It was about six years ago that I saw Julie Rowe in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten, and knew that something fine had just happened to Bay area theater. As poor Josie Hogan, Rowe was uncouth, aggressive, aching with love and deeply embarrassed to still be a virgin. She was also the strangely holy figure to whom haunted James Tyrone could come in search of absolution for what he saw as a crime against his deceased mother's memory. Rowe was so convincing as Josie, I instantly understood why American Stage artistic director Todd Olson had asked her to move from Nashville to St. Petersburg when he made that same move.
And as I saw her in one American Stage show after the next — including Spinning Into Butter, Proof, Nine Parts of Desire and Betrayal — I learned that this performer could transform into just about anyone, from a desperate Iraqi mother to an adulterous British wife. She was easily one of the best, and perhaps the best of Bay area actresses. Just a few weeks ago, she was terrific again as a flamboyant film agent in Stageworks' The Little Dog Laughed. There was no role, it seemed, that she couldn't play.
Well, now comes the sad news: Julie Rowe, 41, is leaving town. Rather than take a significant pay cut in her day job as American Stage's education director, she's moving to Jupiter, Florida, and the Maltz Jupiter Theatre (formerly the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre), a 554-seat house that specializes in musicals. As she was in St. Pete, she'll be education director at the Maltz. She'll be managing "COPA" — the Conservatory of Performing Arts — and "creating community engagement programs similar to what we've done at American Stage." Of course, she'll also act: "I hope to do as much as I've been able to do here… I've started auditioning [at Florida Stage in Manalapan], and the Maltz Jupiter is very supportive of me as an actor, and making sure that that's something I'm continuing to do."
Still, she's got her regrets about heading east: "I get all choked up. I've been working with Todd for nine years [including three years in Nashville], so I get a little sad about leaving my dear friend and collaborator. But I'm not leaving, just expanding. So we'll continue to work together down the line."
In other words, she expects to be back here, on stage as before, though she can't say just when: "Gosh, I don't know. I guess we'll just wait and see what's on the seasons here… .[But] if the Conservatory needs me at a certain time, then it wouldn't be a good time to leave town."
In any case, she'll certainly return to participate in two Economic Stimulus Productions shows late-night at American Stage: a Rodgers and Hart cabaret in September, for which she'll play piano, and Neil LaBute's Autobahn in April.
I asked Rowe to talk about the Tampa Bay area, its theater scene and its cultural level generally. "Well, Nashville and Tampa Bay are markedly so different, that I never really felt a comparison," she said. "I felt that there was more opportunity here when I got here because there are more theaters… And then we're seeing the new theater companies like freeFall… and the Studio@620 continues to grow. I think that we're on the right track here."
What roles would she like to play in future at the Maltz or elsewhere? "I would like to play Lady Macbeth. In 20 years, I'd like to play Mama Rose [in Gypsy]. I would like to play Hecuba [in The Trojan Women] when I'm the right age. When I was in college I played Hecuba, but I was 50 years too young. But that's one of the roles that made me decide to be an actress."
As to what she's going to miss most about the Bay area, "I'll miss T. Scott Wooten, my sweetheart. Of course my friends and my collaborators. I love St. Pete and its artistic feel, it just feels like a small town in a big city environment… I have several students who have made an impact — I'll miss seeing them continue in their process."
So goodbye, Julie Rowe, until we meet again. Your ethic of excellence raised the level of Bay area theater. We'll miss you mightily. Come back often.
And don't worry: we won't forget you.
This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2009.