An Interview With AMy Herzog and Anne Kauffman


On their way into technical rehearsals, playwright Amy Herzog and director Anne Kauffman sat down with NYTW Literary Associate Aaron Malkin to discuss the process of bringing Belleville to life.


Aaron: I thought we would start at the beginning.


Belleville was first commissioned by Yale Rep in 2007. What was the initial impetus to write the play?


Amy: I had read a few accounts of different famous news events—the story of Jean-Claude Romand in France and the story of Mark Hacking in Utah. Tey were two stories about marriages that sort of spooked me and captured my imagination so I started thinking about some version of that story for a play.


it would be set here [in the U.S.], and I don’t totally remember the train of thought that led to it [being set in Paris]. I did go on a trip to France in December/January of 2007-2008 and spent some time in the neighborhood of Belleville. I had been to Paris several times before and had actually spent a few months there when I was 20 but I had never gotten to know this neighborhood, and something about the neighborhood started speaking to me in thinking about this play.


Aaron: And now it’s the title. But originally the play was called Te Doctor’s Wife. Can you talk a little bit about how the play has developed from the initial draſts, and how the title change reflects the development?


Amy: One thing is that Te Doctor’s Wife really slants [the story] in favor of Abby, when actually I


think


[the focus is] shared; this play is about both parties of this marriage. Te more I started writing the play the more I felt the environment of Belleville was kind of a character. “Belleville” means “beautiful city,” and I think the dream of what Paris was going to be was very alive for Abby and very important to why they’re there, and it felt like that was a good starting point for the audience— the words


“beautiful city” in another language.


Aaron: Can you talk more about this idea of a “beautiful city” and how it relates to the play?


Amy Herzog and Anne Kauffman Aaron: Did you know you wanted to set it in France?


Amy: Tat came into it not immediately but fairly early. When I first started thinking about the play I thought


6


Amy: Abby’s mother died when she was 21-ish or 22 I guess, and she has this very romanticized idea of this trip her parents took on their honeymoon or shortly before they got married—early on in their relationship. Paris just holds this place in her imagination. She doesn’t know specifically about Belleville, but in her mind Paris is this beautiful city that holds this romantic promise and nostalgia. Te play is about, among other things, this [romantic idea] being totally deconstructed and savaged


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