Interviews with Two Theater Pros

from American Theatre

[In the past two months, American Theatre, the Theatre Communications Group’s journal of the non-profit theater which is represents, published interviews with two especially interesting theater figures, one a rising young (he’s about to be 38 on 17 October) playwright  and the other an esteemed actor with a career of nearly 70 years.  Both artists are embarking on new projects, so I thought it would be good to hear from them on Rick On Theater.

[In the September issue, Frank Rizzo, an arts writer and reviewer for the Hartford Courant and Variety, interviews Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose play Choir Boy I saw in Washington, D.C., in 2015 (report posted on 15 January 2015).  Following that, I’ve posted the interview of Joel Grey by Russell M. Dembin, the managing editor of AT whose writing has also appeared in The Drama Review and Theatre Journal.  That conversation appeared in the October issue of AT.]

“TARELL ALVIN MCCRANEY WANTS TO FOSTER NEW PLAYWRIGHTS”

By Frank Rizzo

The Oscar-winning writer behind ‘Moonlight’ looks back on his first year as head of the playwriting program at Yale.

Tarell Alvin McCraney (The Brother Sister Plays, Head of Passes) won an Oscar for the screenplay for Moonlight and now heads Yale’s playwriting program. His play Choir Boy hits Broadway in January, and next spring he’ll star in his play Wig Out! at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where he’s an ensemble member.

FRANK RIZZO: Having been a playwriting student at Yale, graduating in 2007, what’s it like to be now heading the program?

TARELL ALVIN MCCRANEY: I’m not in this because I want to be the professor from Dead Poets Society—to get the praise and all. That is not why I’m doing this.

So why are you here?

Because I want to be watching, listening, and learning as the new shapers of the American theatre unleash the waves that are coming. This year has been wildly rewarding.

How did you choose your first class last year?

There is no shortage of talent in America. It’s a relatively simple process, but at the end of the day what you’re really looking for are community members whom you hope will thrive under the auspices of the program here. But narrowing it down through all these wildly talented people—well, that part for me was awful. This coming year we had 180 applicants, from which we chose three writers. The year before, because the deadline was extended, we had 205.

What did these students most want to know from you?

It depends. The third-year writers who were already in the program when I arrived are much more interested in asking career and professional questions. For the others, it’s somewhat different. Sometimes I’d offer [advice] and they’d look at me like, “We didn’t ask.” That’s okay. They’re finding their own voices, and at that moment they don’t want to hear someone else’s voice. But at some point later on, they’ll remember something that I told them. That happened to me. Now I remember something Nilo Cruz or John Guare or Lynn Nottage said and I think, “Oh, yeah, that’s just the thing they said in class.” But when I was at school, I would think, “Well, that’s her experience, that’s not going to happen to me.” And then you get out there and think, Oh, I’m so glad she said that, because now it’s connecting with what I’m doing. So you learn to take what everyone says from their experiences and you just put that in your pocket.

Richard Nelson, who ran the program when you were there, called you at the time “a significant figure in the theatre.” Do you look for others with a particular new voice?

I don’t have to look for that one special voice. They’re all here. You know, I wasn’t the only one who was unique when I was here. Amy Herzog was in my class. Now she has a play on almost every major stage across the country and is constantly sought out for commissions. The same thing is true of other writers when I was there. The thing about writers—and all artists—is that the maturation, or coming into one’s own voice, or blossoming into a career, is different for everyone. There are many ways and means by which people come into their own. I am not here to look for that “one,” but to experience all of them.

How did these new playwrights affect you?

I’m always excited about what they’re doing, and sometimes I am confused and confounded [by the forms and content of their work]. But as you spend enough time telling writers to just be themselves—well, that rubs off on you too. Telling a kid over and over again not to lose patience usually helps you gain patience.

What did you learn here when you were a student? And do your students get the same rewards?

Yale School of Drama taught me to be multi-faceted. I was already, but it helped me refine those skills. I came here as a playwright, but I had been an actor most of my life, though I had been writing forever. At the school, I had the opportunity to at least work on other things while still focusing [on playwriting].

Look at Taylor Mac, and other extraordinary artists who look to tell their stories in the best way possible—that means sometimes you can’t just write it. You’ve got to sing it, direct it, act in it. We can limit ourselves on what we can tell if we only look at one aspect of the telling. All stories aren’t told the same way. There are communities engaged in telling stories in a way that is completely different from the platforms that we set up for traditional theatre.

If you weren’t a storyteller, what would you be?

I always wanted to be a lawyer. I like the idea of social contracts and justice, but I hear there’s a lot of reading involved, and I read so slowly. But I’d give a great summation to the jury!

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“JOEL GREY’S YIDDISH ‘FIDDLER’ TELLS A STORY THAT’S STILL GOING ON”

by Russell M. Dembin

He once dreamt of starring as Tevye, but directing the show’s U.S. premiere in Yiddish will do just fine for the son of Mickey Katz.

Joel Grey, best known for his Tony- and Oscar-winning portrayal of the Emcee in Cabaret, has had a storied career in theatre and film, including Tony nominations for his performances in George M!, Goodtime Charley, The Grand Tour, as well as for his 2011 co-direction of The Normal Heart with George C. Wolfe. His staging of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (Fidler Afn Dakh), produced by National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, runs through Nov. 18.

RUSSELL M. DEMBIN: You’ve said that you decided to direct Fidler Afn Dakh to honor your father, Mickey Katz, who was probably best known for his Yiddish parodies of American popular songs. What do you think he’d say about this staging of  Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, and Joseph Stein’s classic musical?

JOEL GREY: I know my dad would be very pleased because there are so many people—non-Yiddish speakers and non-Jews—who are responding to this Yiddish Fiddler. He’d be pleased that it is opening a dialogue, because the more you open the dialogue, the more understanding comes right along with it. We had many actors who auditioned who never spoke Yiddish, and yet they knew there was something in this that would speak to everyone, and which would ultimately be universal, which I’m pleased it turned out to be.

What’s the most important lesson you learned from your dad?

Having respect for the audience. When we would go to parties he would be the last one there until everyone was off the dance floor.  He really thought that you had to respect the audience and the people around you.

Like many who’ve seen it, I found your production very moving. Could you talk about what makes a Yiddish Fiddler relevant in 2018?

The Yiddish Fiddler is like any other story, and unfortunately the world has too many of those stories. How can any of us turn our heads away from those tragedies? And yet we are still doing it—it’s in The New York Times every morning.

Last summer I watched Human Flow, a film directed by Ai Weiwei about immigrants all over the world getting put out of their homes. It was stunning and deeply sad that all these years later, human nature doesn’t seem to have changed enough.

With a majority of the cast new to the Yiddish language, the rehearsal process must have been unique. Could you talk a bit about your approach?

Half of our cast were not Jewish, and there were a few Yiddish speakers among the group, but most of them needed to work on the language the way that opera singers learn Italian in order to perform at the Met. I personally worked with everyone first in English. We did that first, and later on they learned the Yiddish version (they were coached daily by a specialist at Folksbiene, associate artistic director Motl Didner). But we worked in English first, because they needed to know the truth of the emotional scenes.

You’ve mentioned that you once wanted to play Tevye. What attracted you to that role?

I think it is one of the greatest roles in musical theatre. When I saw Zero Mostel play the part, his portrayal captivated me, and I had an immediate feeling for the entire story. I had the feelings for the story for many years, always thinking about playing Tevye, being a father and having to face all those challenges. I think I was up for the part at some point, but it never happened. Directing the show is a wonderful way of fulfilling the dream.

What’s an especially useful Yiddish expression?

Genug iz genug, which means, “Enough is enough.”

In 2016 you published your memoir, Master of Ceremonies. What advice would you give to someone writing a memoir?

Have compassion for yourself.

What’s the funniest joke you’ve ever heard?

What’s funny to me might be tragic to someone else.

If you weren’t an actor or director, how would you spend your time?

I might be a painter. I am a photographer, and that is how I spend a lot of my time, and that’s my other passion.

If you could visit any time period, which would it be?

Maybe my first 20 years, to go back and relive them, what I know now might be interesting, and then again…

If God exists and you could ask God one question, what would it be?

How did you make this life so beautiful?

[The Manhattan Theatre Club production of McCraney’s Choir Boy is scheduled to open at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on West 47th Street under the direction of Trip Cullman on 10 January 2019.  Grey’s Yiddish-language Fiddler opened at the Edmond J. Safra Hall in the Museum of Jewish Heritage on Battery Place in lower Manhattan on 16 July 2018 and closes on 25 October.  The presentation was produced by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, on which I blogged on 23 and 26 August 2012.]