Friday, September 28, 2001

Playwright Milne finds self in theater
Skiff Staff

When she was 10 years old, Kathleen Anderson Milne attended a Broadway showing of “Pippin” in New York. She did not know then that experiencing a theater production would change her life forever.

Milne, playwright of the current TCU Theatre production “La Llorona,” said she was converted to theater that day. Before then, she said the theater seemed like someplace she did not belong.

“I had always thought that people like me did not do theater,” she said. “It was for people who were born with a magic star over their head that said ‘performer.’”

Milne is currently attending graduate school at TCU and plans to get a master’s degree in radio-TV-film. She earned a degree in French literature from Brigham Young University and a bachelor’s degree in theater from TCU.

Milne said she has always been interested in writing and wrote fiction, but the idea of writing theater always nagged at her.

Ten years ago she wrote a one-woman play, which was her first theater piece.

“(The play) just spilled out onto the page,” she said. “When I tried to write fiction, it was grueling and painful. It was satisfying when done, but the process of writing theater is much more enjoyable.”

Milne said she realized her love for the theater after writing her first play. Even though her one-woman play really did not take off, the theater gave her confidence.

She said she enrolled in playwright classes at TCU and felt like she really belonged working with the theater after her experience with her first stage makeup class.

“Theater always felt like this club that other people joined that I was never going to fit in,” she said. “But everyone was so nice and open. I seemed to fit in and I had an instant family. It gave me self-confidence to finally start calling myself a theater artist after peeking in from the outside for so long.”

Senior performance and advertising/public relations major Angie Jepson worked on the advertising for “La Llorona” and is a close friend of Milne.

“She is one of the most talented artists I know,” Jepson said. “I’m honored to work with her as well as be a close friend.”

“La Llorona” is a play Milne said she started working on 10 years ago after her father died in a plane crash. The concept for the play was finished two years ago but it has only been completed for a year.

Milne said she was inspired to write “La Llorona” after seeing a Taco Bell advertisement in Mexico explaining the burrito.

Amused and offended by the advertisement, Milne said she set out to write a comedy.

“The play turned out to be a tragedy,” she said. “I decided to stop hiding behind the humor and write what I really felt. A lot of people see me as this cheerful person, but this play lets you see my dark side.”

Jepson said “La Llorona” is an amazing piece of work.

“I’m an actor and there are things I like and things I don’t like,” Jepson said. “I am more critical of the theater and whether I know (Milne) personally or not, (”La Llorona”) is one of the best pieces I’ve ever read.”

Milne has not only served as playwright to many plays, she has directed and designed as well, but said she will never participate in acting.

“I just don’t get everything that goes into acting,” Milne said. “I like the dreaming it up and handing it over to someone else.”

Milne started Amphibian Productions in 1999, which consists of a few TCU alumni and students.

“As people started to graduate, we found we had a common vision that was fostered by TCU,” she said. “We just didn’t want to let go of each other.”

Amphibian Productions uses the Hays Theatre in the summer to produce plays.
The company produced a play written by Milne, “A Leopard Complains of Its Spots,” and it ended up showing in New York.

While this was a dream come true, Milne said she would like to continue working in theater on more non-traditional and performance pieces.

“Everybody wants to belong to something,” Milne said. “It wasn’t until I belonged in theater that I found myself.”

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