A Tale of Two Actors

Whenever Christopher Liam Moore '86 and Eric David Ronis '86 get together they start acting. Often they do it before capacity audiences in the Loeb mainstage or Experimental theaters, in the basement of Adams House, or in Ronis's own room, where they have staged unusual theatrical events for crowds as small as 15. But the highly touted acting-directing duo saves some of their most original work for daily conversation, where they have been known to talk, "in character," as one friend puts it, from sunrise to sunset.

From the moment Moore and Ronis met nearly four years ago, while bit players in the freshman show, Thurber Carnival, they initiated the distinctive language they still share--a mixture of funny accents and idioms that comprises a gallery of imaginary people, many of them women.

"Ever since I've known them," says longtime friend and fellow actor Stephen W. Gutwillig'86, "whenever they were in the same roomtogether, these amazing characters would bubble tothe surface--not as a performance, but just toamuse each other."

When Gutwillig suggested they perform for theFestival for Life benefitting AIDS research thisspring, Moore and Ronis decided to round up theimaginary people they've been carrying with themand place them within a dramatic structure.

And so was born Two Women With 'X's' inTheir Names, a scintillating two-man showconsisting of numerous improvised sketches woventightly into one of the finest original plays inrecent memory at Harvard. The show, the crowningjewel of two astonishing undergraduate theatricalcareers, sold-out four command performances in theEx last month and returns for a farewell at 7:30and 10:00 p.m. tonight.

"They are extraordinarily gifted and extremelyimaginative actors," says Robert S. Brustein,professor of English and artistic director of theAmerican Repertory Theater (ART). "They worktogether in a way that few in the business can;knowing each other as they do they play togetherlike a good ball team, or like great dancers--theyknow each other's steps so well." Brustein hasmade Moore, with whom he is more familiar, astanding offer to work for his company.

A sensitive Laurel & Hardy duet for the 1980s?Hardly. Moore and Ronis have the ingredients oftruly important theater artists. They can act,write and direct with proficiency. In the view ofmany of their peers, their success, even in thecapricious entertainment industry, is practicallya foregone conclusion. The only question iswhether they'll become the Sam Shepards, RobertWilsons or Meryl Streeps of the next generation.

As students they definitely have provedthemselves and paid their dues. In addition toOn Thin Ice, Ronis calculates he hasdirected or acted in 45 shows. Moore puts hispersonal figure in the low thirties.

Boston Herald theater critic ArthurFriedman has placed shows starring Moore and Ronisand ones directed by Ronis in his "10 Best Playsof Boston" lists for the past two years. TheBoston Globe and the Phoenix havesingled Moore and Ronis out as student talent towatch in the future. Moore, since his junior yeara virtual A.R.T. company member, in last springreceived the Jonathan Levy Award, given by theOffice for the Arts to Harvard's outstandingactor, and last month won the Louis Sudler Prizeas the oustanding artist in the senior class.

Many contend they have generated moreenthusiasm here than anyone since Peter Sellars'80, who is now artistic director of the KennedyCenter in Washington D.C., or at least sinceWilliam P. (Bill) Rauch '84, who is Sellars'sassistant.

As actors their skills complement each other,but are in some ways very different. Moore leapsinto characters; he aims and largely succeeds inbecoming what he calls "a transformer," changingbeyond recognition from role to role. Ronis is a"personality" actor, working out of himself andbringing characters to life through energy andsheer artistic shrewdness.

The essence of the unique rapport between Mooreand Ronis is their ability to feel completelycomfortable with each other onstage. They trusteach other regardless of the circumstances.

Ronis: "The goal of theater is tocommunicate with the audience, to make them feeland to make them think. But to do that you needtrust, which Chris and I have for each other. Youneed trust in yourself, trust with your fellowactors, trust in your environment...

Moore: (In a breathy, theatricalvoice) Don't forget trust in God.

Ronis: (Laughing, in the voice of aHollywood starlet) Yes! Trust in God, which somepeople deal with. (end block quotation)

The trust that developed between Moore andRonis had to overcome remarkably differentbackgrounds. As Moore remarked ironically, "we'reabout as different as an Irish Catholic from theBoston area and a Jew from Long Island can be."

Moore was born June 12, 1964, in Salem, Mass,and he grew up in nearby Peabody, Mass, attendingSt. John's Preparatory School, a Catholic boy'sacademy. He is the second youngest of sevenchildren--four girls, three boys, a descendent ofIrish immigrants whose grandparents came over asdomestics and laborers.

At St. John's Moore excelled in English and wasa prize pupil of Brother Santoro's acclaimed highschool company, which won statewide "mini-academyawards" in repeated drama festivals. As a kid herecalls loving disaster movies and wanting toactually "play the Towering Inferno," and hismother says he annually staged a backyard pick-upplay, the way other kids would organize astreet-wide round of touch football.

Since freshman year, when he was cast in threeout of four Harvard-Radcliffe Drama Company (HRDC)productions on the Loeb mainstage, Moore has beena campus superstar. A Lowell House resident, hehas spent two summers at HRDC summer theater andtoured Europe a third summer as a featuredperformer in the A.R.T.'s production of KingStag. Among his many roles he counts hisrendition of Lady Macbeth in Rauch's highlyoriginal Medea, Macbeth, Cinderella andRichard in Ronis's Richard the Second ashis personal favorites.

He has also acted in three A.R.T. shows, wherein addition to King Stag he currently starsin Robert Wilson's Alcestis and OlympianGames, both of which will rotate at the Loebthrough July. And though Moore graduates cumlaude General Studies today, the Fine Artsmajor estimates he has "almost never had time toopen a book before reading period."

Ronis's mother describes him as a strong-mindedboy who never alienated anyone, despite hisflamboyant talent and ambition. She likes to tella story to illustrate her son's highly independentspirit. "As a baby I remember one time he woke meat three in the morning and I went to get him abottle of milk so he would shut up," she recalls."But when I gave him the bottle he threw it out ofthe crib and said, `I want chocolate milk.'"

Born September 26, 1964 in Queens, Ronis wentto G.W. Hewlett High School, in the Long Islandtown bearing the same name--the exact town, Ericwryly remarks, which was recently listed "amongthe nation's 5 Jappiest townships in the JapHandbook."

Ronis, who now lives in North House, was adynamo in high school, snagging avaledictorianship after captaining the math team,being on the debate team, getting straight `A's,'winning a National Merit Scholarship, whileconstantly involved in theater. His firstshow--"which may still be my mother'sfavorite"--was Once Upon a Time on aMattress. He entered Harvard a hesitant butprococious pre-med--taking organic chemistry hisFreshman fall--but a stint in several excitingproductions persuaded him his vocation was thestage.

Since freshman year Ronis estimates that he,like Moore, has never spent a moment at Harvardwithout being in at least one play. This term, forinstance, he directed or acted in six shows whilewriting a magna thesis on the dramatic monolguesof Robert Browning. With Ronis, as with Moore,quality has never suffered due to quantity: theRichard the Second and the Romeo andJuliet he directed this year earned gushingpraise.

Unlike Moore, Ronis has spent a great deal ofhis time directing, and he vows to pursuedirection in the future. Of the two, Ronis is morecommitted to being a director. "I definitely wantto do both act and direct," he says. "One hasreinforced the other. I'm definitely a betterdirector because I act and a better actor becauseI direct." Moore says he ultimately wants to workin film.

Both have indeterminate longterm plans,although in the immediate future Moore plans tocontinue at the A.R.T. through July and then joinRauch's Cornerstone Theater Company in Virginia totour and do ensemble theater next year, whileRonis is set to try out for the Second City comedytroupe in Chicago and remain there as an actorregardless of whether he makes the company. Bothclaim to be skeptical about what's in store,although Moore says "we're willing to sell out ifwe have to."

But they probably won't.CrimsonJi H. MinERIC RONIS and CHRIS MOORE.