Kate Donadio MacQueen, Suehyla El-Attar Young return to Steve Yockey’s world in ‘Venus’

Performers Kate Donadio MacQueen and Suehyla El-Attar Young, who played doomed lovers in playwright Steve Yockey’s Mercury at Actor’s Express, will take another shot at romance on that stage from April 9 to May 3 when the two appear as new characters in the playwright’s Venus.

Having performed the developing play at Theatrical Outfit last year during the Launchpad series, the two are eager to reunite with director Melissa Foulger and explore the text further.

“When Steve first contacted me in regard to participating, he was like, ‘I have this idea, and it would just be you and Kate,’” Young said in a joint interview. “And there was no more he needed to say. Yes, just yes. Can I be onstage with her again?”

“I would work with Suehyla in every show for the rest of my life,” MacQueen said in reply. “That would be my favorite.”

The two first worked together in a production of playwright Topher Payne’s Swell Party at Georgia Ensemble Theatre, but their characters didn’t interact much. Then, in Mercury, the actors played out a love affair among neighbors that turned sour.

MacQueen said she adores working with Young.

“Suehyla’s compelling,” she said. “She brings an ease and charm to everything that comes out of her mouth. She’s instantly someone you want to hear more from. I could listen to her all day.”

Young echoed the compliments for MacQueen’s work.

“I feel the exact same about her,” Young said. “Kate herself is compelling. She’s like glass. It’s like glass. It’s easy. I don’t watch her work. It’s effortless, everything that she does, and the only thing I can do is try to keep up.”

In Venus, a budding romance begins between librarian Nicole (MacQueen) and free spirit Beth (Young) after they meet-cute at a book club — and sparks fly.

MacQueen describes Nicole as a self-described perfectionist who wants her world orderly and safe.

Beth, meanwhile, is described in the script as a “bull in a china shop,” according to Young.

Both characters use humor and sarcasm to deflect when they’re uncomfortable.

“We play completely opposite people, but we do have a weird similarity, in a way,” MacQueen said. “We have a connection. It shouldn’t make any sense, these two people being together, but it oddly does when given a chance.”

“It’s interesting how different they are, but, within their differences, they’re exactly alike,” Young added. “If she’s all buttoned up, I am definitely not buttoned up. And I wear my heart on my sleeve. Some might even say that I paint my heart on my sleeve.”

The characters have similar fears and wants, and they’re both keeping secrets.

“That’s why I said I paint my heart on my sleeve,” Young said. “Beth is one of those people you meet and think you’re getting someone who’s being very forthright all the time. But she is definitely only exposing what she wants to expose.”

The road to love is never smoothly traveled, particularly in a Yockey script. The majority of the play — running about 90 minutes without intermission — focuses on the characters’ first evening together.

“The meet-cute date and then the aftermath,” MacQueen explained.

Fans of Yockey’s previous work produced in Atlanta over 20 years — such as Mercury, Wolves, Blackberry Winter, Bleeding Hearts and Reykjavik — know to expect the unexpected. His theatrical works — much like his TV shows, The Flight Attendant and Dead Boy Detectives — are full of twists.

When asked if Venus would provide an evening of comfort and ease for Yockey fans, the pair laughed.

“Yes absolutely — that’s what I would describe it as,” MacQueen said sarcastically.

“When I think of Steve Yockey, I think comfort,” Young replied with a laugh.

The show is fun, MacQueen said.

“It’s a Steve Yockey play. As soon as you get on board, you know it’s going to be a ride. It’s going to be fun, energetic and good,” she said. “And then it’ll be over all of a sudden. It’ll be intense. It’ll be funny. It’ll be short.”

The play is told to the audience by the two characters, looking back on their date, bantering over what happened. The performers said their characters are competing, in a sense.

“The only thing that makes sense is that one of us has to win,” Young said.

She said the play is a story of romance and a story of love — two totally different ideas.

But MacQueen said, “That’s hard to know. It’s a story of passion.”

Where & When 

Venus, by Steve Yockey is at Actor’s Express April 9 through May 3. Tickets, $25.75.
887 West Marietta St. SW. 

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Benjamin Carr is an ArtsATL editor-at-large who has contributed to the publication since 2019 and is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, the Dramatists Guild, the Atlanta Press Club and the Horror Writers Association. His writing has been featured in podcasts for iHeartMedia, onstage as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and online in The Guardian. His debut novel, Impacted, was published by The Story Plant.