How God led Atlanta playwright John Ruane to the typewriter…then did it again…and again…and again…and again…
By Patrick Gallagher
“I don’t know if it’s ever happened to you, God just grabs you by the neck and says, ‘you’re doing this.” It seems God has had a mission for Atlanta writer John Ruane. That mission has followed Mr. Ruane from the desk of Chicago Sun-Times, to the stage of famed sketch comedy group Second City, to authoring seven books including a best selling personal memoir, through four children, four grandchildren, and a battle with cancer. Through all of that, the holy spirit was there, waiting for the right moment to tell Mr. Ruane you’ve got a play to write.
“When that happens you are driven to do it. There’s no options: You’re doing it.” Now, over thirty years since Mr. Ruane first put pen to paper, his play Final Audition will premiere at The Art Place Theatre in Marietta, Georgia on Friday, September 6, running through September 14th.
The play focuses on Sally Cochrane, played by Atlanta actress Katelin Chesna, one of a group of struggling actors gifted an opportunity to audition for a producer with a new play destined for Broadway. Sally, like John, has had her Holy Spirit moment. But decades of struggle have led her to question God’s mission for her, which she does repeatedly throughout the 90 minute play.
“God will take you all the way to the nth degree, to the last second, before something happens or something comes through,” Ruane says. “It’s a test, it’s always a test. You think that’s what your path is but you don’t know until you go through it. It’s very frustrating for people.”
Mr. Ruane’s own journey seems to share something in common with Sally’s. Beginning as a two-sport athlete in college, Mr. Ruane joined the sports desk at the Chicago Sun-Times. He expanded his beat into entertainment features, eventually profiling famed Chicago-based actress Meagan Fay, which in turn led him to train at Second City. There, he developed an interest in theater and writing for stage and screen. He wrote prodigiously, including a rock opera, but real life intervened. When his fourth child entered the scene, he put his artistic ambitions aside and launched Ruane PR.
But the call from God persisted. It became deafening after Mr. Ruane had a cancer scare and set out to write the book he had wanted to write for decades, but never made the time. Parish the Thought was published by Simon & Schuster in October of 2008 and quickly became a favorite of Catholics across the US for its moving and humorous recollection of growing up Catholic in the 1960s.
But God wouldn’t let Mr. Ruane get away that easy. After more books and plays, Final Audition stayed at the forefront of his mind. “It was a contemporary play when I wrote it and now it’s a period piece,” he says with a good-natured laugh. A cancelled production in Illinois and a move back to Atlanta created the perfect circumstances, as well as a little bit of casting kismet. In 1991, actor Noel Olken played the lead character in Mr. Ruane’s rock opera Southbound. Thirty three years later, they were overjoyed to discover that life had led them both to Atlanta, and Mr. Olken and Mr. Ruane are able to work together again, with Mr. Olken playing the Broadway producer.
Mr. Ruane’s play is not overtly religious. The main character is a practicing Catholic who speaks regularly to God. “You’re watching a lady who’s completely linked and dependent on God to get through the day.” But he’s written the play to speak to everyone who has had a dream and wondered if that dream would ever come true. Mr. Ruane’s path may not have been exactly what he envisioned when he first joined Second City over thirty years ago. But he has learned to let go of what he thinks should be and enjoy what’s been laid out before him.
“You think you know what your path is but you don’t know until you go through it. If it is what you’re supposed to be doing, it’ll happen, because God makes it happen.”
Final Audition runs September 6-14 at The Art Place Theatre in Marietta Georgia. Tickets are available at finalaudition.net.
