2013 Interview with Ben Rimalower

Actor/director Ben Rimalower brings his critically acclaimed show Patti Issues (about his infatuation with Patti LuPone) to Casita del Campo for two performances only Friday March 29 and Saturday March 30. Gravelly, yet sexy-voiced Rimalower, reminding me somewhat of a young Harvey Fierstein, is outspoken, frank and funny about his association with LuPone which began long before this show was ever written.

I adore Patti LuPone. I truly believe that she's one of the best
performers on Broadway.

That's good. You can replace me when I'm done with the show. (we laugh)

She's always lovely to her fans at the stage door.

She knows which side her bread is buttered on.

How did Patti Issues get started?

I've been obsessed with Patti LuPone basically all my life in a very major way, that's been very central to how I live my life. My friends make fun of me. It's almost a religion. I've followed her like people follow the North Star. One of my first jobs out of college was assisting director Lonny Price on Sweeney Todd starring Patti LuPone with the New York Philharmonic. There was a PBS broadcast, a recording and all that. Then I got to work on several shows with Patti and Lonny and actually became good friends with Patti. Someone that's obsessed with Patti is her kind of guy. (laughs) Even though she's been somewhat in my life close by throughout the rest of the development of my career, I remained obsessed with her to the point where up until this project the greatest success I had had in my career as a director was a show I conceived Leslie Kritzer is Patti LuPone at Les Mouches ...where we recreated Patti's famed cabaret act, which had been done originally at the club Les Mouches during the run of Evita.

I know you're responsible for the album recorded at Les Mouches from those days in the late 70s.

There was no album at that time; (it came later). That (whole issue) wound up being a drama between me and Patti because she was very supportive of what I was doing with Leslie initially, and then she changed her mind. Our show was very successful, and she threatened to sue me if we didn't stop it.  Ultimately, all was hunky dory between us. I edited her demo reel that goes out to Hollywood casting directors for film and television work, and she also hired me to do her personal video archive... of all her stuff. That's how I was first exposed to her original archival tapes of Les Mouches, and I ended up producing that album. But, it was a very transformative experience for me, because it made me realize that I was really limited in my career as a director, where I was at the mercy of the material I could get my hands on. And Les Mouches had been this anomaly in my career because without actually writing any words I was the author of that show. It was based on live recordings Patti had made. There was no writer in the room except me to put it together. It was something I was able to initiate myself and not be dependent upon other people to bring me material. I started to think, "What else can I write?" I had been blogging and something I felt passionate about to actually put a whole piece down would be to talk about my experience with Patti, that felt so central to my life. I hoped other people would relate to it because of their own obsessions with the stars that they loved, and I thought the story would be interesting and unique because of the actual specific relationship I had with Patti. And...we had had our own conflict, so there's theatre.

So all of the conflict is within the play?

Yes. But the problem I found as I started to write the show was that it was more about me than about Patti. And there was this experience I had had with my father who I don't have a relationship with. It's OK. But ironically after we hadn't seen each other in about 10 years - he was sitting directly behind me at Gypsy starring Patti LuPone on Broadway.

That's unbelievable!

That felt like such a coup de theatre that happened to me in real life. It felt like a very empowered moment in my life because after all these years of not seeing my father, and having these nightmares, fantasies and dreams, imagining what it would be like to see him, there he was. It felt very good. Everything that I had gone through with Patti LuPone, to come out on the other side of it and now be producing her album, it felt like a very adult full-circle moment for me. That had a lot to do with how I was able to face my father that night. Writing the show, I saw those 2 threads in my life as really intertwining. And that's how I wound up with this piece.

When did you open it in New York?

It opened at the Duplex in August.

And it's been extended constantly from what I've been reading, right?

It's the new Cats  ...  Pats. (I laugh)

Do you sing Patti's songs in the show?

Very little. There are incidental moments where I punctuate things with a line or two, but I really don't sing in it.

So you and Patti are good friends!

We've spent a lot of time together over the years. She's come to support my work, and I've certainly seen her in everything she's ever done. I've always gone back stage or gone out to dinner with her. It's funny that I've gotten to know her so well personally, and not lost any of the obsession that I've had.

Do you remember the first time you heard Patti sing when you were a kid?

Totally. I talk about it in the show. In New York, when I was little...we didn't move to LA until I was 5 years old, I used to go with my grandparents to see Broadway shows. I saw Annie, The Wiz, Peter Pan, West Side Story, but I was haunted by those Evita commercials...those incredible commercials with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin. I was obsessed with them, and I really wanted to see Evita, but everyone felt that it was too grown up, not appropriate for a 4 year-old. In LA, whenever Evita was on national tour and it would come to the Schubert or the Pantages or whatever, they would still play the Broadway commercial with Patti LuPone. That commercial was a fixture throughout my childhood, and of course as an adolescent, I got the album and proceeded to become a full-time stalker.

Switching gears a bit, how did you get the nickname the Midas of Cabaret?

I moved to New York in 1999 and was Lonny Price's assistant in 2000-2002, then I started directing on my own in 2003. I directed a couple of off-Broadway shows: Joy, The Joy of Gay Sex when it played  in San Francisco, and The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero and a bunch of off-off-Broadway shows. The bulk of the work I've been able to get has been cabaret. That's actually fine with me. I think that cabaret... in this day and age of movies and television and the internet and all that, theatre has to find a new way to be relevant. Theatre that is effective and successful nowadays is theatre that offers the audience something they cannot get in TV and film or on the internet. And that's a live experience, engaging the audience directly, breaking the fourth wall. With cabaret or solo shows, with one performer onstage, the fourth wall is broken, and the audience automatically has to be cast as the second character. That's always been exciting to me because I can sit in a room and have someone tell me a story or sing me a song, and I feel immediately engaged. I do not feel immediately engaged by a lot of theatre that I see. I love cabaret and am happy to be associated with it.

To get Ben Rimalower's CA schedule which includes San Diego, San Francisco and Berkeley, as well as LA for two nites March 29 and 30 at Casita del Campo in Silverlake, visit this website:
www.PattiIssues.com

2013 Interview with David Galligan

Consummate theatre director David Galligan will be directing Broadway, My Way for this year's S.T.A.G.E. event benefiting APLA (Aids Project Los Angeles) on Saturday April 6 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. Galligan has given tirelessly to this project since it started back in 1984. Just about every composer has been honored with maybe the exception of Noel Coward and the last 3 years have been devoted to Original Casts of Broadway musicals. This year Broadway, My Way offers something different.

David, tell us about the show, explaining the title Broadway, My Way.

One of the exciting aspects of directing Broadway, My Way this year is providing the performers with opportunities to fulfill a performance dream they may have had forever.  I'm not giving anything away, but there may be some stars who've always wanted to dance, but haven't been given the opportunity before. Or perhaps there's a wonderful Broadway song they've always wanted to perform, but it was originally written for a different gender. The possibilities are endless, as is the talent.

Anyone new joining you this year?

We're very excited to have Broadway stars Sutton Foster and Andrew Rannells join our cast for the first time this year.  Broadway, My Way is open to such a wide and contemporary interpretation for our artists.  It's going to be wonderful.

Tell me anything you can about the show's content, without giving too much away.

This is our 29th year presenting STAGE, and we have a very rich history.  Part of this year's STAGE concert will be a Remembrance of People Passed.  We will pay homage to the stage careers of 
Ian Abercrombie, 
Paul Ainsley and 
Betty Garrett, 
long-time friends of STAGE.  In Betty's case, she was a co-chair of the event for decades as well as an annual performer.  We'll feature a series of film clips of their performances accompanied by Karen Culliver, a long-running Christine in Phantom of the Opera, performing "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again," followed by 17 year-old Madison Claire Parks singing "Think of Me."  Madison is the granddaughter of Betty Garrett, and the daughter of Karen Culliver and Betty's son Garrett Parks.  Madison will be making her professional stage debut February 16 as Laurie in Musical Theatre West's production of Oklahoma being directed by Davis Gaines who, himself, logged more than 2,000 performances as the Phantom.  He, too, will be performing in STAGE this year singing "Wunderbar" to 98 year-old Patricia Morison, the original Kate from Kiss Me Kate.  So, we have the youngest and the most seasoned of STAGE performers featured in our production. 

Thanks, David! Looking forward to April 6!

Just added are seasoned performers  Joely Fisher, Marsha Kramer and Terri White.
Check out the website below for a complete list, which is updated regularly.

http://www.stagela.com/home.php

2013 Interview with Cathy Rigby

Actress Cathy Rigby was the highest-scoring American gymnast at the 1968 Olympics and became a favorite with American television audiences. She was U.S. National Gymnastic Champion in 1970 and 1972. Her greatest accomplishment was to become the first American woman to win a silver medal for the balance beam at the 1970 World Championships. In 1974, retired from gymnastics, she was offered the role of Peter Pan, which she has gloriously played for over 40 years, including Broadway with a Tony Award nomination as Best Actress in a Musical in 1990. She is about to open Peter Pan once more at the Pantages on January 15, having done it here in 2004. In our chat she talks about how she keeps the role fresh and why it has remained a favorite all these years.Is this your 4th tour of Peter Pan?Yes. It's about the 4th...I don't remember. (she laughs)I saw you in June when you opened at your home theatre in La Mirada. You are so wonderful in the role. How do you keep it fresh?You know what I think happens, Don, is that, when you know a role so well... I think I've learned more this time about acting than ever before in that, you get so caught up in the academic side of acting sometimes in thinking about where's the climax, what's this, what's that and you start analyzing so much how to play it and what to do, and I think if I've learned anything over the years from kids and from doing the role is that once you've learned it, you need to let all of that go and allow the moments to happen. It's Acting 101, but it's something that's hard to let go of, especially if you're a perfectionist, if you're in competition, and all of that, it's hard to let go of allowing the moments to happen. But it is the greatest breakthrough and it allows you to have lots of joy and fun...
Well, you do. When you first did it, that was 40 years ago. As you get older, how do you overcome the challenges of playing Peter ... who never grows old? You're in great physical shape, but it's got to hurt a little.

               Actually, because I'm not trying so hard anymore... it's funny, it's a little easier now. The physical aspect for anybody...I don't care if you're 20 years old ...  it's a very, very physical and tough role. You know, I'm probably more careful how I land. The only thing I've taken out is that I don't jump off the top of the doghouse onto the bed, because that was just silly. A silly thing to do to my knees! (we both laugh) And yes, my shoulders get sore and sometimes, my lower back, but it's nothing that sometimes a little Aleve can't help. I try to stretch and do as much core work in Pilates as I can. On the road, I'm not like a 20 year-old where I'm going to go out and party at night. Not with 8 shows a week. But I still have lots of fun. I think there's just a feeling of...you can take your moments in the show. You can take your time. Rushing or hyperventilating is not good for anybody. I'm not being very articulate about this, but it really, really has helped over the last 6 months.

Is this your favorite role?

It has become that because I know it so well and done it so often. There's a part of me that, like everybody, loves the joy of staying young. Peter lives moment to moment, and there's that bittersweet side that he can never change and have what the rest of us have. Yes, it's become my favorite and for many reasons. My children traveled with me when we first started. My husband (Tom McCoy) and I produced many of the tours.

Don't you have family members in the show right now?

Not right now. I did. I have one son who's in Germany with a company there. He's a dancer. Two of them work in the office in contracts and production. The only one on the road with me is my youngest daughter Katie McCoy, who is head of the wig department in the show, so I do get to travel with her.

If Peter is your favorite role, what is a close second?

 Two of my favorites were the play Sylvia, because I'm such an animal lover, and Cat in the Hat in Seussical. That role taught me a lot about spontaneity as well...and ad-libbing. I think the one I enjoyed acting-wise was playing MaLynne in Steel Magnolias. I have so much respect for people who do drama 8 times a week. It took every available emotion that I had to maintain it. Those are shows that are hard to do.

What about Mammy Yokum in Reprise's L'il Abner? You were terrific in that role too.

That was great fun. It's a little odd to look at yourself in the mirror and play a really old, goofy-looking part but it was a blast. It was one of those roles where you get to be on and off stage and doesn't take that much effort but you just play funny. 

A role I would love to do sometime is Madame Thenardier in Les Mis. I was thinking about that as I watched Les Mis at the movies the other day. I thought, "That would be a great role!" I thought in the movie the role was kind of brushed over with a lot of schtick but I love it. It would be kind of up my alley as a character, especially as I get older.

What other roles would you like to play?   

Anything. I would love to do anything from movies to television...Dancing with the Stars too. (she laughs) Probably when I get off the road, I'll stay home for a little while and do more regional work.

Anything else that you'd like to mention?

We have a conservatory of the arts for children that is near and dear to our hearts in Yorba Linda. There are about 500 students. Some of these kids are the most amazing, up and coming singer/dancer/actors.I don't know if it's So You Think You Can Dance or American Idol that's inspired these kids, but I'm watching these young folk grow up and become...have you ever seen Theatre Under the Stars in Texas?

No, I've never been to Texas.

They have a program there for their kids that has been around for over 20 years. They send out into the theatre world these wonderful young actors. So we're doing that as well in Yorba Linda. I'm so proud of that.

Do you have any idols or mentors that have had stimulated your career over the years?

I admire and respect lots of people. Marty Wiviott has been one of those people who has believed in me... and Glenn Casale (director). They've been coaches to me. I must say too that when you have a great partner and husband for 31 years - Tom McCoy - he has been my biggest champion in helping me believe in myself.

I've seen all the Peter Pans except Maude Adams...Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan...they were all wonderful, but you are by far the best. I've seen you do the show twice already and look forward to seeing it again opening night, Tuesday the 15th.

Thank you, Don. See you Tuesday!... One of these days, you'll have to fly. (we laugh)

See the amazing Cathy Rigby as Peter Pan at the Pantages for two weeks only January 15 - 27!
http://www.broadwayla.org/index.asp

Cathy Rigby is the 2012 BWW Award winner as Best Actress in a Musical (Touring) for Peter Pan, as well as recipient of the Eddon Award for Best Lead Performance - Grigware Picks His Best of LA Theatre for 2012.

news - James Van Der Beek to Co-Star at Geffen

James Van Der Beek and Kathy Baker co-star in The Gift at the Geffen opening February 7.

2012 Interview with Loretta Swit

Actress/singer Loretta Swit hardly needs an introduction. Having played Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan for 11 years in TV's M.A.S.H. (1972-1983), with multiple award nominations and two Emmy wins, the lady has become a household name. Few realize however that she began her career on stage and that the theatre is her first love. Currently onstage at the NoHo Arts Center, Swit is essaying three roles in Joshua Ravetch's One November Yankee which will run through January 5, 2013. In our chat she talks about the play and other theatrical roles she has played. 

How did you become involved in One November Yankee?

I did the original reading at the Pasadena Playhouse...a mutual friend of ours introduced Joshua Ravetch and me. She had been reading his plays and called me and said, "I swear, he doesn't know it, but he's writing for you. I hear your voice when I read the play, I hear you saying this dialogue." So she said, "Have a read!" He sent me the script, and I loved it. I loved the concept; I loved the fresh approach with a brother and sister relationship. I have a brother. It intrigued me; it satisfied me. "What a delicious concept!" I loved all three characters. Actually, I loved all six. I liked the brother's characters too. We did this reading three years ago very successfully. I never read a review like that in my life. I mean he just went on and on and accurately sort of described the play as "those Russian dolls that keep unfolding". I feel that about the play, so much keeps getting revealed. And I love the La Ronde, the echoing back whether it's Hirschfeld or Cartier or Cantano, which is Josh's invention, the lawyers, the Canadian city, the Canadian bar, the librarian shelving other people's accomplishments, the signature is amplifying accomplishments...all the play on words...I really loved it.

It's so intelligently written, you almost have to see it a second time. There's too much for one viewing.

I agree with that. I have told many of my friends to come back at a matinee, let's say and just see it again. I'm an art collector, have been for years, and I paint. Needless to say, the artwork in my houses, apartment is extensive. So many of my friends have said, "I've got to come back because there's so much to see." And I feel that way about this play. There's so much to get. And...we did two readings. I did it with Robert Forster. He has this booming film career, and I warned Josh at the time that he'd better have a short list. When I agreed to come and do it at NoHo Arts, we did a reading, again with Robert. But when the time came closer, he was in the middle of two films back to back. Josh said that Harry (Hamlin) had read the play, liked it and was interested. I said, "Well that would be fine for me! I'll be thrilled with that." He's just wonderful. I've not worked with him before but have known him socially for years. We have this chemistry that is amazing.

I love the humanity in the play and how well you both bring that out.

You got it all. 

Is this the first play you've done in a while?

God no! No! This is being fitted into a tour of Eleanor, which is a one-woman play about Eleanor Roosevelt. I've done it twice and have bookings spattered throughout 2013. I have to stop in the middle of that and do Murder Among Friends. I have another play in Canada that I'm considering doing. I do theatre, that's where I'm from.

You'd be wonderful as Eleanor. I'd love to see that.

The clothing and the wig, everything...I'm very pleased. Rhoda Lerman wrote that...Eleanor Her Secret Journey.

You also have been doing Shirley Valentine for which you won a prestigious Sara Siddons Award.

I've been doing that since 1991. Not consecutively, but every once in a while some theatre where I've been or where I haven't been will call and say, "Can she do Shirley for us for a couple of months?" or whatever, and I do. I toured Canada, I toured the US. Shirley went as far as Guam. I learned so much from doing that.

Why do you think audiences love Shirley so much?

She is so human, so real. Her foibles and follies and aspirations, dreams and pain are so human. And the fact that she does break out of this mold. She's buried under labels. She's mommy, she's Mrs. Bradshaw, the next door neighbor; she's the lady who shops at the butcher shop ... you know what I mean, she's lost her identity so totally... and there's this beautiful speech about how she remembered the beginning with Joe, her husband. They painted each other. They were painting the kitchen and they decided to have a paint fight. And they both went into the bathtub together to wash off the paint. So she paints this romantic young picture, and she doesn't quite understand why it has to change. And she's right, it doesn't have to change. In Greece, she rediscovers herself through other eyes. These eyes have not put labels on her yet. She blossoms once again into the Shirley she is and gets it back. The end of the play is very hopeful. I'm convinced in my mind's eye, the sequel, Joe stays. They both grow. It's a play about growth and being open to change and growth and happiness.

Kind of like the message in One November Yankee!

Exactly...all of those characters are so human. The bickering is so human. The love, the bond, all of those things...so human and loving. I don't have a favorite character. I love them all so much.

You were in a landmark TV show M.A.S.H. Do you ever watch TV today? Are there any programs that come up to Larry Gelbart's achievement?

I'm a movie buff. My mom would take me to a double feature. We'd come out, go have Chinese food and then go back into another cinema and see another double feature. I feel I'm a child of the movies. The difference was...when I said I wanted to be an actor...usually children when they go to a movie, they're dazzled by the character. they're dazzled by Scarlett...I was dazzled by Vivien Leigh. I wanted to be the actor doing the work to get that character. That's when my mother knew I really wanted to be an actor. It wasn't the spangles and the gloss, the glitz and the bling, it was work and the creation, the creativity that went into it. That for me was the excitement. Anyway, television...now ...Gelbart is a tough act to follow. After M.A.S.H., I did one pilot that was so wonderful.

Was that Cagney and Lacey?

I did that, but that was still during M.A.S.H. What I'm referring to was after M.A.S.H., written by Allan Katz. If anyone could take up the mantle from Larry (Gelbart), it would be Allan Katz. He was one of our writers on M.A.S.H. I can't say enough about him: his wit, so glib, so quick like Larry. The show was called Sam. It was delicious. It was absolutely delightful. A New York Times critic gave it a half a page, saying "Why isn't this on television? It's wonderful." It was an ABC project; they didn't know what to do with it. It was a little sliver of sunshine that we were trying to get on the tube. Frankly, I have not read anything since that I would consider doing. Television is hard work. It's all hard work. Theatre is hard work. I tell you, I have bruises from changing backstage. Those quick changes are really difficult.

Do you have a favorite stage role?

They all stand out. I've played some great ladies. Mame. Agnes Gooch in Mame, when I started out in the 60s...it's a beautiful role. When I was offered Mame a few years ago, I said "No, no! It's Gooch...Gooch is the part in that show!" My agent said "Loretta, listen to me carefully darling, Mame is the lead, you're going to do Mame! Gooch is great when you do it, you are now going to do Mame!" (she laughs hard) Spoken like an agent...

as Gooch in Mame, 1968

It's clear: Loretta Swit can do it all; she can play any role in any medium. Let's not forget as well Swit's activism and charitable contributions chief among them her association with SDF, the Search Dog Foundation which takes rescue dogs and places them with firefighters to hunt down and rescue victims of tragic accidents. Swit is also an avid painter. Still a stunningly beautiful woman 30 years after M.A.S.H., Loretta Swit, thankfully for us, shows no signs of slowing down in any arena. Catch her in One November Yankee through January 5 at NoHo Arts Center!

Loretta Swit's painting King Charles

(stage photos and King Charles from Loretta Swit's private collection)
http://www.switheart.com/

review of One November Yankee:
http://grigware.blogspot.com/2012/11/review-one-november-yankee.html

Interview with Playwright Donald Margulies

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies' Coney Island Christmas started previews at the Geffen November 20 with a scheduled opening set for November 28. This work, commissioned by the Geffen, will honor  past artistic director Gilbert Cates, who passed away last year, and promises to be very special. Margulies, who is renowned for Dinner with Friends, Time Stands Still, Collected Stories, Sight Unseen and Brooklyn Boy among other plays, recently sat down to chat about the play, playwriting and the writers who have influenced his work. Margulies most definitely agrees that with the recent devastation to Coney Island by hurricane Sandy, audiences will look at his new play from a slightly different angle.

Tell me about Coney Island Christmas.

It's a huge cast, which is so delightful, ranging in age from 10 to 82. There's a great grandmother...well, you'll see it. The origin of this play began as a conversation I had with Gil Cates, my late friend...I guess it was about three years ago. He called me at home in Connecticut and said, "How'd you like to write us a Christmas show?" I was kind of bemused by such an offer. I thought I was a curious choice for such a thing. I think he did it because he knew I would not write your typical Christmas show, and that's what his intention was. He wanted something that would be more surprising, not at all along the canon of Christmas Carols and the like...which I took as a very interesting challenge. I said to Gil, "If I'm going to write you a Christmas play, you know it's going to be a Jewish Christmas play." And he said, "Great!" I had no idea what I was going to do along the lines of a Jewish Christmas play or even any Christmas play. Thankfully, I remembered a story by the great short story writer Grace Paley that I had read in high school 40 years ago called The Loudest Voice, which is about a Jewish girl named Shirley Abromowitz in Depression era Brooklyn. She's chosen by her teacher to be Jesus in the school play...this nice Jewish girl. It's really about that, that is the event of the play. Once I remembered that short story, I figured out how to do it onstage that seemed very right.

So you've changed the story a lot.

I've changed it considerably, because it's a very short story. It's about 8 pages long. And there's no real conflict in the story. It's a wonderful premise that I have taken from the story. I was inspired by Grace Paley and I've opened it up considerably.

Can you tell us a little of the conflict you've created? Give us a little preview.

 I will tell you this, within the play there are two school pageants that are performed...that are major set pieces of the play, but I don't want to spoil it too much by revealing too much.

This idea came about as a result of a request. Where do most of the ideas come from for your plays?

You know, it's very mysterious. There's no one way that inspiration strikes me. My plays, my original plays, not plays that are even loosely based on something,  tend to emanate from a very personal kind of visceral place, which is not to say that the others, the ones that are adaptations, don't become that. But that's not where they start out. So Dinner with Friends came out of the phenomenon of seeing so many friends' marriages break up. The Model Apartment came out of fascination with second generation Holocaust survivors. They come out of certain obsessions that won't go away, that can only find their way out through exploration in a play.

Do you use autobiographical elements?

Oh no. Increasingly less. As I get older, I have frankly less to draw from.

So the married couple that stayed together in Dinner with Friends was not you and your wife?

It reflected me and my wife and our position at that time, but the circumstances were different. The couple that breaks up is an amalgam of several friends who went through that. So, no, it's never as bold as that, putting myself onstage. I wouldn't do that. I don't recommend it. You always have to reinvent what you know, make it something else.

You had a flashback scene in Dinner with Friends. It went from present to past and then back to present again, interrupting the through line. Why did you employ that?

Sight Unseen plays around with time more than Dinner with Friends does. Dinner with Friends is pretty linear. When I finished the play, I realized the way that I had structured it hadn't permitted a scene in which all four characters appeared. And I felt that in order to really complete the story of these two couples, these friendships, I needed to create a scene in which the four of them were together. That became the first scene of the second act that begins twelve years earlier, when Gabe and Karen introduce Tom and Beth, which becomes obviously a fateful meeting.

Talk a little bit about conflict and emotional tension in a play, which you handle so well.

I've always been interested in behavior and in subtext, in things that are not said, that are expressed through behavior...and through language. In order for there to be drama, there's got to be conflict. And in order for there to be conflict, the stakes have got to be very high for the characters. Even if things are not exceedingly high in our eyes, we are seeing how important it is to those characters, and in seeing that, we identify. We can all replace equivalents for people's different experiences that we see onstage and plug in our own autobiography. So in order for there to be drama there's got to be conflict...and there was no conflict incidentally in Grace Paley's short story. It was all very benign. I created conflict.

You empathize with both sides of an issue. As in Collected Stories, neither woman is an angel. It is up to the audience to make up their own minds as to what is right. Is that correct?

That's true of everything I write. And this may be parenthetical, but I give an assignment in my playwriting class at Yale, after they read the play Aunt Dan and Lemon by Wallace Shawn, which has at its center a really shocking monologue essentially about fascism. I have my students write a monologue from the point of view of someone they find reprehensible. But they're charged with: Do not condescend to these people. Do not turn them into a joke. Really get inside the head of somebody who is not like you. Try to figure out why do they maintain that point of view? Do it with as much integrity and dignity for the character as possible. That is something I live by. In creating arguments onstage you really have to totally empathize with people who you may not agree with. As in Collected Stories, in a balanced argument in its presentation, the audience's sympathies will shift from moment to moment and from statement to statement. "She's right. Oh no, she's right". That's the way it should be. No one is a villain. There is no Eve Harrington in Collected Stories. That's a misrepresentation of the play. It's not that. It's really a love story about these platonic women. Platonic mother/daughter surrogates.

Screenplays that you have written, do you keep them pretty much the same as the plays?

I've written three adaptations of my plays, two of which have been made into movies. Dinner with Friends was made into an HBO movie and Collected Stories was made into a PBS movie. I also wrote Sight Unseen as a screenplay. That play was my breakthrough in 1991. I tend not to completely reconceive the plays...there are fewer lines of dialogue only because film, the camera doesn't tolerate language as much as you can use it onstage. Sight Unseen, because it has so many different time elements gave me the freedom to jump around a lot, which is something you can readily do on film. The structure of Sight Unseen is probably the most different from a play that I have adapted.

What else have you been working on besides Coney Island Christmas?

I always have several things going on at once in addition to teaching, which takes up a lot of time and energy. I do love it. I'm working on another new play called The Country House for the Manhattan Theatre Club, a commission also. I'm working on the book of a musical, which I'm not at liberty to discuss. I'm also working on a screenplay for an independent feature about the writer David Foster Wallace. That's pretty much what I have on my plate right now. There are also a couple of revivals that are being talked about. It's a very nice thing to live to see. Even though I'm still relatively young, I've been around a long time (he laughs) and it's very nice to see the work being rediscovered.

Do you have any mentors? What writers inspired you?

I would say Thornton Wilder, specifically Our Town and Chekhov inspired me. I've always admired his interest in psychology. His plays are kind of deceptive in that way, because it seems like there's not much that happens in them. But there are all these subterranean turmoils that are dealt with in Chekhov that I really identify with and draw inspiration from. My new play The Country House is a kind of homage to Chekhov.
I'm drawn to real identifiable behaviors...Pinter's Betrayal is a great play. What an example of economy in writing! It's exquisitely written.

Many would agree that Donald Margulies is an exquisite writer as well. See his Coney Island Christmas now previewing at the Geffen and opening on Wednesday November 28. It will play through December 30.
http://geffenplayhouse.com/

(photo credit: Don Grigware)

Interview with Actor Michael Weston

Actor Michael Weston, known to TV audiences for his roles on House, Scrubs and an amazing guest star turn as "Jake" in Six Feet Under, co-stars with Robert Foxworth, Jeannie Berlin, JoBeth Williams and Robin Weigert in Jon Robin Baitz' Other Desert Cities now previewing and opening at the Mark Taper Forum December 9. Weston, who replaced initially cast Justin Long, recently took a break from rehearsals to sit down and talk about the play and his theatrical interests. Weston is the son of Tony winner John Rubinstein.

You live and grew up in New York, right?

I'm a little bit bi-coastal. We sort of followed my dad (John Rubinstein) around. I lived mostly in New York, but I was out here for early kindergarten and 7th grade. I went back and forth. But I definitely grew up in the wings of theatre most of my life. I remember when he was doing Children of a Lesser God, which came out here to the Taper... I loved it, it was magical to me.

Did you ever perform with him on stage?

No. To be honest, I was never really interested in theatre as a kid. I loved baseball, (he laughs) so I would play like in the Broadway Show League. I always loved all his pals in there, a bunch of guys and gals from Broadway shows, and they'd come and play softball in Central Park. My interest in theatre started in high school, mostly because my dean forced me to do it. I was creating trouble in the hallways, so he demanded that I do something with my spare time.

That accounts for you being cast in a lot of bad boy roles.

I play trouble makers. It's natural. (we laugh)

The first thing I saw you do was Six Feet Under, and you were such a little fiend, I hated you, but you nailed it so completely. 

Oh, I was evil.

But I could tell underneath it all, that you have a tremendous sense of humor and were really enjoying what you were doing.

It was very dark, but I did really enjoy that. And it was such beautiful writing, as in this play. The way that they could churn that out as often as they did, it was an amazing show! That set the precedent. There was humor in it and there was the darkness of it and that allows you to play those kind of characters.

So, honestly, it wasn't that hard to play that drugged-out character?

No, it wasn't, and that may say terrible things, but the truth is, you're working with so many wonderful people...and, it's very dark material, but when you're actually shooting it, you don't think of it as that. When you play a character like that...I mean, he wasn't aware of the consequences of his actions as much, so, for me, I made a purposeful effort to really enjoy it. (he laughs)

The moment to moment - what is he going to do next? - element kept you on the edge of your seat. And you had a great rapport with Michael C. Hall!

He's such a lovely actor and a lovely man. We had a great time doing it.

I unfortunately did not see you in Scrubs or House, but I did catch a movie on late night cable called Wishcraft (2002). Talk about 360 degrees away from viciousness! You were this meek kid that I really felt sympathy for. And I studied many years ago with Austin Pendleton, who also had a role in that as a teacher.

Oh, I love Austin. We had fun doing that. He's one of those guys of the theatre that I've always admired. And yes, my character was a much sweeter, innocent dude. (he laughs)

It's just another side of you that you draw upon as an actor when you need it.

I guess so. I think in our core, we're all of that.

Let's get to Other Desert Cities. Tell us about the play and your character in it.

I'd heard of the play, and I've been a fan of Robbie Baitz forever. I remember, my dad was up at Vassar, and as a kid I watched him do Three Hotels. As I watched rehearsals, I fell in love with the writing. Not really understanding why, I just loved it. It set the world so amazingly. And then I was up at Williamstown (Massachusetts) and I saw another play of his with John Benjamin Hickey...I can't remember the name of it...it was so beautiful. I'm a huge fan of his. When this role came up, I just crossed my fingers, and there's nothing better than to be in a beautiful play. I love the depth of this play. I love family dramas that have a sense of humor and that are so alive, full of that amazing energy onstage.

What is your character like?

I play Trip Wyeth who's the youngest son.

Another troublemaker?

He's a mischievous guy, but he's got a big heart. He's the caretaker of the family even as the youngest son. I've sort of played that role in my own family a bit. So, it's a very deep and personal role to me. I understand him well.

You  have several brothers and sisters in real life, correct?

I do. Families go through their ups and downs. In this play Trip is this loving soul who is trying to keep his family together, amidst their past, pain, ambitions. This play effortlessly makes each character the center of the action at different moments and seemingly altogether as a portrait. It's really a masterpiece of writing, so rich on a human level. It's so wonderful to step into these characters and live in that for a couple of hours. Especially living out here in Los Angeles, it's very rare when you get an opportunity to ride out a character for two hours straight. It's really a privilege. I can't wait to do it.

with hugh laurie in house

You are in a terrific cast! I haven't seen Jeannie Berlin in years!

I just saw her in Margaret, Kenny Lonergan's film. Jeannie is spectacular in it. JoBeth (Williams) and Robert Foxworth are just wonderful actors. It's so great to be a part of that. I didn't know Robin (Weigert) at all, before we got into this. She is a perfect motor for this play in her heart, and she's so smart and so fun. We gelled really quickly as a family. It's a real ensemble play. Everyone speaks and does a lot. I have a lot of moments on stage where I'm just listening, watching this drama unfold around me. I always feel a part of it, which is really a testament to the actors, and Robert Egan is just a wonderful director who I've always wanted to work with. I did Ojai Playwrights Festival with him years ago. We hit it off, and it's been really special to work with him. This family becomes very much alive onstage. Even when I'm not opening my mouth, I feel great.

Talk about "opening your mouth" and singing. You must have some musical talent with all those great genes.

I play piano. I've always sort of dabbled. My wife is this amazing musician. My dad is a great composer. My grandfather was a crazy pianist (renowned concert pianist Arthur Rubinstein). I never really wanted to get into any of it, because they were all too good. Just recently I did a little independent movie called Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best where I was forced to play in a band and sing. We went on the road. We did it all, and it was so much fun. We got a record deal with Warner Bros playing this really silly music. We have like an album out. So, I have a band, man. (he laughs)

So you are equipped to do a musical on stage!

If I was forced to, but I'd be terrified. I love all the old musicals. I grew up on them. But I find that there are people that are so adept...I just find it scary. If someone gave me a shot, though, I'd try it out. (laughs)

Who are your idols besides your dad?

I love Gene Hackman. I love Ryan Gosling...I watch his work and ...he's one of my peers...and I cannot get enough of Meryl Streep. She can do no wrong. There are so many. I just wrote a movie and I'm going to direct it in the spring. I love actors so much, what they come up with, just being able to be a part of it...I have so many idols, big and small. Many of them are my peers that I work with, who make these little movies and get them out there. It takes such passion and resilience, and I have a lot of respect for them.

If you had to sum up acting, what is the best thing about being an actor?

As an actor, you have a chance to communicate and make a connection about something very human, about life, about fears, about hopes and dreams. Being able to traffic in that, in those feelings and emotional quality, share that with people especially on stage where you have a direct throughline to the audience. I have a huge respect for that. It fuels me. I get a high off of it, as you walk offstage. And if I can get a laugh at the end of it...SOLD! (we laugh)

What an exciting and energized human being! See Michael Weston in Other Desert Cities at the Mark Taper Forum, now previewing and opening officially on December 9!

(photo credit: Don Grigware)
http://www.centertheatregroup.org/