ANDY DRACHENBERG: You’ve acted Mamet, directed premieres and revivals, and have also been the artistic director of Atlantic Theater Company (which Mamet founded with William H. Macy in 1985) since 1992. What were you first thoughts when you were approached to direct the Broadway premiere of A Life in the Theatre?
NEIL PEPE: I was very excited when they talked with me about directing this on Broadway. This specific play I consider quite different from Mamet’s other plays – I think it’s his love letter to the theatre. It’s a play that really explores, in a lovely and rich way, what it means to pursue a life in the theatre. Onstage and offstage scenes give audiences a taste, which I think is very rare, of what it means to be a part of a repertory theatre, what it means to be in a make-up room with actors, and what it means to be onstage with actors and the things that can go wrong. Like all of Mamet’s plays, it has wonderful dialogue; it’s very funny. The scenes are unexpected – sometimes tragic and sometimes absurd. Its never been done on Broadway, and I thought what a perfect play to do on Broadway and celebrate what a life in the theatre is.
AD: A Life… showcases the relationships of the theatre industry. You also have a long history of establishing relationships within the industry. What is the significance of professional relationships in this piece as well as for you?
NP: A Life in the Theatre concerns Robert, an older actor in a repertory company, and John, a younger actor in the repertory company, and it explores this idea of the mentor/mentee relationships. It’s something that’s common in Mamet plays – its explored in American Buffalo, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and maybe even slightly in Glengarry Glen Ross, but its explored in a very rich and funny way in this play. I think in many people’s careers, especially early on, we are looking for those people from whom to get advice and looking for good mentors you can trust.
I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of the Atlantic Theater Company, which was founded by David Mamet and William H. Macy, so these two gentlemen have been wonderful mentors for me early on, and thanks to them, we’ve become colleagues. That’s an important thing in the theatre: how one grows up in the theatre and learns from people who have more experience; how to take responsibility and become your own person in the theatre. It’s been an extraordinary thing to know somebody like William H. Macy or David Mamet or many other people I’ve known in New York theatre, and to evolve over 20-25 years and then feel like colleagues. I think that mentor/mentee relationship is wonderfully explored in this play and certainly means a lot to me and my career.
AD: Relationships aside, you’re career has in almost every possible way been “a life in theatre.” How do you look at where you began in this industry versus now?
NP: I think most people will find there’s elements of this story that don’t just relate to the theatre, but the idea of coming into a profession, learning about a profession, and finding one’s own feet. Certainly I’ve had that in my own life – I started as an actor and musician. I’ve worked a lot with the Atlantic Theater Company and had great opportunities over the years to work with extraordinary writers like Jez Butterworth, Harold Pinter, Martin McDonagh, Craig Lucas and many, many others. I’m thrilled to have had the chance to direct on Broadway with Speed-the-Plow, and now to have a second chance to direct on Broadway.
AD: You’ve been regarded for your willingness to take the first leap and try things that could be considered risky. As we approach the start of first preview for A Life…, should we anticipate a surprise or two you might have up your sleeve?
NP: Well, as a director, the first and foremost thing is always serving the story of the play in the best possible way. It’s about getting to the truth of what the story is and who these characters are. In the context of that, any things that might be directorial really are going to grow out of what myself and the actors see as bringing more vibrant and exciting truth to what’s going on in the story. Outside of that, Mamet’s been generously making little adjustments to the script for this production based on what he’s been seeing the actors doing and thoughts he’s had (he was here for the first week of rehearsal).
It’s a play with 26 scenes and there are so many different locations. I have had the good fortune of working with our set designer Santo Loquasto, our lighting designer Kenneth Posner, and our costume designer Laura Bauer. Between all of us, I think we’re excited to bring to life this incredible world of the theatre. It’s not just a play about these two characters. It’s really a love letter to the physical theatre itself. It’s a great journey the audience goes on. So if I can make that journey as compelling as possible, that will be my contribution.
AD: I’d love to hear what sort of experience it has been for you directing a play by Mamet. Does your professional history with Mamet change this experience for you compared to directing other playwrights’ works?
NP: Anytime you’re working with a writer of extraordinary skill and a writer who understands language, and character, and plot as well as David Mamet, it’s a much easier job for the director and the actors because you’re not fighting the material, you’re embracing it. A good writer makes you look good. Anytime I’ve worked on Mamet’s plays, it makes me look good!
We’ve worked together a long time, we’ve known each other a long time, he’s always been such a keen advisor and collaborator so it’s really just a continuation of that. Like everyone who wants to do their best in their profession, I think both David and I are excited to be working in the theatre. My hope, I think he would agree, is to bring the most exciting and entertaining production that we can, and get the best people to do it.
AD: Have your experiences helped you form any ideas on how (or, not) to define what life in the theatre industry is?
NP: A “life in the theatre” – it’s ever changing, I suppose. I always thought a “life in the theatre” is the opportunity to tell great stories that somehow speak to the truth of the times in which we live. For me personally, it’s been an opportunity to work with extraordinary people who are committed, more than anything, to speak the truth, entertain, or make light of in a tragic or comic way, what it means to live in this crazy world. A Life in the Theatre is all about that struggle. What actors do is kind of magical – they put on make-up, they put on costumes and they make us believe in these characters and these stories. We like gathering as people to laugh at ourselves and celebrate what it means to be human.
NEIL PEPE (Director) made his Broadway debut with the acclaimed revival of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow. Last winter, he directed Frank Gilroy’s The Subject Was Roses with Martin Sheen and Frances Conroyat the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. He has been the Artistic Director of Atlantic Theater Company since 1992. There he has directed Ethan Coen’s Almost An EveningandOffices; Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song; David Mamet’s American Buffalostarring William H. Macy (also Donmar Warehouse, London) and Keep Your Pantheon and School; David Pittu’s What’s That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling; Harold Pinter’s The Room and Celebration; David Mamet’s Romance (also Mark Taper Forum, LA);Milos by John Guare; Tom Donaghy’s The Beginning of August (also South Coast Rep.); Howard Korder’s Sea of Tranquility; Jez Butterworth’s Mojo and The Night Heron; Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange; Wolf Lullaby by Hilary Bell; Clean by Edwin Sanchez and Shaker Heightsby Quincy Long. Other credits include the world premiere of David Mamet’s Keep Your Pantheon as well as The Duck Variations(Center Theater Group); Further Than the Furthest Thing by Zinnie Harris (Manhattan Theater Club); Eric Bogosian’s Red Angel(Williamstown Theatre Festival); Jessica Goldberg’s Refuge(Playwrights Horizons).