2013 Interview
with Larry Eisenberg by guest journalist Steve Peterson
You’ve been with The Group Rep
for quite a while. How did you first
get involved with the company? What
keeps you excited about The Group?
In 1990
Bonnie Snyder who was a member of the company called me to play Richard III for
a Monday night project she was directing. It was a good experience and I ran
into several GRT members whom I had known and worked with over the years. Then, after a conversation with Lonny, I
decided to join. They were auditioning
for Room Service and I ended up
playing Sasha, the Russian waiter which was great fun and a terrific
experience. I acted in a number of shows
and wrote and directed an original project called Nautilus. I left in 1994 to enter the MFA directing
program at CalArts. I was gone for
almost ten years but remained close to Lonny and the company, visiting
often. One of those visits was for the
1999 renaming of the company as the Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre. In 2003 I joined again and have been with
them ever since.
There is a connection with the
naming of The Group and the famous Group Theatre in New York. How did the name for The Group Rep come
about?
It was a
deliberate tribute to that original company.
Lonny had been mentored by Elia Kazan who was one of the original
members of the Group Theatre. Kazan
brought Lonny to California for a role in “East of Eden” opposite James
Dean. Lonny had also been a close
associate of Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York and through him,
learned about the early days of the Group.
It was Strasberg, Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford who created the
Group. Lonny felt that the original
Group was the birthplace of modern American acting and the place where
Stanslavski’s methods were first introduced.
In addition to Strasberg, Stella Adler, Sandy Meisner, and Bobby Lewis
were among the original members. These
were the people who went on to teach acting the way Lonny had learned it and
therefore, the original Group represented an ideal for Lonny; it was one that
he wanted to honor and to use as an example of the kind of work and environment
he wanted to create.
Is there one particular moment
that you treasure or stands out in your mind in regards to working with Lonny
Chapman?
Quite a
few…I acted with Lonny in several shows but by far, my favorite was as Kit
Carson in William Saroyan’s The Time of
Your Life opposite Lonny’s Joe. Most
of my scenes were just me and him sitting together telling each other
outlandish stories and drinking beer. It
was a particular treat because The Time
of Your Life had been a big part of Lonny’s life, and William Saroyan was
one of Lonny’s favorite playwrights.
Lonny loved to tell the story about how when he played Tom in a revival
of the play presented at the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958, Saroyan would
sometimes walk onto the stage in the middle of a performance, sit at the bar
and drink whiskey while watching the actors perform the play around him.
By the
end of 2006 Lonny was starting to get very frail. I directed a play called Chaim’s Love Song by Marvin Chernoff and despite Lonny’s declining
health, he managed to come and see it eight times. I can’t tell you how moved I was and how
happy it made me that he would go to all that trouble. He was no longer able to drive and had to get
rides with people to the theatre, but there he would be rooting us on and
encouraging us.
As it
turned out, Chaim’s Love Song was the
last play Lonny ever saw at The Group Rep.
Was there a particular reason that
Awake and Sing was chosen for The Group Rep’s 40th Season?
The
reason is simple. Awake and Sing remains the signature piece created by the Group
Theatre and we want to honor that past as we move into the future.
What is the play about?
It’s
interesting that Odets’ original title was I’ve
Got the Blues. On its face the play
is about a second generation Jewish American family struggling through the
depression in New York during the 1930s.
Three generations of the Berger Family are stuck together in this Bronx
apartment. They are dominated by mother
Bessie who has no patience for daydreams or weakness. Each of the children faces hardship,
bitterness and struggle. After work-shopping
the script with Harold Clurman, Odets changed the name to Awake and Sing! So
essentially, the play is a celebration of the human spirit and a call for
living life with joy. “Life shouldn’t be
printed on dollar bills.”
The play has numerous
themes. As the play’s director, is there
any particular theme or themes that you are focused on?
Well,
some people have called it a socialist play.
I pretty much disagree and see it more as a family drama; perhaps even
comedy/drama. But it does explore the
conflict between individual expression and serving the greater good. Social consciousness and responsibility are
major “topics” discussed and argued over by our characters. The two children, Ralph and Hennie, each are
struggling to find their personal independence, but are challenged by
responsibility to family and the rest of society. One question the play asks is should the
individual sacrifice him/herself for the greater good. Odets does not proselytize. He takes no position, just presents the
arguments beautifully and poetically. In
the end, the brother and sister choose two totally different paths. He commits to laboring for the greater good
and she chooses to follow her dreams. I
imagine that Ralph will one day go to law school and eventually become active
with labor unions or with civil rights.
Hennie may end on a pleasure boat sailing to Havana.
What do you want the audience to
experience or take away from having seen this production of Awake and Sing?
That
life is not easy, and everyone does their best they can with the tools they
have. We must not let our lives stagnate
by “singing the blues.” It’s much better
to Awake and Sing and grab life by the throat.
What’s up next for you as a
director, as an actor?
There’s
a production of Arthur Miller’s The Price
that I’m hoping to do at another theatre next year. I also suppose it’s time to start thinking
about our 41st Season.
The Group Rep
presents
AWAKE AND SING!
Written by
Clifford Odets
Directed by
Larry Eisenberg
Produced by
Drina Durazo for the Group Rep
Runs: September 20 – November 3, 2013
Plays: Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm
Sundays at 2pm
Talk-back Sundays with the Cast
after the show - October 6th & October 27th
Where: Lonny Chapman Theatre 10900 Burbank Blvd. North Hollywood 91601
Tickets: $15 - $22 (Admission: $22;
Senior/Student: $17; Group 10+: $15)
Friday Night Ladies Night – Tix
½ price for ladies
Parking: Ample street parking on Burbank Blvd. and on
Cleon Ave. south of the Burbank Blvd.
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