HEM: AN INTERVIEW
A ONe-Man PLay in two Acts
Friday, September 30th @ 7:30 PM
Saturday, October 1st @ 7:30 PM
Directed by Dr. Arthur J. Beer
Featuring Dr. Arthur J. Beer* as Ernest Hemingway
*Dr. Arthur J. Beer appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association,
the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois. The son of a prosperous physician, he spent his childhood divided between the Chicago suburb of his birth and the wilderness of northern Michigan where his family had a home on Lake Walloon. After finishing high school and a short stint with the Kansas City Star, Ernest joined the Italian Red Cross and became the first American to be wounded in Italy. Soon after his return from the war, he landed a job with the Toronto Star which was followed by a trip to Paris, where he soon wrote his first novel, The Sun Also Rises. Many, many more followed. An avid sportsman and athlete all of his life, Hemingway eventually divided his time between his estate in Cuba, “La Vigia Finca,” and his ranch in Ketchum, Idaho.
In HEM: An Interview, a fictive exchange with the author, we see Ernest Hemingway in Cuba sometime before his return to Ketchum and his subsequent tragic suicide in July of 1961.
Director's Notes on HEM: An Interview
COVID-19 Policy for Indoor Concerts at Kerrytown Concert House
- Masks are strongly encouraged and available as needed.
- Please do not attend a performance if you are feeling ill or have any symptoms of COVID-19.
Robert Beaupré wrote HEM: An Interview while a theater student at University of Detroit Mercy. At the time, he had also become a founding member of the Black Sheep Repertory Theatre in Manchester, MI. He spent his twenties honing skills in all aspects of theatre production and lived in France for a time where he studied mime and became fluent in French. In his thirties, he married the love of his life and they raised 4 sons together. He continued acting, built a house from the ground up, and launched a technical training company that thrived for 19 years. His forties allowed time for exploring his varied interests: sailing, cycling, woodworking, guitar, and traveling. He taught himself Morse code and clock repair and rarely missed one of his sons’ hockey games. He earned a law degree in his fifties and treasured time spent with family and lifelong friends.
Dr. Arthur J. Beer is Professor Emeritus of the University of Detroit Mercy, where he taught, directed, and acted with The Theatre Company for many years. Before that, he was director of drama at Thiel College, Jacksonville University, and the Athens Centre for Creative Arts. He has directed 230 plays and acted in a few more than that, winning Best Actor awards from all of Detroit’s major critics and some in Florida, Pittsburgh, and Ann Arbor. Local audiences have seen him at Meadowbrook Theatre, JET, Tipping Point Theatre, and the Attic as well as at UDM and the Boll. For 25 year, he and his wife, Mary Bremer-Beer, ran the Classic Theatre study abroad program in Greece. Art is the author of 35 full-length plays and adaptations produced in Greece, England, and the US, and has earned Hopwood and Gesu playwriting awards. He is delighted to be back in Ann Arbor where he earned a Master’s degree long ago.
