ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Some of you are nominated for new work and others for revivals.
Would you say that there are unique challenges to both?
And if so, what are they?
Shoshana Bean and Maleah Joi Moon in ‘Hell’s Kitchen’.Marc J Franklin
I feel like I’m just representing the play.
I wouldn’t be here if John Patrick Shanley didn’t write this kick-ass role and this kick-ass play.
Without good writing, I don’t know what we actors would do.
William Jackson Harper and Anika Noni Rose in ‘Uncle Vanya’.Marc J. Franklin
William, your play is both a revival and a new translation/adaptation.
WILLIAM JACKSON HARPER:It’s funny, in that way we probably treat it like a new play.
They feel British, a lot of them.
Shaina Taub iin ‘Suffs’.Joan Marcus
There’s ways in which this play becomes about middle age and about the road not taken.
It is a revival but it is meant to dialogue with our current time.
How has that shaped your approaches?
Tom Pecinka and Sarah Pidgeon in ‘Stereophonic’.Julieta Cervantes
SKY LAKOTA-LYNCH:It isThe Outsiders, but it’s a true adaptation.
We bend whatThe Outsiderscan be and include the history of Tulsa.
I was like, “I can’t interpret this better than this woman.”
Sky Lakota-Lynch and Joshua Boone in ‘The Outsiders’.Matthew Murphy
Marc J. Franklin
William, we have famously seen you play a professor plagued by anxiety and existential crises.
Is there any ofThe Good Place’sChidi in Astrov?
Do you see a parallel there?
Liev Schreiber and Amy Ryan in ‘Doubt: A Parable’.Joan Marcus
I might do it unconsciously, but I consciously don’t want to keep doing the same thing.
I attempt to start completely fresh.
But other than that, Astrov makes a big f—ing mess.
Brian d’Arcy James and Kelli O’Hara in ‘Days of Wine & Roses’.Joan Marcus (2024)
They pretty much part company right there.
Shaina, you also wrote and composed your show.
How does that change your relationship to your performance?
SHAINA TAUB:It’s the best way to learn If something’s working.
I have to drive the car I’ve made, and if it crashes, I feel it immediately.
If something’s not landing, I get that visceral feedback, which is humbling and also helpful.
The whole show is about the incompletion of any work, which is how I feel.
But now it feels like a joy.
I feel this sense of relief now that I can almost treat it like someone else’s.
How did that weigh on you, if at all?
It’s taught me a lot about life.
I am just not waiting to speak, but listening purely.
How did that come about and why did you say yes?
RYAN:I got a phone call late Sunday night asking if I would step in.
I never played the role before.
I sit at a desk a lot.
So I had the scripts the first few nights on the desk.
Why did I say yes?
Because I knew it was a great part.
I knew it was a great play.
There was only time to trust instincts and that’s it.
I was white-knuckling it, and it was truly terrifying.
But there was so much goodwill in the audience at those first few previews.
And I thought, “Stop thinking too much and just do it.”
That’s all I had time to do.
Shoshana,Hell’s Kitchenis both Alicia Keys' story and it isn’t.
How did that inform your interpretation of Jersey?
How much were you able to actually speak with Alicia’s mother and bring that into your work?
I just feel like it’s my missing piece.
I need to meet this woman."
I learned very quickly why I was chosen for this role because we innately are very similar humans.
If you see us together, we are weirdly similar.
We sit the same way, we react the same way.
I talk to her every day; she’s become a dear friend.
Julieta Cervantes
Sarah, how did you approach what I’m sure are the inevitable Fleetwood Mac parallels here?
Is there any Stevie Nicks in Diana?
Diana and her band are iconic in their own way.
I definitely listened to some 1970s music.
Or she’s inspired by their music and she’s carving something for herself.
Her whole arc is about finding agency in her artistry and her songwriting.
Was that something you found inherent in the text?
Actually going to Tulsa recently with my cast and with S.E.
So I was like, “Wow, I think that we are on to something.
We’re on to the truth of Tulsa because Tulsa is such a melting pot.”
But I do believe that Johnny could be a mixed Native American kid, which is so beautiful.
How were you able to run that gauntlet every night?
JAMES:It was extremely exhausting, challenging, and emotional.
Long story short is that it was mostly exhilarating as opposed to exhausting to plumb those depths.
Amy, doubt is at the center of your play.
RYAN:Brian F. O’Byrne is an old friend, who originated the role of Father Flynn.
He coincidentally happened to text me that morning that I was going out to rehearsal.
I was like, “Your timing is really weird.
But what do you got?
Quick, give me the Cliff’s Notes here.”
Never let go of that.
If he happens to say that, just know he’s lying.
You have to hold that as Amy and Sister Aloysius.
But if I did, I would ruin the throughline of her certainty.
So, even with the show closed, he’s guilty.
I’m still holding on to that.
Shaina, there is so much women’s history that has not been told.
What is it about Alice Paul and this story that made you so dedicated to this world?
I felt just so when I was young."
That unlocked the entire thing for me.
This older generation doesn’t get it.
And the better job you do, the more what comes behind you will outgrow you and outlive you.
Theater is a living, breathing thing.
What audience response has surprised you the most?
At the end of the scene, he does.
It is just a great dramatic moment.
It was just guttural and very moving to hear that because it told you they’re with the play.
I’ve never experienced a moment like that on stage.
And it would happen quite a bit.
And someone from the audience shouted, “He didn’t want to be pushed.”
He says, “What are you thinking?”
They’re so invested that I don’t think they even realize it’s coming from their mouth.
But I always find it exciting.
It’s like there’s an eighth ensemble member, and it changes every night.
When we get to it every night, there’s a huge laugh.
It gives me such pleasure because it’s this dry quote from history, but they’re listening.
They understand, they see us, and they’re laughing at the irony of it.
We just watch them get it, and that’s been satisfying.
They’re not people who are coming to the theater consistently, if ever.
Because of that, there is a wild freedom in response in our theater.
It is a concert of sorts.
But when we have a student audience, they’re so upset on his behalf.
It is the best reaction because we’re all a little cynical and ready for the laugh.
And then these students are just so upset.
They’re like, “Dude, no.”
LYNCH:Our audiences are mostly students, so we get a lot of rowdy reactions.
Johnny is getting beat up and trying to find his knife to stop it from happening.
Finally Johnny, after two minutes of this fight happening, gets the knife and stabs the guy.
The audience erupts every single time.
They’re like, “Oh my god, oh my god.”
And then it goes into slow-mo and they’re still clapping, which is just so wild.
JAMES:These make me think of one last year when I was doingInto the Woodsat a student matinee.
It’s the moment when the Baker learns that his wife has just been squished by a giant.
It’s a really dramatic moment for the Baker.
His line is, “My wife…has just been killed.”
And I was really into it, really emoting.
