Evie Elroy

This tribute was written by Tony Brown Plain Dealer Theater Critic When the Cleveland Play House was in the forefront of the American regional theater movement, Evie McElroy was in the forefront of the Play House, as an actor whose characters audiences loved to hate and a director who actors loved to work with. McElroy, who was involved in more than 84 productions over 20 seasons at the Play House starting in 1968, died Monday at home in Cleveland Heights, said Estelle Painter; McElroy?À?s partner of 38 years. She was 75 and died only five days after being rediagnosed last week with cancer ?À? of the lung and liver ?À? Painter said. McElroy did everything from comedy to musicals, but she particularly loved unsympathetic roles. One of her most famous parts, performed in her third season in Cleveland, was that of a self-loathing, child-abusing, drug-addicted mother in the world premiere of ?À?The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,?À? which went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. But in real life, she was much beloved by actors with whom she shared the stage and particularly, whom she directed. ?À?Evie was a god,?À? said actor Andrew May, a longtime Cleveland leading man now based in Los Angeles who first came to the Play House from Chicago in 1986 to star in the rough-and-tumble play ?À?Orphans,?À? directed by Mc Elroy. ?À?I always looked up to her as a mentor because she was so talented and so experience, and most importantly could share that ?À?She was a stunning actress; you couldn?À?t take your eyes off her. But her greatest talent was her honesty. She was the most honest artist I have ever know.?À? Botn in Davenport, Iowa, suburb of Bettendorf, McElroy established herself as an artist fresh from graduating from the University of Minnesota, becoming a member of the newly formed and now famous Guthrie Theatre in Mionneapolis. There, she collaborated with theater founder Sir Tyrone Guthrie who was also founding artistic directgor of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada and company members Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Zoe Caldwell and Len Cariou. McElroy left the Guthrie after two seasont o play the title role in Bertolt Brecht?À?s ?À?Mother Courage and Her Children?À? at yet another leading regional theater, the Long Wharf in New Haven, Conn., under yet another legendary director, Arvin Brown. Then she came to Cleveland to perform in Tennessee Williams?À? ?À?The Rose Tattoo?À? and ?À?The Merry Wives of Windsor.?À? And she became the first full-time female member of the theater?À?s resident acting company. She stayed in Cleveland and remained a member of the resident Play House acting company until it was dissolved in favor of hiring actors show-by-show in 1988. She made Play House history in the 1972-1973 season by becoming the first female staffer at the theater to direct a major production, Harold Pinter?À?s ?À?Old Times.?À? ?À?She would have been a star anywhere,?À? May said. She had a chance at a New York debut, but turned it down, Painter said, because ?À?she loved being part of an actin ensemble and didn?À?t love the idea of the rat race.?À? McElroy sporadically acted, directed and advised other actors and directors after leaving the Play House. But she spent much of her time in other pursuits that included fishing, caring for the sick and elderly and reading mysteries, said Painter, a longtime employee in the Play House costume shop and McElroy?À?s only immediate survivor. McElroy?À?s last role came in Pittsburg in 2000, the year she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which went into remission. That role, in Martin McDonagh?À?s ?À?The Beauty Queen of Leenane.?À? She once again played the mean and manipulative woman she never was in real life. As well as being the beloved partner of 38 years of Estelle H. Painter of Cleveland Hts., OH, she is also survived by several loving cousins and friends in Iowa and Minnesota. Those who wish may make contributions in her name to The Sierra Club, 85 Second Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105-3441, or the American Cancer Society, 10501 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106. There will be an "Equity Day-Off Party to Celebrate Evie" with an opportunity for all to come visit, tell stories, reminisce, laugh and toast Monday, October 4th from 4-7 PM at the Cleveland Play House, on the terrace/patio fronting the Brooks/Drury Theaters, 8500 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106. Her Iowa family will honor her October 19th at the Parr Cemetery in Iowa. BROWN-FORWARD SERVICE 216 752-1200


PDF Printable Version