Lighthouse Photography Pittsburgh native Robert Koch, now billed as Robert Turano, portrays "Teach" in Playhouse Rep's production of David Mamet's "American Buffalo."

By Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Everybody and his brother has done it, which is why I have to be very, very good," says actor Bob Koch, just stating a fact in his super-dry way.

The role is Teach, the hyper, motor-mouthed con man who is the flashiest of the three small-potatoes hoodlums in David Mamet's edgy comedy of male relationships and urban hustle, "American Buffalo," which opened last night at Playhouse Rep.

		'American Buffalo' Where: Playhouse Rep, Point Park University's professional theater company, Studio Theatre, Pittsburgh Playhouse, Oakland. When: Through Dec. 10. Wed.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. 2 p.m. No performances Nov. 22-26. Tickets: $18-$22. 412-621-4445.

The "everybody and his brother" includes Mike Nussbaum, who played Teach in the world premiere in Chicago; Robert Duvall and Al Pacino, who played him on Broadway; and Dustin Hoffman, who played him in the 1996 movie. Koch worked with Hoffman on that movie: "I watched a very, very, very good actor play Teach, so I have to be good, because anyone can get the video and compare."

There are also comparisons closer to home. "American Buffalo" was done at the Playhouse in 1984 with Raymond Laine as Teach, with Jim Sharp and John Amplas, then at City Theatre in 1989 with David Butler, Bingo O'Malley and Lamont Arnold. There have been other productions since.

But mainly, Koch can measure his Teach against himself, because 26 years ago he was the first to play the role in Pittsburgh, for his own Fine Line Theater.

He was just 26. So now the Harmarville native is back, just about to turn 52, home again after 23 years of mainly movies and TV in New York and beyond, finding out what it's like to re-visit this noisy, energetic role. He has good company: in the Playhouse Rep production, Gregory Lehane directs and Bobby is played by Jarrod DiGiorgi and Donny by John Shepard. Shepard, head of undergraduate theater at Point Park, has his own significant history with the play, having understudied Bobby in Pacino's Broadway revival.

	It's not the first time Robert Koch has portrayed Teach in "American Buffalo." Here he is at left, with Fred Donatelli and John Waterson, in an early '80s production. Click photo for larger image.

But you might not recognize Koch in the part, not because he's changed that much but because his name has -- he acts now as Robert Turano. When he went into the national acting pool, his real name was already taken, so he adopted Turano, his mother's maiden name.

As to why Koch decided to return to Pittsburgh just now, "a lot happened at the same time." He needs an operation on some torn cartilage and thought of doing it here, where he still has friends and family -- his mother, Phyllis Koch, still lives in Harmarville. Then he lost his New York apartment of 23 years just as the Playhouse announced "American Buffalo" as a last-minute replacement for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," for which it had just lost the rights.

"So I came to the audition, got the part and went back to pack up 23 years in three weeks," he says calmly.

Looking back to his (and Pittsburgh's) first "American Buffalo," Koch considers the differences. "I was a young man," he marvels. "The amount of energy you need to do the show the way I want to is enormous. I'm exhausted physically, vocally and, if I'm really into it, emotionally."

He's high on director Lehane. "He forced us to really think about the story." With Koch's experience of the play at Fine Line and working with Hoffman on the movie and with Shepard's experience of it on Broadway, both know the play very well, so it's helpful to have a director able to see it with fresh eyes.

	David Butler, left, as Teach and Bingo O'Malley as Donny in City Theatre's production of "American Buffalo" in 1989. Click photo for larger image.

It was new to everyone in Pittsburgh in 1979-80.

Koch was a graduate of Springdale High School who went first to CCAC Boyce and then to Pitt, graduating in 1976 with a degree in theater. He bartended and worked at this and that to pay the bills, and he did skit comedy with the Iron City Ensemble.

Then in 1977, he and a dozen college friends decided to start their own theater. They wanted to do something more contemporary and realistic than Pittsburgh theaters or colleges were doing, but without going in the absurdist/avant-garde direction of the Pittsburgh Laboratory Theater.

Hence the name, Fine Line: "It was my choice," Koch says. "We thought we'd do shows where there's a fine line between theater and reality -- a much more natural acting style."

Ramond Laine as Teach and Jim Sharp as Don in Playhouse Theatre Company's "American Buffalo" in 1984. Click photo for larger image.

The company started in the Craig Street building named Lion Walk, owned by Peter and Janet Gillespie, who had a dance company. Fine Line did three shows its first year. In the second, the one that got it attention was "American Buffalo," in which Koch was joined by Fred Donatelli as Donny and John Waterson as Bobby.

Koch had found the script at New York's Drama Bookshop, where he used to go once a year to buy a bunch of plays and read them on the bus back to Pittsburgh. Mamet's raw language and comic aggression, along with the acting realism of John Malkovich's and Gary Sinese's Steppenwolf Company, typified what was called the Chicago style. Koch knew right off it was what they were looking for.

In 1979-80, Bill Royston's Lab Theater decided to leave its home of many years in the St. Peters Church annex at the corner of Fifth and Craft in Oakland and move to Lion Walk, so Koch switched, taking Fine Line to what by then had come to be called the Lab building.

James Gardner's Soho Rep company was already there, but there was time and space to share. To mark its move, Fine Line decided to reprise its biggest success, "American Buffalo," in the intimate basement space, not the mainstage upstairs.

	Post-Gazette Archives J.J. Johnston, left, underplays Al Pacino in "American Buffalo" in 1983. Click photo for larger image.

Soon Gardner left to go to grad school and the building was taken over by Larry May and re-imagined as a cultural center named Famous Rider. To help fill the space, Fine Line expanded from three plays a season to five.

Koch, who often directed, worked with some capable people, including Curt DeBOR (as he spelled it), Bruce Kirkpatrick and Ken Bolden (who played a memorable "True West"), Bingo O'Malley (a memorable and popular "Sly Fox"), Phil Winters ("Justice") and others. But the expansion meant adding some marginal actors, and Koch remembers a forgettable production of Thomas Babe's "Taken in Marriage," which happened to be seen by some grant adjudicators, who just missed the revival of "American Buffalo."

"We came to a point where we might have 'happened,' " he says, like City Theatre, which was growing, supported by its affiliation with Pitt. Fine Line grew, too, but not enough.

	Post-Gazette Archives John Amplas, left, as Bob and Jim Sharp as Don in a scene from Playhouse Theatre Company's "American Buffalo," 1984. Click photo for larger image.

Koch did some other acting work here, including paying gigs with the Playhouse in "The Time of Your Life" and "The 1940s Radio Hour," where he got to play his trumpet -- this is a man who has played professionally in Europe.

But after five years, Fine Line took its toll. "We had no money and were completely sapped of energy. Even on our shoestring we were noted for big sets, on a par with City, but we just couldn't compete." Grants didn't come. "We were young, but it was just too hard. I was turning into more of an administrator."

So Koch decided to pack it in. And yet, "I still miss it to this day. It was one of the more exciting theatrical times of my life."

He moved to New York and changed his name. Until then, he had never played a tough Italian, but that was in demand, so he taught himself the accent.

His most important professional connection has been with actor/director Michael Corrente, which led to good roles in two movies based on Corrente's experience of growing up Italian in Providence, R.I., "Federal Hill" (1994) and "Outside Providence" (1999), and to assisting Hoffman when Corrente directed him in "American Buffalo."

	Post-Gazette Archives Bingo O'Malley, left, as Donny and Lamont Arnold as Bobby in a scene from City Theatre's "American Buffalo," 1989. Click photo for larger image.

He's also done a good bit of TV, including a number of "Law & Order" episodes. Keeping in touch with Pittsburgh, he's watched the theater scene here grow. "I'm jealous of being able to live in this place and go from one show to another," as some actor friends do. "You can't do that in New York. But I can get a big payday" -- one day in TV or movies can pay more than the whole run of a play in Pittsburgh.

After "American Buffalo" closes, Koch plans to have that cartilage repaired. Then, "if the stars are aligned," he'll begin shooting a new Corrente movie, "The Prince of Providence," based on the life of that Rhode Island city's controversial mayor, Buddy Cianci, with Koch playing one of Cianci's henchmen.

Russell Crowe has agreed to play Cianci, and Koch says there's a great script, written first by Mamet and finished by his friend, Howard Korder. They hope to start shooting in Providence in late winter or spring. But Koch knows that in show biz, "it's all BS until they say 'action,' " so he's keeping his fingers crossed.

"Or, I could stay here and act and teach, if my mom gets her way. I love this city. But I think I still have some things left to do in New York or L.A."