Meanwhile, Ed Weingold, up at the Julian Theater, was always rummaging around for something different and came up with the idea to stage an old Maxim Gorki drama called "The Lower Depths."

            He asked me if I wanted to do the sets.  Of course I said "Sure!"  I drew him some sketches.

            We decided on a massive interpretation which would take over the entire theater, from up on the stage to down onto the audience floor, sort of surrounding the public and making them feel like they, too, were living in the "lower depths."

            The reviews were mixed, well of course, but I got a couple good write-ups.  Stanley Eichelbaum of the San Francisco Examiner wrote:

            "...Director Wiengold has met the challenge of this play with noteworthy help from designer William Wolf, whose split-level setting of a seamy, lugubrious lodging house is supurb in every detail, from the brick-and-morter stove and general disorder of the main room to the forlorn patch of grass of a fenced-in back yard."

            And we got to work with a bunch of great performers.  Richard Reineccius, the director of the Julian, would be a friend for years, Alma Becker had a great part, as did Russell, Gary Scharzman, Steve Rehn, Diane Racine, our future Queen of Mars, and even Jerry Nova, who would play a faithful follower of Aimee in our up-coming production of the "Paegant of Salvation."

Below, Jerry Nova, in beard.

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   ...NEXT:  "THE LETTER" A PHOTO TABLEAU