The great joy and sometimes the great curse of a life in the theater is that it is the most collaborative of all art forms. Though playwrights spend countless hours alone with their initially blank computer screens or pads of yellow paper, their products remain plain textual representations of their imaginations until an army of other artists invade. What ensues can turn into a battle, but when the creative chemistry is right, authentic beauty emerges.
Abigail Deser
While all levels of theater require tremendous cooperation, the successful mounting of a world premiere requires an extraordinary synergy between playwright and director. These are the collaborations that can engender either a lifetime of antagonism or a platonic marriage of true minds. When the Theatre @ Boston Court landed the world premiere of increasingly visible playwright Steve Yockey’s newest script Heavier Than… (a transmutation of the ancient Greek myth of “Theseus and the Minotaur”), the company’s co-artistic director Michael Michetti turned to a director he had been trying to seduce to the theater for years — Abigail Deser.
Michetti arranged a short introductory phone call between Deser and Yockey to see if they had the right collaborative spark. Yockey recalls that first telephone meeting, “It was an amazing conversation. Initially we were to have about 30 minutes – we ended up on the phone for almost two hours. I knew they had been trying to get Abigail to do something, so I went in with an open mind. I knew within about five minutes, because she immediately started asking me pinpoint dramaturgical questions. Talking to me about her experience of the play from the perspective of the characters and how they move through the world. I knew immediately and it was exciting for me as a playwright. It was a fun conversation in which she displayed exactly what I have seen in this entire rehearsal process — an attention to detail and a need to follow through on questions, which means no one gets let off the hook, including me. You’re held accountable to what you’re bringing to the table. I think that is one of her greatest strengths as a director and one of the huge successes of this production.”
Deser adds her own memory. “I look for people who understand the craft and have mastery over it, so when we are working we are looking together to find what the play wants to be. My solutions are not necessarily going to be right, but my ability to listen and watch and point out where I don’t follow the concept is my job in terms of dramaturgy. What I look for in collaboration is a writer who doesn’t say ‘Oh great, I’ll do whatever you say,’ but, ‘I hear you and here is how I will answer to that.’ That happened in our first conversation. Then a few times we bumped up against each other and I thought, ‘hmmm, are we bumping up because we can’t hear each other or because he does hear me and can’t answer it in the way he thinks I want him to, but has his own way?’ The conversation was our auditioning each other – not whether we liked each other (which we do tremendously), but what the game would be like. I don’t know that I knew the play well enough at that point to ask questions that were ultimately questions for the actors. After that we had enormous numbers of conversations.”
Ashanti Brown, Teya Patt, Katie Locke O'Brien
Each of those conversations deepened what both say could become a life-long artistic partnership. Their trust quickly grew to a point that disagreements did not have to be sugar-coated and script changes were thrilling rather than frightening for the playwright. Yockey explains, “It was so exciting. Going into a world premiere you know things are going to change, but you’re never sure how until you get into the room. We did a huge amount of dramaturgical work before we ever got into the rehearsal room. I was all sunshine and roses, then I heard it out loud with the actors and, ohhh, did it need more work.” The challenge to do the work sent him into a frenzy of creativity. “The play became more of what it wanted to be. What is great is that the direction of the story and structure didn’t change at all. Internally the path the characters take has been clarified in a beautiful way. They all go on the same journey. They all still end up in the same place relative to where they did in the initial draft. Still I have rewritten 60% of the play to clarify character arcs and let everyone have clear, emotionally driven, goal-oriented paths through the play. That has been hugely invaluable in the process.”
Deser’s role as dramaturg as well as director helped the playwright see through blind spots. “Play development for me is a process of discovering what is the scaffolding and what can be dismantled – perhaps the clarity within a given scene doesn’t need explication or exposition or added plot. Can it be simplified? That is the kind of honing I love to do so you can take down some of the scaffolding. The next level is when you get in the room with the actors and you see that certain moments may not need to be textually provided, that maybe the actor can play it.”
Nick Ballard and Laura Howard
To test that theory the actors had to be pulled in to the collaboration. Deser laughs, “We needed them desperately. There is a danger of so tightening the screws and putting it all so perfectly into place that you lose the magic of the journey. Steve, being very clear on the craft of play writing, protected the play from that – from me and from himself. We both knew having the actors join us will allow us to take a step back and hear things as they were. We both learned from that process.”
Agent submissions and open calls were set for casting. Deser is fascinated by actors and the audition process. “ I look for someone whom the character speaks to. Who can make a set of choices that resonate in the room initially to make us see the character. We didn’t make any pre-casting offers; everyone auditioned. This requires an absolute ensemble cast — everyone has to be able to toss the ball to each other.”
Steve Yockey
Yockey expected her work with the actors to be excellent and he was not disappointed. “As a theater artist Abigail is someone who, at any given moment, is giving 100% and expects that in turn. That is something I love. This is what we do professionally. You want someone who is enthusiastic and game and willing to play.”
Yockey came to theater fairly late. He first followed his parents’ path into business, but near his senior year in college he jumped into theater. “I started as a jack-of-all-trades. I knew I wanted to write, but the idea of staring at a blank page is the worst thing. I was a terrible actor. I enjoyed myself, but was awful. I am not a good director – I just don’t have that thing in my brain that allows me to coordinate everyone else’s talents toward one end.” Finally he found his voice as a playwright and finished his first play at 24. A decade later, Samuel French has published three of his full-length plays and a collection of one-acts. As he describes the current project, “Heavier Than… is the first half of a two play project, Fatalism, that deals with one mythic family and their relationship to the gods and fate and free-will. Feverish (based on Phaedre) is next – I have just ‘finished’ it. It hasn’t been produced yet. Heavier Than… is very theatrical with a capital ‘T’, which is what I enjoy about theater. The plays deal with mythic concepts in a very large way.
Nick Ballard
“Heavier Than… takes place in ancient Crete but is anachronistic with nods to modern realism throughout. I have always been fascinated with the myth. The Minotaur has always been fascinating to me because even in the children’s versions of it, they say the queen was cursed to have sex with this bull and that’s how the Minotaur was born. I thought it would be interesting to explore that myth from the perspective of the Minotaur. I wanted to tell a story about that moment that everyone encounters at different points in their lives where you realize that your parents are actual individual people apart from yourself. That they have their own histories, their own ghosts, that it doesn’t all revolve around you. It can sometimes be a very jarring moment. The play does have a sense of humor, which is important in any play, but it also has real emotional stakes. There is no point in telling a story unless you can reach out and find emotionally resonant moments so an audience can care about what they are watching.”
Both playwright and director are grateful for the commitment to quality from artistic directors Michetti and Jessica Kubzansky. Deser says, “I have wanted to be here for years. They have created a process that is a director’s dream. We have a week of previews, with plenty of rehearsal time, with designated touch-up time that astounding. They are interested in work that is theatrical and physical, text-based, very exciting. They are one of the few theaters in the country that really support this kind of work.”
Yockey agrees, “As a playwright I know that when I come to see a show at the Boston Court I know I am going to really see the play. The productions are gorgeous and very successful. As a playwright you want that opportunity. So this is a place where artists want to be working.”
Nick Ballard, Jill Van Velzer and Laura Howard
Deser adds, “They choose plays incredibly carefully and support them fully. The process of design is supported and the tech; everything is done by committed artists and craftspeople.”
Yockey laughs, “I know it seems like we drank the Kool-Aid, but they really are that fundamentally helpful in the development process.”
About their process as playwright and director, Deser states plainly, “We have built a relationship.” Yockey answers, “We’re going to work together forever.”
** All production photography by Ed Krieger
Heavier than… opens July 23. Thur.-Sat. 8 pm. Sun. 2 pm. Through August 21. Tickets: $32; $27 students and seniors. Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 N. Mentor, Pasadena. bostoncourt.org. 626-683-6883.
