Morning Sentinel
'Jack' traces JFK's rise in politics
BY LARRY GRARD
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 09/13/2008

WATERVILLE -- It's both a premier and a one-time showing, all rolled up into an opera that takes place Monday night at the Waterville Opera House.

Co-produced by Waterville resident Lauren Sterling, "Jack" will chronicle John F. Kennedy's rise to the presidency. The play will feature Broadway-and-folk composer Will Holt, Hollywood screenwriter Tom Sawyer and 10 Broadway singers and actors.

Sterling, a former actor, said the timing is right for the production, in the midst of a Presidential election.

"The sad part is, JFK was struggling with the same things as the country still is now, such as equity and racism," Sterling said. "And though we've moved the mark on some issues, we still as a country have a ways to go."

Sterling will play the roles of the women to whom the Kennedy men were attracted. Michael Bryan Dunn is Jack.

"It's an ensemble show," Sterling said. "Most of the actors will play different roles."

Sterling trained at the Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts and at Circle in the Square Studios in New York before taking on musicals, Shakespeare productions, soap operas, sitcoms and commercials. While in Los Angeles, she acted in various theater companies such as Theater Three with siblings Justine Bateman and Jason Bateman, and their father/director Kent Bateman.

Sterling said she was in the original production of "Jack," on Broadway, in 1993. The cast was in Oklahoma during the terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City.

"It never got off the ground to head to Broadway," she said. "People got other jobs. It just sort of dropped out of sight. It was bad timing and bad luck."

Sterling, whose parents Mary Turbyne and the late Peter Seamans are from Skowhegan, moved to Maine shortly thereafter.

A year ago, an offer surfaced to fund a cast recording for the play.

"We all went back to New York City to record it," Sterling said. "I said, 'I'll put something together but you all have to come to Maine."

Though she grew up in Colorado and California, Sterling visited Skowhegan every summer.

"My entire wiring for theater and performance started when I was young," she said. "I never missed seeing a play at Lakewood Theater during the summer."

Sterling manages the Governor's Children's Cabinet in Augusta. She also co-chairs the Greater Waterville Communities for Children and Youth Coalition.

Larry Grard -- 861-9239

lgrard@centralmaine.com

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