theatre
by william bradley
Rage: Terrence McNally has such a wonderful history as a playwright.
RT: This is the fifth production of a play of his that I’ve done. He and I go way, way
back. I’ve known him since I was a teenager. The first thing I did of his was a beauti-
ful production on public television called Andre’s Mother, an exquisite piece. He
won an Emmy for that teleplay. I also did a play of his in New York about five years
ago called The Stendhal Syndrome which was a terrific success.
Rage: You did your first show on Broadway in 1958?
RT: Yes. My first job on Broadway was in a play called Sunrise at Campobello,
which was a play about the Roosevelt’s. That was a play in which James Earl Jones
and I both made our Broadway debuts, which I thought was really cool.
Rage: You managed to have had quite a career in television, film and theatre.
RT: I’ve juggled the two my whole career. I’ve always done both. I have a picture
coming out that I did last fall, an Ang Lee movie called Taking Woodstock. There’s
like 120 of us in the cast. It was a gas. I also have a picture in development at Hall-
mark to shoot this year. I do both, though the theatre is my first love.
Rage: Please tell me about the character of Chick Hogan in Unusual Acts of Devotion.
RT: Chick is a middle-aged tour guide for Grayline Bus Tours. The Grayline Bus
Tours go all around New York City. That’s what he does for a living. He’s a gay man
whose partner died five years before. He committed suicide. He was sick. Chick
has been alone since then. He is a lonely, sweet man, really funny with a nice
personality. He’s a terrific character. He’s a wonderful combination that Terrence
does in his plays of people who can be both bitchy and endearing at the same
time. Also, there is so much real feeling in Terrence’s plays. It’s very easy to identify
RiCHaRD
with all his characters.
Rage: What has been the biggest challenge, if any, in doing this role?
THoMas
RT: The challenge to Terrence’s plays is always is to… he writes very theatrically
but also very realistically at the same time, so the challenge is to fully live and fully
feel the pieces. He’s not a minimalist at a writer, so you want to fully invest in the
And Unusual Acts of Devotion feeling, but you have to walk that line. It still has to be very real and true. That’s
always the challenge with his work. I love this part. I’m kind of a McNally actor at
Richard Thomas was right in the middle of preparing dinner with his wife when this point so I have a feeling about his voice.
he rang me from Manhattan to talk about his latest role in the upcoming La Jolla
Playhouse production of Unusual Acts of Devotion. He was still rehearsing the play Rage: What would you say is the message behind Unusual Acts of Devotion?
in New York at the time and had just finished for the day. The phenomenal play- RT: The play is very much about each other. Death is waiting in the wings. It’s
wright Terrence McNally known for writing such outstanding productions as The how we treat each other that’s really important. While we have life, the ability to
Kiss of the Spider Woman and Love, Valor, Compassion is presenting the West Coast be kind, we can make choices. We can make choices to be kind, or we can make
premiere of this new play on June 2 at The La Jolla Playhouse. Richard Thomas is, choices to be cruel. We can make choices to hurt, or choices to help. Invariably we
as he puts it ,“kind of a McNally actor at this point.” end up being cruel and hurtful… we are just human beings. But, whenever pos-
sible, if you can reach out and perform that act of kindness which is what I think
Rage: This show has quite a great set of performers with Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves he [Terrence McNally] means by “unusual acts of devotion.” They may not always
Raymond), Joe Manganiello (One Tree Hill) and Harriet Harris (Frasier). be the most obvious acts of kindness, it could be something that is challenging at
Richard Thomas: And the fabulous Maria Dizzia is absolutely great. It’s a great the time, but it turns out to be a good deed. We’ve all had that happen to us. I think
company. They are all terrific actors. Doris, I’ve known forever. We’ve never worked life is too short not to be kind. We do need each other. We all want to be accepted
together before, but I’ve known her for many, many years. We’re old friends. That’s and all want to be, at some level, cared for. I think it’s a beautiful theme. It’s a terrific
great. Harriet and I… it’s like two degrees of separation with us. We know all the piece of writing.
same people so everybody’s told her, “Oh. You’ll love Richard,” and everybody has
told me, “Oh, you’ll love Harriet.” UnUsUal acts of Devotion
It’s a terrific company and all new to me. I did the play in Philadelphia originally June 2 to June 28
with a whole different company in a theatre production last fall. It’s interesting for La Jolla Playhouse
me to come to it again with a whole new configuration. For tickets and more information call 858.550.1010
10 RAGE monthly | June 2009
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