A Conversation with WriterActorArtist Patricia Van Tassel - An Interview with Julie Zimmermann - 27 June 2025

Q: How did you conceive of the show “The Last Day of Dorothy Lillian Phelps”?

PVT: This is a fictional character that came to me in 2014. I’ve been working on it for 11 years. I did some work at the Fenimore Museum in Cooperstown, NY where I was asked to initiate a 'character tour' of the Museum gardens, led by writer/naturalist/ Susan Fenimore Cooper. Then I was asked to become American documentary photographer and photojournalist Dorothy Lange in collaboration with a show of her photographs there. So I wrote the piece and would give tours through the show as Dorothy Lange. About this time I figured out I could write my own plays.

Q: Why ‘Dorothy Lillian Phelps?’ How did you name this character?

PVT: Really, it just came to me. Recently I was talking with my mom who enjoys research and genealogy and low and behold, there were several Dorothys and Lillians in our family tree. And although there were no Phelps, there were Felts…but isn’t that really cosmic, in a way? My maternal grandmother’s personality comes thru Dorothy’s character. Tom Waits says writing songs is like fishing—they come to you and that is how this play came to me. In the quiet, it just came. 

Q: Well, putting it out in the cosmos that you could write your own shows probably opened you up to it. Maybe having inhabited historical characters like Lange and Cooper loaned  some inspiration as well. 

Q: How long have you been performing in the area, Patricia?

PVT: I have been performing at The Open Eye Theater for almost 30 years. I’ve done a countless number of shows there from Shakespeare to “Sylvia” to “…Man-in-the-Moon-Made Marigolds,” and most recently the radio play “Anne of Green Gables.” I did the “Belle of Amherst” with The Harvard Players. “Shirley Valentine,” “Walking Towards America,” “Shame the Devil”—those were all historical. They are so informative and so fun to do; a great reason to do one-woman shows. I live in Fulton, NY, a little mountain town, so it takes a long time to meet up with others for rehearsal!

Q: You have an uncanny ability to become many other people.  Where did you train to be an actor?

PVT: I trained at Pratt Institute as an art major in drawing and took theatre arts and acting with Jordon Hott. Then I worked on other things and eventually came back to theatre. I met Amie Brockway, now on The Open Eye Theater Board when she used to be producing director. She  directed me in one-woman shows. And then Amie introduced me to Gene Lasko, an acting coach in NYC. Between the two of them, I learned a lot, and worked with other directors doing random other things, learning all the way.

Q: So with all of this solo work and the concept of giving birth to the character of Dorothy, how did you bring "The Last Day of Dorothy Lillian Phelps" to fruition?

PVT: I applied for an artist residency at  Ancram Center for the Arts last year and received it. I worked there on developing the play after all those years of adding stuff, trimming stuff out, making sure it was really tight. I had a reading last year and was invited to do a directed performance. Sandra Boynton, who usually works with the Will Kempe’s Players out of Troy, NY directed the performance we just did there last week. 

Q: Why do you think people will gravitate towards this play?

PVT: I don't always take roles, and Dorothy came to me. If the character doesn't speak to me, I don't take the role. Dorothy came through me. There are songs in this play, even typing about her last day. There are observations. There's a seriousness although much of it is funny. It's a celebration of Dorothy's last day. 

Q: What's your vision for this piece?

PVT: I am one of those artists who really enjoys the process. Of course, I'd love to tour the show, bring it to Off- Broadway, Broadway, but my real hope is to touch people and have them realize it as a piece of art that is meaningful to humanity. I hope that many people will come, give feedback and spend time with Dorothy Lillian Phelps.

Q: Thank you, Patricia! Break legs!

The Last Day of Dorothy Lillian Phelps was well-received at the Open-Eye Theatre in Margaretville last weekend.