Quick Q&A: “Love Child”

Love Child is a labor of love for its co-writers and performers Daniel Jenkins and Robert Stanton.

DANIEL JENKINS

How did you and Robert meet and decide to collaborate?

It’s a very long friendship of 16 plus years that started at Young Playwrights at Playwrights Horizons. We were doing a funny quirky show called Five Visits from Mr. Whitcomb directed by Michael Mayer. It was the first thing I did with Robert. At one performance there were these theatre patrons in the front row having a grand old time eating and chatting with each other and chatting with us. We were very entertained by them – instead of horrible we found it very funny. It was clear that they wanted to be in the show somehow. Finally, 16 years later, we’re doing their play. My collaboration with Robert has started and stopped because of the nature of the business, but it’s endured and has been such a gift. We go to each other’s apartments and crack each other up.

Did you set out from the start to write a madcap farce?

I don’t think we started writing from the madcap place, to be honest. It was really about getting those two gals up on stage like all those years ago. As much as we enjoy the endless minutiae of what is going to make it funny, it’s not the most honest place to start writing from. Farce is more satisfying if you believe that the characters really need to slam the doors.

The show has what I’d call a surprising depth…

In our brains we split it into three acts: when the revelations begin in Act III it is really fun for me to feel the audience getting it. They’ve been through a lot with us already at that point and all these things we’ve been laying out are going to start adding up. There’s an element of the show that is purely madcap and satisfying that way, but when that transition happens and there are revelations to savor the audience gets quiet, laughs, maybe gasps, but they are right there with it. That’s as good as it gets.

How would you characterize the audiences who come to the show?

We’ve played it to many different houses. We did a developmental workshop at Vassar – that was invaluable and just killer. That audience was interesting – the meat of their subscription audience was on the older end, and they enjoyed it in a very particular way. They enjoyed not being talked down to. It’s a sit forward experience. There were also these young interns at Vassar and we got a different feel from them – they were jazzed by the high energy level. The humor works for both audiences but they respond differently. Older audiences are keyed in to what ties the piece together. Younger audiences are just laughing louder.

As there are no costume changes or props to individuate all the characters that you and Robert play, I think it’s astonishing how quickly you both make us recognize them…

Sometimes a mimed prop or piece of clothing really does inform who you are, and sometimes that becomes a hand-hold for the audience. We know we’re challenging them, so we were conscious of helping them with hand-holds. For example for the character of Kay her purse became who she was, her literal baggage. I don’t necessarily analyze them; if they feel honest that’s enough for me.

What’s one reason you love working with Robert?

You don’t get better at tennis if you don’t play with someone better than you. I’ve been blessed with a great tennis player.

ROBERT STANTON

What makes Daniel a great collaborator?

He’s a great actor, and he writes great jokes. He’s also the most solid guy I’ve ever met – gentle, open-minded, a wicked sense of humor and completely reliable. The fact that we first thought of this show 16 years ago and have stuck with it testifies to that.

In between when we first thought of this show and its current incarnation Daniel had two kids. I was searching for a partner – I found one. I’ve been in a committed relationship for 8 and a half years. Daniel and I are both men of the theatre who go from show to show making these little families with a lot of trust when it’s functional, and it usually is because people in the theatre are good at getting along with other people. Over the years I’ve built up a circle of friends who feel like family to me. How is it that the family you create, that is not recognized by law or by the Church, can feel more like family than the one you are born into? The bottom that exists in the play speaks to those issues we were dealing with as individuals.

Is there something specific that an actor needs to do farce?

I can only speak for myself; I have to need what I am going for in a basic way. An example is when Ethel is standing on the toilet seat and her foot falls in and splashes her skirt. Her sister sprays her with perfume and it becomes a fight because now she reeks of perfume. It all works better if I feel I have a terrible problem that I need to be solved.

Is there a character you especially love to play?

Playing each of them is fun for different reasons; they’re all based on people I’ve known or have observed. Larry reminds me of a legendary downtown actor I worked with who I won’t name. Ernestina is named for a dear Aunt of mine who is no longer with us. We;ve all met many Ethel’s. What I have most enjoyed is playing the women without having to deal with costumes and nails. I like being able to be a woman of 65 and then to be a transgendered person in her mid 20’s who’s well endowed. It’s all in the shoulders. The first time I did the show I went into physical therapy because I didn’t have the strength in my back.

Which of the many characters you play was the most challenging to find?

Ernestina was the hardest. I hired our choreographer as a coach – the work I did with her a year ago was a breakthrough. She told me that women often have wide stances, so Ernestina often has her feet splayed and her weight going from hip to hip. Do you know the blog The Sartorialist? It’s photos of street fashion, and there was a photo there of this woman with a killer bod in a red dress like a second skin. As she’s crossing the street she’s texting and adjusting the strap on her heels. That photo helped me find Ernestina.

My partner said that I am an unconvincing gay guy so this time around, playing Sandy the chorus boy, I wanted to give that guy more depth. To find that I got in touch with his love of what he’s doing and his enthusiasm about being on stage. We built that into the writing but I hadn’t explored it as an actor. His life is backstage and all about being ready for that moment when the curtains part.

Daniel called the show “a sit forward experience”. Was it a goal to ask the audience to keep up with you guys?

I don’t like being spoonfed when I am an audience member. Even as a kid, my favorite movie was 2001: A Space Odyssey and my favorite TV show was The Prisoner. They require work on your part. I remember seeing a show by Richard Foreman years ago called Film Is Evil, Radio Is Good – the basic idea was that radio requires you to be an active collaborator in creating the world. So yes, I had a hunger and a need to bring the audience along as a collaborator. They are our third actor.