Maureen Garrett
owes a lot to soap

By Rita Charleston
For the Times

Devoted soap-opera fans may know her best as Holly Norris Bauer Thorpe Lindsay Reade.
Those are some of the names actress Maureen Garrett has acquired along the way on the long-running drama Guiding Light. She also got three Emmy nominations for her work.
"All those names are par for the course for a lot of soap stars. You get to live a lot of lives," said Garrett, who has played the characters since 1976 and still makes an occasional appearance on the soap.
But working in soap operas, she said, can stereotype an actor, which is why it’s important to venture among different media because the soap-opera format gets a little stifling.
"That can be harmful to any actor, which is why, during that time, I always had a workshop of some kind going on," she said.
Additionally, she has assisted on several documentary films, including the MTV/HBO production Smart Sex, and narrated the Emmy-winning documentary about schizophrenia, Through Madness.
At the moment, she’s starring at the Walnut Street Theatre in Enchanted April, which will be presented through April 29. Set in 1920s London, the production is a romantic comedy about love, hope and rejuvenation, and revolves around Lotty (Alicia Roper) and Rose (played by Garrett), who decide to vacation in an Italian villa without their distant, unappreciative husbands. The ladies set out for a holiday that will ultimately change their worlds forever.
Born in North Carolina in 1948, Garrett, who last appeared on the Walnut Mainstage in 1986, in the show As You Like It, has enjoyed a storied career both on stage and on television.
"I was a very shy child," she recalled, "and I naturally gravitated toward being in plays in high school to get over it. I suppose, in the back of my mind, I always wanted to be an actress but never thought I could really do it."
Garrett arrived in Philly and attended Temple University, where she studied liberal arts. But when she needed three more credits to graduate, she took a summer acting class — and that, she said, pulled everything together for her.
"My father was in the Army and so we traveled a lot, including Germany, where I spent my first two years in college," she said. "But when my parents eventually settled in Pennsylvania, I decided to come back here too. That’s what brought me to Temple for undergraduate work, and then Villanova for the graduate theater program there. And so it’s great to be back again in this city."
Playing Rose in Enchanted April offers several challenges, most notably portraying all the changes she goes through, Garrett explained. "Then there’s that old thing of getting out in front of an audience and repeating the character over and over again," she added. "But that’s also the wonderful thing about doing this and other plays. When working on television, you have one rehearsal all day, but with a play, you get to go over it and then go back to it. You get to do it over again until you get it right.
"And then there’s that wonderful response from the audience. That wave of energy that comes across the footlights is a very big part of the enjoyment of live theater," Garrett explained. "When I’m up there I feel like I’ve come home."
She’s also extremely pleased to see how much theater is going on in Philadelphia. "It used to be you had to leave Philadelphia if you wanted a career," she said. "But today it’s so great to see so many venues opened up for those who want to be in theater." ••
For times and ticket information, call 215-574-3550.