You know times are tough when they lay off a veteran nurse.
On Friday, nurse Lillian Raines, a dedicated employee of Cedars Hospital for the last 26 years, gets a pink slip. It’s all part of the final episode of “Guiding Light,” the CBS soap that ends its run tomorrow, the victim of low ratings and high budgets. Nurse Raines and the other fictional residents of Springfield will become footnotes in the show’s history that dates back to its radio debut in 1937. It moved to TV in 1952, making it the longest-running scripted drama broadcast.
But for 66-year-old Tina Sloan, who has played Lillian Raines since 1983, the end of one era means the beginning of another. Next week, she will be in Atlanta, starring in a one-woman play she co-wrote about getting older, moving on and coping with the lemons life hands over. But first, she’s spending this week mourning Raines’ demise.
“I feel like I’m burying myself in a way,” Sloan said. “In fact, everyone is dying; we’re burying each other. We spent more time with each other than our real families and the sense of family we had was tremendous.”
It wasn’t unusual for Sloan and her colleagues to spend three 12-hour days on the “Guiding Light” set, with the days in between earmarked for learning lines and unwinding.
“You really needed those days off because the depth of emotion we had to call on was draining,” Sloan said. “But that helped us bond; we were talking about highly emotional things that brought us closer. In fact, if I had not had that emotional outlet, real life would have been harder. I’ve often told my husband that I was a better wife and mother for being on this show. Now, he’d better watch out.”
Sloan and her husband, Stephen McPherson, have been married 35 years. The couple live in New York and have one son, Renny, a former Marine who saw two tours of duty in Iraq and is now a student at Harvard Business School. Their stable home life mirrored the style of “Guiding Light,” Sloan said.
“We reflect family values,” she said, still referring to the show in the present tense. “I have a daughter, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter and most people on the show have been there long enough to have multiple generations. For 72 years, you could look at this show and see life: the Depression, World War II, a Ponzi scheme, two women playing lesbians. I think because we were a New York-based soap opera, everything was skewed to a different sensibility. We weren’t jumping in and out of each other’s beds. And now we’re being replaced with a game show, which is like a knife in my heart.”
At least Lillian is going out in high emotional style. After a quarter century as a dedicated, single, career woman, Lillian’s story wraps up with her marriage to the man of her dreams and, presumably, a happily ever after.
“The viewers are loving that someone who has been alone for 25 years now has a second chance,” Sloan said. “And I was thrilled, too. Lillian came to life when she met someone who made her laugh all the time. They had such a grown-up relationship and it was so much fun. The idea of a woman over 40 having another chance is quite remarkable.”
Sloan began thinking about her own second chances more than a year ago, long before she knew she’d be out of a regular job. In what she calls a classic mid-life crisis, the actress found herself wide awake in the middle of the night, fretting about her aging parents, her own age and the issues aging brings up.
“I was in this place that I didn’t know how to get out of,” she said. “I gained about 30 pounds. I just ate ice cream and watched ‘Pride and Prejudice’ 45 times. I worried about getting my parents to write their wills. I didn’t know how to deal with things.”
Sloan began putting it all in writing, thinking her struggle would resonate with other baby boomers. But eventually, she was convinced the best place for the work was on stage. The result is “Changing Shoes,” a one-woman play debuting Sept. 25 at the 14th Street Playhouse.
“In a mid-life crisis, you go from the spiked heels to not giving a damn about what you look like as long as you’re comfortable,” Sloan said. “I moved first to flat, black shoes and then to bunny slippers, where I didn’t want to leave the house. There were weeks when I didn’t bother doing anything about my hair — I even went through a phase where I let it go gray. Then the parts became skimpy. As you get to middle age, you get diminished, especially if you’re a woman. Your children grow up; men don’t see you anymore. I didn’t know how to get out of it, but putting it in a book helped me.”
“Changing Shoes” represents the different manifestations Sloan went through but puts them in a humorous light. It chronicles 40 years in the life of an actress and mixes shoe choices into the hilarity. Sloan is unabashed about revealing her personal story, but what really has her nervous is making her national stage debut — and without an ensemble to back her up.
“To be honest, it’s really scary,” she said. “I keep thinking, ‘What have I done?’ At the same time, this play is some kind of a mission for me. It’s not like getting up and doing any comedy or someone else’s play. It’s about getting out there and fighting to follow whatever message is inside you.”
Sloan selected Atlanta for the show’s premier after years of visiting the city and hearing about the Woodruff Arts Center, which oversees the 14th Street venue.
“I have a niece I visit a lot and she was the one who suggested that this theater would be perfect for me,” Sloan said. “And it is a very charming space. I also love the Woodruff and to be part of that is thrilling to me.”
After the Atlanta run, Sloan hopes to take “Shoes” to other cities. “I would like to think this is going to go other places and it will be fun. It will have everyone changing their shoes.”
Theater preview
“Changing Shoes”
Starring Tina Sloan runs Sept. 25-Oct. 8 at the 14th Street Playhouse, 173 14th St. $15-$70. 404-733-4738, www.changingshoes.com.
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