Quick Q&A: Summer Play Festival

I talked with three playwrights whose work will be seen at this year’s Summer Play Festival (through August 2nd, at The Public)

What is The Happy Sad about?

It’s about relationships. It’s about a group of 7 people who live in an East Coast city – probably New York. The play starts with a straight couple who are in the process of what seems to be breaking up, and then we shift to a gay couple having a discussion about monogamy and whether it’s possible in a relationship. Then we see how these lives are intertwined. It’s a play about discovering what you want out of love in a world where it used to be simple but now, with all these other options and possibilities, things are more complicated. It doesn’t necessarily make us more happy, having all these options.

Is the play easily defined by a genre?

When the characters gets stressed out or something emotional happens in The Happy Sad the characters break out into song. But it’s not a musical: the songs don’t advance the plot. The songs are part of a heightened theatricality that is part of my work. It’s a play with songs. My band and I wrote them.

Artistically, what are you most hoping to get out of having the play at SPF?

It’s a chance to really see the play on its feet with a really great cast, director and design team which is something that rarely happens. A lot of workshops are glorified readings, but this is a full visual staging of the play. I don’t want to say that it’s finished, but it has gone through a lot of development and I’m looking to learn a lot about the play from seeing it in front of an audience, which is the only way you really learn about a play.

How did you connect with your director, Trip Cullman?

I worked on the play with Craig Lucas at Playwrights Horizons; Craig has been a really fantastic mentor. When I got into SPF I immediately called him and said “Holy crap! This is really exciting. Do you want to work on this?” but he is working on a musical for Disney and not available. I sat down with the SPF folks to talk about directors and interviewed 5 or 6 but after talking with Trip I knew he really got the play. I knew Trip but we’d never worked together and this was a chance to, and with an amazing cast. I’m excited and honored that they’re giving up their July to throw themselves into this play, especially since it’s fairly risky. There’s a lot of nudity – pretty much every one gets naked at some point. It’s great that they are willing to do that with two weeks of rehearsal.

Tell me about your play The Chimes.

On the simplest level it’s a story of four hyper-articulate, hyper-literate teenage boys at a New England boarding school who are drawn together by their obsession and passion for Shakespeare, and then torn apart by the onset of World War II when the political realities come crashing down on their naïve and innocent heads. I like to say it’s genre-defying, It’s two time periods: the play starts in 1980 and then flashes back to 1939-1940. You see the guys when they are 18 or 19 and also when they are 60. There’s a twist along the way.

How did you become obsessed with Shakespeare?

When I was a student in Florida I saw Hamlet in Orlando. It was outdoors on a lake at an outdoor ampitheatre, something like Shakespeare In The Park here. I’ve been a junkie ever since. I’ve seen a million Hamlets in my lifetime though and I think I’m retiring it as required viewing for my life. Short of Jude Law, especially if Penelope Wilton comes over with him as Gertrude, Hamlet needs to go away.

What’s been your experience with The Public’s Emerging Writers Program?

It showers you in an embarrassment of riches; it’s one of the best experiences of my life. I’ve been in other writers’ group before this but they pale in comparison, since the Public has the resources to be very generous with writers and they are. We have these weekly meetings where we bring in the pages we are working on, and we get very excellent feedback from the staff who run the group and from the other writers..It’s welcoming and supporting which is kind of what you need when you’re trying to make it in this business.

Have you had a say in casting and design and other creative decisions while taking part in the festival?

I’ve been involved in every creative decision. I was at every audition and every initial design meeting. I’m in the rehearsal room every day. Generally I’ve made some alteration to the script every time, even if it’s just to eliminate a couple of lines that we don’t need to tell the story. I don’t want to say that the play is in progress because I’m happy with where we’ve arrived. But I did come in to the process thinking that the play was finished and one of the first things I learned was that there were things I could alter along the way. I know that other playwrights in the festival have felt the same way.

What is Whore?

It’s a journey of discovery; it’s like a coming of age story about two young people who move to the big bad city and live their dreams and find out what the world can hold. In Australia some people found it racy and provocative, neither of which I was intending. It’s got its tongue firmly in its cheek a lot of the time. It moves using thriller devices, but it’s not like a whodunit. It’s more about desire and danger and pushing boundaries and breaking rules. Seeing if you can survive with varying consequences is where the thriller element comes into it.

Does your background as a performer influence your playwriting?

Absolutely. I trained as an actor, I’m not really trained as a writer. I’m pretty sympathetic toward actors and their craft and I hope I have a decent sense as to what makes something playable as opposed to writerly. I think that is sometimes the curse: if you come to playwriting from a different or literary direction, you might not understand what can be played on the floor and what can’t.

Have you been continuing to revise Whore since its staging in Australia?

There hasn’t been a huge amount of revision, just sharpening it up and making sure it plays to an American audience. While Americanizing it I’ve learned how universal the story essentially is. I’m learning so much about the play as it’s making its journey into the world. To be honest, it’s being more openly received here than it was in Australia, there seems to be a very good buzz about it.

Were you involved in casting and other creative decisions long distance?

I’ve been in Australia until about a week ago. I knew who was being cast but without knowing the New York scene or the actors here I had to trust that Stephen Brackett, the director, was putting together a great team which he absolutely did. Stephen and I have a great relationship and get along hugely well. There’s always a leap of faith that you take and right now I’m very very happy. SPF ia a remarkable opportunity; it’s really fantastic that a festival like this occurs which is about presenting new works and new writers in full production. It’s an essential part of the development process as a playwright.