Round House Lodger
"Fool for Love" marks Marty Lodge's 40th Round House Theatre production
Photo by Danisha Crosby
Two years ago Marty Lodge got a bit star-struck playing a minor role opposite Jon Hamm and the gang on Mad Men.
But nothing beats the actor’s stage fright more than a decade earlier on the set of Homicide. “I had to give this speech while the entire cast stood staring at me,” he says. “And I had to talk for a page. I messed it up, over and over again, because I was so nervous.”
You might have missed Lodge’s small parts on those shows, especially Mad Men. “Unfortunately three-quarters of my lines were cut in the final edit,” Lodge says. But no doubt you’ve seen him elsewhere. In addition to his work as an extra on TV shows, including Grey’s Anatomy and The Wire, Lodge has been an inescapable presence on the local theater scene, with regular acting gigs at Woolly Mammoth, Arena Stage and Round House Theatre, where he was formerly an artistic associate. Right now he’s starring in Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love, which marks his 40th production at the venue — “a good chunk” of the company’s slate in its more than 30 years.
“I still try to get back into town once a year,” says the Bethesda native, whose family still lives here. But two years ago Lodge settled in Chicago, his wife’s hometown. That would be actress Ellen Karas, whom he met while performing at Arena Stage — and not actress Jane Beard, a regular co-star at Round House. “Jane and I probably did 30 of those 40 plays together,” he says. “We were married so often on stage that the subscribers thought we were married in real life.” That is, until they threw everyone off and started playing brother and sister.
Lodge is hoping to do more work in television. “There are quite a few TV shows shooting in Chicago.” But Lodge still finds it “much more gratifying to be in the theater.” He also hopes to finally crack the nut of Chicago’s thriving but “tight-knit” theater community. “Of course the day I left town to come do Fool for Love, [Chicago’s] Goodman Theatre called and asked me to audition,” he laughs. “I was like, ‘Where have you been?'”
Fool for Love runs through Sept. 27 at Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda. Tickets are $10 to $40. Call 240-644-1100 or visit roundhousetheatre.org.
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