Photo by La Jolla Playhouse
Actor Luke MacFarlane as Sam Bendrix
We loved Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir—La Jolla Playhouse’s cabaret-style show now playing at Martinis in Hillcrest.
Set in Greenwich Village circa 1958, the story follows a gay
bartender/singer Sam Bendrix who gives his last performance at the Bon
Soir, on the night before he leaves New York City for good.
Luke MacFarlane (best known for his role on ABC’s Brothers and Sisters) plays Sam. He is charming, funny, vulnerable, and super-swoon-worthy.
That the production takes place in an actual bar, in the closest place
San Diego has to a Greenwich Village, is part of the Playhouse’s Without
Walls program. Artistic Director Christopher Ashley says this type of
site-specific work is all the rage in Europe, and San Diego is at the
forefront of this new wave of experimental theater that’s random and out
in the open. (Click here for our full interview with Ashley, from the November 2012 issue of San Diego Magazine.)
Cocktails and theater? You had us at “hello.”
Expect standards from the American songbook, interspersed with Sam’s
tales of New York: the fifth-floor walk-up apartment that rests on a
45-degree angle, the great job that never was, and the trials of finding
and losing love.
Through it all, you’ll remember that heartbreak is universal. And for
those who heart NY, like we do, you’ll reminisce about your days in that
same fifth-floor walk-up on a 45-degree angle in the Village. Ah, New
York and a love story. Somehow the two go hand-in-hand.
Note: There are only three performances left (October 15, 16, 17), so don’t dillydally in getting tickets! For more info, contact La Jolla Playhouse.
TOM ANDREW reviews Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir at Martinis Above Fourth
Luke Macfarlane in Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir PHOTO: J. KATARZYNA
La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls Productions is currently presenting Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir at Martinis Above Fourth. The show, which plays more like an after-show cabaret, is getting its San Diego premiere and the combination of an upstairs restaurant/bar/club atmosphere coupled with a jazz singer and his trio fits like a glove.
Cabaret-style is something of a lost art. Sure, it still exists in New York City, if you know where to go, and you can see decent cabaret artists in Chicago and Los Angeles, but rarely anywhere else.
True cabaret is about storytelling through music, lyrics and banter; seeing and hearing the heart and soul of the performer on stage, bare and fully exposed.
Luke Macfarlane’s Sam Bendrixis that cabaret performer.
He gets himself booked at the Bon Soir to do the one thing he came to New York to do… sing. Sure, maybe the fact that he is a regular bartender at the Bon Soir helped him get the gig, but who cares? He takes his chance and through the songs of Kurt Weill, George Gershwin and Cole Porter, he tells us his story.
It’s a story most of us may think we have heard before, but Bendrix’s tale has a few unexpected twists and turns.
Bendrix pushes himself, his band and the audience into corners that he didn’t think he was ready to expose, but with the right amount of alcohol, heartbreak and guts, he does.
Macfarlane, (best known as Scotty in the recently cancelled ABC drama Brothers and Sisters), croons with a voice reminiscent of Harry Connick Jr., and plays the part of Bendrix with just the right mix of cockiness, sensitivity and fear.
His Bendrix takes the stage at the Bon Soir like he’s been doing it for years, but when his stories start to take on a more personal tone, he stumbles and shows us, ever so slightly, his fear and vulnerability as he navigates unchartered territory.
That fear only draws the audience in to wanting more. Think about it. Who wouldn’t give an arm and a leg to have heard Garland completely ripped and singing “The Man Who Got Away”?
Drama, heart, soul, raw and exposed. Cabaret.
Keith Bunin’s script, along with Mark Rucker’s direction, makes you feel like you are at the Bon Soir witnessing a real cabaret. Nothing heavy handed, just great jazz standards and some unknown gems perfectly weaved into the fabric of Sam Bendrix’s story.
The Bendrix trio (Charlie Reuter-piano, Danny King-drums, Kevin Cooper-bass) never falter. They musically follow Bendrix, as any good trio should, from beginning to end.
La Jolla Playhouse started their Without Walls series a few years ago, pushing the boundaries and expectations of what audiences think theater should be. It’s nice to see them working outside of their comfort zones and stepping outside of that box to bring San Diego audiences something that is not only theatrical, but part of performance history.
Martinis also steps up to the challenge, offering a quiet, respectful room for patrons, serving decent food and both sweet and dirty drinks up to the performance and after, but not during.
If you’ve never been to a cabaret performance (or even if you have), do yourself a favor, and head to Martinis on Fourth, grab a martini and see Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir. It’s a theatrical experience worth catching.
Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir, a limited engagement, opened
Sept. 24 and was recently extended through Oct. 17. For ticket information visit martinisabovefourth.com/sam-bendrix, or lajollaplayhouse.org/sam-bendrix
MIPCOM 2012: Former 'Chuck' Actor Vik Sahay Joins CTV Comedy Pilot 'Satisfaction'
4:23 AM PDT 10/10/2012 by Etan Vlessing
The Canadian actor, who
played Lester Patel in the U.S. spy-fi series, will appear as an
eccentric dental hygienist in the homegrown pilot from Tim McAuliffe
("Up All Night").
CANNES - Former Chuck actor Vik Sahay has been cast in the Canadian single-camera comedy pilot Satisfaction for CTV and indie producer DHX Media.
Sahay is to play an eccentric dental hygienist in the comedy created and written by Tim McAuliffe (Up All Night, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon).
His recent film credits include Sean Garrity’s My Awkward Sexual Adventure, which bowed in Toronto, and appearing opposite Seann William Scott in Universal Pictures’ American Reunion.
Sahay joins a Satisfaction pilot cast that includes Luke Macfarlane (Brothers and Sisters), Stephanie Lemelin, Ryan Belleville and Leah Renee.
Satisfaction is about a twenty-something couple who rent a room out
to a newly single young man who hopes to learn from his friends the
secrets to a great relationship. The pilot will be shot in Toronto this
Fall.
Robert Hurwitt
Updated 4:33 p.m., Monday, October 8, 2012
Holland Taylor stars as Judge Vaughn Walker, with Jonathan Moscone (left) and Sean Dugan in "8."
Photo: Drew Altizer Photography / SF
Proposition 8 lost another round Sunday, this time in the court of public opinion. The venue was American Conservatory Theater, for a staged reading of Dustin Lance Black's
play "8," drawn from the transcripts of the 2010 U.S. District Court
trial that ruled the ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. So the
outcome was never in doubt.
Neither was the response of the packed house. That was clear from the prolonged standing ovation when ACT Artistic Director Carey Perloff identified a tall, dignified man in the audience as Vaughn Walker, the judge who made the historic ruling. Similar ovations greeted the plaintiffs, also in the house, Sandy Stier, Kristin Perry, Jeff Zarrillo and Paul Katami.
The case was videotaped, but subsequent rulings have kept the tapes from
being released. Black, who won an Oscar for the screenplay for "Milk,"
wrote the play partly so that the public could finally hear some of "the
weak testimony of antimarriage activists."
But it's also a fundraising tool for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), which has sponsored the case known as Perry vs. Schwarzenegger from the beginning and of which Black is a co-founder. "8" premiered
last year with a Broadway reading that raised about $1 million, followed
by a star-studded outing in Los Angeles. Proceeds from Sunday's reading
benefit AFER and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning
youth in ACT's programs.
With Holland Taylor
of "The Practice" presiding as a gentlemanly, wry Judge Walker, "8"
unfolded within the trial's closing arguments, with flashbacks to
testimony. As staged by Mark Rucker, the large cast remained onstage for the 90-minute show, serving as a community of witnesses when not testifying.
The author performed the affecting testimony of a gay youth subjected to "reversal therapy." Veteran actors Sharon Lockwood
and Sean Dugan undertook some of the more benighted antigay witnesses.
The plaintiffs were well represented by the likes of local leading lady Marcia Pizzo and "Brothers and Sisters" stars Patricia Wettig and Luke Macfarlane.
As both sides now await the U.S. Supreme Court's decision whether to hear
the case, "8" leaves no doubt that it should let the previous anti-8
rulings stand. It's not just the legal issues, but the way it presents
the basic human ones. As Macfarlane's Katami says, "Being able to call
him my husband, that's definitive."
Holland Taylor, Luke Macfarlane, and More Set for '8' Reading at ACT Tonight, 10/7
Sunday, October 7, 2012; 12:10 AM - by BWW News Desk
American Conservatory Theater
(A.C.T.), in association with the American Foundation for Equal Rights
(AFER) and Broadway Impact, announced today the casting for the
one-night-only staged reading of “8” taking place tonight, October 7,
2012, at 7 p.m., at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater (415 Geary Street, San
Francisco).
The landmark marriage equality play, written by Academy Award–winning screenwriter (Milk) and AFER Founding Board Member Dustin Lance Black,
chronicles the historic trial in the federal constitutional challenge
to California’s Proposition 8. Proceeds from the reading benefit AFER
and LGBTQ youth participating in A.C.T.’s ACTsmart (formerly known as
ArtReach) program, which offers free student matinee tickets and
theater-based pre- and postshow workshops at no cost to 23 public high
schools in the Bay Area (including all 18 San Francisco public high
schools) with large populations of underserved, low-income students who
otherwise would have little exposure to the arts. Tickets range in price
from $50 to $100. A limited number of $250 seats are available and
include premium seating and access to a postperformance reception with
the cast. Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased online at act-sf.org or by calling 415.749.2228.
A.C.T.’s reading of “8” will feature playwright Dustin Lance Black, Emmy Award-winning actress Holland Taylor (“The Practice,” “Two and a Half Men”), actor Luke MacFarlane
(“Brothers & Sisters”), Speaker of the Assembly John A. Pérez,
California Shakespeare Theater Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone, San
Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Neil Giuliano, and legendary LGBTQ activist Cleve Jones. A.C.T. Associate Director Mark Rucker will direct the reading. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
The plot of “8”is framed by the trial’s historic closing arguments in
June 2010 and features the strongest arguments and testimony from both
sides. Scenes include flashbacks to some of the more jaw-dropping
moments of the trial, such as the admission by the Proposition 8
supporters’ star witness, David Blankenhorn, that “we would be more
American on the day we permitted same-sex marriage than we were on the
day before.”
“People need to witness what happened in the Proposition 8 trial, if
for no other reason than to see inequality and discrimination
unequivocally rejected in a court of law where truth and facts matter,”
says Black. “I’ve built my career around exposing and uncovering ‘the
real story.’ The goal of ‘8’ is to show the world that marriage equality
is a basic constitutional right and that those who would deny this
basic freedom from loving, committed couples have only vitriol and
baseless hyperbole to fall back on. The facts are on our side and truth
always finds the light. We are doing all we can to help speed that
process along.”
“8” had its heralded world premiere on Broadway on September 19,
2011, at the sold-out Eugene O’Neill Theater in New York City. The
production brought in more than one million dollars to support AFER’s
efforts to achieve full federal marriage equality. “8” recently had its
West Coast premiere at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, where
it featured an all-star cast, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, John C. Reilly, and Kevin Bacon.
Proposition 8 was struck down by a federal district court in August
2010. That decision was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit by the anti-marriage proponents of Proposition 8.
AFER’s legal team was at the Ninth Circuit in December 2011 for a
hearing to urge the court to unseal the trial video—a request that was
denied. In February 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit issued a ruling upholding the historic August 2010
decision of the federal district court that found Proposition 8
unconstitutional.
To purchase tickets, visit act-sf.org or call 415.749.2228. For additional information about “8”, visit: www.8theplay.com.
Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black takes part in a San Francisco reading of his stage drama 8, chronicling California's anti-gay marriage legislation Prop 8, Oct. 7 at the American Conservatory Theatre.
Black, who earned an Oscar for the screenplay to "Milk," is joined by Emmy Award winner Holland Taylor ("The Practice," "Two and a Half Men"), Luke Macfarlane
("Brothers & Sisters"), Speaker of the Assembly John A. Pérez,
California Shakespeare Theater artistic director Jonathan Moscone, San
Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Neil Giuliano, and LGBTQ activist Cleve
Jones.
8, which premiered on Broadway in 2011 with an all-star cast,
utilizes the original transcripts from the 2010 Perry v. Schwarzenegger
case, which sought to overturn the 2008 voter-approved Prop. 8
legislation that denied same-sex couples the right to marry. The trial
ultimately led to a California federal judge's ruling that Prop. 8 was
unconstitutional and unfairly discriminated against homosexuals.
8 continues to roll out in productions across the country, at
colleges, universities and theatre organizations. The American
Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) and Broadway Impact administer the
rights to 8, which is licensed royalty-free.
Proceeds from the reading benefit AFER and LGBTQ youth participating in
A.C.T.'s ACTsmart program, which offers free student matinee tickets
and theatre-based workshops at no cost to 23 public high schools in the
Bay Area.
Tickets range in price from $50 to $100. A limited number of $250 seats
are available and include premium seating and access to a
post-performance reception with the cast. For tickets visit act-sf.org or phone (415) 749-2228.
As a Just My Ticket member, tickets to see Luke Macfarlane (ABC’s Brothers and Sisters) in Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir has been extended to Wednesday, October 17 at Martinis Above Fourth in Hillcrest as part of the La Jolla Playhouse Without Walls program.
The Reviews are in and Sam Bendrix is a hit. BUY TODAY!
Luke Macfarlane transforms Martinis Above Fourth in Hillcrest into a Greenwich Village nightclub in 1958 ? a decade before the Stonewall riots. The drinks and music flow as a young singer and his band take the stage for their last performance before leaving New York City for good. Macfarlane and his band showcase a musical score of American song classics that you won’t want to miss.
THEATER REVIEW: Luke Macfarlane stars in “Sam Bendrix At The Bon Soir” Jean Lowerison - SDGLN Theater Critic September 28th, 2012
Photo credit: J. Katarzyna Woronowicz
Luke Macfarlane of "Brothers & Sisters"
fame stars in Keith Bunin’s “Sam Bendrix
At The Bon Soir.”
Bartenders spend their working hours listening to tales of love,
loss and desertion. But it’s not often that a bartender is the
storyteller.
It’s a cold, snowy night in Greenwich Village and barkeep Sam Bendrix
(Luke Macfarlane) has decided to leave New York. On this, his last
night, he gets a chance to provide the entertainment and tell his story.
Keith Bunin’s “Sam Bendrix At The Bon Soir” is the third in La Jolla
Playhouse’s “Without Walls” theater series of off-campus productions.
Martini’s Above Fourth in Hillcrest is the location (the first time an
actual bar has been used) for the show that has already been extended
through Oct. 17. Mark Rucker directs.
It’s pre-Stonewall 1958, a time when even talking about being gay
could lead to unpleasant consequences, and doing more might mean loss of
job or even life.
Backed up by a boffo three-man combo on piano (Charlie Reuter), bass
(Kevin Cooper) and percussion (Danny King), the closeted Sam sings
nearly 20 songs and tells the sad “Story of My Life,” beginning with his
father’s desertion and ending with another unhappy event.
Sam describes childhood with his single mom in Nebraska, where “the
landscape is so flat, you can watch your dog run away for five days.” It
was here that his mom gave him a cello and encouraged him to sing.
After the war, he goes to New York, where he meets the no-nonsense
Helene from Joliet, Ill. (“It’s the biggest maximum-security prison in
the country. And there’s a jail.”), who becomes his best gal pal. When
he mentions he’d like to sing, she advises him to work in a bar and take
it from there.
The other major person in Sam’s New York life is Joel, also closeted
and fearful of exposure, who brings both joy and sadness for Sam.
Macfarlane, perhaps best known for his work as Scotty on the TV
series “Brothers & Sisters,” is a convincing actor, but his
too-cautious approach to singing gets in the way of connecting with the
audience. It’s a pity, because many of the songs – by the likes of Kurt
Weill, Cole Porter and George Gershwin – are classics.
Still, the band is great, the martinis are strong, and where better for a show like this than a nice Hillcrest bar?
The details
"Sam Bendrix At The Bon Soir" plays through Oct. 17 at Martinis Above Fourth, 3940 Fourth Ave., Suite 200, Hillcrest.
Monday through Wednesday at 7:30 pm; Saturday at 2 pm; Sunday at 2 and 7:30 pm.
A Without Walls Presentation Luke Macfarlane in Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir
September 24 - October 17
Martinis Above Fourth – 3940 4th Avenue
By Keith Bunin Directed by Mark Rucker
Luke Macfarlane (ABC's Brothers and Sisters) transforms
Martinis Above Fourth in Hillcrest into a Greenwich Village nightclub in
1958 - a decade before the Stonewall riots. The drinks and music flow
as a young singer and his band take the stage for their last performance
before leaving New York City for good. Macfarlane and his band showcase
a musical score of American song classics that you won't want to miss.
> Food and drinks are available to purchase before and
after the show. Doors open at 5:30 pm for the 7:30 pm performance and
12:00 pm for the 2:00 pm performance. Food will not be served after
Sunday evening performances.
> We recommend arriving 30 minutes early to order drinks and an
hour early to order appetizers/dinner. Your ticket purchase is also your
table reservation if you choose to order food (food and alcohol not
included in ticket price).
> Parking Options: street parking (metered) and several pay lots around the venue. Note that some parking lots are cash only.
> Martinis Above Fourth is Cabaret-style seating. You will be
assigned a seat at the table number you purchased when you arrive at the
venue. You might be seated next to patrons not in your party. Be
neighborly!
An unconstitutional proposition.
An unprecedented decision.
An unforgettable play.
In association with the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) and Broadway Impact, A.C.T. is proud to present a one-night-only reading of "8," the landmark play chronicling the historic trial in the federal constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8. Written by Dustin Lance Black, the Academy Award?winning screenwriter of Milk, "8" is the unprecedented account of the federal district court trial Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown), the case filed by AFER to overturn Proposition 8, which stripped gay and lesbian Californians of the freedom to marry. Black based "8" on the actual trial transcripts, firsthand observations of what went on in the courtroom, and interviews with the plaintiffs and their families. This one-night-only event will feature playwright Dustin Lance Black, legendary LGBT activist Cleve Jones, actor Luke Macfarlane (TV’s Brothers & Sisters), and other special guests.
Proceeds from the reading benefit AFER and LGBTQ youth participating in A.C.T.'s ArtReach program, which offers free student matinee tickets and theater-based pre- and post-show workshops at no cost to 23 public high schools in the Bay Area (including all 18 San Francisco public high schools) with large populations of underserved, low-income students who otherwise would have little exposure to the arts. Tickets are available for $50 to $100. A limited number of $250 VIP tickets are available and include premium seating and access to a postshow reception with the cast.This performance takes place at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater, 415 Geary Street, San Francisco. Special Events
Cabaret-style play addresses LGBT history; comes to Hillcrest for West Coast premiere
By Anthony King | GSD Editor
Luke Mcfarlane as Sam Bendrix (Photo by Suellen Fitzsimmons/City Theatre Company)
The La Jolla Playhouse ventures into Hillcrest with their latest
Without Walls production, “Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir.” The show,
taking over Martinis Above Fourth from Sept. 24 – Oct. 10, was written
by Keith Bunin and directed by Mark Rucker. The one-person play sees out
actor Luke Macfarlane return to the role he originated last fall.
Macfarlane, who played one half of the gay couple on “Brothers &
Sisters,” began discussing the Sam Bendrix role with Bunin while he was
filming the ABC series. The two, who became friends, were looking to
recreate a part of LGBT history that slightly mirrored Macfarlane’s own
experience coming out in Hollywood.
“It was around the time that he was on a television show where
[Macfarlane] was playing a gay character,” Bunin said of creating the
play. Macfarlane was a semi-closeted gay actor at the time, who was
thinking of coming out publicly.
“It was a very big thing to think about, because obviously it’s a big
thing to weigh for an actor.” Bunin said. “We were talking about the
history of people who had done that. I had been doing this research, and
we talked about what it would have been like for someone like him, 50
years ago.”
The play focuses on the title character, a lounge singer, taking the
stage one last time before he leaves New York City. Bunin, who set “Sam
Bendrix” in 1958 very purposefully, said the show is a play disguised as
a cabaret act.
“I’ve been interested in gay American history, and this particular
generation,” Bunin said. “In a way, its sort of like an homage to these
generations of gay men and women … who came from small towns and served
in World War II, and then sort of discovered a community they didn’t
know existed.”
While the show is grounded in music, featuring songs by Cole Porter,
Kurt Weill and George Gershwin, Bunin said his research involved more
than just musicians: he felt all artists, including poets and dancers,
contributed to his understanding of the period and helped him in shaping
the story.
“I hope they all show up in their own little ways, here and there,”
he said. “There was this very strong subculture that was 10 years before
Stonewall,” a point, he added, that is important for the audience to
understand.
Bunin said he “cast” the audience as that of a cabaret act from the
1950s. “Sam, the cabaret singer, is talking to the audience as he would
have been talking to the audience that night,” revealing more about his
life than he first set out to do, Bunin said.
“The audience’s responsibility is to understand how dangerous that
would be in 1958,” he said. “I think a lot of times when you see a
period piece, the response of the audience is to feel, ‘oh, we’re past
this’ or ‘I’m just grateful I’m not living in that time.’ Part of the
fun of this is to feel like you’re in this space and this time, and [to]
think about what … your reaction would be if you were hearing this in
1958.”
After appearing as part of regular company’s season in Pittsburg,
Penn. last fall, where the play was staged in a typical theater setting,
Bunin said he is excited Martinis Above Fourth will be the stage for
the West Coast premiere.
“I’m actually excited about doing it in an actual cabaret space,” he said,
calling Martinis the right size and saying Hillcrest is the perfect
setting, primarily because of the predominately LGBT audience.
Choosing Hillcrest as the latest location for La Jolla’s Without
Walls series was purposeful for Artistic Direct Christopher Ashley as
well. The theater company staged two other productions as part of the
series, one at the San Diego Botanical Garden and the other – conceived
by Paul Stein – set in a series of automobiles.
“The central idea of Without Walls is presenting theatrical events in
non-traditional spaces that allow you to experience the show in a
completely new way,” Ashley said. “Keith’s play is set in a nightclub in
1958 – a decade before Stonewall, when being open about your sexuality
could still land you in jail. By producing this play at Martinis Above
Fourth, in the heart of Hillcrest, we get to highlight just how far the
cause of equality has come.”
Macfarlane will take on “Sam Bendrix” Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., and Sunday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. from
Sept. 24 – Oct. 10. Martinis Above Fourth is located at 3940 Fourth Ave.
Tickets are $35 and can be purchased through the La Jolla Playhouse at
lajollaplayhouse.org or by calling 858-550-1010. Food and drinks will be
available before and after the show, but not during.
This west coast premiere will run September 24 – October 10 at
Martinis Above Fourth (3940 Fourth Avenue, Suite 200, in Hillcrest).
Performances run Mon/Tue/Wed at 7:30 pm; Sat at 2:00 pm; Sun at 2:00 pm
and 7:30 pm. Tickets are $35 and are available by calling (858) 550-1010
or at LaJollaPlayhouse.org beginning now for subscribers and August 5 for the general public.
In a 1958 Greenwich Village nightclub — a decade before the Stonewall
riots — the drinks and music flow as a young singer and his band take
the stage for his last performance before leaving New York City for
good. Featuring the songs of Cole Porter, Kurt Weill and George Gershwin, Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir showcases acclaimed actor Luke MacFarlane as he tells the poignant tale of a gay man looking for love in the wrong decade.
“Our first two WoW presentations – Susurrus at the San Diego Botanic Garden and The Car Plays: San Diego in The Playhouse’s parking area – gave our audiences unique theatrical experiences in unexpected places,” said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. “We continue this tradition by presenting Keith Bunin’s moving play at Martinis Above Fourth in the heart of Hillcrest.”
Luke MacFarlane (Sam Bendrix) is well known to television audiences for his role on the hit ABC series Brothers and Sisters.
Other television credits include Iron Road, Supreme Courtships, Over
There and Tanner on Tanner. Film credits include Trapped Ashes, Recalled
and Kinsey. A graduate of Juilliard, Mr. Macfarlane has appeared in The
Normal Heart on Broadway, The Busy World Is Hushed and Juvenilia at Playwrights Horizons, and Where Do We Live at The Vineyard Theatre.
Keith Bunin
(Playwright) is the author of the plays The Busy World Is Hushed, The
World Over, The Credeaux Canvas, The Principality of Sorrows, The King
of Clocks and A Joke. He has also written for film and television. He is
a graduate of Goddard College and Columbia University and lives in
Brooklyn.
Mark Rucker
(Director) is Associate Artistic Director at American Conservatory
Theatre, where he directed Once in a Lifetime, The Rainmaker and The
Beard of Avon, among others. He is an associate artist at South Coast
Rep, where he has directed more than 20 productions, including world
premieres by Richard Greenberg, Annie Weisman and Culture Clash. Other regional credits include work at Yale Rep, Arena Stage, Intiman Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. His feature film, Die, Mommie, Die!, won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Funded by a generous grant from The James Irvine Foundation, Without Walls is an exciting La Jolla Playhouse initiative designed to break the barriers of traditional theatre. Over the course of four years, The Playhouse
has been commissioning and presenting a series of site-based
productions at locations throughout the San Diego community.
Underscoring the theatre’s mission of providing “unfettered creative
opportunities for the leading artists of today and tomorrow,” coupled
with the idea that The Playhouse
is defined by the work it creates – not the space in which it is
performed – WoW is designed to offer theatrical experiences that venture
beyond the physical confines of The Playhouse’s facilities.
Building on the success of the first two WoW productions, Susurrus
and The Car Plays: San Diego – both extended by popular demand – The Playhouse
recently announced that it will host a WoW Festival in October, 2013,
featuring several site-based pieces by artists and companies from around
the world. In addition to a special return engagement of The Car Plays,
The Playhouse has also commissioned such renowned artists as puppeteer Basil Twist (Peter and Wendy, Dogugaeshi) to create works for the festival. The festival location will be primarily centered around The Playhouse,
with various productions taking place throughout La Jolla. Dates and
additional programming for the WoW Festival will be announced shortly.
Located in the heart of Hillcrest, Martinis Above Fourth (MA4) is an
eclectic contemporary restaurant, lounge and bar featuring award-winning
martinis and casual fine dining. Voted #1 Martini Bar in San Diego from
the UT San Diego, MA4 features over 100 specialty martinis, along with a
wide selection of spirits, wine and beer. MA4's menu offers a broad
selection of starters and entrees, from our famous in-house crab cakes
to our blue cheese-stuffed filet. And don't miss the horseradish-infused
au-gratin potatoes. Nightly entertainment is showcased on the main
stage with performers spanning the entire musical spectrum from jazz to
pop and everything in-between. Special cabaret performances are
presented throughout each month with featured entertainers from L.A. and
New York.
The nationally acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer,
and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit
theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to
Broadway, including the currently-running, multiple Tony Award-winning
hits Jersey Boys and Peter and the Starcatcher, as well as Memphis, Big
River, The Who’s Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really
Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Billy Crystal’s
700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Thoroughly
Modern Millie, The Farnsworth Invention, 33 Variations and Bonnie &
Clyde. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-Art Theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre. The Playhouse is led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg.
The James Irvine Foundation is a private, nonprofit grantmaking
foundation dedicated to expanding opportunity for the people of
California to participate in a vibrant, successful and inclusive
society. The Foundation’s grantmaking focuses on three program areas:
Arts, California Democracy and Youth. Since 1937 the Foundation has
provided over $1 billion in grants to more than 3,000 nonprofit
organizations throughout California. With about $1.5 billion in assets,
the Foundation made grants of $65 million in 2011 for the people of
California.
Luke Macfarlane will star in the LaJolla Playhouse's production of Keith Bunin's Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir, to run September 24-October 10 at Martinis Above Fourth. Mark Rucker will direct the production.
The play centers on a young man who is offering his final performance at
a Greenwich Village club in 1958 and also waiting for a special someone
who has not shown up for the event. The production will feature music
by Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein and the Gershwins.
Macfarlane's stage credits include The Normal Heart, Juvenilia, Where Do We Live?, and The Busy World Is Hushed. He may be best known for playing Scotty Wendell on ABC's Brothers and Sisters.
Brothers & Sisters: Luke MacFarlane besucht Beauty & The Beast
!Spoilerwarnung - Diese Meldung kann Hinweise auf die Fortführung der Handlung enthalten!
Luke Macfarlane als Scotty Wandell in der vierten Staffel der US-Serie „Brothers & Sisters“
(c) ABC / Foto: Andrew Eccles
Rainer Idesheim am Samstag, 28.Juli 2012 08.00 Uhr
Luke MacFarlane meldet sich im US-Fernsehen zurück: Der Darsteller stattet der neuen The CW-Serie Beauty & The Beast einen Kurzbesuch ab und versucht sich als Intendant einer Balletttruppe.
MacFarlane spielt Informationen von Entertainment Weekly zufolge die Rolle des Philippe Bertrand, eines anspruchsvollen und obendrein noch talentierten Intendanten der Bertrand Ballet Company, der besonders in die Leben seiner Tänzer verstrickt ist. Catherine (Kristin Kreuk)
nimmt die Balletttruppe genauer unter die Lupe, nachdem deren
Primaballerina ermordet wurde. MacFarlanes Gastauftritt erfolgt in der
zweiten Episode der ersten Staffel.
Lose basierend auf der gleichnamigen Fantasyserie aus dem Jahr 1987 mit Linda Hamilton und Ron Perlman in den Hauptrollen dreht sich die neue The CW-Serie „Beauty & The Beast“ um Catherine (Kristin Kreuk, „Smallville“, „Chuck“),
eine eigenwillige New Yorker Polizeibeamtin des Morddezernats, die von
den Erinnerungen an den Mord ihrer Mutter vor neun Jahren geplagt wird.
Das
„Biest“ soll dem Mörder ihrer Mutter bei der Flucht geholfen haben.
Neben ihrem Beruf widmet Catherine ihr Leben der Suche nach dieser
Kreatur und findet schließlich Vincent Koslow (Jay Ryan, „Terra Nova“),
den Überlebenden eines Militärexperiments, das katastrophal endete.
Trotz allem tritt der Mann eigentlich als Beschützer der Schwachen auf,
wird aber dabei wegen seines unansehnlichen Äußeren oftmals als
Bösewicht wahrgenommen.
Jennifer Levin („Without A Trace“, „Felicity“) und Sherri Cooper („Brothers & Sisters“) steuerten das Drehbuch zur Pilotfolge bei und sind demnach die Serienerfinder. Die Regieanweisungen beim Serienpiloten gab Gary Fleder („Life Unexpected“), der auch gemeinsam mit Levin, Cooper, Bill Haber („Rizzoli & Isles“), Paul Junger Witt („A Better Life“), Ron Koslow („Moonlight“) und Tony Thomas („A Better Life“) als ausführender Produzent tätig ist. Hinter der Serie stehen CBS Television Studios, Ostar Productions und Witt-Thomas Productions.
Loosely based on the 1987 CBS series about an ADA and a noble man-beast who make a connection, the updated love story stars Smallville's Kristin Kreuk as Catherine Chandler, a cop who intersects with Vincent Keller (Jay Ryan), who was turned into a beast after a faulty military experiment.
MacFarlane, who will appear in the second episode of the freshman
series, will play Philippe Bertrand, the exacting yet talented artistic
director the of the Bertrand Ballet Company who's intrinsically involved
in his dancers' lives. Catherine will investigate the company after
their prima-ballerina is murdered.
The 32-year-old actor is well-known for playing Scotty Wandell, the husband of Matthew Rhys' Kevin Walker, on Brothers & Sisters.
Beauty and the Beast premieres Thursday, Oct. 11 at 9/8c on The CW. Will you be watching?
'The Normal Heart' Explores the Early Days of AIDS
Two performers from the critically acclaimed play "The Normal Heart" discuss the show -- at the Arena Stage through July 29 -- and the fact that it coincides with the International AIDS Conference, in D.C. for the first time.
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2012 – Arena Stage’s current production of Larry Kramer’s controversial 1985 AIDS drama, entitled The Normal Heart,
still packs a powerful punch. Simultaneously angry, desperate,
hectoring, and crusading, the play was Kramer’s almost desperate attempt
to wake up both the gay community and the medical community alike to
the grim reality of an almost willfully misunderstood epidemic that
threatened a catastrophe of potentially epic proportions.
Somewhat surprisingly, Arena’s production of Normal Heart is
the first-ever appearance of this nearly 30 year-old play in
Washington, DC despite this city’s substantial gay population. Kramer’s
drama did get an impressive production across the river back in 1996 as
the Washington Shakespeare Company (now WSC Avant Bard) but hasn’t
appeared again in the metro area until now.
Cast of Arena Stage's 'The Normal Heart.' (Credit: Scott Suchman.)
Chronicling the early days of the AIDS epidemic as it unfolded in New York city, this production of Normal Heart
will revive deeply painful memories in those who remember the disease’s
almost-surreal beginnings while proving a revelation to younger
generations not familiar with how this medical tragedy actually
unfolded.
Almost unnoticed in its early days, AIDS initially didn’t even have a
name. Quietly and without warning, a few gay men in New York started
becoming sick and dying of ailments ranging from pneumonia that couldn’t
be cured to strange, exotic cancers so rare that they were scarcely
footnotes in the medical literature. Although it may seem difficult to
believe, it took some time early on to discover that the cause of these
disparate ailments was a fatally-compromised immune system. It took even
more time to discover that a mysterious, new virus with no known remedy
was the actual cause of what was happening.
Normal Heart follows these early days, when the gay
community began to notice that more and more of its members were
succumbing to this ailment with no name and no cure, a disease that
seemed to come out of nowhere to stalk an entire subculture, many of
whose members had only recently decided to collectively come out of the
closet and celebrate who they were.
Normal Heart captures, at times quite viscerally, the sense
of fear bordering on panic in New York’s gay community as they
confronted a grim reaper that seemed to be stalking only them. They
faced as well the indifference of a medical and research community that
seemed to have little interest in even exploring the problem before it
was too late.
The play is essentially autobiographical, chronicling Kramer’s own
early days as he spearheaded what eventually became known loosely as
“AIDS activism,” an attempt by members of the gay community to focus the
medical community on uncovering the origin and cause of the unknown
ailment and then on finding a cure.
Directed by George C. Wolfe, Arena Stage’s production of The Normal Heart
is the first stop in a gradual nationwide tour of the play that
originated with a Tony-Award winning revival of the play in New York.
Boasting a few of the stars of the original revival, albeit in different
roles, this is a bristling, edgy production that’s likely to renew the
AIDS discussions anew wherever it appears. It’s unfolding here at an
uncannily auspicious time, dovetailing nicely with the AIDS 2012
conference that’s taking place in DC starting just over a week from
today.
Normal Heart is the kind of play this reviewer generally
dislikes intensely. It’s radical left propaganda, pure and simple, at
its most basic level. And yet…and yet…
Playwright Kramer, not known for his temperate voice on any issue,
somehow still manages, almost miraculously, to infuse this play with a
heart and soul, with a deep, basic humanity and sensitivity that somehow
liberates his drama from the strict party-line that gave it its
original shape.
Based heavily on his own early personal involvement in the action,
Kramer’s drama presents real people dealing desperately with a real-life
medical emergency that unfolds almost like a police procedural on TV,
uncovering evidence a little bit at a time.
By the time Kramer wrote the play, one thing had become fairly clear:
promiscuous, unprotected sex in the gay community was almost certainly
the way the mysterious way in which the AIDS plague was spreading.
Although a radical, Kramer was also a realist, and, early on, began to
beg, cajole, lecture, and preach either abstinence or monogamy as at
least a temporary way of halting the disease’s spread until a vaccine or
cure could be found.
This created an interesting paradox for both Kramer and his play, and
is one of this drama’s perhaps unexpected central conflicts. During the
1970s, “being gay” was increasingly defined by radicals as wild,
profligate sexual abandon involving many partners. Kramer was
essentially demanding that this behavior be stopped, at least
temporarily, which was anathema to those who refused to renounce the
almost sacramental character of gay bath house sex.
Thus, Normal Heart revolves around two essential conflicts:
first, the supreme difficulty of getting the scientific and medical
communities to even notice what was going on let alone address it; and
second, getting the gay community to at least suspend its mass-devotion
to unprotected sex before they exterminated themselves.
In Normal Heart, Ned Weeks (Patrick Breen)—a loosely
disguised Larry Kramer—is appalled to discover that close friends and
associates are suddenly being felled by an unknown disease. Things
become worse when his passionate relationship with news reporter Felix
Turner takes a serious turn for the worse when his partner comes down
with the disease. Weeks and his only ally in the medical community, Dr.
Emma Brookner (Patricia Wettig), try to press the issue in the halls of
scientific academia as well as the inbred grant community of NSF.
Meanwhile, on the populist front, Ned spearheads a new organization
within the gay community to create a greater awareness of what’s going
on and how to deal with it.
Frustration builds in the play as Weeks and Brookner fail to make
much progress on the medical front. And things eventually sour on the PR
front as well as Weeks’ fellow activists bristle against his radical
approach to publicity as well as his heretical attempt to reign in
unprotected sex within the gay community.
Normal Heart is a wrenching, emotional experience, and its
entire cast performs brilliantly in the main. As Ned Weeks, Patrick
Breen is a hyperkinetic yet (at times) a surprisingly reasonable
advocate for direct action on all fronts. As his doomed lover, Felix
Turner, Luke Macfarlane turns in an amazingly nuanced performance,
deeply involving even those audience members not normally sympathetic
toward the gay community with his tragic humanity.
Nick Mennell is highly effective as Bruce Niles who eventually,
albeit reluctantly, is forced to ease Ned aside in his own movement,
hopefully for the greater good. Chris Dinolfo is almost letter perfect
as an idealistic younger acolyte of the movement who gradually shows
greater sense and political acumen than many of its original leaders.
And Michael Berresse’s initially cautious portrayal of in-the-closet
political functionary Mickey Marcus is a case-study of how dangerous it
is for a government bureaucrat to step out of the shadows.
This production of Normal Heart is a study in contrasts for
those who, like this reviewer, may have seen the Washington Shakespeare
Company’s deeply nuanced, incredibly moving 1995 production on the other
side of the river. This production was notable for its relative
modulation and deeply felt humanity.
Arena’s current production lacks some of this nuance. While still
brilliantly effective, its ultra-high decibel level is sometimes
off-putting in the way that WSC’s was not. The current production is
clearly a direct child of the New York scene where everything, no matter
what the subject matter, is screamed and hyped to a fare-thee-well.
This is, it must be admitted, authentic New York. But it may not play
too well in Peoria. The constant yelling and hollering eventually has
the effect of drowning out some sympathy for the characters’ collective
plight, and the director and cast might consider cranking the volume
back, at least a bit, before proceeding to other cities.
Perhaps the worst offender here is Patricia Wettig. As Dr. Brookner,
she gets to deliver one of the play’s key orations. But instead of a
moving, passionate, anti-establishment summation speech, Wettig
transforms this key moment into a shrill, high-volume tirade that, from
beginning to end, competes with an old, unmodified Boeing 727 in its
ear-splitting intensity. Her rant, admittedly, is probably authentic,
old-style, New York radical. Yet some variation in tone here would make
this speech far more effective. We’d suggest that Wettig, and/or the
director, consider re-examining this way this key scene is presented.
Likewise, there’s a bit too much of this on the part of Patrick
Breen’s Ned Weeks. But Breen seems to know when to stop or pull back,
always going to the brink, but then retreating slightly before his
character loses his believability and humanity.
On the whole, however, Arena’s Normal Heart is a sociologically,
politically, and artistically timely revival of a problem play that
still has an awful lot to say to a modern audience. Wisely, Kramer
refused to update his play for its current run, leaving it not only as
still-fine play, but also as a key historical document of a disease
whose history and treatment course is still evolving.
Today, AIDS is capable of being held at bay but is still not regarded as curable. Intriguingly, USA Todaynoted some recent developments on this front:
“A trio of new studies highlights the promise and challenges of preventing the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS: Giving anti-AIDS drugs to healthy but high-risk patients can dramatically reduce the risk of infection.
“Two studies from Africa in heterosexual patients found that the
drugs reduced the rate of HIV infection by 62% to 75%, a success rate
that's comparable to results from studies of gay men, according to
research in today's New England Journal of Medicine.”
These are remarkable results that show the kind of progress that
Kramer could never have imagined when he wrote his play in the 1980s,
but they still demonstrate that the AIDS problem has still not been
solved a good thirty years after this malady began to appear on the
medical radar screen.
The Normal Heart charts, in a radical yet moving way, the
beginning of a journey that still has no end. It’s a play that needs to
be seen, and its revival could not possibly be more timely as we all
move ahead in an amazingly uncertain environment where everyone is
concerned about what kind of future tomorrow might hold in store.
Rating: ** ½ (Two and one-half stars.)
The Normal Heart runs through July 29 at Washington’s Arena Stage. For information, show times, and tickets, click here.
Heartfelt With ''The Normal Heart,'' Arena Stage is putting Patrick Breen and Luke Macfarlane – two out LGBT actors – center stage
Interview by Chris Geidner Photography by Todd Franson Published on July 5, 2012, 7:36am
Playing Ned and Felix, the two lovers at the center of The Normal Heart,
Patrick Breen and Luke Macfarlane have come to D.C.'s Arena Stage to
lead the first touring production of the show that won three Tony Awards
in 2011.
Larry Kramer's
1985 play is a difficult one, dealing with the beginnings of AIDS, the
horribly unexpected deaths that came with it, and the slow response from
the government – and the gay community. Both Breen and MacFarlane had
been in the Broadway performance, although not in the leading roles they
play at Arena.
Luke and Patrick: 'The Normal Heart'
(Photo by Todd Franson)
Macfarlane, best known for his role as Scotty on Brothers and Sisters,
comes into the theater carrying his bike, sweating and shirtless.
Before venturing into the conference room to talk, he puts on a shirt.
A few minutes later, Breen, who starred in the Broadway debut of Geoffrey Nauffts's Next Fall, arrives, carrying a box from Amazon.com. He shares his purchases: Linda Hirshman's Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution and Alif the Unseen
by graphic novelist G. Willow Wilson that, to his surprise, is not
illustrated, but that Breen nonetheless remains excited to read.
Macfarlane, pre-show (and post-workout), is energized, having had a group of D.C. friends attend the previous night's show.
''I spent a majority of the day thinking about my evening last night,
so that play never really goes away for the whole day,'' he says. ''And
I do this thing to myself where I have to amp myself up into the
performance.''
Turning to Breen, he adds, ''We talked a little bit about how you and
I are different. I really feel like I have to get my blood moving,
literally, or else I won't have enough energy to do it.''
''I don't,'' Breen counters. ''I was at the Phillips Collection with
[Patricia Wettig] today from like 12 to 2:30. But around 2:30 or 3,
we're both like, 'Gotta get home, and start preparing.' Maybe eat a
little something, having a coffee or tea, take a little nap, and made
dinner at 5. … Then, I've got to get to the theater.
''Ten minutes before, I just sit in the back of the theater and
listen to the audience coming in, and sit in the dark and be quiet and
let my mind wander. Then, right before that killer music starts, I think
about the names on the projections that I put up there, that I know of
people who died of AIDS. So, I think about them right before we go on.''
METRO WEEKLY:This is quite a show to perform, night after night.
LUKE MACFARLANE: The way George [C. Wolfe] has
directed it, there's no moment of rest in anything. There's really no
time where you can just [exhale].
PATRICK BREEN: Because you have to observe, if you're not acting.
MACFARLANE: And the observing takes a real level of focus.
BREEN: Plus, you have to stand.
MACFARLANE: And I stand, for like 15 minutes, in those shoes.
MW:Those shoes?
MACFARLANE: They're just these lovely little Brooks Brother-y type of conservative shoes.
BREEN: They're uncomfortable?
MACFARLANE: They're very uncomfortable.
BREEN: Get insoles or something.
MACFARLANE: I was thinking about asking for it.
BREEN: Get those pillow-y things with the gel in them.
MW:You'll look forward to those moments.
MACFARLANE: I'm just going to stay here.
MW:You talked about the Sunday night
performance, and how much this takes out of you. Thinking about what you
go through to do a show like this, how do you do it?
BREEN: You have to sleep and eat and don't really
talk to anybody. This weekend – we pretty much do five shows in 52
hours, from Friday night at 8 till Sunday night at 9:30, 49-and-a-half
hours – so, after Friday night, maybe I'll go out with people, but it
has to be really, super-low key, sleep, eat a lot, maybe go run a bit. I
isolate, because there's no stamina if you don't, for me, personally. I
have to pretty much shut everything else down.
Sunday night, I've noticed, is incredibly difficult to do. In other
ways, it can be more raw because you're – it's not unguarded – but, if I
had any sort of barriers…. When you get to the Proust speech and you're
defending gay culture, and you're railing against people who refuse to
see that perhaps their sexual behavior is contributing to the epidemic,
you just keep tearing it out. I'm not shaping it, I'm not able to go,
''What is the best way to do this?'' You just have to kind of spill it
out and see what happens. It may be a little sloppier or whatever, but I
think it can be more raw and maybe interesting that way, but I think
that's the only way I'm left with. I sound like such a fuckin' –
MACFARLANE: No you don't. What I was thinking was, your ideas don't really get you through as much as your emotions.
BREEN: It's less conscious and more unconscious.
It's not unconscious, I'm not psychotic. Some might disagree. But all of
us have to feel that way. Our scene, the grocery scene, where you just –
''Alright, what are we doing? Tear it up.''
MW:It's hard to imagine something with the constant emotional depth that this gets into.
MACFARLANE: It's a wonderful freedom to be given the
opportunity to sort of say, ''Find the deepest place in you, and go
there.'' Obviously, in real life, you can't go there, for whatever
reasons. I think that's why Ned, in D.C., is such an interesting
character, because this entire city is sort of about, ''You can't really
go there.''
The sort of emotion that we get to have onstage to get to tell the
story, it's actually really rewarding, and we don't get to do it in real
life. At all, really. So, in that way, it can actually be really
wonderful and energy-giving. I actually do feel more energized,
sometimes, at the end of the show than I do at the beginning.
BREEN: He's right. The Tuesday through Fridays, when
you have one show, I can aim it, hone it like a crazy laser from a
crazy superhero movie, and go, ''There's the show.'' The weekend is
different. It has to be more raw, more emotional, because I don't have
the same stamina.
Larry's play requires that level of intensity, because it doesn't
work otherwise. I think if you just read it, it can be kind of a screed,
a political screed. When you read Larry's writings on it, he says, ''I
tried to make Ned as obnoxious as possible.''
MW:George C. Wolfe makes Ned more likable. I
think the other people being in the scenes, in the background, does
change the way you watch it, because Ned can come off as being so
isolated. You get this sense that he's maybe not as alone as he thinks
he is.
BREEN: The great thing about the play is that Larry,
after seeing the Broadway production, maybe it was opening night, said
to George, ''I didn't know I'd written a love story.'' What
differentiates this production from other past productions is that the
love relationship between Felix and Ned is the focus in a way that it
wasn't in other productions.
You see the political and the struggle and the history, and then he
sneaks in this love story. It's not even snuck in, I don't know how he
could have missed it. There's three scenes in the first act, three
scenes in the second act, and it ends with a gay marriage and the death
of a loved one. How doesn't that break your heart?
MACFARLANE: I'm so curious by that comment that
Larry made because I thought, ''If it's not a love story, then what the
fuck is Felix doing in this play? What else would he have been?''
MW:The sense that I always got was that Felix
was almost a way to keep Ned from not being completely off-putting to
other people. Seeing the way that this performance is done, I did feel
it differently. Taking on this show, knowing that you're taking on this
emotional commitment, is that a positive for doing the show?
Patrick Breen, and Luke MacFarlane: 'The Normal Heart'
(Photo by Todd Franson)
BREEN: It's absolutely positive. These are the roles that you dream about playing. It's a modern Hamlet. It's a contemporary play, in my opinion, of that challenge. That's why I do it.
If they're not going to pay you a great deal of money and if you're
not going to be in Rio de Janeiro, then you pick it for the role.
I saw Joe Mantello do this role 80 times, and I went, ''I want a
crack at it.'' So, when they said they were doing this regional tour, I
was hoping that they would ask me to play Ned. I would have thrown my
hat in the ring if they hadn't, but they did ask me to do it. I thought
about it for a little bit, but I said, ''Yeah, I got to do it.''
[Macfarlane] called me and he said they asked him to do Felix, and we
were both in the Broadway production, and we were like, ''Fuck yeah!'' I
really like Luke, and the crazy thing is, our characters, Mickey and
Craig and Grady, were often connected in the Broadway production. We did
all the set changes together, we stood together a lot, we had – Grady
and Mickey had this friendship –
MACFARLANE: Completely to the point that, when we
were rehearsing the Grady scene, a very small little scene, I totally
made up this whole thing that my character is flirting with Mickey.
BREEN: So, we knew we were going to be moving into these roles.
MACFARLANE: Our plan all along.
BREEN: Luckily, I wasn't working for three months
before this. Because it takes a lot. Like an athlete, like you're
preparing for a marathon. You have to eat and train. Sort of, you have
to ration your feelings. That's going to sound really strange –
MACFARLANE: I like that actually.
BREEN: I'm not in a relationship. I was living
alone. But, I knew this was coming and I knew that it would require a
lot of feelings. I don't know whether that's even possible, but you have
to sort of ration. I'm glad I wasn't working for a few months before
rehearsing this and then performing it, so that I could just send it
out, see what happens. With George's shape and my own abilities as an
actor and the ideas I have for the character and certainly building on
the framework that Joe Mantello created. No question about it, I steal a
lot of his stuff.
Did you feel that at all?
MACFARLANE: Yeah, I had decided that I had to know
all the words, and I had to get that out immediately – which is
something that I had never really done before.
BREEN: Did you? Did you come in off book?
MACFARLANE: Yeah, pretty much. That's my own
personal thing. I have a really hard time – I'm dyslexic – I have a hard
time with ''words, words, words,'' so that was part of me preparing.
Most of the rationing of the emotion happens a little bit more in
performance for me, like during the week I can't just say, ''Oh, I'll
meet you at wherever and I'll do this thing with you,'' because I know
that I can't. And I need to be really sensitive to who I talk to on the
phone. In fact, it's actually interesting. Some of my closest friends,
our relationships have sort of stopped, because I get really worked up
when I talk to them. I just don't want to do that, and I don't want to
get worked up, so I have to protect myself in that way.
BREEN: It's so important to perform this play
honestly. And it's not easy to do life and art at the same time, and
that's a common theme for performers, but particularly with a
performance of stuff as complicated and as loud as this. In my
experience, I'm better when my life is incredibly boring and quiet so
that I can then live like a madman in this play.
It's imperative to express it in the way, in my opinion, that Larry
wrote it, from when he wrote it in 1985 and the kind of man he was – and
still is. In the '80s: outrage. And then, to turn it into an artistic
work, it has to be heightened. So you think, ''Larry, heightened?'' What
is that?
Joe said – when I said I was stealing his shit – he said, ''Well, I
took everything from the Tasmanian Devil and Charles Nelson Reilly
anyway. I stole everything from them, so you can steal from me.'' That's
why I do the little spin, because I wanted to put the Tasmanian Devil
in.
MW:One of the things that Larry brought up when
I talked with him was the age of the audience, and whether the show
would open the early AIDS crisis to an audience that came of age not
living with that fear that Larry is trying to capture.
MACFARLANE: Let's be honest, in the theater, we all –
every playwright wants to reach younger audiences. Of course, he wants
to, especially with this subject matter and the fact that infection
rates are still going up, but this is the state of the theater as well.
[Older audience members] are the ones that build the glass pavilions,
they're the ones that donate the money.
BREEN: If you could get Justin Beiber to play a role
in this, then you could do it – but it's hard. They're 21, they didn't
know what the hell this was. To them, AIDS is a chronic illness that you
just take a handful of pills for and then you live your life. So, I
don't know how you – and theater's expensive.
MACFARLANE: And, they have to come all the way to Southwest, which I'm told is a big deal.
I have this big group of people – I've joined this CrossFit gym here in D.C. CrossFit Balance –
BREEN: Maybe you'll get a free month out of that [mention]!
MACFARLANE: Wonderful people! Once sort of early on
when I was there, in this moment of boldness that I really don't
normally do, I was like, ''You guys should come! I'll get the theater to
call you and arrange some sort of ticket thing!'' So, now, there's this
group of CrossFit people coming to the theater tonight, and I'm sort of
terrified. ''I hope we have a good house. I hope the audience is
full.''
I'm excited. I don't know how many of them regularly go to the
theater. It's always exciting when people who don't normally come to the
theater come to the theater. It's so fantastic. There are so many
people who buy their season tickets and schlep their way. But, as an
actor, you feel that so much. I don't think people are aware of how much
effect they have when they're in the audience. You can hear specific
voices, you can hear specific laughter, and they literally give you the
energy to move through a scene.
So, it is lovely when there's young people in the audience; you get a
whole different thing back from them. And when the audience is not
young – old – or quiet, you step off stage and you feel hostile or
you're angry. ''God, why aren't they giving back to us?''
BREEN: And then, the truth is, George says this a
lot, they become one animal. Even if there's someone who really enjoys
laughing a lot, he gets cowed or she gets cowed into not laughing if the
audience is quiet. That doesn't mean they're not enjoying it. Some of
our most enthusiastic curtain calls have been quiet houses over the
weekend, Sunday afternoon. Really quiet, and then roaring at curtain. ''Now you give us this?''
MW:We didn't realize you liked it!
BREEN: We gave up on you guys in Act 1.
MACFARLANE: You're all sort of masochist-y. You like
to cry more than you like to laugh. The play – the first act is so
different from the second act, when this monster comes to visit and
stays around for a while.
MW:Being in this performance, knowing the place that the show comes from, how does it impact you? Is it just a role?
BREEN: I believe in the message of the play. One of
the wonderful things that they've done is that they've asked us if we've
had friends who have died of AIDS, and their names are on the screens
behind us. Everybody involved in the production has names up on there if
they knew someone who died of AIDS. So I personally feel that I'm
performing for them, giving voice to their voices that have been
stopped. That makes me fight harder for this.
The idea that I think Larry was so prescient about, the idea of gay
marriage now in this country, that he ends the play with a gay marriage.
There are references throughout the play: ''Why didn't you guys fight
for the right to get married instead of the right to legitimize
promiscuity?'' Tommy Boatwright says, ''Maybe if they had let us get
married in the first place none of this would have happened.''
The fact that that is now – it's not a tsunami, but it's a tide
coming in. Things are changing. Obama saying that he's for gay marriage,
the president saying that. Whereas Bill Clinton signed the Defense of
Marriage Act. That's extraordinary change in a very brief time.
I identify as one of the LGBT people. So, in that this play argues
for cultural recognition, marriage recognition and is a kind of – it
becomes, the wall becomes like any other war memorial in this city, the
Vietnam War Memorial. It's a eulogy and a memorial, this play, for the
victims of AIDS, and, you've read the letter that Larry passes out at
the end of the play: It's not over; people are still getting infected.
The more it's just a sexual – that promiscuity is the way you identify
as a gay man, that leads to death, just as silence does.
The more we go, ''Guess who is gay? Guess what show you like, guess
who's gay on that show?'' Anybody who's ever had sex with someone of the
same gender, even if you were just experimenting in college, they need
to come forward and say it. Just say it. Just tell everybody who you
fucked, and that it's all part of the Kinsey scale – people are
straight, gay, and there's a lot of more gray than we admit – then
you've made some change in people's minds. Be heard. Be visible.
That's why that incredible Proust speech is so powerful to say
because it's so contemporary. He wrote it in '85, but it's like: We are
there. We are there. We are all through history.
I've been watching all these documentaries: Outrage, about
all the politicians. Crist and Mayor Koch and shit like that. Everybody.
All the gay staffers. Guess what America? We're here, and we're running
your country.
MW:When you talk about the importance of everybody coming out, regardless of the specifics – looking at you, identifying as bi.
BREEN: And there's more gay actors coming out, which is great. Jim Parsons just put it in his interview and the guy on White Collar. I'm not outing anybody, he's out –
MW:Matt Bomer.
BREEN: Yeah. I was talking to an actor who was in
town recently, and I can't say his name, but, I was encouraging him to
speak about it to the press, and he was like, ''I'm waiting for somebody
to ask me, but nobody does.'' And, I'm like, ''Well, then you have to
volunteer. You know what I mean.''
MACFARLANE: That's the amazing thing. People feel
like, they keep waiting for, ''When I get to this certain point in my
career and then I'll do it,'' then, ''When I get to this next point.''
The truth is most people, when they're at the height of their career --
BREEN: They're the most afraid to lose it.
MACFARLANE: They're the most afraid to do it, they
never do it, and then they do it all these years later, and no one gives
a shit and quite frankly it doesn't matter.
MW:Was there a point that you made a decision that you would be out?
MACFARLANE: Yeah. And it actually really was a
decision. It was clearly a choice. And it has to be a choice. It was
quite simple, I was at a point in my career where I was starting to get
asked. I had done a television series before, and it was the first time I
had ever really experienced the press barrage. It was a political show,
it was set in the war in Iraq and I played a soldier in Iraq. And it
just never came up. Yet, I always felt this anxiety around any kind of
interview. There was always this notion that it was kind of in the room
and it could just pop out, so I always felt on guard and it was a
terrible, terrible feeling that started to affect my life on set in a
major way.
So, what happened with Brothers and Sisters was I started
from, ''Oh, it's going to happen again. I'm going to feel that sort of
bizarre anxiety, so I'm just going to get it out of the way.'' In an
effort, I swear to God, to make my life more simple. Yes, it does look
like a political act, but it wasn't. It really was in an effort to make
my life more streamlined, to sort of remove as much anxiety from those
interviews as possible.
And it did that, for the most part. Except for now I feel rage
because I just wish everybody else would do it. Because I can't stand
being the only person who answers the fucking questions. I'm like,
''There's so many of you guys out there. Say something. Do something.''
BREEN: And you have to take a hit. I think people
who come out in this climate, their careers are still going to suffer. I
think they're going to not get the auditions, there's just going to be
less consideration.
MACFARLANE: And, I don't think that that is because
people are evil and homophobic. I just think people are afraid and
ignorant. And there's a distinction in my mind about that.
BREEN: I'll give you that.
MW:How so?
MACFARLANE: I don't believe that people are saying,
''Don't hire him because he's gay.'' It's sort of just like, ''He's gay.
This is what gay looks like, and that's not what I want in my role.''
So, the more people come out and you go, ''Oh, gay doesn't just look
like this, it looks like this.'' And then it becomes easier. They're
walking around with their notions of what gay means, and it's very
small. Because, throughout history, the kind of gay people that we've
seen and understood, and been sort of identified in the media, have been
small.
We need sports players. Politicians. Where are the gay athletes?
You're trying to tell me that in all the major leagues out there, there
aren't gay players? It's actually fascinating to me that that is like
the last realm. It's very interesting now, with the military, to see
this version of ''gay'' coming out.
MW:There are just so many stories, and so many of them look so different than what you think they look like.
MACFARLANE: I think it's so hard, and I think that
this is a bigger conversation, but I think at the end of the day, so
many gay people still walk around with this feeling like, ''These
feelings that I had when I was a little kid were really confusing and
weird'' – and they are connected to sex. And those things are still
shameful to so many people, so you're afraid of saying them out loud
because we were taught you just don't talk about sex. It's still so much
connected to the simplicity of the shame that surrounds sex, and I just
hope that goes away.
It's exactly what you were saying about people that made out with a
dude when they were in college. If they just came out. Start to sort of
erase some of that shame around sex.
And, I'm not talking about a full-on sexual revolution, Part 2. I'm talking about –
BREEN: Openness, honesty, acceptance.
MACFARLANE: Yeah.
BREEN: Even if there is a little repression, it's
also money and movies. People who put up $50 million, they don't want
anything that's going to make them lose a little of their audience. So,
if they say, ''How do I have an openly gay man play a straight man with,
say, Jennifer Garner, and if there's going to be a certain amount of
people who won't see that movie because they think, 'How can that guy?'
then I won't make the movie.'' Even just a tad, it's a business
decision. Pure, flat-out business.
So, that's why this generation of people that come out are going to be the Jackie Robinsons. And you're going to take the hit.
It's not a small hit, to your money, to your security, to all that
stuff. We will see whether Neil Patrick Harris gets another straight
role. Or Bomer – he's so beautiful. I feel like the bigger the pool of
people that is, the more people are just going to say, ''Who cares? Can
you act?''
Arena Stage presents The Normal Heart to July 29 in the Kreeger Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. For tickets, $40 to $94, call 202-547-1122 or visit arenastage.org.
