Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 1, 1994 TAG: 9403010120
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
He's had the flu for two days, but the director hasn't missed a rehearsal for "To Kill a Mockingbird," which opened on Mill Mountain Theatre's main stage last week.
He chases down a cough with some coffee from a paper cup and begins the rehearsal. "The ship for the courtroom scene is now departing," he shouts to his cast. "All aboard, please."
Mill Mountain Theatre's associated director keeps a jovial manner on the set, treading the stage in baggy clothes and a pony tail. He smiles frequently, a deep, rich smile that starts at his mouth but is most apparent around his eyes.
Neil Larson, the New York-based actor who plays Atticus Finch, says Zulia's greatest strength is his ability to draw good performances out of actors.
"I couldn't imagine coming up with the Atticus I'm playing without Ernie," he says of his role as the righteous defense lawyer.
When Beth McGuire, the on-stage narrator in "Mockingbird" has an idea for where her character should move in the final scene, Zulia incorporates it into his own vision, saying, "Yeah, yeah, that'll work."
When 12-year-old Chandler Givens, who plays Scout, struggles with her blocking, he pulls her aside, and points to the gray floor of the stage. "Here's the walk, and here's the yard right here," he says, drawing lines in the air.
Part of Zulia's secret may be his method of casting. He won't necessarily choose the most talented actor for a part.
"I try to find someone who can ignite the spirit of the play," he says. "I like to be moved in my soul."
He believes soul moving is what theater is all about.
The 40-year-old director is a child of the early '70s, a time, he says, when "there was a great desire to change the world." Theater, especially regional theater, is a vehicle for his need to make a difference.
That's one reason why Zulia stays at a small, southwest Virginia regional theatre.
"Theater [in Roanoke] is visible enough to affect people," Zulia says. "The theater is a temple. It's literally in the center of town."
Zulia says he tries to select plays that aim for the conscience. With the racially charged "Mockingbird," he's drawn a bead on the Southern conscience of Roanoke in particular.
"I wanted to bring this play home to Roanoke," he says. For starters, he persuaded former Roanoke mayor Noel Taylor to play the small role of the Rev. Sykes for a limited number of performances.
"I just felt that letting everyone see Roanoke's most esteemed African-American standing in the Negro balcony would have a powerful impact," Zulia says.
There are tense moments in the play, even in rehearsal. In one scene, a dozen white men stand on stage, one of them swinging a noose. Just yards away, Taylor and a row of other black actors not in the scene look on with furrowed brows.
"Zulia understands the volatility of the play," Taylor says. "And that the message will not get across without these shocking moments."
Zulia feels safe taking these kinds of risks in Roanoke.
"I love the audience here. . . . they trust me not to take advantage of their feelings," he says.
But whatever risks Zulia does take, they have to be within budget. No one on the set can recall the director losing his composure, unless they count swinging his string of gold worry beads, and that's usually not until opening night.
Mention the budget, though, and his smile tightens to a grimace.
That "it forces creativity" is about the best thing Zulia can say of the money situation.
Zulia had to create "Mockingbird" in just two weeks. He usually has three weeks, but the money wasn't there. Just a week before the show's preview, the sets were still an unpainted collage of plywood from past productions.
At the end of rehearsal, he calls the cast together for notes.
"There are magical moments here, guys," he says, smiling. "Not enough of them, but there are moments."
Zulia came to theater early, in grade school in Akron, Ohio.
"I was overweight and didn't fit into the obvious slots, like athletics," he says. "Theater was a place where I did fit in."
He majored in theater at the State University of New York at Geneseo and took his first professional acting job at Roanoke's Mill Mountain Theatre in 1976. He played Nicely Nicely in "Guys and Dolls" and sang "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat."
That was the last year Zulia was an actor. He notes with a grin that after his departure, the old Mill Mountain Playhouse burned down, in November 1976.
Unsatisfied as an actor, he switched to directing, and success came fast. Still barely out of college, he put together a collage of "Godspell" creator Stephen Schwartz's tunes and found himself directing the show at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.
Since then, he's worked at the Cincinnati Playhouse and Apple Tree Theatre, just outside of Chicago, as well as Highlands Playhouse in North Carolina.
He returned to Mill Mountain in 1988 after earning a master's degree in theater at Northwestern University. He was hired by his longtime friend and collaborator Jere Lee Hodgin, the theater's executive and artistic director.
Zulia says he's found a home as associate director of Mill Mountain Theatre. Another reason is Hodgin.
"We believe in the same kind of theater," Hodgin says. The two have been collaborators for 18 years, and as Hodgin says, "amazingly," remain best friends.
Hodgin gave Zulia that first professional job in 1976. Since then, the two have worked together in North and South Carolina, and finally here.
Despite the official superiority suggested by Hodgin's title, the two function more like equals.
According to Hodgin, writer Robert Fulghum calls him and Zulia by a single name: "Jernie." Fulghum, author of "All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten," came to Roanoke last year when Zulia and Hodgin produced "Kindergarten" as an original play. The production has since been taken on a national tour, including stops in Washington, D.C., Boston and Chicago.
Mill Mountain Theatre enjoys a "great reputation" among regional theaters nationwide, says Ed Sala, a professional actor now working in Richmond who has worked in several Mill Mountain plays.
He gives credit for the theater's success to Zulia and Hodgin and their bravery in putting on original works like "Kindergarten" and Stephen Schwartz's "Children of Eden."
And Zulia counts both "Children of Eden" and "Kindergarten" among his finest moments anywhere, not just at Mill Mountain.
With all his achievements here, Zulia says he feels no need to move on. "I'm not really interested in Broadway," he says.
Graham Frye, the actor who plays Bob Ewell in "Mockingbird," says there's a lot to be said for working in small theaters like Mill Mountain instead of on Broadway. He likes working for Zulia because there's "no clash of egos" on the set.
Directing plays "ain't about a dictator, it ain't about a god-figure," Zulia says. "It's about being a coordinator for all this talent."
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