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Key To Adapt
(Continued from page 1)
It’s “a humbling experience,” Key says, to have the
chance to bring the Percy work to the stage. Percy and
Milledgeville’s Flannery O’Connor were the Catholic
writers the Keys explored in their own religious search.
And earlier, Key had written to Percy telling him about
his own work and what Percy’s writing had meant to
them.
Work on the Percy book will have priority for Tom Key
after the couple, their three sons, Simon, 13, Stephen, 10,
and Charlie, 3, and the
family dog and cat, move
to New York once their
home in Atlanta is sold.
That’s the bad news for
Atlanta where theater-go
ers have grown accus
tomed to top-notch acting
when Tom Key is playing
in a local show.
As artists, they can
appreciate the
importance the
Church places on
discipline and
order within the
Liturgy.
He is grateful for his Atlanta experience, both with the
Alliance and other area theaters. He has “played five of
the 10 roles I want to play. I’ve a foot in the door on
movies and TV. I can make a living here but in 10 years,
I would be basically at the same level I am today.”
New York offers greater opportunities. “It’s the closest
to London in what actors can do in the theater, films and
TV,” and for him it’s important to keep being challenged.
Beverly Key sees the move as a chance to enrich her
painting. The Keys hope to find a home in the Hudson
River Valley, an area favored by artists because of its
magnificent scenery. It is also a not too difficult commute
into New York City.
They will leave a friendly white brick two-story in the
Virginia Highlands neighborhood. Inside the light-filled
home, a brightly painted crucifix from El Salvador hangs
on the wall by the door. Over the fireplace, a large paint
ing grabs the eye.
A pope-like figure is depicted in the right foreground.
To his left, the piano player looks familiar. It’s Tom Key
in the role of Artie in John Guare’s “The House of Blue
Leaves.” It was painted by David Fraley for the lobby
exhibit during the 1988 production at the Theater in the
Square, Marietta.
In their search for faith, the Keys slowly discovered
they “wanted to be connected with Christ, with Peter and
Paul, with the pope,” he said. In their quest they found
many divisions in Protestant denominations, even in the
Episcopal church which they joined early in their mar
riage.
As artists, they appreciate the symbolism, the Catholic
world view, Beverly Key acknowledges. ‘ ‘In Protestantism
there is a basic mistrust of symbols.”
In Catholicism, her husband adds, that world view has
“a conservatism that has come down over the ages but
also has the freedom to be fully human and to explore that
in your art.”
The steadfastness of the Catholic Church, while being
TWO ARTISTS - Beverly Key stands by one
of her vivid water co'ors in photo above. Canvas
painted for lobby exhibit during Marietta produc
tion of “The House of Blue Leaves” is a prop for
Tom Key, right.
open to growth, bolsters them in their relationships with
other artists, Tom Key finds.
‘ ‘We continually are working everyday with people with
whom we disagree on a number of things, including
abortion and sexual issues.”
As artists, they can appreciate the importance the
Church places on discipline and order within the Liturgy.
Tom, comfortable with the strict necessity of learning his
lines, believes “if an artist is to be free,” he must accept
such demands.
Beverly finds the same comparison with Catholic
prayers. Once learned, she became free to put her own
emotion into praying. This was a comfort while praying
the Rosary during her mother’s illness and death.
It thrills both of them to know that Pope John Paul II
is praying for them as artists. They learned this through
reading in a recent issue of The Georgia Bulletin that his
July prayer intention was for “intellectuals, scientists,
artists and those in universities who work to bring the seed
of the Gospel to every culture.”
As Catholics, they feel better equipped “to explore all
kinds of subjects” in their art. They have learned “to
reverse their priorities, to place principles over personali
ties,” as they see the church doing.
In their own Catholic community at Sacred Heart, both g
sense “an understanding” of who they are and what they S
are about as artists. They have gained bonding and securi- 5
ty, freedom and joy through their Catholic faith. «
They will be missed at Sacred Heart, Sister Valentina |
Sheridan, RSM, pastoral assistant, says. They were 3
accepted from the start, “not for his celebrity. They’re
very faith-filled and just seemed like part of the communi
ty. They participate in everything we have. I hate to see
them leave. I had looked forward to them becoming even
more involved.”
Simon and Stephen were altar servers, their proud
parents point out.
For Tom Key, 40, a native of Brewton, Ala., the
journey to this fulfillment began as a teenager. “I would
go into a Catholic church to pray. There was a presence
in the empty church that gave me solace.”
His wife, who grew up in Birmingham, had no such
experience. She did have a good Mend, however, who was
Catholic.
She believes her development as an artist “goes hand
in hand with becoming Catholic,” and also with her
having their third son. She took art classes while carrying
Charlie and after his birth felt she had made a break
through, had gained more confidence in her own talent.
Pictures in their home verify her comment. Recent
watercolors are painted in a bolder style with a vibrancy
lacking in a pale landscape attempted earlier. She exhibits
at an artists’ coop at Lindbergh Plaza.
During their years of inquiry, they were fortunate to
have as a close friend Dr. Deal Hudson, also a convert to
Catholicism. He was there when they needed more
information or wanted to know “What about this?” There
was never, they point out, “any point when we had
doubts.”
Through Dr. Hudson they met Jean Farrell, director of
religious education at All Saints parish in Dunwoody. She
guided them during the period of instruction they shared
with other Episcopalians joining the church and remains
a good friend.
PAGE 7 - The Georgia Bulletin, August 2, 1990
THE FAMILY - Tom and Beverly Key are
shown with their three sons, Simon, 13, standing,
Charlie, 3, and Stephen, 10.
Tom Key now admits to “being fairly evangelical about
the Catholic Church.” He tells of taking a Mend, a
businessman in mid-life crisis, to daily Mass at Sacred
Heart. During lunch after Mass he sensed a new calmness
in his friend.
He sees Flo Rothachre, his longtime agent, “as a
prospect for the church.” She has, he says, seen “Cotton
Patch Gospel,” his first stage hit, 11 times.
Key admits to a special fondness for “Cotton Patch
Gospel” because “it gave a lot of joy to special people.”
The lively musical, based on the life of Jesus and set in
today’s South, was adapted by Key from Clarence
Jordan’s “Cotton Patch Versions of Matthew and John.”
Musical score is by the late Harry Chapin.
Years before he and Beverly thought of joining the
church, the actor found Catholics the best audience for
“Cotton Patch Gospel.” Unlike members of fundamental
ist churches, they were not offended by liberties taken
with the Bible message, could accept with laughter a Jesus
in jeans with peanut butter smeared on his hands.
The Keys first lived in Atlanta from 1978 until 1980
when they moved to Connecticut while he was developing
the musical. It enjoyed a six-month run at the Lambs
Theater in New York City and drew a standing ovation
after each performance.
New York reviews were good, Tom Key says, although
the critics usually began by saying “I never thought I
would like this play, but...”
After New York the show enjoyed long runs in Atlanta,
Dallas and Los Angeles. Audiences outside the South, the
actor found, seemed surprised at their enjoyment of the
down-home humor, while southern audiences laughed in
recognition of its engaging depiction of their culture.
The family returned to Atlanta in January, 1986, and
Tom Key found the regional success his talent and
versatility deserved. Good roles came along at the Alli
ance, he gave one-man presentations in churches, and
began movie and television work.
Main stage roles at the Alliance include The Stage
Manager in “Our Town,” Dr. Pangloss in “Candide,”
Huey Long in “Southern Cross,” Buffalo Bill in “Annie
Get Your Gun.”
Last year he moved Studio audiences with his poignant
solo performance in Truman’s Capote’s “A Christmas
Memory” after reprising “Cotton Patch Gospel” earlier
in the year. He gave one-man dramatizations of “The
Revelation of John’ ’ and C.S. Lewis’ “Screwtape Letters’ ’
at area churches.
As a theater family, the Keys won’t be confined by the
demands of New York’s drama world. The Alliance
Theater is talking to him about returning this holiday
season with the Capote work. Hopefully, he will come
back with “Lost in the Cosmos.”
Now, on the road, they will take with them “what we
knew we were getting in the Catholic Church, the wonder
ful consistency, the Eucharist and Liturgy which take
precedence over everything else and are always the same
in churches everywhere.”