Actor and director Joe Mantegna saw a young version of himself in Ronnie Marmo when the two first met about 20 years ago.
Their collaboration and friendship blossomed again when Mantegna directed Marmo in the show that marked the grand opening of “The Skokie,” formerly the Skokie Theater, on Oct. 8.
The theater, at 7924 N. Lincoln Ave., Skokie, has been purchased by two couples, Chris and Monica Matsakos and Kristi and Jose Pablo Cantillo, who have renovated the theater and plan to show plays, concerts and other live entertainment.
Their first production, “I’m Not a Comedian… I’m Lenny Bruce,” had its origins years ago when Marmo sent Mantegna a letter in the mail. It contained a screenplay he had written called “West of Brooklyn,” who had him in mind for the role. Mantegna was impressed and followed up a few days later to get lunch with Marmo.
“He reminds me of myself 30 years before,” Mantegna told the Pioneer Press he recalled thinking at the time.
That introduction resulted in a long-lasting mentorship and partnership between the actors.
“Joe’s been like a mentor and like a dad to me,” said Marmo. “So I went to Joe with it and said, ‘I have this Lenny Bruce project I’d like you to consider directing,’” said Marmo. “So I read it for him and he said ‘this is the real deal and I’d like to direct it.’”
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The one-man show, which follows the life, career and tragic death of comedian Lenny Bruce, was written and performed by Marmo with permission of Lenny Bruce’s daughter, Kitty Bruce, who passed away in May.
“She said it was one of the best portrayals of her father she has ever seen,” said Mantegna.
The play opens with a stark scene on stage of Lenny Bruce’s grim death from a morphine overdose, showing him slumped over, naked and unmoving, on a toilet.
Mantegna said one of the first things he asked Marmo when the script was first brought to him was, “how do you feel being naked on stage?”
Marmo said his response was, “Since the script was already written…I was pretty willing. I mean, of course, it was a little scary, to say the least.”
Flash forward nine years and Marmo said he is coming up on nearly his 500th performance of the play, including a six-year run of performing across the country. The show has had sustained runs in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
“You don’t get there if it isn’t something the audience is embracing,” said Mantegna. “Ronnie owns this piece now and I feel proud and honored to have contributed what I have to direct it and be a part of it.”
Mantegna, well-known for his acting and directing work on CBS’ hit television series “Criminal Minds,” has deep roots in the Chicago theater scene, with a career of performing on the stage spanning decades.
Raised in west suburban Cicero, Mantegna said he started his career performing in plays in high school and attended the Goodman School of Drama. He later went on to perform in the musical “Godspell” for a year in a small theater on North Michigan Avenue and afterward joined the Organic Theater Company, where he co-wrote and starred in the comedy-drama play “Bleacher Bums,” on Clark Street, he said.
The play’s idea, conceived by Mantegna, focused on die-hard, eccentric Cubs fans spending a summer afternoon watching a game from the outfield bleachers at Wrigley Field. After doing a Los Angeles run of the production, he said he got asked to come back to Chicago in 1983 for the Broadway production of “Glengarry Glen Ross.”
“I got the call from David Mamet asking to go back to Chicago,” said Mantegna.
And good thing he did, as it happened to be a pivotal moment in his theater career, he said. In 1984, Mamet, a playwright, screenwriter and film director who wrote the play, won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Mantegna won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.
Mantegna continued to collaborate with Mamet on several of his film projects, which paved his way into an impressive career in the film and eventually television industry, where he took on the role of David Rossi in Criminal Minds in 2007.
“We just finished 15 years on CBS and the last three years on a different platform,” he said.
He said returning to the theater to direct Marmo’s play means coming full circle and that he was excited for the show to be shown in Skokie.
The Skokie Theatre remained vacant for several years before being purchased by the two local couples in June. The owners said the 150-seat theater has undergone many updates, including a lobby and interior refresh, lighting and audio upgrades, and skyboxes, in addition to improvements to the exterior facade of the marquee.
In the coming months, the theater is also hosting a plethora of storytelling shows, stand-up comedy performances and a speakeasy event.
But they’ll always be able to say their opening event had a connection to celebrity.
“Chicago’s very dear to us, so when these guys offered for us to come, I couldn’t say no,” said Marmo.