"All My Sons" Preview Reining in Miller's melodrama Ann Arbor Civic focuses on humanity of 'All My Sons'  Sunday, November 6, 2005 BY JENN MCKEE, News Arts Writer  Collapsing the distance between world-scale and personal events is often the goal of artists; for this demonstrates the link between the macro and the micro. It puts a human face on a trend, a tragedy, or an epidemic.  In the play "All My Sons'' - now being staged by Ann Arbor Civic Theatre - Arthur Miller tried to do just this, telling the story of an American family who profited from World War II but now struggles to endure beyond the combat death of a son.  "I wanted to do (the play) because of the timeliness of the issue, dealing with war profiteering and our individual versus our communal responsibilities,'' said director Jeff Meyers.  "It's a popular theme that Miller examines, but it seemed particularly poignant given what's going on in Iraq with companies like Halliburton, etc.''  Yet while Halliburton is a huge company, "Sons'' tells the smaller story of Joe Keller's former airplane parts manufacturing business. Joe's living son, Chris, works for his father and longs to marry his dead brother's former fiancee, Ann. But Ann, who lives next door, is also the daughter of Joe's former business partner, who was convicted for shipping out defective airplane parts during the war and causing the deaths of 21 pilots.  Miller's complex character entanglements in "Sons'' appealed to Meyers. "That idea of, how does someone basically sleep at night, or sleep in good conscience, knowing that they've done something like that?'' he said. "So that's one aspect of it. The other is (that) Miller's always challenging, because most of his work is - I would even argue all of his work is - melodrama. And learning to do melodrama without being melodramatic is always a challenge.''  For this reason, Meyers - who is the former artistic director and founder of Theatre Vertigo in Portland, Ore. - has pushed his cast hard. "I'm a little bit of a taskmaster,'' he says. "And working with community theater is a little bit of teaching, and it's a little bit of directing. I'm kind of doing both.''  Thus, both Meyers and this particular script have demanded a great deal from its actors. Yet Dan Zelazny, who plays Joe Keller, feels that Meyers' high expectations have helped.  "I think Ann Arbor Civic is very fortunate to have the opportunity to gain from (Meyers') broad scope of experience,'' Zelazny said. "He doesn't sugarcoat his comments and observations and insights regarding our performances. He doesn't want to allow us to act in a vacuum, because if we do that, then the characters won't be connected to each other, and they won't have formed real relationships.''  In addition to these nuances of character, the actors have also had to struggle with not letting the play's politics overshadow it's human story.  "As a playwright, (Miller) has always had this wrestling match with pontificating versus keeping his eye on the story, and not letting the message overwhelm it,'' said Meyers. He added, "I think you focus on the personal and you can let the playwright handle all the rest. I mean, it's already there. We don't need to play the politics or the issues, or even the tragedy.''  Jenn McKee can be reached at jmckee@annarbornews.com or (734) 994-6841 .