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Union playwright turns pro

LoBue stuck with his vision and helped thousands

Fifteen years ago no local theater in Bergen County, N.J., would touch BobLoBue’s play.

In April “Visions” will be performed at the Guild Theater on West 26th Street in New York City. But that’s not the real success story of the UAW Local 2210 retiree’s production.

It was a success in the first place that a shipping clerk with no theater background from a now-closed Ford Parts Distribution Center in Teterboro, N.J., ever wrote a play.

“In 1991 I had hit an emotional and spiritual bottom” is all LoBue will say about that time of his life. He thought joining a theater group might help. It did, and that’s how he discovered something about himself.

“I said, ‘I could do this. I could write a play,’ ” said LoBue, 54, hoping that writing about demons could help drive them away.

In his off hours he wrote a play, but he couldn’t get it performed.

“The professionals would take a look at it and say, ‘We don’t do this kind of production. It’s too real, too harsh,’ ” said LoBue, who retired in 2002.

“Visions” tells the story of drug and alcohol addiction from an insider’s perspective in scenes so real they hurt. It may not be the typical theatergoer’s cup of tea, but for people who have hit bottom, “Visions” is just what they need.

Another measure of LoBue’s success is how he never gave up.

Instead of professional actors, he called on friends and former addicts in recovery to help him. Instead of a professional theater with a stage, lighting and dressing rooms, he took the show to his audience.

“I got 15 to 20 people I knew who had never been on a stage before in their lives,” he said. “We had to rehearse in separate groups in five different churches because everybody couldn’t meet in the same place at the same time.”

Their first performance in 1991 was at a 12-Step convention before an audience of recovering alcoholics. Twelve-step programs require those with drug or alcohol addictions to admit they “have a problem.”

LoBue had no idea how his play would be received.

“We were all nervous as heck, but when the play was over, you saw big guys in the audience weeping their eyes out. Another guy was telling how he had harmed his son like one character did in the play. And there was a whole lot of hugging of actors and each other,” LoBue recalled.

Opening night was a huge success. “Visions” accomplished what LoBue envisioned.

Since that first performance, “Visions” has added more personal stories. LoBue’s own tale is told through one of the main characters. Some 300 volunteer actors, under LoBue’s direction, have performed the play before 20,000 people.

April 3 will mark the first time “Visions” has been performed in a professional theater. “Can you believe it? A real stage,” he said.

At $10 a ticket, his “off-off-Broadway” production won’t bring in big box-office receipts.

But making money was never the reason LoBue wrote a play.

Sam Stark

For tickets to the April 3-9 performances of “Visions,” e-mail rlobue@peoplepc.com. The Web site address is www.visionsrecoveryplay.org.

Photo: Riccardo Kaulessar/Courtesy of the Jersey City Reporter

Bob LoBue, above, wrote his play during off hours.