E. Faye Butler is a consummate performer who has graced stages throughout the country for decades. She is now starring in Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike as it makes its Chicago debut at the Goodman Theatre.
In this Broadway hit, siblings Vanya and Sonia have spent their adult years trapped in mundane lives at their family’s cottage, caring for their ailing parents. Meanwhile their self-involved sister Masha, a glamorous movie star, has traveled the world in decadent style. After their soothsayer/cleaning woman Cassandra (Butler) warns Vanya and Sonia of impending doom, Masha arrives unannounced, accompanied by her hunky young lover, Spike. When Masha reveals plans that will upend the family, long-repressed resentments bubble over in a weekend full of wild costume parties, voodoo dolls and surprise romance.
Recently, Ms. Butler sat down with Broadway Black to discuss her latest work, her longevity in the industry, and the importance of arts education in schools.
Broadway Black (BB): What attracted you to the role of Cassandra in Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike?
E. Faye Butler (EFB): I’ve studied {Playwright} Christopher Durang in school and his writing is unique. Hearing that he incorporated an African American character {into his play} was interesting to me. You never hear of the Black characters. Durang left it open in the show from Cassandra to be between 20-60 years old. It left it open to the actor’s possibilities. I can make her what I want it to be and create something that is different. Cassandra could be whatever you wanted her to be, even in her ethnicity. I approach her as a seer from an island, but I don’t quite know which one. Even in the costuming, there are so many cultural references: African, Jamaican, Brazilian. My Cassandra is a secret fashion designer.
BB: You have a long history with the Goodman Theatre, having appeared in several productions there. Tell us why that particular theatre and Chicago in general are so special to you.
EFB: Chicago is my home. Having grown up here, I have strong roots. I’m a Southside girl. So much American culture and icons in America are from Chicago. My parents were very active ensuring we went to the arts. My Godmother was Mahalia Jackson so I have experienced a migration of gospel music. I never forget who I am. I don’t get ahead of myself. I still take public transportation. Through my life experiences, I’m allowed to bring special things because I live amongst the people. I still attend Fellowship Baptist Church. All of it keeps me humble. I’m not in a bubble.
I went to the Goodman School of Theatre and graduated from Illinois State University, a public school. I auditioned. I broke through with {Director} Steve Scott, interestingly, the same director as I have now. A Christmas Carol was the first. I have a real friendship with Goodman folks. Chicagoans are regular people. They teach the art of the true theatre.
I’m a working actor and have been so for 40 years. I have never had to take another kind of job. I have worked with every Broadway actor and producer but never been on a Broadway show. It has never been a goal for me. I make sure I make a living through good, honest work.
BB: What role does performing play in your life?
EFB: You have to remember it is just A PART of your life, not your life. Then it can be very rewarding. Family, religion, faith, friends, community at large. These are the things that are important. It’s not what I live for. I love all facets of it, but it’s {just} a part. I can bring to it, as an individual, as a human, the human condition. It’s what playwrights write about. Just as in the play {Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike}, there is sibling rivalry, dead parents, in real life. When we’re reading, there’s a real human side.
My #1 job is to audition. To get in the room to secure the job. You have to earn it, so you don’t owe anybody anything. I don’t want to disappoint the directors. People think you can climb tall buildings when you get to a certain status, but the hardest thing to get across {to those casting a role} is to let you do what you do.
BB: How do you keep things fresh after four decades as a performer?
EFB: Every time I go away from it {performing}, and I go back, I have something fresh, bright, and energetic. I like new projects. I don’t like to repeat myself. Someone else needs the opportunity to do the role. We have to hand down to other people. Coming through in the 70s, roles were hard to come by. Now, there’s more and they must be passed down. When you have your hand closed to those coming behind you, nothing gets out or in.
BB: What advice would you give to younger Broadway Black actors and actresses?
EFB: Don’t pigeonhole yourself. Be a well-rounded actor. Audition for everything. You can change the mind of an author, producer, director. You have to believe you’re the best person for the role. Go after that role! You can make it happen. If you don’t believe, who else will believe? Don’t wait on others.
Look at Audra (McDonald), Norm (Lewis), Nicki (Anika Noni Rose). You have to think beyond what you see. You have to break the barriers. You can’t wait for someone else to decide what you want to be. Make it happen. Keep studying. Keep going to dance class. Keep getting coached. Keep singing. You have to do the work.
BB: What are your thoughts on Arts Education?
EFB: Arts Education develops good human beings. Without the arts, I don’t know where a lot of great performers would be. It’s a part of what makes you a great human being. Music, Theatre, Arts can be an outlet for children. It can change the face of who you are. Reading, writing skills, music, the knowledge of music and culture. That is what the arts do for you. Because of that, theatre falls into a great place. It makes you a well-rounded human beings. You have to be an activist of the arts and an advocate of arts with children. It’s an important facet in developing a child. The Arts come from the Motherland. How can you cut us off? From the womb, from the church, it’s a part of who we are. We listen in the home but it stops when children go to school. It has to be in our educational system. We’re denying our kids a part of their life.
BB: What is next for you?
EFB: I have dates booked from now until December. I will be working with College Bound Executive Director Kenneth Ward this fall. Ballou High School in Washington, DC has been reconstituted. There will be a new high school but they still need to raise funds for their theatre department because they took all of the Arts out. So I will be doing a Benefit for Ballou to reactivate the theatre department.
I also have club dates in Chicago. I will be performing at Ten Chimneys in WI. I will also be in Amish country at the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, PA next year. They have taken the blockbuster movie “Ghost” and made it smaller, just 9 people. I will be playing the role made famous by Whoopi Goldberg.
E. Faye Butler is the recipient of six Joseph Jefferson Awards, four Black Theater Alliance Awards, an After Dark Award, a John Barrymore Award, a Rockford Area Music Industry Award, two Helen Hayes Awards, an Excellence in the Arts Award, a Kathryn Lampkey Award and an Ovation Award. Ms. Butler was the recipient of the 2011 Sarah Siddons Society Leading Lady Award; she was also named a 2012 Lunt Fontanne Fellow and was inducted into the National Women in the Arts Museum in Washington, DC, in 2012.
Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike is running now at the Goodman Theatre through July 26.
