Behind The Scenes

by Jan Davisson

From the age of three, the Lowe family knew they had an actress on their hands. Margery Lowe always loved entertaining and was lucky enough to have parents who had a passion for the arts. Fortunately, the family lived in Long Island, so her parents took her into the city to see shows and even the opera. “I don’t remember a time when I wanted to do anything else,” Lowe said in a recent interview.
During the pandemic, Lowe had a chance to go through boxes that had belonged to her parents who had passed away within months of each other. “They saved everything. I even found a cassette of me singing at three years of age.”

Lowe got a great deal of her training in school plays where she found her people—those who all loved theater like she did. So, Lowe decided to go to Shenandoah University in Virginia because she would be allowed to have a double major: voice and drama. “I had a wonderful mentor, Harold Herman, who was teaching techniques never introduced before graduate school,” she said. “I also met my husband, Clyde, who was a theatre major from Canada.”

Both lived in New York City, so they had lots of theatrical experience available. “I was in a lot of off-Broadway shows as well as regional tours and fortunate to have the opportunity to be part of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.” When asked what her favorite Shakespeare role was, she pondered a bit and added, “Olivia from Twelfth Night.”

Lowe had numerous television credits including one from my favorite soap opera, All My Children. “I played a health club owner for six months. This was when Susan Lucci was a cast member.”

Talking about her upcoming role as Emily Dickinson in the one woman show, The Belle of Amherst, Lowe said that she had studied some of Dickinson’s poems in school and from the play Edgar and Emily at Palm Beach Dramaworks. “It was a different approach to her life as it was more about relationship and what it would have been like if she and Edgar Allen Poe had been friends.”

Lowe articulated how she approached her recent role and her craft in general. “Research is one of my favorite things to do when I get a role. I love it. I usually start with the world, the time period and culture of the day for about a month. When I started researching Emily, it’s was like a whole new world opened up to me.” Lowe then added: “When you get to know her you find that she was fiercely independent, committed to her words, questions and thoughts and had a wicked sense of humor. If she had gone out into the world, it would have been too small for her. She looked through different glasses and was able to see that the sky looked different, the color of flowers was brighter, and everything was clearer.”

The Belle of Amherst opens on May 20 and is being directed by William Hayes, the artistic director and co-founder of Palm Beach Dramaworks. Hayes also directed the film that was made and aired during the pandemic. “In the stage presentation, the audience are characters in the play,” Lowe said.
“One of my favorite scenes in the play is in the first act when Emily says, ‘Words are my life.’ This is a moment she wants the audience to know her begins to confide in them.”
Emily Dickinson discovered that her goal was to write, not to publish. Thanks to her sister, her poems were discovered and published after her death. Lowe concluded with a profound insight about her beloved Dickinson: “To see the world through her eyes is a gift…”

“One of my favorite scenes in the play is in the first act when Emily says, ‘Words are my life.’ This is a moment she wants the audience to know her begins to confide in them.”
Emily Dickinson discovered that her goal was to write, not to publish. Thanks to her sister, her poems were discovered and published after her death. Lowe concluded with a profound insight about her beloved Dickinson: “To see the world through her eyes is a gift…”

Palm Beach Dramaworks
201 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach
Tickets: 561.514.4042 Ext. 2
www.palmbeachdramaworks.org