SHOCKING STORY TWISTS ON DAYS
Patch and Kayla Return to Days:
"The information about where Steve has been is sketchy at best," begins Stephen
Nichols of his return to DAYS this
Friday after a 16-year absence. "My take is that he has not changed. In fact,
due to circumstances out of his control,
he is more Patch than he was at the end of the first run."
The audience first sees Steve in the clinic where Jack is undergoing treatment.
For Nichols, it was a happy reunion
with on-screen brother Matthew Ashford (Jack). "He is great in that he is
not stuck in a rut. He is available to explore
and find new levels; that is so important," praises Nichols. "You can't survive
in this medium and feel good about what
you're doing without a willingness to dig a little deeper,"
Returning to the set was "Like I died and crossed over and all my old friends
were there waiting to greet me with open
arms," reports the actor. "And then the ritual of getting back into the groove
of working was like a celebration." One thing
did take some getting used to, however. "The thing that caused the most
aggravation was the patch; getting acclimated to
half sight again. I had forgotten how clumsy that felt initially," he remarks.
Also coming home to Salem is Mary Beth Evans' Kayla, now a doctor, who first
appears on June 12. Evans hasn't been in
town since 1992, but has appeared as GH's Katherine and ATWT's Sierra in
between DAYS stints. Her return to DAYS
came as somewhat of a shock.
"I never set out to do soap operas," she laughs. "When I was one DAYS, I
thought, 'I'll just stay here,' and it just didn't work
out that way. Then wherever I went, I sort of wanted to go back ot DAYS.
But they were all such great experiences. I'm glad
it worked out the way it did."
Evans admits to some trepiation about her return. "I was excited, but I really
didn't know what to expect or how people would
feel about us coming back," she explains. Not to worry: "Everyone was so
incredibly sweet and so nice. I left on Friday just so
happy." She says that she and Nichols are looking forward to chapter two
of their characters' tale. "Stephen and I have always
wanted to tell the next part of the story. Some fans sent us some DVDs of
memorable scenes. I didn't watch it because I thought,
'Oh, God, I'm older now. Is it good to see or not?' Stephen and I watched
like, one or two scenes and we were intimidated and
thought, 'Would we be able to be that good?' It inspired us to be there again,
to be connected, and try to be true to the character
and story. It's interesting now because in 15 years a lot has happened in
people's lives. They're older and different. It's not so
bright-eyed. It will be an interesting journey."
So what's going on with Kayla? "I think she's been silently suffering," explains
Evans. "She hasn't been able to go on with her life
for whatever reason. SHe's put herself in work and school and her daughter.
She stayed away from Salem because it was too
much for her." And yes, the show will address Kayla moving on to Shanw so
soon after Steve's death. "That was one of the biggest
problems with me when Patch died. He was the love of Kayla's life and she
never went back to the house. She went to Shane's
house because he was half of a supercouple and her Kayla was unattached and
they just threw us together and it bothered me so
much. I love Charles [Shaughnessy, ex-Shane] and we both love each other
as friends, but we both thought that was just so wrong."