From the stage to the page
Veteran actress Viki Boyle becomes noted playwright

By Jeff Eason

Actress Viki Boyle is a native of Pittsburgh who has lived in New York City for over a decade. But we might just have to make her an honorary High Country resident.

Viki Boyle as Miss Frump (center) with the young actors of The Christmas Bus. Photos by Jeff Eason

That’s because she is now making her eighth Blowing Rock Stage Company appearance with her comedic turn as Miss Frump in the holiday production The Christmas Bus. The play will run at the Mariam and Robert Hayes Performing Arts Center through December 16th.

Interestingly, Boyle was not available for the world premiere of The Christmas Bus when the Blowing Rock Stage Company first staged the show in 2003, but she was the inspiration for playwright Robert Inman’s Miss Frump, the frazzled yet loving director of the Peaceful Valley Orphanage. She had met Inman earlier in 2003 when she performed in the world premiere of his first stage work, Crossroads.

“Bob had always told me, after Crossroads, that he thought of me the whole time that he was writing Frump,” said Boyle.

Boyle is one of three Equity Union actors in The Christmas Bus, along with Gary Smith and Chris Blissett. Joining them are several local professional actors and about ten young local actors to play the orphans.

“I’ve worked with kids who are professional actors, but not this many who are amateurs,” said Boyle. “But I hate to even use that word because these kids are so good. Chandler (Walpole) was really shy at first but as I worked with him his timing got better and I am just so impressed. I’m impressed with all of them.

“A lot of them came from Kim Cozort’s TOPs Program, so I’m very impressed with how she prepares these kids.”

The original 2003 version of The Christmas Bus was a heartwarming holiday comedy with a few musical interludes courtesy of a troubadour character. Later the Charlotte Repertory Company commissioned Inman to rewrite the play and make a full-blown musical out of it. Although Viki Boyle claims to be a character actor and “not a singer,” she does a great job of belting out the musical’s numbers as Miss Frump.

“Six years ago I stopped smoking,” said Boyle. “Crossroads was the first thing I did after I stopped smoking, and my voice was better than I thought it was going to be. It’s fun. I love to sing. Whether somebody loves hearing me or not is another story.”

Boyle started acting two weeks after she graduated from West Virginia University, and has been making it her career ever since.

“I went to the Southeaster n Theatre Conference after college,” said Boyle. “The auditions were in Birmingham and the only reason I went was because I had never been to Alabama. I ended up getting acting jobs for the next seven years.”

Boyle’s first role was a doozy, playing Aunt Ellen in the classic American musical Oklahoma!. Then she played the Indian in a summer stock production of The Fantasticks in Highlands, North Carolina.

Over the years she has performed in musicals, comedies and dramas all over the eastern half of the United States. A lover of Neil Simon comedies, Boyle has been cast in nearly every one of the playwright’s works.

“My favorite role is probably Birdie from Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes because that is more of a dramatic role,” said Boyle.

Folks who haven’t seen Boyle act on stage have probably seen her work on the small screen. She is a veteran of hundreds of TV commercials during the past 25 years.

“The commercials keep the bread on the table,” said Boyle. “I have a Toyota commercial running right now for the Highlander Hybrid. It’s the one where you can see the camera when you’re backing up and the guy keeps running into trees. I’m the woman who’s pulling the kids away from the car.”

Boyle stated that one of her favorite commercial stints was when she played the wife of “The Big Fan,” in a series of spots promoting NFL football games for CBS. She was cast as “Mrs. Big Fan” and did about 70 promos for CBS and got to meet Terry Bradshaw, one of her football heroes. As a football fan she keeps it close to home, rooting for her beloved Steelers and the Mountaineers of West Virginia.

Boyle knows that roles can be hard to come by for a character actor—especially once they reach a certain age. She has been diversifying her career in the past several years by writing for the stage. With just a few writing credits under her belt, she is already enjoying tremendous success in that area of stagecraft.

“The first thing I wrote was a one-act called The Whole Truth that was produced in New York at the Manhattan Class Company,” said Boyle. “It ended up being submitted to an Off-Off-Broadway series and it won and was published by Samuel French.”

The Whole Truth was a comedy about two women in a hotel room who are sequestered for jury duty.

“Then I wrote a play called Home Game which is about four professional football players who meet every Friday to watch The Guiding Light,” said Boyle.

Her writing career truly took off this past year when she submitted her comedy Term Limits to the American Globe Theatre’s 15 Minute Play Festival in New York. It was one of 35 plays selected for the festival out of more than 350 submitted. At the conclusion of the festival, Term Limits was selected Best Overall Play and Boyle won the Best Actress award.

“It was so nice that the festival was in New York and I was right there and I was able to play the role that I had written,” said Boyle. “And it was even nicer when it won.”