Judith Light Brightens The Stage

Michael Urie isn’t the only Ugly Betty cast member starring in a stage production this summer.  Judith Light, who plays the show’s matriarch Claire, is currently starring in A.R. Gurney’s “Children, and the Boston Globe has a very enlightening article about it.

Apparently, in the late 90’s, Light had fallen into a kind of rut, pretty much only working TV pilots and movies of the week.  She had turned down part in a play that she felt she wasn’t a right fit for, and her longtime manager, Herb Hamsher, challenged her about it and accused her of running scared from a challenge.

“I took that in and realized, oh wow, he’s absolutely right. I was getting into habits that were not serving me in terms of my work. I knew that unless I went back to the theater, I was going to keep digging myself in even further,’’ Light tells the Globe.

Being a gay rights activist, “I realized: I’m not living my life like the people who inspired me in the first place. I’m talking the talk, but I’m not walking the walk,’’ she recalls. “I had lost my courage, and I had to do something about it because I didn’t like the way I was operating.’’

She then decided to take the role of a cancer-stricken poetry scholar in “Wit” in 1999.  Light had to keep her head shaved and appear naked onstage.  All this while playing a character who was slowly dying.

The part turned out to be transformative.  The play went on a national tour to rave reviews.  Critics commented that Light had been missing from the stage for far too long. 

“That period stands as sort of the transition point in my life – one that was extremely empowering,’’ she says. “It was incredibly exhilarating and gave me a basis with which to move forward in my life and in my work.’’

The Globe story tells all about Light’s current role, and it’s well worth the read.  I did not know that Judith’s own mother had died in April, causing a conflict for the actress.  She almost didn’t take the part in “Children”, because during that time she was flying back and forth to Florida to take care of her ailing mother.

“I knew my mother wouldn’t want me to not do the play because of her,’’ says Light. “Because she had been so supportive of my career all of my life.’’

As far a her character on Ugly Betty, I’m glad she’s been brought into the fold as a more regular and important character.  Her interactions with Betty have been some of the nicest scenes of the year, and it’s obvious that she’s going to be involved in a major story line in season 4.

Image: Splashnewsonline.com