Pilsen actress extols the healing value of performance art

By Lawrence McCallum 

Pilsen’s Jessica Guzlas stands tall and robust, a woman with flaming red hair, shoulder-length. She displays frenetic energy that either invigorates or exhausts one as she speaks in great gushes, with words punctuated by dramatic gestures and grand posturing.

            It comes as no surprise that Guzlas takes naturally to film and theatre, as she routinely performs in her contact with others. Guzlas has acted in two dozen plays, been an extra in several major films, and filled major roles in some indie features directed by Chicago-based filmmaker Tom Palazzolo. Surprisingly, she was not always an extrovert.

            “As a teenager, I was very shy,” Guzlas said. “I was afraid of being disliked or rejected by others, so I wouldn’t reveal myself to anyone but my closest friends.”

            While still a teen, Guzlas married the actor who played the lead role in the Chicago production of the rock musical Hair. Besides her new spouse’s charisma, Guzlas was attracted to the unbridled energy of the theatre scene.

            She also was attracted to counter-culture types, mystics, and psychics; members of the latter group all agreed Guzlas was a healer.

            “I thought they were being kind at first,” she said, “but it was an honest assessment on their part. I’ve tried to base my contact with people on tolerance and positivity. Many people seem to be revitalized when I interact with them socially.”

            Social and political healing became important to Guzlas as she crusaded for women’s rights, earned a master’s degree in special education, and began teaching Spanish. Improving others’ communication skills and helping people deal with problems created a cycle of positive energy for her. She gives to others and feels strengthened, and performance art is part of her healing mission.

            Although her first marriage ended, her love affair with the theatre grew stronger, and she plunged into acting about 25 years ago. Her first role came in the play James Bond: Banana Nose, a lighthearted musical comedy. Her character was named Sleazy Galore.

            “The person who wrote the play wanted me as scenery,” Guzlas said. “But I wanted more. I wrote my own dialogue and also wrote the song that I sang. I received flowers each night.”

            Palazzolo attended one of the performances, and these two unique personalities quickly formed a professional and artistic bond.

            “I later wrote a one-person, one-act play,” Guzlas said. “Tom Palazzolo saw it and asked if he could use part of the work in an upcoming film project. I ended up acting out a segment of the play in one of Tom’s movies.”

            Guzlas has acted in five of Palazzolo’s films, including Caligar’s Cure (1982) and Added Lessons (1988).

            While acting in theatre and film and continuing to write songs, Guzlas also began to write poetry, reciting at poetry slams at locations including Funky Buddha and the Green Mill.

            She also enjoyed art openings; at one held on south Peoria Street she met artist Roger Guzlas.

            “He was the most handsome man there,” she recalled. “I promenaded in front of him—took my time to ‘strut my stuff,’ so to speak. He ignored me at first. Then a good friend of mine took me by the hand and led me over to be introduced to him. It turned out that my friend didn’t know him either, but she recognized my interest in him and saw that I was nervous and feeling timid. It was an embarrassing encounter.

“I later learned that Roger was reluctant to approach me since he felt ‘a woman so attractive’ couldn’t be available. Anyway, he spent his last two bucks on a glass of wine for me and that started it all. We were married less than six months later,” she said.

Roger Guzlas painted, sketched, made jewelry, and carved masks out of wood before settling into creating ceramic art. The couple’s interest in diverse art forms makes the East Pilsen community an ideal location for them to live, and they have done so for a decade, enjoying positive contact with artists’ circles.

After her second marriage, Jessica Guzlas began teaching special education at Pickard Elementary School at Oakley Boulevard and Cermak Road and in the evenings continued performing in plays and at open microphone nights in Pilsen and Bridgeport cafes.

In 2005, Guzlas received an offer to play a role in a made-for-TV docudrama entitled The Other Side of Al Capone. The offer came through Michelle Govea, who also taught at Pickard and was a professional event coordinator. Guzlas was cast as Capone’s godmother.

“I jumped at the chance,” she said.

She enjoyed the role immensely; the period setting allowed her to dress as an elegant lady in Brooklyn, circa 1899. Her scene depicted Capone’s baptism and was shot at St. Matthew Lutheran Church at 21st Street and Hoyne Avenue. Another sequence shot at the St. Matthew Parish Hall featured Roger as a homeless man served by Capone at a soup kitchen the mobster operated. Roger proudly noted that he “looked nastier” than any of the other extras playing hobos.

Palazzolo asked Jessica Guzlas to play the lead in his next film, and she anxiously awaits the start of its production. In the meantime, she has created a nightclub act with a character called Madame Sousatska, a gypsy fortune-teller. Guzlas also plays the Sousatska character at parties and art openings.

The self-described "multi-dimensional" Guzlas enjoys doing drama or humor because "mental stimulation is provided by both," she said. Also, Pilsen-based producer Andy Barker is considering her for a part in a low-budget horror film.

Although acting will remain Guzlas's main focus, she has developed a strong interest in writing more poetry for performance and publication. "Reciting poetry inspired me to write a book of poems," she said, and she is working to get it published.

The notion of being misunderstood, a fear earlier in her life, has been left in the past. Guzlas no longer internalizes her feelings and now expresses herself freely whether in front of an audience, on stage, or on the printed page.

"Let your feelings out," she said. "If it's what you feel, be open and don't fear being disliked. Everyone isn't going to like you anyway. Eventually, you will realize that it's okay to be you."

To contact Guzlas, call the Baker and Rowley Talent Agency at (773) 247-3590.