Chicago Tribune | She's in ABC soap, he's got a hit show; they're on a roll

Romance. Family. Art. Success. It's a good time to be Charles Newell and Kate Collins.

The husband-and-wife team is on a roll. As artistic director of the Court Theatre, Newell brought a raft of awards and plaudits to Hyde Park, starting with the very first show he directed there ("The Triumph of Love" in 1994). His latest hit, a stark and powerful re-interpretation of "The Man of La Mancha," wraps up an extended, sold-out run Sunday.

Meanwhile, Collins ended her six-year acting hiatus with a return to television this week. Though she made annual appearances on Chicago stages during the mid-'90s -- in the title role of Ingmar Bergman's "Nora" at the Court, for example, or "Arcadia" at the Goodman -- she withdrew from performing to focus on raising their two sons. Now that the boys are older, she's been lured back by the ABC soap opera "All My Children," where she reprised her zany role as the villainous Janet for a few days.

Working happily together, whether on their family or their art, is old hat for the couple. They just celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary last month, although their relationship actually began many, many years before that -- just not in over-romanticized, Romeo-and-Juliet fashion. No, Charles and Kate have a much more patient love story, one that begins (sort of) as school kids brought together by their main mutual passion: theater.

In 8th grade, both performed in "Animal Farm," a joint production of the Episcopalian schools they attended in Washington, D.C., where they grew up. "I played Boxer the horse, and she was Clover the horse," Newell recalls. "I was very happy because I got to put my head in her lap when I died. This was a crowning moment."

Collins laughs at the memory of that equine connection. Spend any time with the playful couple, and it doesn't take long to notice how often they make each other smile or laugh. It's one of the benefits to being best friends as well as spouses.

"We actually got along very well, but we never dated," she says of their adolescent days. Repeatedly, however, acting gave them early glimpses of what it might be like to fall for each other. In high school, Newell played Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire," courting Collins' Blanche. And then, in "The Crucible," they explored sexuality onstage as John Proctor and Abigail.

Do they recall sexual tension between them at that young age? "Ooh, lots and lots," Collins says with a grin.

"It didn't seem to resonate very much with her," Newell playfully responds.

He's not lamenting what didn't happen years ago: Both agree that their lives unfolded in just the right way, allowing them to pursue their career dreams before uniting them as a couple in their early 30s.

After high school, they attended different colleges -- Collins came here, to Northwestern University -- and for years saw each other only occasionally. After graduating, Collins moved to New York, eventually starring as a femme fatale on the ABC soap opera "All My Children" from 1985 to 1992.

Different lives

They didn't really reconnect until 1990, when Newell also ended up in New York. By then, their lives were very different: A soap celebrity, Collins was about to begin the last phase of that career, pulling double duty with a two-year run as Natalie and Janet, her ugly-duckling sister. And Newell arrived in town not as an actor but as a director.

"It's a very good thing he gave up acting," Collins says with a bit of a devilish grin.

"Absolutely. Ab-so-lutely," Newell heartily agrees. "I was a terrible actor." They both laugh at the thought. But in directing, Newell displayed a skill that could match his passion for the theater.

The pair began spending time together in New York, and they admit they were somewhat taken aback to realize something else beyond friendship was going on. "Here was somebody I knew all my life, always clearly had attraction and connection to, and I didn't want to mess it up," Newell adds. "Thank God we did it the way we needed to do it, which was taking our time."

"You know, not being young was a good thing," Collins says. "We were in our 30s, and for us it made a difference. ... I got to do everything I ever said I wanted to do, so it wasn't a big leap to say, `Let's get out of here.'"

They married in 1992 but agreed they didn't want to start a family in Manhattan. The next year, when the Court opportunity came for Newell, the couple was happy to give it a try -- and they're delighted with how it all turned out. Over the past dozen years, Newell has increased the Court's visibility beyond the University of Chicago by collaborating with other companies and mounting shows in other venues. He's also championed the treatment of musical theater as part of the classical canon, along with Shakespeare, Chekhov and Moliere. "La Mancha" is the latest in a recent string of pared-down musicals revisited by the Court, following "My Fair Lady" and "Guys and Dolls." As Newell says, "When one finds that [these shows] are based on Damon Runyon, Bernard Shaw, Cervantes -- seminal texts, clearly, by anyone's definition -- it wasn't such a big leap to it."

Naturally, Newell says his wife is his biggest booster -- but their sons, Jake, 11, and Luke, 8, also love the theater. "They come to the shows," Collins says -- yes, even to "Hamlet" -- "and they give notes. Remember the Polonius discussion? Jake didn't think the blood was very effective when Polonius was stabbed."

Answered `Children' call

Now that the kids are a bit older and they don't need Mom as much, Collins answered when "All My Children" came calling recently. After all, head writer Megan McTavish had created the comedic-yet-villainous role of Janet especially for Collins. "It was always a joy to watch Kate," says McTavish (who, coincidentally, performed at the Court back in the '80s). "Certainly the ability to go inside the psyche of this character and make her sympathetic, even as she does dreadful things -- that takes a gift, and Kate certainly has it."

Conveniently, when the opportunity arose, "La Mancha" had just opened, so Newell could accommodate their sons' schedules while Collins spent several days taping in New York. "It turned out to be really good timing, and it was a blast," she says. "It was going to be two shows and it turned into four. I was thrilled."

McTavish hints that Janet's November sweeps appearance might not be the end of her troublemaking days: "I don't think this is the last time we'll see her, but I won't get too specific," she says. So what would Collins do if "All My Children" asks for more? "I would be so flattered," says Collins, "and I would do whatever I could to work it out, based on my family's ability to support that. And I think the boys would like a trip to New York."

"Absolutely," Newell grins. "All three of us would."

And now that the acting bug has bitten again, will Collins trod the boards in Chicago too? "I keep trying to entice her back," Newell admits. "I'm hopeful that '06-07 will see the return of Kate Collins onto the Court Theatre stage."

Collins shrugs, and flashes her husband another one of her mischievous smiles. "But it's gotta be a good show," she says.

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She's in ABC soap, he's got a hit show; they're on a roll