Quarantine Q/A: PATTI DAVIS SUAREZ

Patti Davis Suarez in Follies 
TheaterWorks 
Photo by Wade Moran

by Gil Benbrook

Our series of "Quarantine" interviews, which focus on individuals involved in the Phoenix theatre community and their reaction to Arizona's stay at home mandate, continues today with a conversation with Broadway and Valley actress Patti Davis Suarez.

COVID-19 has affected us all in many ways. The theatre community has been harshly impacted with show closures and postponements. We hope this series of daily interviews will be a way to provide some personal insight to what people are doing during this period of time while highlighting familiar individuals from the theatre community in town.

Was there a show you were in or involved with or preparing for when the stay at home order started?

Davis Suarez: "It was final dress for Pound, a play about the brilliant, controversial Ezra Pound, by Sean O’Leary.  It was March 12th and the play was ready, we were ready.  So it was extra painful to go dark (temporarily) at Theatre Artists Studio. Ironic that our opening was scheduled for Friday the 13th!  But we will still stage it... just not sure when...  watch this space! PHX Stages will let you know!"

How have you been personally impacted by our current situation?

"Like so many others I’ve had a lot of time to think.  And my bottom line is:  

I’m very very lucky.  Retirement means no paycheck to lose.  I have a place to live, enough to eat, I even cut my own uncolored hair!  Since I’m in the high risk group, I don’t mind the isolation.  I’m sitting on the porch right now listening to the birds. I know how lucky I am. And I know how so many others are suffering. Life really isn’t fair. So I have feelings of guilt along with gratitude!"

Patti Davis Suarez and Larah Pawlowski in
Rabbit Hole - Theatre Artists Studio
photo by Mark Gluckman

How has your daily routine changed?

"Not much (I said I was lucky.) But with so many friends who are seriously impacted, I hesitate to even admit this. I hate to think about the seismic changes ahead for my younger friends. This is a horror for so many."

What do you feel will be different when theater restarts?

"I. HAVE. NO. IDEA.  We will not return to‘normal.’  ‘Normal’ is gone.  We WILL create a new normal, but I have no idea what it will be. The institution of live theatre won’t disappear, I’m sure of that. I appreciate all the streaming that’s going on, but to me Theatre is a collaboration between the audience and the actors. Is it theatre if that communication is missing?  If you can’t feel the audience breathe from the stage?  If you can’t breathe with the actors from the audience?  Bottom line here:  Civilized societies need the arts.  We’ll find a way.  Watch this space...."

What have you been doing to stay creative during this time?

"I picked up an old knitting project..... nope.  Some needlepoint I started in 1980... also nope.  Tried my new mini-watercolor set.... no good (I’m an actor).  Then I saw a Facebook post about Mandala dot painting.  So I found some smooth round river rocks and tried it. Okay, it’s fun. Thanks, Adam.   "

Any binge tv shows you’ve watched?

"Spring Baking Championship, Mrs. America (Phyllis Schlafly, remember her? Yikes! Cate Blanchett is AMAZING.)  Self Made, The Plot Against America, Ozark (the most telly violence I’ve ever sat through ... but the cast and the story, so much fun. And besides, I’m from the Ozarks) The Good Fight, Win The Wilderness.  There’s no rhyme or reason to my streaming. And what if there were no internet????"

Any new hobbies you’ve taken on?

"Is cleaning out my closet a hobby? It IS new for me.  I really should use this time to learn to cook, but I have the palate of an eight-year-old with no interest beyond burgers and mac’n cheese. So, except for dot painting, the answer is ‘NO.’"

Patti Davis Suarez in Doubt, a Parable
Actor's Theatre

How has this experience changed you?

"I have a cleaner closet. (yuk yuk). But seriously, I’m not sure yet. As a child, during the polio scare, I saw friends in iron lungs. That changed me.  As a young adult, I watched friends die of AIDS. That changed me.  911 changed me.  I’m sure this will, too.   But I’m a bit of a pragmatist, and can survive many things that throw others for a loop. I was already a germaphobe so that part has been easy.  I do plan to be kinder in the future.  I may not be able to cut out every single quip, every wisecrack, but I am seriously going to be kinder.... to everyone."

What is the one thing you’re most looking forward to not that the stay at home order has been lifted and some businesses have started to reopen?    

"The return of that live theatre collaboration between audience and actor ... Breathing with the actors when I’m in the audience. And breathing with audience when I’m on stage.  We’ll get there.  Yes, we will!!  Hang in there, my friends!"