An Illinois Wesleyan University theater legend has left the stage. John Ficca has died.
A beloved theater professor, Ficca came to Illinois Wesleyan in 1956. He stayed full time for 46 years and taught part time for another decade.
“John … was a profound influence on generations of alumni,” said IWU President Sheahon Zenger in a message to the campus.
In a 2011 oral history reminiscence for Ames Library, Ficca noted he came to IWU when students wore beanies and had to attend chapel every week. There were 800 students, and the campus was a hodgepodge of buildings unlike the beautiful structures present when he ended full-time work in 2002, he said.
"When I retired there was no one on campus who was here in any capacity when I came. Not even maintenance people or administrators, and God knows they hang on forever, (laughs)" Ficca said in the oral history.
Ficca mentored, pushed, and prodded generations of students.
“He remained a fierce advocate for combining theatre training with a liberal arts education. His legacy will live on through the vibrant theatre culture he helped establish on campus and through the countless alumni who were impacted by his 46 years of teaching, many of whom went on to thriving theatre careers on the stage and screen,” said IWU spokesperson Julia Perez.
Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning actor Richard Jenkins was one. Jenkins recalled he didn't do much his freshman year in the 1960s. He hung back and observed. Ficca called him in and told the then 19-year-old he was supposed to audition for everything.
Jenkins said Ficca told him... "'Come to summer stock and let’s see if you want to participate, if you want to do this. But if you decide after you come that you’re not serious about it, you have got to make way for somebody who is.’”
In a 2018 WGLT interview, Jenkins credited Ficca for helping him gain confidence.
"The belief that maybe I could do this. And John Ficca, the head of the theater department, is responsible for a lot of that. He was very encouraging. So, I credit him a lot for that feeling I had when I left," said Jenkins.
IWU Marketing Director Andy Kreiss studied theater under Ficca and acted in film and TV before returning to campus. Kreiss called Ficca’s career legendary.
“He could come off as this imperious guy who could be intimidating. Bringing a scene or monologue into his class was always exciting — because he didn't hold back. He'd tell you in no uncertain terms what was good about it and what needed work. But underneath it, he loved his students. And that came through loud and clear too. And as a director, he loved and trusted his actors. I'm so proud I had the opportunity to work so closely with him at several points in my life,” said Kreiss.
Rhys Lovell also recalled the first-year course with Ficca.
"The initial reaction of most incoming freshman to Dr. John Ficca was pure, unadulterated terror. In his class, you’d present a scene with your acting partner, then sit in silence, steeling yourself for John’s assessment of your work. He was a man of few words, but he made every word count. He didn’t coddle or fawn. If you got that little nod of the head from him, you knew you’d done something right. And beneath his gruff exterior, there was kindness and wisdom," said Lovell.
Ficca said later in life that theater and life are cruel, and it was hard to give tough messages to students.
"I can sympathize with their desires. There's really no other area where say to certain people, 'Yes, you can do this,' and tell others, 'No, you will not do this, even though this is really what you want to do.' My one hope is that the bitterness of lack of experience for those who are not chosen doesn't cloud who they are and that, after a while, perspective allows them to find their own niche," said Ficca.
The school of theater was only nine years old when Ficca came to IWU, as he was also finishing a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa.
"My job was to teach at least nine hours, or three courses a semester, do all the technical work, build all the sets, etc., and direct one or two productions a year. Now, they teach one or two courses, do one assignment, and complain like hell," he laughed in an oral history.
Ficca oversaw the design and construction of the McPherson Theatre and the evolution of the program, said colleague Jean Kerr. Under him, the program developed from a single degree to multiple degrees in theatre. Kerr recalled Ficca had a quick wit and a twinkle in his eye and gave students and colleagues praise for artistry from a "place of sincerity."
“John's relationship with his students was fierce and never wavered,” said Kerr. “Alumni who returned to campus often called ahead to be sure that there was going to be an opportunity to connect with Dr. Ficca. It was a common sight to see the alumni cycle around John at these gatherings.”
Ficca was also involved for many years in the Heartland Theatre Company in Normal. Artistic Director Rhys Lovell said Ficca "was constantly writing and reworking plays while selling IWU and Heartland on staging them." In spite of having works performed by theater companies such as Heartland and others in Chicago and elsewhere in the country, Ficca was modest.
"I always kind of dabbled with playwriting," said Ficca.
Ficca was still working on a play he wanted to produce at Heartland when he died.
“John founded our staged reading of full-length plays, now named The Play's the Thing, with a pilot of his play Safe Like The Sparrow Hawk in 2017. He sponsored the project for several years,” said Lovell.
Lovell said he studied under Ficca at IWU in the 1980s. Lovell said Ficca played a major role in shaping his growth as an actor.
“The number of students he mentored and lives he impacted is inestimable. Truly, a great man,” said Lovell. “Believe it or not, my mother and father had him as an instructor when they were students at Wesleyan!”
Ficca was the son of Italian immigrants who worked in steel mills. Both of his parents died before he was 8. Even so he credited his father for instilling a love of reading and accomplishment. He was raised by aunts and uncles in a small industrial town. In that environment, he felt that being a college teacher embodied glamour and sophistication that he wanted,
"To reach an understanding of something it is necessary that one must, at some time, have deeply loved it, even if only for a passing moment. This is certainly true of those who devote the energies of their vocational lifetime to any one of the arts," said Ficca.
And in his time upon the stage of life, Ficca burned brightly.
"Rage, rage, rage against the dying of the light," Ficca quoted the poet Dylan Thomas.
Ficca was a Korean war veteran who used the GI Bill to go to college. He was 95.
“Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more,” wrote Shakespeare in Macbeth.
