'Oedipus' next
By Alexander Stevens
Wednesday, May 5, 2004
from Town Online

Needham's Stephanie Roth-Haberle helps ART spin the Greek tragedy
Don't tell Stephanie Roth-Haberle about the Oedipus complex.
She's got two boys - a 5-year-old and a baby - and she knows all about a son's love of his mother.

"We all hear about the Oedipus complex. It's a natural instinct," says the New York-based actress who was born in Needham. "Friends of mine who have boys and girls say that there's a difference in the ways boys and girls deal with their mothers. Boys tend to be all over their mothers."
This hands-on experience with motherhood provides juice for her performance of Jocasta, the ill-fated wife of King Oedipus who gets some really bad news in Sophocles' "Oedipus." Director Robert Woodruff brings some ART twists to his production, playing May 15-June 12 at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge.

Roth-Haberle, first exposed to the ART when she ushered there while in school and now appearing in her 10th ART show, sought out the chance to perform in this play that nearly defines the word "classic." The great Greek playwrights rev her engine.

"I find the Greeks fascinating," she says. "They go so deep into the experience of emotion. Any classic is going to be a challenge, but this is like the beginnings of theater," she adds with a laugh. "We are [using some] Greek in the play, and whenever the Greek comes up, it's amazing how visceral it gets."

The play may be 2,433 years old, but she says there's almost a contemporary flow to the storytelling.

"You might think you know the revelations that happen through the play, but it still side-swipes you," she says. "It's like a thriller. Even though you know how it's going to end, it's still a page-turner."
ART plays tend to be director-driven: Actors and designers work to fulfill the vision of the director. Does that make an actor feel like they've been reduced to a prop?

"I find it incredibly challenging - to put myself into the reality [the directors] want to create, as well as making it real and human," says Roth-Haberle.

Roth-Haberle is used to working in the service of strong-minded directors - she's become a part of the Woody Allen's extended acting troupe. She's appeared in four of his films, including "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and "Hollywood Ending," as well as his 9/11 benefit film. And she'll be seen in his new film, untitled for the longest time, but now apparently called "Melinda and Melinda."

Roth-Haberle confirms Allen's eccentricity. His actors have to sign a rider of secrecy, and she doesn't get the entire script - just the pages with her dialogue.

"Sometimes, it's even just a line on a page," she says.
Allen's insular acting group is similar to the way the ART operates, observes Roth-Haberle.

"The ART has a company of actors," she says. "They are people they draw from and bring back, because they know they can rely on them."

The ART's "Oedipus" plays May 15 to June 12 at the Loeb Drama Center, in Cambridge. Tickets: $12-$69. Call 617-547-8300.