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Nicole DeRosa Lukaitis has derived much personal and professional pleasure from her maturation in South Philly and growth as an arts advocate in New Jersey. The 43-year-old is combining the contributions from her most prominent geographic locations for the South Camden Theatre Co., Inc. production of “Gemini,” the lauded 1976 play by fellow South Philly native Albert Innaurato.
“I think I bring a little bit of extra truth to everything,” the product of the 2600 block of South Hicks Street said last week of her status as a performer in a South Philly-set piece. “I’m able to pull from my background to convey my enthusiasm for the material.”
Through March 16, the Barrington, N.J. resident is playing Lucille, the widowed girlfriend of Fran, the father of Francis Geminiani, a 21-year-old Harvard University student whose attempts to grasp his identity, especially its sexual components, give the work its emotional center. In handling her role, DeRosa Lukaitis is seeing the creation as an amalgamation of many compelling personalities from her formative days in Marconi.
“The show is definitely relevant today,” she said of the Obie Award winner, which enjoyed more than 1,800 Broadway performances from ’77 to ’81. “People like Lucille and Fran, for example, with their quirkiness and disposition, still exist, and I think the social aspects are pretty important to contemporary audiences, too.”
DeRosa Lukaitis learned last year of the plan to stage “Gemini” when costuming “Awake and Sing!” for the company. Already having proven her acting passion by appearing in its “Fortune Cookies” and “The Night of the Iguana,” she adored earning the opportunity to advance her skills and reflect on her upbringing, particularly the influence of her grandmother, Eleanor Sacerdote. She has gained another valuable insight from participating, the knowledge that one should not question inherent talent.
“I had tried to convince myself I was meant only for other duties, like being behind the scenes and writing,” DeRosa Lukaitis, who for nearly seven years has helmed the Barrington-situated Lucky Nickel Theatre Co., an all-ages entity, and for three years has served as the owner and artistic director of the LNT Center for the Performing Arts, said. “Being on stage again just reminds me how much I love doing this sort of work, no matter how much I might have written myself off as an actress after turning my attention to working with children.”
Infusing the brainchild of Innaurato, who will attend tomorrow’s presentation, with her self-belief, the thespian, who last year appeared in the film “Young Again,” has given herself another chance to champion her commitment to promoting quality works. That her current chore finds her doing so for a work based in her old stomping grounds gives credence to anyone who might contend “You can take the girl out of South Philly, but you can’t take South Philly out of the girl.”
“It’s definitely intriguing to have this role,” DeRosa Lukaitis said. “I’m proud of what we’re trying to do and grateful to get back on stage.”
The actress reached the artistic point of no return as a precocious 8-year-old viewer of the original production of “Annie.” Then a student at St. Monica School, 17th and Ritner streets, she loved seeing children on stage and fell in love with dancing three years later. Intensifying her ardor for the arts at Girard Academic Music Program, 2136 W. Ritner St., and The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, 901 S. Broad St., she knew nothing would prevent her from pursuing her obsession.
“It was who I was,” DeRosa Lukaitis said of being an impressionable youth, a characteristic that yielded her first film role in ’86’s “My Little Girl” with James Earl Jones, Mary Stuart Masterson and Anne Meara. “I just had to be out there to explore my talent and drive.”
Settling into adulthood, she became a consistent hire to recording artists coveting consummate dancers and eventually ventured across the Atlantic Ocean to study classical comedy at London’s City Literacy Institute. Desiring “grass and trees,” she left South Philly for Barrington in ’98 and has enjoyed a fruitful 14-year-marriage to Bella Vista-bred husband John, with whom she rears Gia, 13, Nicolas, 10, and Demetrio, 8. A founding member of The Waitstaff, the sketch comedy troupe that has induced hysterics through works like “The Real Housewives of South Philly,” she eventually came to crave less of an up-front existence and more of a behind-the-scenes identity.
“Oh, I’d much rather work with kids than adults,” DeRosa Lukaitis, who last month wrapped “Oliver” and is overseeing “Snow White” for a May staging, quipped of the delights of engaging youngster’s ambitions. “It’s been really amazing for me to help many kids to come out of their shells and find peace. I am extremely passionate about building up their esteem and appreciation for their abilities.”
The connoisseur of camaraderie, whose productions feature a handful of South Philly dwellers and whose own hand penned “Dolly for Sue,” an adaptation of “Annie,” looks forward to strengthening her integration into children’s lives and remains unsure if that will involve any more need to balance directing and producing duties with acting assignments.
“LNT is my main priority no matter what,” DeRosa Lukaitis said. “However, after a show like ‘Gemini,’ who knows? I’ll probably continue to look for works with as much appeal and pull.”
For tickets, visit southcamdentheatre.org.
Contact Managing Editor Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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