Check out these marionettes! They were handcrafted by Puppet Kitchen for A Real Boy, presented by Ivy Theatre Company in association with Athena Theatre, August 2 - 27 in Theater C.
We talked to Joe Discher, the director of Butler, about bringing the play to New York and making history funny! Read on:
1. How did you navigate the tone of the play in rehearsals?
The play has very serious subject matter as well as historical content, and a generous dose of humor in it, from wit and word-play to broader comic strokes and and even some physical comedy. I always strive to strike a balance between the two. Instead of trying to mine comic moments in the play, the cast and I focused on keeping things specific and motivated by the stakes and the reality of the situation. I think any good comic moment comes from playing the reality of the situation, and/or building up dramatic tension to the moment where it is released in laughter. My goal was to find what was at the heart of the scene or moment and go from there, without things becoming overly broad. Find specificity, raise the stakes, and with Richard Strand's writing and the cast's acting, the comic moments take care of themselves--with fine-tuning here and there, of course.
2. What has it been like to revisit the play for a New York audience?
Wonderful. The cast knew the material, as did I, and we knew about many things that worked and things that we wanted to improve or build upon. And everyone was eager to use the rehearsal process to continue their journeys and dig deeper into their characters’ arcs and motivations. And the New York audiences have been terrific. They have responded vocally to the things that worked, and given us a few surprises. In previews, the audiences helped us understand where we need to tighten and fine-tune or make things clearer. The greatest thing about doing this in New York is that we have a very diverse audience.
3. How have you and the cast approached the fact that Butler is based on real events? Did you do much research or did you prefer to let the material stand on its own?
The material could certainly stand on it's own, but we all did a great deal of research. I read through two books on General Butler, and a wonderful book by Adam Goodheart called 1861: The Civil War Awakening, which gives a detailed account of the events at Fort Monroe. There was additional detailed research on the Civil War, slavery, and Fort Monroe itself. The cast shared their own research, too, as it touched their particular character. Everyone wanted to understand the mindsets, the institutions and the era, to enrich their character interpretations. The play is so well-written as to be very diverting, and I always wanted to keep in touch with the harsh reality of the three men who risked their lives to escape, stole a boat and rowed across the water to Fort Monroe at midnight, not knowing how they would be received, and knowing what might happen to them if they were returned to the Confederates.
4. How did you come to be involved with this production?
This falls into the category of “everything happens for a reason,” even if we don't understand it at the time... I was offered the job of directing a new play at New Jersey Repertory Company. The artistic director, SuzAnne Barabas, knew my work from my time at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. She called me and said, "I'm supposed to direct a play here in June. Why don't you read it, and if you like it, you can direct that instead. It's called Butler." I read it, loved it, and directed the world premiere at NJ Rep in 2014. SuzAnne and Gabor Barabas (Executive Producer) are very loyal to their company members, so when they knew they were bringing Butler to New York, they kept the entire original creative team on board, which is very special.
5. The Civil War may not seem like the most obvious setting for a contemporary play. What do you think Butler illuminates about our world today?
Normally, I love to talk about the message of a play. But in this instance I think the audience should experience it for themselves and decide its relevance to what is going on in our society.
But, as an alternate answer:
There is still an epic struggle to break the chains of systemic racism and hatred in our country; and although Butler contains a great deal of humor, it addresses ideas that are crucial to making any progress -- compassion, changing one's perspective, and embracing both our differences and our similarities.
1. If you had to describe your one-act in just three words, what would they be?
Waiter. Fly. Backstroke.
2. What's one performance of a play you attended that had a profound affect on you as a playwright?
In my senior year of college I sat through 41 performances of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf directed by the great Terry Schreiber, making college immediately redundant.
3. What's the worst piece of advice anyone has ever given you as a writer?
A tossup between "write what you know" and "just write what you feel."
4. What's the key to writing a successful one-act?
Ambition and sensible shoes.
5. What’s your favorite thing about summer in New York?
Culling the herd.
6. If you could go back in time and ask any playwright any question, what playwright would you visit and what would you ask?
Samuel Beckett: boxers or briefs?
7. What’s up next for you after SUMMER SHORTS?
I'm enjoying writing a feature film and the whiplash of switching from thinking in words to thinking in pictures.
1. If you had to describe your one-act in just three words, what would they be?
I'm going to cheat and use four from Henry David Thoreau: "Lives of Quiet Desperation."
2. What's one performance of a play you attended that had a profound affect on you as a playwright?
I remember when Angels In America parts 1 & 2 were running at the Walter Kerr, I would buy a $20 student seat every Wednesday matinee and sit in the balcony listening to those haunting, funny, beautiful words. After the first few times (I saw them about eight times each) I would mostly just close my eyes and let the lines run over and through me.
3. What's the worst piece of advice anyone has ever given you as a writer?
Know your audience.
4. What's the key to writing a successful one-act?
I suppose achieving some sort of "completeness". Having a beginning, a middle, and finally a surprisingly inevitable conclusion. Avoiding the sketch if you're able.
5. What’s your favorite thing about summer in New York?
Um... SUMMER SHORTS? Okay, or playing tennis under the Williamsburg Bridge. Oh, and Shakespeare in the Park. That's what I -- Wait a second, sunset drinks at the Frying Pan on the Hudson. Or maybe... Screw it... Everything. I love everything about NYC in summer.
6. If you could go back in time and ask any playwright any question, what playwright would you visit and what would you ask?
I would ask Henrik Ibsen to sit me down and explain everything he knew about structure.
7. What’s up next for you after SUMMER SHORTS?
I am currently adapting a feature screenplay for Michael Fassbender, adapting my own playStill Life into a feature, which will be my directorial debut and finishing up the polish on the first season of my upcoming television series The One Percent with my co-writer, the brilliant Nicolas Giacobone.
1. If you had to describe your one-act in just three words, what would they be?
Bittersweet lives Chekhov.
2. This will be your eighth year having a one-act in SUMMER SHORTS. What keeps you coming back?
Those residual checks! (that’s a joke) I love writing in this short form and I love the venue. Throughline artists and 59E59 theaters are extremely good partners and I also love the audience that’s been cultivated over the past decade. I feel very at home in ‘Theatre B’ and I love sharing the stage with other like-minded artists who can’t give up working in this medium. I’ve never tired of it and I’m thirty years into my career.
3. As a playwright and a director, what’s one thing you always look for in an actor?
Desire. I want someone to want to be there. No matter what the size of the job, you want to work with people who want to work (and, hopefully, work with you). I don’t want anyone doing me a favor. More than talent or skill or training, I want to know that this person is here because they can’t go very long in their life without being on stage.
4. What’s the key to writing a successful one-act?
In short story writing, Edgar Allan Poe talked about the idea of a ‘unified effect’ (every aspect of a piece must work toward the whole) and I think this idea also applies to short plays. The shorter the play, the fewer words you have to deal with, the less time to get your point across and I think it’s hugely important to be able to understand how much can be said in just a few lines if they’re the right lines.
5. What’s your favorite thing about summer in New York?
Same thing that I love about every season — Central Park. I live on the upper west side and without the park, New York would be just another city. That park makes life bearable and, more than that, it makes it wonderful. Walking south-east across the park and over a few blocks to watch a matinee or evening performance at 59E59 brings me a great, simple pleasure.
6. If you could go back in time and ask any playwright any question, what playwright would you visit and what would you ask?
I would be tempted to go back and ask Georg Buchner how he really planned to end Woyzeck but I’d probably instead go back and visit Chekhov. Just spend the day with him in Yalta, maybe bring him some cough syrup or some ‘fisherman’s friend’ throat lozenges from the future. Something cool like that.
7. What’s up next for you after SUMMER SHORTS?
I’ve got a new play that will be opening at MCC Theatre in the fall called All The Ways To Say I Love You and I’m also going to Germany to direct Uncle Vanya. That should be interesting: an American directing a company of Germans in a Russian play that’s been relocated to Czechoslovakia in 1968. Obviously I don’t like doing things the easy way...
We continue our playwright profiles by chatting with A. Rey Pamatmant, whose plays include Edith Can Shoot Things And Hit Them (Humana Festival) and most recently House Rules (Ma-Yi). His one-act This Is How It Ends is part of Summer Shorts Series A, which begins performances July 22.
1. What three words best describe your one-act?
Apocalyptic, irreverent, WEIRD.
2. What’s one performance of a play you attended that profoundly affected you as a playwright?
There are too many to count. Most recently, though, I bawled through the last 15 – 20 minutes of the most recent The Normal Heart revival. Any trepidation I felt about totally destroying an audience in order to affect them went away.
3. What’s the worst piece of advice anyone has ever given you as a writer?
Stop being so earnest.
4. What’s the key to writing a successful one-act?
I don’t know if this is the key to a successful one-act, but when I write them I usually see them as a chance to have fun and be daring in terms of experimenting with stuff aesthetically, theatrically, or textually. Really you just want to hold people’s attention for 15 – 45 minutes, not deliver a "well-made" play. So why not use that as an opportunity to perfect something weird that you can later use in a full-length.
5. What’s your favorite thing about summer in New York?
ICE CREAM. ICE CREAM. ICE CREAM.
6. If you could go back in time and ask any playwright any question, what playwright would you visit and what would you ask?
This is so cliché, but I would ask Shakespeare: "Pericles and Cymbeline — what the f*** were you thinking, and how can I think that way?"" Or maybe I’d ask William Inge, "Will you marry me?" post-AA but pre-suicide (obviously). No, wait, I’d ask August Wilson, "Would you revise your thoughts on colorblind casting now?" I don’t like this game. Too many possibilities.
7. What’s up next for you after SUMMER SHORTS?
I’m pursuing development opportunities for this big, gay three-play cycle I’ve been kicking around. We’re starting out with a residency with NYTW at Dartmouth. Wish us luck!
With the 10th Anniversary Season of Summer Shorts starting in a few weeks, we thought we’d get to know the six playwrights represented in this year’s line-up. This week we kick things off by chatting with playwright, actor and screenwriter Cusi Cram. Cram has written for shows like The Big C and Arthur, and her plays include Radiance at Labyrinth Theater and A Lifetime Burning at Primary Stages. Her one-act The Helpers is part of Summer Shorts Series A, which begins performances July 22.
1. What three words best describe your one-act?
Awkward. Unexpected. Funny.
2. What’s one performance of a play you attended that profoundly affected you as a playwright?
Angels in America made me want to write plays. I was primarily an actor before I saw that play but the day after seeing Part 1, I went to my dumb temp job and opened up a document and started writing a play. Years of writing plays at dumb temp jobs followed. It’s all that damn angel’s fault.
3. What’s the worst piece of advice anyone has ever given you as a writer?
Do one thing.
4. What’s the key to writing a successful one-act?
Simplicity and deep, unexpected characters.
5. What’s your favorite thing about summer in New York?
The weekends, when all the folks with country houses go away and my neighborhood is quiet and empty and you can eat at any restaurant at 8 PM. I’m also a sucker for an outdoor café and drinking Italian cocktails at said café, which taste vaguely medicinal. It makes me feel sophisticated and almost continental.
6. If you could go back in time and ask any playwright any question, what playwright would you visit and what would you ask?
I would like to ask Chekhov about his daily routine (the daily routines of writers is a bit of an obsession). Like how did he balance out the prose writing with writing for the theater? What was his ideal breakfast for a workday? How much champagne was too much champagne at a country dance? That kind of stuff.
7. What’s up next for you after SUMMER SHORTS?
I am part of the Working Farm at Space on Ryder Farm, so I’ll be spending a chunk of time at an organic farm this summer and into the fall developing some new plays. I am also developing some work for TV. And more than anything (apart from being in this one act festival) I want to write and direct another film, so I am working on making that happen. In the fall I will be teaching in the Fordham/Primary Stages MFA Program at NYU in the Dramatic Writing Program.
TOAST by Richard Bean takes place in Hull, England, in 1975. So naturally, the characters use some terminology and slang that’s unfamiliar (and some that will be familiar to you if you watched The Great British Bake-Off on Netflix like we all have!).
Check out our language primer below, then get your tickets because they’re selling like hotcakes!
CHARGEHAND: Foreman, paid by the hour. Not management.
MIXER: The worker in the mixing room making the dough. The part of Nellie in the play.
TINNING UP: Putting the unrisen dough by hand into the tins. The first job on the line, performed at the prover.
PROVER: A steam oven where the bread rises before being baked. Set at a lower temperature than the reel oven.
OVEN MAN: Two people work at the reel oven on a shift.
REEL OVEN: Positioned next to the prover. The size of a narrow tennis court, this iron box contains a carousel of continuously moving trays on which the bread is baked. A tray takes 10 minutes to complete its journey.
BURNERS: Oil burners inside the oven, keeping it at a constant temperature of about 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit!)
TIN CHANGE: The job of changing the tins to make a different shape of bread.
LID: A large piece of steel put on top of a tin to create a square loaf suitable for making sandwiches.
TABLE MAN: The worker at the end of the conveyor belt who puts the baked bread on wire racks before it is sliced. Does not feature in the play.
SPARE WANK: If six people are working a 12-hour shift, a seventh worker must be available to cover them during their tea breaks and lunch breaks. This worker is the spare wank.
SMOKE: A tea break, lasting 10 or 15 minutes.
FLIER: When a worker gets a smoke at 6:50PM on a shift that is due to finish at 7PM, the chargehand will let him go home ten minutes early. This is a flier.
HALF-HOURS: Lunch break. On a 12-hour shift, workers get two half-hours.
CUSTARDS: Custard pies baked downstairs.
DECKIE: Deckhand on a trawler.
DE LA POLE: Former hospital in Willerby, once known as Hull Lunatic Asylum.
Impressive! Take a look at Tony Naumovski of #wideawakehearts doing his pre-show warmup. @birdlandtheatre #actorlife #59e59 #newplay #offbroadway #theater #warmup #yoga (at 59E59 Theaters)
The ladies of #wideawakehearts getting ready for the show! @sweptbythewind (Clea Alsip) on the left, @marenkbush on the right. And check out that gorgeous bouquet! @birdlandtheatre #theater #newplay #offbroadway #59e59 (at 59E59 Theaters)
The playwright talks about her incentive for injecting a cathartic surprise into the play, which centers on two teenagers bonding over poetry homework.
NEIL LABUTE is an award-winning writer and director who works in movies, television and the theater. His most recent play, THE WAY WE GET BY, premiered at Second Stage Theatre in New York in May 2015.
LaBute’s new play for the LaBute New Theater Festival, Kandahar, tells the story of a soldier returning from Afghanistan.
Tickets are on sale now for $30! http://bit.ly/1J3EvIB
JOHN DOBLE’s plays have been performed in the NYC Fringe and across the US and UK. His short fiction, Lefty and Other Stories, was nominated for the Southern Book Award.
John wrote Coffee House, Greenwich Village about a blind date goes terribly wrong.
Don’t miss the Labute New Theater Festival, an evening of six plays for just $30. Tickets are on sale now!
JJ STRONG is a Resident Playwright at Moving Arts Theatre in Los Angeles. He currently teaches in the undergraduate writing program at USC.
JJ wrote The Comeback Special – A sweet elvis comedy, which is part of the LaBute New Theater Festival, a six-play festival headlined by Neil LaBute. Tickets are on sale now for just $30!
PETER GRANDBOIS writes short fiction, plays, and essays that have won numerous awards. He is a professor of creative writing and contemporary literature at Denison University.
Peter co-wrote Present Tense with Nancy Bell a story about a social media hook up.
Present Tense is part of the 6-play Neil LaBute New Theater Festival which runs at 59E59 Theaters until Feb 6. Tickets on sale now for $30!
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