Alumni Interview: Marilyn Sundin

Who: Marilyn Sundin
Years at Weathervane: 1971-current
Position: Actor

I began my Weathervane Playhouse sojourn during its 1971 “tenting” year, when I reviewed Everybody Loves Opal and Story Theatre for The Newark Advocate.   My rave reviews were followed that summer by my un-reviewed chorus role in Oliver.  Fast forward to 1980.  With my newly-minted MFA in Directing from OSU, I was Publicist for WP and played Miss Prism.  The next summer, I was Assistant Manager and directed Spider’s Web and Man of La Mancha . The Advocate’s article from June 18 told of improvements.  “Weathervane Playhouse opened its 1981 season with two crowd-pleasers: a new asphalt driveway (donated by the Thomas J. Evans Foundation) and a Neil Simon comedy.  Both drew lively applause from patrons.  Also inaugurated was an open-air gazebo, topped with an authentic brass rooster weathervane.  ‘Now no one can say we are lying when we call ourselves the Weathervane Playhouse,’ joked local actor-director Marilyn Sundin, who welcomed patrons to the opening performance.”

Back again onstage in 1985 with On Golden Pond and continuing to 2008 with Honk, I’ve been blessed with two dozen delightful acting experiences at Weathervane, including Mommy Fortuna in The Last Unicorn, Berthe in Pippin, Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music, Madame Armfeldt and Madame Arcati, Myra Bruhl in Deathtrap, and Julia in Lend Me a Tenor – twice.  The 1992 version had Matthew Trombetta as the Bellhop, and what a delight it was to know that man!  In 2006, he cast me in Arsenic and Old Lace and staged a special event at the closing night’s curtain call, at the request of my grandson Brandon Tilley, who had graduated as a Marine the day before at Parris Island.  The family arrived secretly to attend the play, and as the applause began, Matthew announced a special “thank you” was in order, and Brandon came down Teddy’s famous stairway with a bouquet of roses.  Unforgettable!

2020 was going to be fun, playing another killer in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.  But theatre is only “waiting in the wings” for the cue to come onstage again!  See you there!