For Jim Ryan, directing “All My Sons” is something like coming home.
The first time he encountered the play, Ryan was a doctoral student at Michigan State University. The director was also his advisor, mentor and even something of a father — in fact, he eventually became the godfather to Ryan’s child.
“He decided to direct this show there and planned it specifically for me to play the role of Chris, while he was going to play the role of the father, Joe,” Ryan said. “We rehearsed for six weeks and the rehearsals were phenomenal. And then, two days prior to opening, he suffered a major heart attack.”
The director survived but the part had to be recast. The show went on and went well, but it wasn’t the same.
“I felt that something had been taken away from me,” Ryan said.
Fast-forward to 2006, when Emporia State University began discussing its next theater season. It was time, everyone agreed, to do either Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Niell or Arthur Miller.
For Ryan, there simply was no other choice.
“For personal reasons, this play holds a definite place in my heart,” he said.
There’s more reasons than the personal, of course. Miller’s play is both a powerful piece and a timely one. The story focuses on Joe, an outwardly good man with a dark secret — he sold substandard airplane parts during World War II, contributing to the deaths of several airmen, possibly including his own son. His other son, Chris, discovers the secret and struggles to understand.
The theme is a common one in Miller’s plays, Ryan said — a simple and loving man who made an expedient choice and has to face the consequences. And like many Miller protagonists, such as Willie Loman in “Death of a Salesman,” Joe would just as soon pretend nothing is wrong even while he knows the truth.
“Joe and Willie are brothers in delusion,” Ryan said.
As the March 7 opening gets closer, things are starting to feel familiar: good rehearsals, a strong cast, Ryan eagerly waiting for opening night. But this Ryan isn’t that Ryan of long ago. And, as he’s had to remind himself occasionally, this production isn’t that production.
“My memories are so vivid about my experience that I have to step back and say ‘I’m no longer playing this role,’” Ryan said. “While I can see it and honor it, I want the cast to have the freedom to give it their own idiosyncratic take as an actor. ...
“It’s a place of passage,” he added. “It’s a completion. It’s me journeying back to a world and looking at that world from a different perspective.”
“All My Sons” starts at 7:30 p.m. March 7 through March 10 at the Bruder Theatre. Adult tickets are $10, seniors are $9 and ESU students are $5.