By John Peters
Editor

Friends Wally Hurst and Jim Merillat recently learned something.
Never bluff one another.
The fact they did, though, is Lakeland Arts Center’s gain, because Merillat is now a visiting artist playing the role of Pseudolus, a scheming, but well-meaning, slave in Lakeland’s production of A Funny Think Happened on the Way to the Forum.
In order to gain his freedom, he’s given a challenge – unite his love-struck master with an already-promised courtesan in order to gain his freedom.
The play itself is quite the farce, with each of Pseudolus’ plans being foiled by some unexpected event, leading him to layer hilarious scheme upon scheme as he tries to wiggle out of each jam while at the same time holding to his mission of bringing his master together with his true love.
When he’s not moonlighting on stage, Merillat serves as director of marketing and promotion for Music Theatre International, a New York-based licensing agency that owns the rights to Forum and hundreds of other plays and productions.
And, truth be told, he hasn’t been on stage in four years and wasn’t really looking to do so when he and Hurst got into their little bluffing contest.
It was during a December trip to New York that Hurst and his wife, Maria Hurst, met with Merillat hatched the plan for him to come to Lakeland.
"I jokingly said ‘I could come down and be Pseudolus for you,’" he said recently while sitting in Lakeland’s auditorium. "They said ‘Yeah, that would be great.’ And it just kept going from there. I think we were all waiting for someone to call the other’s bluff, and no one did. So here we are. It was kind of the joke that got out of hand, which is kind of like this show, so it’s fitting,’" he said with a laugh.
Merillat was here when Wally Hurst, Lakeland’s artistic director and the director of this particular show, cast the show and has made several trips from New York to Littleton for long weekend rehearsals. He’s been here for the past week-and-a-half as well, working on the production.
In addition to his work with MTI, Merillat has penned several of his own shows, three of which have been professionally produced and performed.
Merillat first started performing while in high school, then in college began working more in the arena of directing and writing.
After school, he traveled to New York hoping to find fame and fortune. Or, at least, a job. To that end, he opted to become a composer.
"I knew there had to be something like 100,000 actors in New York, and 10,000 directors, but probably no more than 1,000 composers," he said. "Of course, I didn’t realize you only needed one composer for every 40 performers."
Still, he continues on, writing and composing. The first show he wrote – and is still rewriting and revising – had 17 feature roles in its first draft. "No one’s going to stage a show with 17 featured roles. So, for my second show, I had a small cast, just seven roles. It was produced, but the producer came back to me and said ‘Can you cut it down to five?’"
That type of fickleness in the market hasn’t turned Merillat away from writing, but it’s also led him to what he calls a "serious job" to pay the bills – his work at MTI.
"Actually, I love my job," he said. "It’s not just selling … what I like bout my job is that I get to teach, which is in my background."
That teaching comes in the form of working with high school and community theatres across the country, leading workshops at 15 to 20 conferences a year.
He also puts on educational seminars for elementary and middle schools. "I teacher teachers how to put on a show … this empower them to go back and direct shows in their schools."
As for his own performance career, Merillat said that more or less ended in 1978, when he opted to pursue other venues of a theatre career. Still, he never quite got over being on stage.
"Somewhere in the back of my head I thought when I got older I cold go lay little character parts."
While he hasn’t yet decided to chase such roles, he did, finally, decide to give it another try four years ago when a New York hospital put out a casting call for a fundraising theatre show.
"I auditioned … I was cast in the role I wanted, I made some great new friends, and I had fun doing it."
But, for now, his focus is on one show – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
"This is still kind of surreal down here," he said of his time in Littleton., "I think it’s going to be a great show, we’ve laughing a lot doing it, and it’s finally starting to make some sense to me," he joked.
"There’s one chase seen, there’s something like 30 quick entrances and exits. I told someone the other night I’m finally starting to understand where I’m suppose to go and when," he said not much more than a week before opening night.
"She asked me who’s chasing who? I’m not sure I really understand that, but I do know where to go on and off stage."
That should give potential play goers a feel for what the show will be like.
"It’s funny," he said. "It’s the funniest musical I know. It’s funny like Noises off is funny, and then you have the songs, and the songs are funny. It’s sorta like the Hamlett of musical comedy."
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opens at Lakeland Friday night with an 8 p.m. performance. A