Lasting Legacies with Bob Fischbach: “The Metoyer Sisters”

Ray and Lois Metoyer taught their children that, with hard work, talent and determination, dreams come true. They could do anything.

The Metoyer sisters believed them. And then proved them right. For decades, gifted actresses Lanette Metoyer Moore and Camille Metoyer Moten have repeatedly shattered the notion of a race-based glass ceiling at the Omaha Community Playhouse.

Both have become widely admired — and loved — members of Omaha’s theatre community, known for their talent, generosity, deep Christian faith and kindness, onstage and off. Both are longtime Playhouse supporters. Moten, a sublime cabaret jazz vocalist and recording artist, is in her second year as OCP’s first African-American Board of Trustees president.
Long before watchwords like colorblind casting, diversity, equity and inclusion became common in Omaha theatres, Camille and Lanette were winning roles not written specifically for African-Americans — and drawing accolades from critics and audiences alike.

Camille earned the Playhouse’s top annual acting award, the Fonda-McGuire, singing the title role in “Evita” in 1985, and as Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” in 1993.
Lanette won the Fonda-McGuire in 1998 in a two-woman show, “Grace and Glorie,” playing an embittered invalid dying of cancer.
Both topped the OCP awards in 2014 as the centenarian Delaney sisters in “Having Our Say.” Lanette won best actress in a dramatic role, while Camille won her third Fonda-McGuire.

The show traced the history of American civil rights through the real-life story of the Delaneys. The Metoyer sisters’ real-life story resonated in scene after scene of “Having Our Say,” and not just because they played sisters. They grew up in a household steeped in the civil rights movement.

As president of the Nebraska Urban League, Ray Metoyer worked for equal education, fair housing and employment. Lois, who had won a beauty pageant as an Omaha teen but was denied the title because of her race, marched alongside him. They were joined by civil rights luminaries such as Malcolm X and Jesse Jackson. At age 8, Camille was arrested with her father at a City Hall protest over open housing.

In 1969, seeking better schools for their children, Ray and Lois moved from a largely black neighborhood at 27th and Manderson Streets to an exclusively white one in Maple Village. It was a tough transition that included threats. Lanette, who went to Central High School, and Camille, at Burke, were no strangers to discrimination in predominantly white schools.
All of that informed Lanette’s and Camille’s emotional maturity, confidence and range as actresses while fueling their spirit to succeed — to just go for it.

The drive to perform started early. They grew up hearing their mom’s beautiful voice, singing along with albums by Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson and others. Lois also appeared in fashion shows. And Ray was no stranger to public speaking. “Performing kinda came as second nature, being in that limelight,” Lanette said. Camille said her parents “gave us the character to be brave enough to be what we wanted to be.” Their brother Ray became a television newsman, and brother Louis was a guitarist who played around the world.

Lanette participated in theatre and choir at Central. Camille, five years younger, followed her lead by joining choir and drama at Burke. “It was what we used to call colorblind — to a point,” Camille recalled. Denied a lead role in “Guys & Dolls” at Burke, she turned to the OPS summer musical. Co-director Jim Eisenhardt strongly backed her for a featured role in “The King and I,” for which she won raves.

Tragedy shaped their young lives as well. Lois died of a brain tumor in 1972, at age 43. Ray was murdered in 1979 by a fired employee of the family business, Metoyer’s Bar-B-Q on North 24th Street. He was 52.

A family counselor at Boys Town, Ray had suggested Camille and her new husband, Michael Moten, apply for family teaching jobs there just before he died. They kept those Boys Town jobs for 16 years. (Now a pastor, Michael founded One Way Ministry at 60th Street and Grand Avenue.)

Camille had finished her degree in English and vocal music at Xavier University in New Orleans, where she sang with a jazz band. Craving a chance to sing in her hometown, she found it at the Orpheum Theatre in 1982. In a storied production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” she was cast as Mary Magdalene. That got the attention of Playhouse Director Charles Jones, who double cast the title role in “Evita” with Moten and Sue Perkins. The show was a big hit.

Now it was Lanette’s turn to follow in Camille’s footsteps. When Charles mentioned his production of “The 1940s Radio Hour” needed an African-American woman, Camille told Lanette. Lanette got the part, and the show was lauded in Austria at the International Community Theatre Festival in 1987.

The Metoyer sisters became repeat OCP auditioners. In addition to the Fonda-McGuire, Lanette won awards for her roles in “Intimate Apparel” (1987), “The Member of the Wedding” (1994) and “Oklahoma” (1997). After “Evita” and “Funny Girl,” Camille was honored for her part in “Ragtime” (2005). Together they appeared in “The Wiz” (1992), “The Queen of Bingo” (1995),“Once on This Island” (1999), The Women” (2000) and, most notably, “Having Our Say.”
Camille starred in a number of OCP benefit galas and cabaret shows that were big OCP revenue producers, such as “Bubbly With Barbra” (Streisand hits), “Songbook” (jazzy favorites) and “Christmas in My Heart.” For years she has served on the play-reading committee that helps pick OCP seasons.

Why does the theatre community love the Metoyer sisters?
“Their chemistry as sisters is so beautiful to watch, onstage and off,” said lauded singer-actress Kathy Tyree, who also directed hit OCP shows “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Dreamgirls” and “The Color Purple.” Tyree said the sisters are “amazing examples to the black actor community and have been trailblazers in that regard.” As a vocalist, Tyree said, Camille makes every song her own.

John Morrissey, who acted with Lanette in “The 1940s Radio Hour,” said she is “nonstop energy, so fun to be around, just the sweetest person on earth. When you act with her, you can always count on her to be there 100 percent.” As Juan Peron in “Evita,” Morrissey found Camille, like her sister, was funny and kind offstage. But onstage as well, “she gives. She’s not me-focused. Playing off her was a true joy. She made me a better actor.”

OCP Executive Director Becky Noble said both sisters exude a warmth and sincerity that make their acting believable. “That’s a pretty great actor when they don’t seem like they’re acting. That ability to connect, not only with everybody onstage but in the audience — I think their talents are pretty incomparable.” Director Susie Baer Collins said Camille talked Lanette into auditioning for “The Member of the Wedding.” Collins “just flipped out! I thought Camille was the talented sister. But Lanette was so wonderful.”

“Watch out, though,” Collins warned, “if one of them muffs a line and cracks the other up. If they get on a laughing jag, it’s incredible. And unstoppable.” Both give totally of themselves as actors, she said, a dream for any director. Julie Huff, who appeared with Lanette in “Grace and Glorie,” was amazed to find her co-star was nothing like her character. “But she was able to convince people she was playing herself, she was so authentic and so real.”

As for Camille, Huff said she is the perfect person to lead OCP’s board at a critical juncture in making strides toward racial equity. “We do want the Playhouse to be modern,” Huff said. “It’s time for others to be able to tell their stories. That’s why Camille is the woman for the moment.” Huff said it’s impossible to underestimate the Metoyer sisters’ contribution to OCP, “not just as Black or female actors but as people with artistic integrity, intelligence and an understanding of the importance of storytelling. These are people who help us understand we are all creatures on the same path.”

Why do the Metoyer sisters love the Playhouse?
“First of all, the production level is … you can’t even find it anywhere else in the city,” Lanette said. “It’s even better than what comes to the Orpheum. There’s no better entertainment place in Omaha.”

To Camille, there’s no better place to develop talent. “Look at how many have gone on to do other things. It’s because they have that opportunity at OCP to have a professional experience, even though it’s community theatre. Every time I did a show there, I got hired by others. Something in me wants to give back.” The Playhouse, Camille said, has tried hard to be a leader in diversity, though its efforts haven’t always been perfect. Still, she said, “All people in this community need to be reflected on that stage. I’m a child of the ‘60s, you don’t just give up. You fight.” For her and Lanette, she said, the lesson began at home. “Either you sit back, or you do your thing. When Mom was dying, one of the last things she said to me was, ‘Just remember: You can do anything you want to.’ “