2016 Interview with Sam Anderson

The Road Theatre on Magnolia is proud to present a special Los Angeles engagement of Edward Albee’s The Play about The Baby, which opened Friday, September 16. Each week we will spotlight a member of the cast or creative team of the play.

This week the spotlight is on award-winning actor, director Sam Anderson, a veteran member of the Road and co-artistic director.

What character do you play and how does he serve Albee’s vision?

I play MAN. I drive and guide the evening’s “entertainment,” all designed to get the other 3 characters down to the raw truth as I see it.

What is it like to do an Albee play?

It’s an amazing and bittersweet experience. Albee pushes the actor to the limits, and it’s like going to a master class every time we do it. Having him pass away on the day of our opening was something I’m still trying to process, but every time we perform it, I hope we are honoring him and doing him proud.

What is the message of The Play About the Baby?

I believe this piece has so much to do with innocence and experience and how people deal with loss, how each of us has our own “reality,” our own way of seeing the world, and how blind we are, how stuck in certain areas or ways of thinking, how the past affects the present, and how we mourn it once it passes.

What have you done to prepare?

Tough question. I read his wonderful biography by Mel Gussow. I thought a lot about vaudeville, and the theatre of cruelty, and I remembered from an interview that Albee said all of his plays in one way or another were about parenting.

What are audiences taking away?

It’s been so gratifying to listen to people discuss the show after, and like the cast, to accept you are not going to get all the answers wrapped up in a neat little bow, but there’s something to take away from it for every single person. I also love hearing the feedback that above all, audiences are really entertained by it and fascinated with it. I applaud their willingness to take it on its own terms.