Director Finally Comes Home -- `Sara Crewe' Brings Dillon To Seattle Stage

A few years ago John Dillon was at the top of the theatrical food chain in Milwaukee.

As the longtime artistic director of the respected Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Dillon oversaw his company's renovation of an old factory into a three-stage facility. He orchestrated the array of classical and modern plays presented there, directed some himself and engineered fruitful cultural exchanges with "sister" drama institutions in England, Japan, Siberia, Chile and Mexico.

But today, sitting in the big, airy Seattle home he shares with actress Yohanna Melamed, Dillon laughingly describes himself as "just another guy looking for work."

Not exactly. In the year and a half since he left Milwaukee and relocated here, Dillon's services as a freelance director have been in demand. He has worked steadily at various regional American theaters, and abroad at Tokyo's Institute of Dramatic Arts, where he is associate director.

And on Friday night, Dillon's mounting of "Sara Crewe," a new adaptation by R. N. Sandberg of the Victorian novel for young readers by Frances Hodgson Burnett, opens at Seattle Children's Theatre. The production runs at SCT through Oct. 29.

Well known and liked by peers around the country, Dillon surprised his loyal subscribers, and more than a few of his colleagues, when he decided to move on after 16 years in the dominant Milwaukee slot.

"I did it first of all just out of a desire to do something different," he says. "I didn't want my life to be one long one-act."

Chatting affably in his Mount Baker living room, which is adorned with museum-quality art and furnishings gathered from his extensive Asian travels, Dillon added another explanation for moving west.

"I grew up in Oregon and I'm really a Pacific Northwest person," he explains."I'd get so blue whenever I would come back from visiting my mom in Portland. There I'd be in the Midwest, wondering, where did all the mountains go? Where are all those tall evergreen trees? I feel very connected to this region."

When he decided to move on from Milwaukee Rep, Dillon says he and Melamed chose Seattle because of the bountiful theater scene. "Young people go to theater here a lot, which I find really exciting," he said.

"The first time I went to the Empty Space I felt like a grandfather, and I'm only in my late 40s. Most of the audience was under 25. In general Seattleites have a very lively response to theater."

Patting Moose, his enormous (and loud) Chesapeake Bay retriever, Dillon went on, "I also like the sense of there being a real theatrical community here. That has a lot to do with the many artists who live here, and the actors who've created this rich artistic soil and sprouted all these theater companies."

Though raised in Portland, Dillon hasn't lived in this region since leaving home to attend Northwestern University near Chicago. At loose ends after graduation, he decided to travel around England and Europe.

What hooked him on drama was seeing some exciting productions by the Old Vic Theatre in London, directed by the expatriate American drama guru, Peter Brook.

"I naively wrote to Brook, begging him to let me get involved in his work, and he was nice enough to let me watch his company rehearse," Dillon recalls. "Through that I also met Joseph Chaiken, and wheedled my way into Chaiken's new company, the Open Theatre."

Though he deeply admires Brook and Chaiken, two acknowledged experimental theater masters, Dillon later became known as a director of meat-and-potatoes American dramas by such canonized playwrights as Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller.

At Milwaukee Rep, and in guest directing gigs at other companies (including A Contemporary Theatre, where he staged "Wings" and "True West" in the 1980s), he also encouraged contemporary dramatists.

Dillon premiered David Mamet's "Lakeboat" in Milwaukee ("Working with Mamet? He's really a creampuff!") and forged close collaborations with Amlin Gray, Romulus Linney and the late Larry Shue, author of "The Foreigner."

Though he's no stranger to developing budding plays, the production of "Sara Crewe" marks Dillon's first foray into drama for youth. The script by Seattle author Sandberg is based closely on Burnett's 1888 novel about a youngster whose status suddenly changes from privileged boarding school student to serving girl.

SCT artistic director Linda Hartzell invited Dillon to stage the piece. "When I found John to be as kind, and as approachable, and as interested in theater for young people as he is, that's when I decided to have him direct for us," she said recently.

"I trust him implicitly with this material. `Sara Crewe' could be very schmaltzy and sentimental, but I knew John will fight against that tendency and keep it active."

Dillon accepted the assignment happily. "I've always disliked the distinction between children's theater and adult theater," he says. He points out that a century ago, books with youth appeal - including Burnett's own "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and "The Secret Garden" - often became bestsellers.

Dillon says he especially has enjoyed directing the younger members of his cast, including Sarah Baskin, the Seattle teenager who plays Sara.

"These kids really bring a freshness to the show. They have no guile about what they're doing. It's been a great opportunity for me to get to know more about young people, their hopes and their fears," he says.

"Sara Crewe" is Dillon's first local job as a Seattle resident, but he would clearly like more to follow. He and Melamed have made themselves thoroughly at home here, getting involved in neighborhood issues, going hiking and kayaking, spending time with actor Tom Hulce and other friends in the area.

Dillon also does not hide the fact that he would enjoy running another theater - preferably in Seattle. He was a finalist for the artistic director post at Intiman Theatre two years ago. More recently, he was passed over for the top job at A Contemporary Theatre.

With typical graciousness, he wishes those hired instead of him success. But when asked what would happen if an out of town theater offered him a plum job, the director visibly winced.

"That's the worst dilemma I would have to face," Dillon acknowledged. "I really want to be here, and I hope to stay."