INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR SCOTT ELLIS


Education Dramaturg Ted Sod spoke with Director Scott Ellis about his work on Amy and the Orphans.


Ted Sod: Why did you want to direct Amy and the Orphans by Lindsey Ferrentino? How did you get involved with this production?


Scott Ellis: This play is a Roundabout commission, and while I was at a staff meeting, it was brought up that Lindsey had written a play about a pair of adult siblings, a sister and a brother, who have another sibling named Amy who was born with Down syndrome. I thought that sounded like a unique idea, and I wanted to read it. I wasn’t reading it with the intention of directing it; the subject matter piqued my interest because when I was seventeen, I worked at an institution populated by adults and children with Down syndrome in Fairfax, Virginia. I was fascinated by the idea that Lindsey had written a play about a person with Down syndrome, and I really only wanted to know what this story was.


TS: When during that first reading did you decide you should approach Lindsey about directing it?


SE: I found I was connected to the writing immediately. It’s a beautifully written story. I also love that Lindsey wanted to cast an actress with Down syndrome. I knew that was the only way it could be done. Lindsey wrote the role of Amy for the actress Jamie Brewer specifically.


TS: What do you think the play is about?


SE: Family, like so many plays. But Lindsey’s play is also about creating a family for yourself when yours isn’t a part of your day-to-day life. This play puts a spotlight on a woman with Down syndrome who has become her own person. One of the things I love about this play is, how often do we get to see people on stage who have Down syndrome, or any disability for that matter? Lindsey wrote it about her own family. She investigates a very difficult family decision. A decision that one can regret or one can embrace. Most families, at some point, are damaged. I think in this play, Lindsey is asking, “How do we heal that damage? How do we try to make that better?”


TS: Can you talk a bit about the kind of research you have to do in order to direct this play?


SE: There wasn’t a ton of research, only because, as I already mentioned, I had worked in a group home like the one Amy lives in. It’s not that I don’t like to do research, but I had a visceral, gut reaction to the play when I read it. It was something I related to and understood immediately. I suppose I understand it in a different way because I have experience with people like the character of Amy.


TS: This is going to be the world premiere production. What are the director’s responsibilities and challenges when he works on a new play?


SE: I think as director you’re there to support the storytelling and the writer’s intention. That’s the actor’s job as well. For me, to have the opportunity to explore it with the writer and these amazing actors in a rehearsal room is a gift because we are all still in discovery mode, figuring out what everything means and how it all fits together. It’s important for me as a director to try to focus on what the playwright


8 ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY


wants to say to the audience. I feel when I’m directing a new play, we are all discovering things that none of us have ever thought of before. We’ll find out so many things about the arc of the story and the characters during our rehearsal process. And it’s my job to support that exploration.


TS: Do you ask a lot of questions of Lindsey? Will you give us an example of one of the first questions you asked her?


SE: My questions for Lindsey are usually about finding where the relationships in this family exist. The parents are different from their children. And certainly, the children are all very different from each other. So, I ask Lindsey questions in order to find out what they have in common and also what their profound differences are. That was something that I talked a lot about with Lindsey early on. I talked about how she visualized the movement of the piece before working with the design team. We move to different locations quite a bit in the play. Lindsey writes scenes where the environment should be very real. Her scenes have texture. There needs to be storytelling with the objects of the room, so that was something that we talked a lot about. The next thing we have to talk about will be the sound and music cues.


TS: A substantial amount of the play takes place in a car—correct? SE: A good chunk of it, yes.


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