Luke Yankee (lukeyankee.com) is a writer, director, producer, actor, and college theatre professor. He’s also the author of several books, including his riveting memoir about his famous mother, the actress Eileen Heckart.
Titled, Just Outside the Spotlight: Growing up with Eileen Heckart, it’s a true page-turner. He also has written a critically acclaimed play, Marilyn, Mom & Me about the making of the film Bus Stop and the development of a deep friendship between the two actresses. If you haven’t guessed, Marilyn happens to be Marilyn Monroe.
Luke, you have accomplished so much, I almost don’t know where to begin. So, let’s start with your mother, Eileen Heckart. You had a very multi-faceted relationship with her, to say the least, yes?
We did. First and foremost, it was a very loving relationship, but like many mothers and sons it was not without its challenges. When I decided I wanted to be an actor and started doing children’s theatre in the basement of the YMCA at age twelve, she critiqued every performance of mine as if I were Laurence Olivier at The Old Vic. It was in an effort to make me a better actor, tougher and more emotionally prepared for the business, but it took many years before I could see the good intentions behind the harsh criticism. As an actress, she was great at playing vulnerable women with lots of pain, like the alcoholic mother in The Bad Seed, which earned her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. Part of that came from her own incredibly painful childhood, which she could never entirely put behind her. We were very close, but she set a very high bar professionally and personally. I mean, when you want to go into the same profession as your parent who has won an Oscar, two Emmys, a Golden Globe, and a Tony for lifetime achievement, there are a lot of expectations! I think that’s one of the reasons I found my place in writing and directing as opposed to acting.
Eileen & Luke (Photos by Luke Yankee Collection)
I had mentioned to you earlier that the very first Broadway show I ever saw was called Veronica’s Room written by Ira Levin (Rosemary’s Baby and Deathtrap) and it starred your mom in the title role. For that reason alone, she has held a special place in my theatrical heart. Veronica’s Room had a very strange and scary plot. It had a short run and you must have been about 13 at the time. Did you see the play or did your mother talk about it?
I saw it! Veronica’s Room was a Gothic murder mystery. The play didn’t entirely work, but it was a fascinating concept and an incredible role for my mom (three roles, actually) as Veronica was a schizophrenic serial killer. She was shooting a Western with Gene Hackman and Liv Ullmann, so she didn’t have the time to do the research on Veronica’s Room she would have liked, so she sent me, her thirteen-year-old son, to the New Canaan Public Library. I approached the ancient librarian and said, “Excuse me, do you have any books on incest and necrophilia?” I had no idea what either word meant, just that mama was studying both for her new play. When the shocked old lady peered up at me and gasped, I replied, “Oh, they’re not for me…they’re for my mother!”
Most recently you have penned the play Marilyn, Mom & Me. It had its premiere at the International City Theatre in Long Beach, California. Can you share with us more about the play: the genre, the plot, and your feelings about it?
Marilyn Monroe and Eileen Heckart on the set of Bus Stop (Photo by Luke Yankee Collection)
My mother loved to tell stories of her experiences on Broadway and in Hollywood. When people pressed her about working with Marilyn Monroe during the filming of Bus Stop, she had two sets of stories. One was about this woman who was very unprofessional, showing up late and with a bad habit of not knowing her lines. The other story was about this woman who was so lost, longing to have a child of her own and so desperate to receive love, even with all she had achieved. To the day my mother died, she couldn’t talk about that side of Marilyn without bursting into tears. That, in and of itself says a lot. Nobody else had that impact on her.
After my mother’s passing, I became interested in learning about her relationship with this woman who became one of the most iconic stars of all time. While I was listening to some audio-books about Marilyn, I began to see similarities between my mother and her, despite these women appearing to be polar opposites on the surface. Both of them shared similar wounds, had difficult childhoods, estranged parental figures, and tremendous abandonment issues. As a result, neither of them ever truly felt like they deserved a place at the table.
Shortly after discovering this, I began to write the play. I holed up at my place in Palm Springs in the heat of August and had the entire first draft written within three days. It just poured out of me. But what started out as a play about my mother and Marilyn Monroe slowly wound up becoming every bit as much a play about our complex mother-son relationship. The story between Eileen and Marilyn would now intertwine with the relation- ship between Eileen and Luke.
As for the play itself, there are no holds barred. It’s Marilyn, Eileen, and Luke, warts and all. But I wouldn’t want you to think this is my personal version of Mommie Dearest—quite the opposite. Ultimately, Luke’s character has a sense of redemption because he realizes the good intentions behind the harsh criticism of his mother. If there were any things that I was still harboring about the complexities of our relationship through writing this play, I was able to let go of them. That is a tremendous gift I’ve given myself because I am very vulnerable and exposed in this play. I received a lot of insights into my relationship with my mother, and it enabled me to forgive her on a deeper level. After all, forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.
Cast of Marilyn, Mom & Me at The International City Theatre in Long Beach, California (Photos by Paul Kennedy)
The response and reviews have been phenomenal. Any chance it will come to New York?
The play has already won some important playwriting awards, including the Stanley Award (given for excellence in playwriting) which was won by Terrence McNally for his first play and by Jonathan Larson for a little piece called Rent, so I’m in good company! And there is a lot of interest in Marilyn, Mom & Me for Broadway. I’m working with a Tony-winning producer who is getting the script out to some major stars. I couldn’t be more thrilled!
You married your husband, Don Hill, in 2007, but the two of you have been together much longer, yes?
We have been together for 29 years. He is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. We had a big commitment ceremony in 2000 (we consider that our actual wedding) and then we got legally married as soon as we could in 2007. We will be on a cruise next year in Bora Bora on our 30th anniversary.
Don is also deeply involved in the theatrical world.
He certainly is. He was one of the chief negotiators for Actor’s Equity (the union for professional stage actors) for seven years. He has also produced, directed, taught, and stage managed extensively.
For the past 20 years, he has been the head of the graduate stage management program at the University of California- Irvine, as well as the chair of the drama department for the last six years. He is one of the most respected theatre professionals on the west coast. We have worked on a number of projects together. Most recently, he took a sabbatical to stage manage the world premiere of Marilyn, Mom & Me. I’m incredibly proud of all he has accomplished.
Please tell us about your plans for the future.
Don and Luke at Book Launch Party (Photo by Luke Yankee Collection)
Don is stepping down as Chair at UC-Irvine, and we are moving full-time to our vacation home in Palm Springs in a few months. Aside from the fact that it’s time for a change, we also need to free up some bandwidth to get Marilyn, Mom & Me to New York, as well as devoting time to some other theatrical projects. As soon as Don steps down in a few weeks, I will be guest lecturing (basically, performing excerpts from my two one-man shows) on the Oceania Insignia on a European cruise from Lisbon to New York. It will be the perfect way to kick off this new chapter in our lives!
Also, please share the exciting projects you’re working on…plays, screenplays, etc.
Well, aside from doing everything in my power to get Marilyn, Mom & Me to Broadway, I’ve also started work on the screenplay. I think it could make a great project for Amazon or Netflix. And the Brits go crazy for anything having to do with Marilyn Monroe, so perhaps a West End production will happen as well. And I know regional theatres will love it, because it’s got a cast of five and one set, which makes it very produce-able. I’m also in the very early stages of a new play called Alabaster Shards. It’s a dark, family comedy along the lines of August: Osage County. It’s been kicking around in my head for a long time and it’s finally ready to be written. I also have a play called Confessions of a Star Maker, which is a really fun, film noir radio play (performed live with sound effects) about sexual politics in 1950’s Hollywood. It’s taken me awhile to get it right, but I feel like I have now and I’m looking forward to getting that one out to a larger audience. I’m also teaching three online classes for Cal State Fullerton this fall, as well as an eight week playwriting workshop in Palm Springs. So, things aren’t dull!
And there’s a lot more travel coming up! Bucket list?
Next May, we are doing a cruise all around Tahiti on the Paul Gaugin where I will be a guest host and then I’ll be guest lecturing on a cruise to Iceland in August—the perfect month to be out of Palm Springs! One of the places on my bucket list is the Galapagos and Machu Picchu in Peru. And we can never get enough of London; we escape there every chance we get.
What advice would you give to a young person who desires such a full and rewarding career in the arts as you have?
It may sound cliché, but you have to have a very thick skin to be in any aspect of show business. It is important to have a focus outside of your career, whether that is a relationship, a hobby, or both. You also need to be able to pivot and move quickly. If a producer says, “Can you get on a plane tomorrow morning?” you need to be prepared to say “Yes!” When you’re starting out, say “yes” to everything. If someone asks you if you can do something (within reason), say “yes” and then figure out how. Be bold, be fearless, network like crazy, and try to always be your authentic self. Also, you have to be able to generate your own work to a certain extent. As an actor, I created two one-person shows. As a director, I would find actors and make projects happen. As a writer, I have written many pieces simply so that I could have something to direct or act in. And, as stated previously, you have to cultivate other aspects of your life so that you aren’t devastated when you hit a dry spell. As my mother used to say, “Your career doesn’t keep you warm at night.” And I know others have said this before, but if you can do anything else other than being an artist and be happy, you should do it. We do this because we have to. It is a driving passion. The low points can be devastating, but the high points are euphoric. Learning to ride the emotional waves is an art unto itself, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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