Playing a Jewish grandmother is no stretch for Helene O’Connor, as she is just that — a Jewish grandmother. But the San Francisco actress’ latest Jewish character is different.
Enter Fannie Saperstein, who begins “Bermuda Avenue Triangle” a depressed widow, who whines to her daughter: “After all I’ve done for you…” But by the end of the show, the character is completely transformed. According to O’Connor, she turns into “an absolute vamp.”
“They have me in clothes, very tight, very low, very sexy, oy vey!” she exclaimed.
Written by husband-and-wife team Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna, the Palo Alto Players’ play “Bermuda Avenue Triangle” is an “outrageous comedy,” according to the actress. The show opens tomorrow.
The plot focuses on Fannie and another widow, Tess, an Irish Catholic who had been married to a Sicilian, whom she thinks put a curse on her. The women’s daughters have decided to buy a condominium for their aging mothers in Las Vegas. Needless to say, the mothers are not happy.
But when the women are mugged on a nature hike, things start to change. The duo bring the good Samaritan who comes to their rescue home with them. And little wonder, he manages to seduce them both.
Although this stranger is clearly a con artist who “shmoozes the women,” O’Connor said the experience rejuvenates them. “This takes years off their lives.”
The stranger somehow liberates them, teaching them new things like how to tango. Realizing they each need to become more independent, this pair of women is “left with a happier frame of mind.”
O’Connor, who grew up in Manhattan, has been acting for 30 years, the past two decades in the Bay Area. Prior to that, she lived in Baltimore, where she performed as well.
She often plays the Jewish mother or bubbe, and has appeared in such well-known plays as “Beau Jest,” “Crossing Delancy” and “Lost in Yonkers.”
“My features are Jewish or Italian or Greek,” she said. “It’s very difficult for me to go out for the part of a nice, white Protestant lady.”
A veteran of the now-defunct Berkeley Jewish Theater, O’Connor said she enjoys playing similar roles while having the opportunity to interpret their individual nuances. One role she mentioned was as an immigrant woman in a locally written musical called “The Shirtwaist Tale.”
“I do feel it’s limiting, and it’s hard for me to break past that, but I think a lot of actors would tell you the same thing.”
Certain actors have a more homogenous look, she said, and they can play anything. But when a Jewish role comes up, O’Connor definitely has an edge. But even acting in ostensibly similar roles can be quite a challenge.
Interestingly, when she first took a role as an Italian, she believed it wouldn’t be difficult.
“I thought this will be a snap, because if you can play a Jew, you can play an Italian.”
That wasn’t the case. “The gestures, inflections, and words you might push or expressions on the face are different,” she said. “I was playing with Italian actors, and I could see and hear the difference. I didn’t know I would have to work that much.”
O’Connor said that the repertoire of Jewish characters she’s portrayed have all been similar in some way, in that “whether you’re playing comedy or serious, certain gestures are very Jewish.
“But every character comes from a different background and has a different story,” the actress added.