How could life be any better for John Walker. On Tuesday he was nominated for an Academy Award as one of the producers of Incredibles 2. And he has just completed the first weekend of performances on stage in The Empty Nesters with his wife, Pamela Gaye Walker. After a twenty year break from performing together, The Empty Nesters, written by Garret Jon Groenveld, gave the couple a chance to appear on stage together again. The play is now in performances at the Zephyr Theatre through February 17th.
In Groenveld’s play, Greg and Frances are on a trip to the Grand Canyon when she announces to her husband that she’s thinking of leaving him. What follows is an examination of the root of her issues which might stem from the fact they have just become empty nesters. Together they have to navigate their world which has radically changed.
John and Pamela are, themselves, empty nesters. Well before he was producing films (Tomorrowland, The Iron Giant, Incredibles) they shared many a stage together in Chicago. She has continued acting on stage and in film and television (Remember Me, Shakti’s Retreat – which she also wrote and directed.) When this play came their way, it was an opportunity to perform together again. Their journey with The Empty Nesters began in 2015.
I recently spoke by phone with both of them about their shared passion for theatre, working and “playing” together and handling life together once the kids have left to establish their own lives.
What initially drew you to The Empty Nesters?
Pamela: Â The play was brought to me by a theatre company that wanted me to read it for them. I was writing a screenplay and didn’t really have the time. They brought an entourage of people to the house with another actor and artistic director and John was sitting in our living rom listening in. We can relate to the story and I kept looking at him enjoying it and laughing and crying. It resonated with our lives. I said I’d entertain doing the play if they would read with John.
John: The fix was in. Pam got me the part.
You performed the play in San Francisco in 2015. What did you learn about each other as actors during that run that surprised you?
John:  We had started our careers as actor, but we were kids. We hadn’t acted together for 20-something years. What surprised me, since I had taken 20 years off while Pam had continued to act, was by how good she was and how much catching up I had to do.
Pamela: We had done 25-30 shows together professionally, but we still had chemistry. I wasn’t surprised, but that was something I felt was a strong suit – that there’s a shorthand to our work together.
John: So many of the exchanges we have in the play are exchanges that any two people in a long-term committed relationship will have. So it’s been really fun and a little scary to live those things out every night.
How have your individual relationships to the characters you play grown?
John: I think when we first did it, we did it in a festival environment. We were on two nights a week. It’s pretty fast-paced. Garret is a really gifted dialogue writer and the dialogue is poppy. When we did it the first time we leaned into that. We didn’t have a lot of rehearsal. Then each time we’ve done it we’ve tried to get a little deeper into the text and relationships and make a balance between the emotional resonance and the comedy.
Pamela: I don’t think my character was as deep as it should have been. The second time we did it part of it was to understand why my character was so upset. The script came around to getting deeper in the themes and the characters. So the balancing act for this production is to play that depth and drama, but maintain the comedy.
As empty-nesters yourselves, how much does Greg and Frances’s journey reflect your own realities of children leaving home?
John: My reaction is the opposite of the character. He’s happy about it. I was surprised how much it shook me up. [Pamela] had been processing the fact they were leaving. Men, as we’re wont to do, I was about the logistics. It didn’t even strike me emotionally until we were standing outside in the parking lot saying goodbye and I just lost it.
Pamela: I had been processing all along that our girls would be leaving. I found that three months of my life were spent grieving they were gone. Then I picked up and was able to identify what it was I was going to embrace in the future.
What does appearing this play together give you each on a personal level that other aspects of your careers do not?
Pamela: I have spent twenty years without my performing partner and I was lucky to continue to perform in other companies. I felt a loss and I’m grateful for the journey we’ve had. I think it is extraordinary that I can look across the stage and see him and say the words we are saying to each other in the play. It’s a little bit of art imitating life and vice-versa.
John: It’s been a life-long dream of ours to be in business together and do work together and we’re at the place where we can do that.
Pamela: We have filmmaking expertise and we’ve come full-circle. We can pick and choose the things we want to say before we leave this world. I think this is our fate. We’ve put a lot hard work in over the past 25 years to realize a particular dream.
John: I’ve gone off and went to work every day for 40 years. It’s nice to get up and go to work with Pam every day now. That’s very exciting.
Pamela: I think that right now, for the rest of our lives, we’re going to make take for granted this time we have with each other.
“The Empty Nesters” photos by David Allen.
All other photos courtesy of Pamela and John Walker
