very few people do them because they’re just so challenging.”
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Director Benjamin Endsley Klein – who has been the director of “Ann” since the beginning, for productions all over Texas and in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York – agreed that this type of show presents unique challenges.
“Usually on bigger plays, you’re able to go, ‘So why don’t you take a break and I’ll work with these people?’ and, you know, on musicals that I’ve worked on, you can work on a scene and then you can shift and work on a musical number, a dance number … you can kind-of divide your day up through that. But when there’s only person, you realize quickly that that’s who you’re working with, day in and day out, every minute of the day,” Klein said.
Klein said that the ZACH wanted to get “Ann” back ever since the show closed at the theater three years ago.
“The meaning and the themes that are in the story are really important to keep them out there. And, of course, there’s now even more people that weren’t in Austin then that now can come see the play or missed it when we were here three years ago and can come see it," Klein said. "So, hopefully, we’ll have a big audience of returners and people who never saw the play and maybe, hopefully, people who don’t know who Ann Richards was."
A bonus about this production is that, in addition to Klein, many of the team members were involved in previous productions, including stage manager Robert Tolaro, sound designer Ken Huncovsky and scenic designer Michael Fagin. The ZACH production also features the same set that appeared in the Broadway production.
“Ann” will be at The Topfer at ZACH from Wednesday, July 31, through Sunday, Sept. 8. Tickets are on sale now.
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