Young actors send off WBHS teacher along the ‘Autobahn’

By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff

Perhaps one of the biggest lessons William Blount High School graduate David Ratliff learned under drama teacher Erin Housam was how to pick himself up when he fell.

Ratliff, who graduated in 2005, gravitated toward the directorial end of the theatrical pendulum, and during his senior year, he undertook a daunting task for a thespian of any age — directing a show. Housam didn’t object or interfere, and the outcome was far from what Ratliff had in mind.

“She saw that I was very interested in it, so she let me do it — she helped, but she let me make the mistakes,” Ratliff told The Daily Times this week. “And believe me, I made many of them. It was painful to watch, and afterward, I was very upset about it. She just sat down and said, ‘OK; what did we learn from that?’ It was a tough life lesson, but when you’re like that, people can’t tell you what’s going to happen; you just have to learn from it.

“As painful as it was to watch really bad theater, I really did learn a lot from it. That really meant a lot to me, and I would love to be the kind of teacher and have the kind of influence on people that she is and has.”

Next week, Ratliff will try his hand at directing once again — only this time, age and wisdom have seasoned him to the point that Housam herself has agreed to be one of his actors. The play is called “Autobahn,” written by Neil LaBute (a screenwriter known for such flicks as “In the Company of Men” and “Nurse Betty”), and it’s a series of smaller, one-act plays with only one thing in common — they all take place in the front seat of a car.

“The car is one of the most authentically American of spaces,” Ratliff said. “In this day and age, where we’re always on the go, you can have really big, dramatic things or comedic things happen to you when you’re in the car. And you’re sort of forced to interact with people — you can’t leave the room or slam the door.

“Neil LaBute is my favorite playwright, and this production is just so simple to do. We didn’t have time to go through a huge production, and really, that’s my kind of acting. You see these big Broadway productions with lots of money and spectacle, and those are great — there’s certainly a place for that — but the idea of, ‘Hey, let’s put on a show’ is something I think is in the heart of all great theater artists.”

The time crunch comes from Housam’s impending departure: After six years on the faculty of WBHS, she’s leaving in June for a teaching position in Zimbabwe, Ratliff said. The idea behind “Autobahn” was two-fold — to gather Housam’s students (current and alumni), friends and co-workers in a production in her honor, and to give her a chance to show off her acting chops.

“We’ve never seen her act, but she’s definitely an actress,” Ratliff said. “You can totally tell it if you’re her friend, but we’ve never seen her do anything. For a last production, I wanted to see her act, especially since she taught so many of us how to act.”

Ratliff, who grew up in Blount County, has nurtured a lifelong interest in theater, but it was Housam’s arrival during his sophomore year that ignited his passion. He speaks fondly of his former instructor-turned-friend, and he estimates that her impact, both in and out of the classroom, is immeasurable.

“She’s very educated and very smart, and she knows a lot about theater,” Ratliff said. “When she talks about it, you can sense how much it means to her and how much it excites her, and how much she wants to impart that to other people. She really helps bring a study of theater to everyday life, too — she’s more than just teaching about theater; she’s really helped to impart life skills such as communication and teamwork.

“And everyone in school loves her because she’s so approachable. When you’re having a bad day, you can go talk to her. That’s one of the great things about her — she’s willing to take that time and connect with students on a different level that some teachers wouldn’t. We’re all so close now; three of my best friends are from my theater group, and I credit her with that.”