Before Herringbone rehearsals began at McCarter, actor BD Wong and director Roger Rees discussed their thoughts on the play, collaboration, and the mysteries of performing, with literary manager Carrie Hughes.

BD Wong in Herringbone. Photo by Joan Marcus.

CH: BD, you’re very passionate about this play, and I did not know until Roger told us today, that you’d first seen it at Playwrights Horizons as an usher. I was wondering if you could talk about the experience of seeing this play for the first time.

BDW: I was very fresh off the plane from San Francisco to New York to be an actor. I had been in one of my first shows, at the Equity Library Theater, in the chorus of a musical called Applause. The stage manager of that production took me to Playwrights Horizons to teach me how to be a volunteer usher, because that’s how you see free shows. And we saw Herringbone. I don’t know how to describe it. I just have this very strong sense that, one, I felt I would never forget it, and two, that I connected to it. Also, part of my experience as a high school actor was exploring multi-character work. I did a fair amount of work with forensics, in which actors took ten-minute cuttings of plays, and the more characters you could do, the more interesting it would be and you would win. So part of my sensibility at that time was doing all these characters. I just thought it was cool and it was very normal to me. So I saw it and took to it.

The next part of the story is probably nine or ten years later. I first met Richie Jackson, who I ended up being in a committed relationship with for fifteen years. He had just come from a producing program at NYU and way back then-this was 1989-on one of our first dates he said, “well, what [project] do you want to do?” The first thing that came out of my mouth was, “There’s this show I saw at Playwrights; it’s called Herringbone. It’s very weird and interesting and I loved it so much. I’ve never heard anything about it since then and it must be almost ten years now. Don’t know anything about it-don’t know who wrote it, don’t know anything.” And romantically enough, the next day, in my dressing room (I was in M. Butterfly then), was a copy of the script. And that’s when I fell in love! The two of us spent a good part of our relationship looking for a home for it. I did a small production of it at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia, and then in 2007 when Roger was working at Williamstown, we made the connection and I kind of seduced Roger into doing it.

CH: And Roger, when BD brought you this piece, what made you decide to produce and direct this particular play?

RR: Well, from an economic point of view when you’re running a theater, a one-man show with a three piece orchestra, and it being a musical too, is a very, very attractive proposition. But really I thought we should see BD do it, because no one really knows that this is his other side. We see him as a very serious actor, and maybe we’ve seen him in some musicals and things, but never carrying a musical in this way. But I know he can do this stuff-this tour-de-force aspect of his abilities. It’s thrilling to see one person achieve such an extraordinary thing. Today we listened to him do a reading of it, but if you can imagine the dynamic of doing everything else the story suggests emotionally, it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing. And also singing on pitch! I’m amazed.

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So finally all of the “Live at the Library” videos from A Seagull in the Hamptons are in one place—check out the player below to watch all 6 video excerpts of the event with star Maria Tucci and director/adapter Emily Mann.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Emily Mann, McCarter’s Artistic Director and Playwright in Residence, recently sat down with Princeton News Network’s Todd Reichart to discuss her work as adaptor/director of A Seagull in the Hamptons. The video is embedded below. Enjoy!

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Live at the Princeton Public Library, Emily Mann and Maria Tucci talk about how Emily’s adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull differs from the original, and how it has stayed the same. There are a bunch of other videos from the library event, which you can find on McCarter’s YouTube channel. Post your comments below by clicking on “comments.”

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Another YouTube video from “Live at the Library”—Emily Mann discusses why she decided to modernize Chekhov’s “The Seagull” and turn it into “A Seagull in the Hamptons.”

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Last night was McCarter’s “Live at the Library” on A Seagull in the Hamptons at the Princeton Public Library. Here’s the first of several YouTube clips of the event—Emily Mann discussing the design of the production. Enjoy, and post your comments by clicking on the “comments” button at the bottom of the post!

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Here’s another video from The Shakespeare Theatre Company of Mary Zimmerman describing the process of creating Argonautika. Very enjoyable.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

The Princeton News Network has once again done an interview with one of McCarter’s artists, this time with Mara Isaacs. In addition to being McCarter’s Producing Director (my boss), Mara is directing The Mad 7. For those of you who have spent the last six months living under a rock: The Mad 7 is the spotlight production of this year’s IN-Festival. If you have any comments or questions, post them below by clicking on the “comments” link.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company (our co-producer on Argonautika) really rocks my socks when it comes to creating exciting, multi-media digital content to talk about their productions. I’m super-inspired by all that they’ve done, and you can expect some similar stuff from McCarter in the very near future (oooh, exciting!). Below, see one of their YouTube vids of Mary Zimmerman, telling the story of Jason and the Argonauts.SPOILER ALERT: In case you didn’t understand that last sentence, if you watch this video, you will learn part of the story of Argonautika.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Photo by Peter Cook

Mara Isaacs is the Producing Director at McCarter Theatre and the director of Yehuda Hyman’s The Mad 7. Mara has enjoyed a 15-year collaboration with Yehuda Hyman as a producer, dramaturg and director. For McCarter, she is responsible for producing the Theater Series and play development programs and oversees McCarter productions on Broadway, off-Broadway, at theaters around the country and internationally. In addition to independent producing off-Broadway and in Los Angeles, Mara produced new play development programs and productions for the Mark Taper Forum from 1990–1995. She was a 2007 resident artist at the Rhodopi International Theatre Collective in Smolyan, Bulgaria, and is currently teaching at Princeton University. I asked her seven questions:

What’s your hometown?

Los Angeles, CA.

When did you first realize you wanted to work in the theater?

To be honest, it didn’t occur to me that working in the theater was a viable professional option (even though I had been attending since childhood). But as I neared graduation from college, I was torn between my passion for the performing arts and my chosen academic field of study (medical anthropology). While I was sorting through grad school applications in Public Health and Anthropology, a cousin of mine who was a professional stage manager suggested I apply for an internship at the Mark Taper Forum, and I never looked back after that.

What’s on your iPod (or CD player, etc.)?

At the moment, I’ve been listening obsessively to music that we might include in The Mad 7—Klezmer, Sephardic, Yeminite, African percussion, Indian tabla players, traditional Persian music, etc. When I need a break from that, I have the demo recordings of a handful of new musicals that interest me by some amazing composer/lyricist teams—Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda (of GrooveLily), David Shire and Richard Maltby, Jenny Giering and Marsha Norman, to name a few. And sometimes, my 5 year old daughter and I just like to cut loose in the living room to some good dance music—the South African band Tananas is our current favorite.

What do you love about Princeton?

Well, McCarter Theatre, of course! Since it is what brought me here 12 ½ years ago. . Carnegie Lake, the tow path, nearby Honeybrook Organic Farm and Terhune Orchards, and the Princeton Public Library are major assets for us. And then there is the great synergy that exists due to the cross section of people from the Institute, University and professional communities in the area. I must say, though, that my Princeton life would be woefully inadequate without Small World Coffee. I would be lost without my daily soy latte.

If you were trapped on a desert island, and could only take one book, what would it be and why?

My first thought is a blank book, so I could write and doodle to my heart’s content when fighting off impending madness. But if it is a literary choice, A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is what springs to mind first. There are so many layers to the language and storytelling, not to mention the artful construction. I could read it over and over and always find a new way through.

What was the first play you ever saw?

I started seeing theatre at such a young age, that I don’t remember what was first. But I do remember the first play I ever produced (and wrote, built puppets for, and starred in). It was titled, “Hey Mom, what about me?” I believe I was around 8 years old, more or less. It might have been my first experience in grass roots political theatre. It was very effective as I recall.

What is your favorite part of The Mad 7? My favorite part of The Mad 7 is the man who performs it: Yehuda Hyman. He is a wonder and defies all expectations.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.