Last week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with the director of The Crucible happening at the Lillian Theatre right now. Go see it! Bill Voorhees (Dollar Bill Productions) also plays John Proctor and we were joined by Al Richter (Francis Nurse), Jessicah Neufeld (Abigail Williams), and producer Sean Thomas. I started things off by asking Voorhees about whether the puritan principles which inform the work ethic and lifestyles of the characters have a place in modern society.
VOORHEES: For me, one of the big connections between where I think things go badly in the show and the character’s beliefs is that a lot of people get lost in the dogma. They’re not connected to something honest, honorable, and valuable. Usually, at least the people I know that are most honest with their spirituality, it’s a healthy thing. What we see in the show are people who go by rote, saying, “This is what we know, this is what we’re taught, this is what we do. That’s just the away it is.” They don’t pay attention to what’s behind the words. The concept of trying to focus on morality is to be a good person, connect with God, etc; that’s fantastic if you honestly do it.
CS: You see that in John Proctor.
VOORHEES: Right. Throughout this process, I had the fortune of being able to have two other directors come in and work with us, like Tom Beyer, who keyed in on Proctor not going to church or knowing his commandments, but, when put on the spot, says, “I nailed the roof upon the church, hung the door.” For him, it’s doing something for God. That’s what is important: creating, building, providing for his family. His kids are important. That’s how he connects with God.
1600s Morality & Lifestyle
CS: Was there much personal religion discussion with the cast during the rehearsal process?
VOORHEES: It was more concerning morals and “what would you do?” We had a table-work session where people discussed Proctor sticking to his guns. It was surprising that most everyone else said they didn’t think they could and would lie. For a minority of us, it was like, “Yeah, I’d hang. That’s what you do.” The other discussion was the sexual side and forgiveness, namely, Proctor’s transgressions. Do you forgive somebody or not? Lauren [Dobbins Webb, who played Elizabeth] had to reconcile her own personal feelings. “No, you cheated. That’s it. I don’t even know why I’m staying in this marriage with you.” Her journey was figuring how to play this other person …
CS: She had to identify something in that character that she could relate and be true to.
RICHTER: If a woman really loves her husband, it doesn’t matter. She can forgive him. The love doesn’t change, but the relationship does.
VOORHEES: Religion did come into the discussion talking with Lauren about this. Her goal with Elizabeth was to be as close as she possibly could to God. These characters were taught that divorce didn’t exist. It’s death. For Lauren, she dealt with the conflict of being so hurt by the affair, but not being able to go anywhere. And, she came around to that. You have to forgive, because there are bigger things.
CS: Survival.
VOORHEES: Love is even bigger. We discussed the connection between religion and politics. It was about the church really being in power at that time. Danforth holds up the Bible to the kids, which is where the laws come from. What that meant and how it permeated society, this little town, was rooted in that thing. The government was religion.
RICHTER: Everything they did was based upon the Ten Commandments. It’s all there written out for you: you must abide by these dictates. If you cannot, then, you’re either ostracized or hanged. Simple.
CS: There was also the way of life.
VOORHEES: Everybody in the show is filthy. But, if you’re high-class—the 1%—your costumes and faces are clean in the show. As it goes down the line, once you get to the farmers, they’re filthy. With Elizabeth having killed the rabbit at the beginning, “It came in the house. Almost broke my heart to have to kill and strip her—here you go, your dinner: soup.” That helps inform what we’re doing as far as what kind of person are you, if you are this woman trying to live righteously and be proper. And, at the same time, it’s easy to skin a rabbit and cook it right up for supper without even thinking about it twice. It’s living on a farm.
The Blacklist & Mob Mentality
CS: What about the feeling of removal for those who didn’t live through the 1950s Blacklist?VOORHEES: You hear about it and go, “Oh, well, that sound sounds terrible.” You don’t have any connection to it. When you see the dynamics in the show especially, you see what it personally does to people. Then, it starts to give another perspective on it.
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| Military counsel Joseph Nye Welch during the Army-McCarthy hearings |
RICHTER: It’s history to the younger generation, it’s current events to me. I saw what it did to directors and actors in New York. People who were used to making thousands of dollars, all of a sudden, made nothing, and were shunned by their fellow actors, directors. There was really no reason for it, because there were no, as Proctor say, “facts.” It was just the word of one man who created hysteria: McCarthy (your Danforth). The mob hysteria got to a point where a man had to stand up, put his foot down, and say “enough.” That was Welch, the attorney, who asked McCarthy, “Have you no sense of decency … left?” And, then, put a stop to it. It was bad. Trumbo had to write under an assumed name. He went from directing his whole life in theatre and film to doing nothing. The Blacklist was exactly that: they had a list. If you were on it: tough.
VOORHEES: People today don’t understand the power of what happened and how easy it was, once your name got thrown out. You were a hot button then.
RICHTER: The ramifications are still today. There are people who are hated because they didn’t [go along with] the bus. “Yeah, he’s a communist.”
VOORHEES: Even Elia Kazan a few years ago during his speech at the 1999 Academy Awards, because he named people, there were those that actively booed …
CS: Ed Harris, Nick Nolte …
VOORHEES: Some people walked out. I did hear someone in our audience the other day, after the show say, “It’s a good play, but that wouldn’t really happen.” 1) The witch-hunts happened and 2) that parallel, the McCarthy trials, it worked exactly the same way.
CS: In our history classes, we’re taught to remember some things and forget others.
VOORHEES: Anything that’s an embarrassment to America. At the time, [the Blacklist] was American and everybody got caught up in its jingoism. As soon as the lights turned on for people, and everybody understood what was really going on, then, it was a national shame. Once the trials stopped, then, it was, “It’s horrible what we did to people’s lives, but that didn’t really happen in America.” We don’t want to acknowledge that, only sweep it under the rug. The witch trials were North American history, rather than American. We weren’t a country, but The New World. People don’t really talk about the political side of the witch-hunts and the reverberations that were felt in the “country.” It’s not really America; it’s leftover from England.
RICHTER: It was an American Inquisition. It’s exactly the same thing, followed the same procedures: burn and hang them. They would have shot them if they had ammunition.
CS: It has to be challenging to make a story from the 1600s relevant for today’s audiences.
VOORHEES: It sounds challenging, but when you break it down to the human element and what happens to a family, then, it’s relatable, and the picture illuminates the framework.
CS: Have we as a country come anywhere close to that kind of mob mentality?
THOMAS: No question.
RICHTER: Read the newspaper. They’re doing it to [President Obama].
CS: 9/11 tied into the War in Iraq?
VOORHEES: I talk to actors about the period. Naked girls dancing is a hot button thing. We react to that so easily. As soon as something gets said, everybody runs with it. I remember 9/11. I was angry about what happened, I was like, “Let’s go kill everybody in the Middle East,” just because I was so in that moment from what I saw on TV. I recall a very small group of people celebrating in the Middle East and being very happy about 9/11 and burning the flag. Immediately, I was like, let’s go to war. Then, when you think about …
THOMAS: It could have been stock footage from years previously.
VOORHEES: Yeah, but we react so quickly. Once that mentality gets past one person, then you have a web of people, which gets bigger until it becomes a net and starts catching everybody.
THOMAS: It’s like saying “naked.”
RICHTER: It’s the herd syndrome.
NEUFELD: Being Americans, whether it’s The New World or otherwise, we’re so proud of our individuality. We find ourselves sucked into the mob, like the courtroom scene in Act IV. To admit you were wrong means that you lost your individuality and identity, and that you’re not aware of that. You can’t do that, because everything you were …
VOORHEES: You’re just perpetuating.
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| Bill Voorhees (John Proctor), Jessicah Neufeld (Abigail Williams) |
The Appendix & the Ending
CS: Why do the appendix [the optional extra scene that is sometimes included in productions/sometimes not]?
VOORHEES: 1) What it brings to the story, as far as the history of that relationship, and where I imagined their affair started. 2) This primal need was inside him, it happened, and to go back to the forest, because everything else takes place indoors … what the push behind the show was. And, 3) selfishly as an actor, having directed Jessicah, I wanted to see what she would do with this scene.
CS: It’s a short scene.
VOORHEES: Yeah, it’s seven minutes long. I think a lot of people cut it because it’s …
NEUFELD: Contradictory.
VOORHEES: And a little repetitive. Some of the stuff about how long it has been. We don’t really need to know, because it will come out the next day.
THOMAS: On opening night, there was an excited group, as soon as the lights started to come up for the scene, started whispering, “The appendix, the appendix.” [Laughter] It was interesting that they knew the play that well.
VOORHEES: That’s one of the two big questions I get asked about the show. Are you doing the appendix? Or, they call it “that other scene.” The other question is: are you going to show the hanging?
CS: Did you consider that?
THOMAS: Kind of. Lobby display.
VOORHEES: If there’s a way to make something happen, I like to go for it. But, I don’t think it leaves you with the right moment. What’s most important is what changes. I was taught something valuable very early on by a director. I did a play that to me was a tragedy. I said, “It’s a horrible ending, saddest thing ever. This guy dies and then these two kids are left alone.” She said, “No, it’s a beautiful ending.” “Why?” “Because they’re changed by this death. And, now, you know what’s going to happen afterwards. Their relationship with this person made them brave and they’re going to be okay. It’s a happy ending.” So, with this show, yes, it’s an awful, harrowing, and torturous journey to go through at times. But, it’s fulfilling, because more than one person changes for the better. John. Elizabeth. She learns about her self and makes a decision to be a different kind of person from that point out. For me, if you end it with a hanging …
CS: It misses the point.
THOMAS: It reminds me of what Al said earlier about the affair. It’s the relationship that changes, not the love.
RICHTER: You leave the audience with a mind picture, which is always far more vibrant than anything. In that instance, always, less is more.
VOORHEES: I saw a production of The Seagull at ACT in San Francisco many years ago. Konstantin goes off the stage and shoots himself. You hear this gun go off. After several beats, a dead seagull falls on the stage. We didn’t need that. But, also, it made me think, he missed! [Laughter] He hit a seagull! I didn’t want to take a chance on anything like that.
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| A View from the Booth |
How Voorhees & the Lillian Came to Happen
VOORHEES: I went to go looking for venues and wound up here, which resulted in car shopping. I came to meet up with Matt [Richter, lighting designer for The Crucible] at the Lillian and talk about spaces in town, because I’m new to the area. Matt has done lighting for every space. Sean is a Stella Adler guy and Matt introduced us. He perked up when he heard I was doing The Crucible. “I’ll give you a heck of a deal.”
THOMAS: I run three of the five spaces here: the Lillian, Elephant, and the Film Series at the Studio. When I said “heck of deal,” it was because I could. [Laughter.]
VOORHEES: I came back and stayed after seeing a play. As we were talking about the deal in his office, we heard this big, screaming crash.
THOMAS: Like an atomic boom. We looked at each other.
VOORHEES: We didn’t say a word, just got up and ran.
THOMAS: There were two guys across the street that said a car just drove into [pointing to car]. I looked towards Bill and he turned [towards the car] …
VOORHEES: There was only one car on Santa Monica Boulevard at that moment: mine. This drunk driver slammed into the back of my car, totaled it, and drove away with a deployed airbag. Those guys said, “Hop in our car, we’ll go try and find him and get his license plate!” I jumped into this stranger’s car. Matt was also there. We didn’t find him. While a cop did a report, a tow truck driver showed up and asked, “Is this the car that got hit by that truck? He’s around the corner.” I didn’t get much for my old, totaled car, and bought a ’91 Chevy Astro van. In case the show bankrupted me, I’d have somewhere to live.
THOMAS: Named her Lillian.
VOORHEES: So, now I’m driving this wonderful, cruddy, character-filled car with holes in the roof. It was sort of destiny.
Lighting Designer Matt RichterCS: A couple months ago, Arthur Miller’s After the Fall played on this very stage.
THOMAS: I produced that too.
CS: What did you want out of Matt for the lighting design?
VOORHEES: I didn’t want to reinvent the show. As far as tone, the colonists put this town right at the edge of the forest, which existed first. In the Reader’s Edition, Miller talks about how it was their boundary. You could always see it. That concept it was always in the background and the girls venture inside and bring back the spirit of the forest into the town’s puritanical-mindset. I told Matt I wanted to feel they’re out in the middle of nowhere in this place that they built. And he went to town. The courtroom wouldn’t be in a thatched roof, but that’s almost the lighting design that he is using, giving the feel of being in a more primitive house. Matt’s just a genius. He knows exactly what to do.
THOMAS: I wouldn’t work with another lighting designer as a producer in this town.
VOORHEES: If any other producer were to come to me, I would just send them to Matt.
THOMAS: He’s always around as my TD here at the Lillian. He’s such a pleasure to work with and brings a personality with him.
VOORHEES: A couple years ago, I directed Skeleton Stories over at Theatre of Note. People insisted on Matt. He was doing the lighting design on Neighborhood Three out at Sacred Fools. My producer wanted me to see it for the sound designer [Mark McClain Wilson], as well as for Matt, to round out our technical team. It was beautiful. We called Matt and asked him to pitch. He sat down and was so happy. There was an effect in the show that I couldn’t get passed. With just the tiniest bit of lighting background—To Kill a Mocking Bird in high school—I wanted to know how he did it. He had things that were lit up that could fade in and out and do everything a normal light could do, but they weren’t plugged into anything. They were free-moving, yet still tied into the rest of the lighting plot. He sat quietly and then, all of a sudden, jumped right into it, “Okay, here’s what I did …” He got so excited, he segued into what he wanted to do with Stories. He got nominated for an Ovation Award. On this one, he said, “Yes!”
RICHTER: I taught him all he knows. I didn’t teach him all I know. [Al is Matt’s father.]
VOORHEES: Including how to be humble. [Laughter]
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| Doug Burch (Giles Corey) on Joel David's Crucible set |
Set Designer Joel David & the Lillian
CS: Did you have the same discussion with set designer Joel David?
VOORHEES: I gave him the tone. And I tried to figure out what would be the most utilitarian thing we could have, something that would help us define walls, but have it be something that we weren’t tied into for every scene. I had this idea of longer pieces, but a low wall, and broken up at top. Joel said, “Well, this is what you do.” He pulled out a piece of paper [Voorhees pretends to draw for a few seconds and then presents a final product]. He and Matt had input as to why higher walls are better. Even Sean agreed, because it looks like an uncommitted set—as if they didn’t have enough lumber to build a whole wall—if you go with something that low.
THOMAS: Which ties into the period. It gave us much more access to the throw of the lights, dimensions, the whole aesthetic.
CS: The last show I saw here was Finding the Burnett Heart.
THOMAS: This is all of their lumber, 100% recycled.
VOORHEES: What we did here is all Sean, making a big point of paying attention to the depth of the stage and what this place can be if you fill this space and let the people see it, and let the set be the background.
THOMAS: It’s an oddly-shaped space to begin with. It has a thrust, but it doesn’t have one.
RICHTER: Proscenium thrust stadium!
THOMAS: It’s deep. A lot of productions that come through here will put their set on stage and then play back to it instead of forward and allowing that to be a backdrop and give you dimension. So, that as you watch, it’s like these people inhabit that place, as opposed to me standing next to it.
CS: One dimensional.
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| Promotional shot of Baby Doll |
THOMAS: When people do plays here, I try to tell them: know your sightlines and push everything back. It’s like how kids outline pictures. [Sean demonstrates] We take a black marker, and trace around it to make it pop a little bit. This is your black marker: put it all back and play it forward. It tends to work, like when we did Baby Doll. If there is anybody that knows this stage as well as Dave Fofi, the owner, and Matt--he runs it just as much--is Joel David. He has done every set for the Elephant Theatre Company in this space for the last twelve years. He knows every nook and cranny. When I say I would only hire Matt for lights and sound, Joel David is the only person I would ever hire for a set. That’s why they booked and hired him for the next four projects after this for me.
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| John Money (Ezekiel Cheever) |
CS: John Money was so funny in the production, was Ezekiel Cheever’s character meant to be comic relief?
THOMAS: He’s hysterical.
VOORHEES: I don’t know. I’ve seen productions of it before where he’s not. I didn’t know where I was going to put him, but I flat out asked John [Money], and a couple of other people, to be in the show at a July 4th cookout last year. He agreed and didn’t know who he was playing for months. And, then I figured out John looks like a tailor! I don’t think even he knew that he was going to go to that light place with it. As we were rehearsing, once that became the tone, all these little things started coming out of him. One of my favorites is right when he walks in and greets Proctor, who returns the acknowledgment. Then, this little smile comes out of him and he says, [Voorhees’ voice takes on an excited, jovial quality] “I’m an officer of the court” and then he goes back into his thing.
RICHTER: Therein lies the basis of that man. He was a tailor, never had any power, as a great many of these people that were involved in this court. All of a sudden, he doesn’t know how to handle it. What they all did was abuse it. Proctor is strong enough to back him down.
VOORHEES: That role suits him and fits into the show. He’s still playing it straight.
CS: He was one of the first to be asked in it?
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| Nick Williams, Lauren Dobbins Webb from All My Sons |
CS: How about the others?
VOORHEES: I’m originally from Sacramento and so is Jess; so we’ve both done theatre up there. Ben [from This Vicious Minute] was in a play with Jessicah up there. He’ll actually be on this stage [next weekend], during the daytime.
NEUFELD: I came across the play Beirut and asked Pam Downs to direct, who was one of the other contributing directors for The Crucible, and a mentor of sorts of mine. She said it wasn’t right for her, but referred me to Bill, who was living in Los Angeles. We met at Jim Boy’s in Sacramento and I lost it. He just got me. He said yes and the show went up four months later. We remained in contact and eventually I moved down here.
VOORHEES: I knew Jessicah’s range. The role she had in Beirut was really difficult. Abigail is an iconic character. Everybody’s knows her. People came out of the woodwork trying to get that role. But knowing what people want from that character, I knew how further she could take it and bring a sense of danger that isn’t in a lot of the shows. She needs to be the forest, that primal force that comes into the town, in all of the ways that it works. I always see the branches or vines growing into the town once everything begins. I knew Jessicah could understand that this girl has to embody all of that.
CS: Where did you find the girls?
THOMAS: They’re God-sends.
CS: Betty!
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| Grace Kaufman (Betty Parris) |
NEUFELD: We did the scene with “you drank blood Abby” line. I guess she and her mom had practiced the slap before coming in, but I wasn’t going to hit her.
VOORHEES: Jessicah commits to whatever she’s doing. She was gentle with her the first time we went through it. I gave Grace a couple of adjustments. I suggested to Jess to shake her. She did and Grace descended into tears in character, saying, “I want my mama, I want my mama” and just cried. She went from that to [in a matter of seconds, stepping out of character, proudly declaring] … “I was crying!” and just laughed it off. It was so silly to her that she was crying. She was it. Lisa brought the rest of the girls.
NEUFELD: Shannon and Rebecca, double-cast as Susanna Walcott.
VOORHEES: Then, Ashley Morey who plays Mercy Lewis is a member of Theatre of Note.
CS: How about Rebecca Sigl (Mary Warren)?
VOORHEES: She’s also a member of Note and my friend from twenty years ago. When she was seven, her first play was Dracula in a production that was one of the first plays I ever did in college. That’s how all the girls got in and they’re awesome.
A Short History of Al Richter
VOORHEES: When I was trying to figure out who to cast for Francis Nurse, Matt said, “Huh. Let me make a call.”
RICHTER: The story I got was that Bill said that it’s tough to cast an 83-year old man. Matt pulled out his cellphone, held up my picture, and said, “Like that?”
VOORHEES: Al drove with his wife Martha [keeping herself busy with an iPad while gently sitting in the back of the house] from Oxnard to read for me, met in my living room, and just committed completely to the audition. It was obvious and quick.
THOMAS: Being that it’s Father’s Day, Al’s son Matt is a very dear friend of mine and an artist I respect to the immense end. Al and Martha had Matt who grew up in a crib on the stage.
RICHTER: I cast him in his first role when he was six years old. It’s amazing that he loves theatre, because it has been shoved down his throat. It’s all he has ever known. His mother and father up on stage; we had a dinner theatre for almost twenty years in Florida. I grew up in Long Island for about fifteen years and worked on Broadway for twelve. That’s all he ever knew, so that’s what he does. And, I’m happy for him.
VOORHEES: Al has a very interesting history in the theatre.
RICHTER: I started as a boy soprano with the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Choir. I worked on radio. In those days, you got paid by the sheet. You would drop the sheet on the floor and, after, you’d pick it up. The first time I did that, I noticed the guy next to me, his foot went out and he was pulling my sheets over to his side. We were broadcasting live. His foot came over and [Richter slams his foot down] I caught him on the foot and he didn’t do that anymore. [Everyone laughs.]
CS: You literally put your foot down.
RICHTER: I was on an old soap opera when I was about ten years old.
VOORHEES: You used to work with Ethel Merman.
RICHTER: Her father, Joe Zimmerman, and my father were good friends. When I went to the High School of Performing Arts in New York [pre-Fame], her father convinced mine to cut out of class and catch a rehearsal. I came down and she said, “Whitie, go get me coffee.” And, I became her assistant for a good many years. It was great. I came out here in ’48 and she said, “Kid, you’re going to come here in six months.” She was wrong. I came back in three.
A Family Is Born
VOORHEES: Al brings a lot to the cast. That really speaks to what the show is: this beautiful, little family. His son is doing the lights. Martha—
RICHTER: My groupie.
VOORHEES: … has been here all the time, ready to run lines with people. I know Jessicah and Rebecca from Sacramento.
RICHTER: That’s theatre: the closer the team, the better it works.
VOORHEES: So many of the actors that we have, about 85%, are from Theatre of Note, around the corner at Cahuenga & Sunset.
RICHTER: Just across from [Kitchen 24].
VOORHEES: That was the other reason I knew I could do the show, because I could pull from that theatre company. Actors there don’t normally get to do classical theatre. That was the nice thing about having Al in the show—
RICHTER: [holding up his hand to his mouth, leaning into me, whispering] I’m old.
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| Lynn Odell (Rebecca Nurse) |
CS: How big is the cast?
VOORHEES: Twenty-two.
THOMAS: A lot of schedules, a lot of bios.
VOORHEES: It’s a challenge, but you get this diverse collection of schools. You have Al who has done theatre for so long and then you have someone like Grace who is just starting out. It’s these two extremes and all the people in between. Lynn Odell, who is [nowhere near the age of her character Rebecca Nurse], is a punk rock singer. She was in Cheap Perfume, the first all-female punk rock band in New York City in the 70s. We’ve got people who have gone through Method, Meisner, very little schooling, people who are just starting out. The challenge is to learn how to talk to each actor differently.
THOMAS: Having twenty-two individuals over the course of several weeks, I watch everybody come together as a family. I get so much pleasure out of sitting up top and watching all these actors and knowing you were a part of that. You gave a dream to somebody that has been dreaming about it for seventeen years. It’s all worth it, especially when seats are filled and we’re portraying Miller’s message and story to 85 to 100 people. And just see all these people working, fighting.
VOORHEES: You’ve got Sean, who we don’t see very much, because he’s working so hard to get so much coordinated: marketing, managing the theatre, finding rehearsal space. Then, we’ve got our stage manager, assistant stage manager, Matt, people that are just coming from everywhere. It’s wonderful and humbling.
RICHTER: Magic!
VOORHEES: They’re all here to help push it together. I never thought I would be the only director on this play. I can’t see what’s going on as an actor. What Tom Beyer did here was invaluable. He confidently and respectfully stepped into this little established family and said, “Well, this is not quite working. Let’s talk about how we can make this better.” He just jumped in and became part of the family immediately. Pamela Downs is my mentor and has been a part of my life for twenty years. She’s the best director I’ve ever worked with, hands down. She flew down here for a week and worked with Tom and sometimes alone. Then, they’d run everything by me, make cases. 95% of the time I agreed wholeheartedly. Pam didn’t want to leave. And she became a part of the family. It’s bigger than twenty-two.
Upcoming Projects
CS: Upcoming projects for you all?
RICHTER: I’m retired. [Laughter]
VOORHEES: I’m about to direct Potential Space by Kirsten Vangsness at Theatre of Note this Fall. She is tech girl Penelope Garcia on Criminal Minds. Spaceis an exploration of a woman coming to terms with her biology and how it defines her. Jessicah and I will probably do Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. It may appear like a vanity project, but I just want the experience. Like with The Crucible, that was my dream of going through the process of what Miller wrote. It’s not about playing the lead, prestige, etc. The Crucible is an ensemble piece, ultimately. It’s the same thing with Danny. Jessicah loves that play. We both love Shanley.
NEUFELD: Possibly Beirut again, before I’m too old.
CS: What’s next for the Lillian?
THOMAS: The Rock of Abandon from a new theatre company called The Fierce Backbone. They’re doing a lot of Fringe shows right now. It takes place in 416, Athens. It’s like Ben-Hur onstage without the …
CS: Chariots?
VOORHEES: I wanted Chariots in The Crucible, but Sean said no.
RICHTER: No horses on stage. As a kid, my mother was a circus performer (bareback rider). Jimmy Durante did a show called Jumbo down at the Hippodrome Theatre in New York and hired my mother as a tech for the horses that they had. I used to sit on his lap. He was just a sweet man. Durante would say, “Is the stage clear?” By that, he meant, “Is the horse— [Laughter].” “I don’t know, let me check.” [Al takes a big whiff.] “Nope, not yet.” [Laughter]THOMAS: I also have Under the Dessert opening on August 17th, which I already did in Boulder, Utah.
CS: Outdoors, on top of mountain.
THOMAS: 1,500 feet above the town.
CS: Now, you’re doing it indoors.
THOMAS: Matt’s going to make it look like it’s outdoors. It’s going to be in the Elephant, my 70-seater. To Quiet the Quiet, a Barbara Bain production, will also be there. The script is so tight. The playwright Christy Hall is 30 years old and another one of her plays was just commissioned for Broadway. She is a helluva writer, definitely up-and-coming. It opens July 13th.
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