Emily Mann and Lanford Wilson on the set of Talley’s Folly, photo by T. Charles Erickson.

On the heels of BD Wong’s recent Downstage Center interview, Talley’s Folly playwright Lanford Wilson just recorded his own American Theatre Wing “Downstage Center” interview for a podcast and for XM Satellite Radio.

In the interview, Lanford discusses the creation of his famed “Talley trilogy,” including Fifth of July, which stemmed in part from his equating an Eskimo folk tale with the war in Vietnam, and Talley’s Folly, and how it grew out of an acting suggestion made to one of the original cast members of Fifth of July. He also talks about his original aspirations of being an artist, with writing being simply something to fall back on; his move from Chicago to New York and his introduction to Off-Broadway’s famed Caffe Cino in the mid-60s; the genesis of his landmark plays Balm in Gilead and The Hot L Baltimore; how he came to write Burn This to break away from his growing reputation as a “suburban” playwright and as the antithesis of Talley’s Folly; and whether we’ll be seeing new plays from him any time soon. Links to the audio feed of the interview and a downloadable podcast version are below. Enjoy!

From Talley’s Folly. Original air date - October 17, 2008 Running Time - 60:07.

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Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under General, Multimedia, Playwright's Pen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.