Recently I wrote about Hollywood’s Blacklist era, as
chronicled in a special exhibit at DC’s Capital Jewish Museum. This past weekend saw me at a place deeply
steeped in memories of that difficult time. Actor Will Geer (born in 1902) is
best remembered as TV’s folksy Grandpa Walton from 1972 until his death in
1978. (His passing was ultimately written into the plot of The Waltons, allowing
him to be publicly mourned.) Though a lifelong actor on both stage and screen, one
who was nominated for multiple prestigious awards, Geer had many other
passions. Politically he was a deeply committed activist with long ties to the
American Communist Party, During the Great Depression he spent much of his free
time touring labor camps with close friends like folksingers Burl Ives and
Woody Guthrie. He also had a great love for
botany, and earned a master’s degree in that field at the prestigious
University of Chicago.
Geer’s refusal in the 1950s to “name names” of Communist
sympathizers at the behest of the House Un-American Activities Committee
naturally led to his being shut out of the Hollywood movie community for a
number of years. Though he starred in Salt of the Earth, a 1954
independent film about a New Mexico’s miners’ strike, he was long barred from
more mainstream productions. That’s why he and wife Herta Ware built a simple
performance space on their rustic property in SoCal’s folksy Topanga Canyon,
which became a popular gathering spot for fellow blacklisted performers. At the
same time, they began growing fruits, vegetables, and herbs as a way of feeding
their growing family. Eventually, following Geer’s financial success from The
Waltons, they launched a nonprofit corporation known as the Will Geer
Theatricum Botanicum. The many offspring of the Geer family, by then launched
on their own theatrical careers, joined together to stage works by Shakespeare
and others in a rustic outdoor environment. Today the troupe is still going
strong, mixing seasoned professionals with newcomers just learning to tread the
boards.
I try to visit the Will Geer at least once a year. The
troupe is most active in summers, and its signature production is A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s romantic fable for which this is the
perfect sylvan setting. Other offerings for 2026 include Romeo and Juliet,
along with an obscure Noel Coward farce (I hardly think of Coward as suited to
a rustic backdrop, but never mind) and an inventive dramatization of Robert
Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. The script for this adaptation was
prepared by Will Geeer’s daughter, longtime co-producing artistic director
Ellen Geer, and her own daughter Willow (also an artistic director) here plays
one of the drama’s most colorful roles. As always the troupe finds creative
ways to use its permanent stage area, which consists of rough-hewn wooden building
facades and beautiful old-growth trees. I’m happy to say that seating has
improved a great deal over the years. The audience is shielded from the summer
sun by a large canopy, but those concrete benches really cry out for cushions
shlepped from home.
If you’re planning a day or evening trip to the Theatricum
Botanicum, do save time to explore the premises. There is, for instance, a
small wooden shack called The Shelter. Once a hang-out spot for the visiting
Woody Guthrie, it now houses a collection of historic memorabilia from the
1950s onward. There are also places to buy food and souvenirs, and some
gorgeous flowering plants to admire. For the full experience, make dinner
reservations at Topanga’s mostly-outdoor Inn of the Seventh Ray, a magical venue
full of other-worldly vibes.
