A Q&A: From Engineer to Escanaba, Da End of Da Trilogy

Tim Arrick is playing Alphonse Soady in this weekend's Escanaba at the .

Arrick, who works as an engineer with Kongsberg Automotive in Novi and also owns Boxfire Photography, has been acting on an off since he was 17. He's been with the for seven years and participated in about 10 shows.

A Howell area resident for 11 years, Arrick is married to Mary and they have two children, Ben, 7, and Caitie, 9.

Since Tim has a key role in the play — the first time this Jeff Daniels play has been performed by a community theater group — I was curious to know a bit more about his overall experience  and his thoughts. Here's our Q&A:

Q: When was your first theatre experience and how did you feel about it? 

A: My first acting experience was as a junior in High School. I was a member of the chorus in Bye Bye Birdie at the local community theater in Fostoria, Ohio, and loved it. So much so in fact that I was back doing three shows the following year. 

Q: Have you ever been to Escanaba? 

A: I've actually been to Escanaba a few different times as I've trekked across the UP. Before children, my wife and I would annually go to the Porcupine Mountains in the UP and have spent a few nights in Escanaba.

Q: Have you ever been deer hunting?

A: As for deer hunting the funny thing is that I don't hunt at all. In fact the entire cast of the original Escanaba in da Moonlight was composed entirely of non-hunters. I was worried that might cause some problems the first time around because I may not understand all of the 'hunting' lore but I found that the plays of the trilogy are some much about hunting as they are about life centered in a hunting environment so it wasn't such a handicap.

Q: What are your feelings about Jeff Daniels and his Michigan contributions to theatre and as a playwright?  

A: I can't say enough about Mr. Daniels and his contributions to Community Theater in general. Mr. Daniels has always gone out of his way to make his plays available to community theaters and has also made them very reasonable to perform from a royalty standpoint. This is the third Jeff Daniels show I have been in and we will be performing another of his comedies next winter. An incredibly funny show called "Norma and Wanda". His contribution to Michigan theater through the Purple Rose and his work in downtown Detroit have also encouraged others to investigate theater who might not have.

Q: How do you relate to the characters in this play?

A: My character Alphonse really isn't that much different from me in some ways. He seems to be trying to live up to a standard that he really hasn't created, in his case, his father. He "can do things" as he says in the play but really isn't much of a mountain man or for that matter even a builder although he has built the entire cabin on his own.

Q: Did you find it easy?

A: The trouble that I had with Alphonse originally was his "cranky demeanor". I tend not to be a cranky person by nature so working at being constantly perturbed on stage was somewhat difficult at first but in the end I think it comes off pretty well.

Q: Any challenges you came across and accomplished during rehearsals?

A: My challenge is and always has been lines and there are quite a few of them in this show. Jen (director Jen Thomas) pushed us from the very beginning to get off of book early and that definitely helped. The other thing that has helped is that the vast majority of my dialogue is delivered to the one character James Negamanee (Bill Breznia) and while I've never acted with Bill before he and I have reached that point where if I take a misstep he is right there with a line. It is a great feeling to know that someone has your back like that.

Q: How do you feel audiences will relate to the characters and story of this play?

A: I think that by and large the audiences will enjoy the show. It isn't Escanaba in Da Moonlight though in that it isn't filled with burping and farting (yes there is some though to keep with tradition). It is a story in itself and a fairly deep story in places but one that will definitely keep them laughing till the end.

Escanaba will be performed 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets can be purchased from the main branch of the .

Cast List:

Alphonse Soady - Tim Arrick
James Negamanee from Menominee - Bill Brezina
Black Jack - Decon Acrie

Crew
Director - Jenifer Thomas
Assistant Director - Stephanie Kiser
Producer - Connie Lee
Stage Managers - Mollie Kiser and Gary Winn
Tech - Skip Schultz
Tickets - Carol Warren and Mary Jo Bell