Writer/Director Interview: Love/Stories

January 26, 2009

On a chilly January afternoon after rehearsal, we sat down with Itamar Moses, playwright and Michelle Tattenbaum, director, to discuss their production of LOVE/STORIES (or But You Will Get Used to It).

Q: How did this script come to The Flea?

Moses: My agent bullied Jim [Simpson, Artistic Director of The Flea] into seeing The Four of Us at MTC. Eventually Jim caved and went to see it. I should mention that my agent is also Jim’s agent. So maybe this made him more predisposed. At the same time, Michelle [Tattenbaum, director of Love/Stories] and I had been working on an idea of curating several short plays of mine into an evening. In fact at the time we had six plays, one of which has since been cut. We had been trying to determine what would be a good venue for these shorts.

Tattenbaum: The Four of Us was getting a lot of attention in New York, and when the Flea was interested in Itamar’s writing, these short plays of Itamar’s seemed well-suited to The Bats.

Moses: Once Jim read them it all happened quickly.

Tattenbaum: But our work on these one-acts had been going on for almost 5 years.

Moses: In 2005 Michelle directed Authorial Intent, with another one-act, at Manhattan Theatre Source.

Tattenbaum: We were doing it on some dark nights there, for three performances only.

Moses: Starring Gideon Banner, who recently starred in The Four of Us.

Tattenbaum: We did two other short plays that are now part of Love/Stories with Naked Angels.

Moses: In 2006 we did Untitled Short Play, actually Downstairs @ The Flea, in a Naked Angels production called The Mag 7. In 2007 we did Szinhaz at The Duke, with Naked Angels.

Tattenbaum: It turned out to be a packaging thing. We couldn’t make people believe the one-acts would be a satisfying evening. Itamar would send out the plays one by one, as separate Word documents, and we wouldn’t get much of a response. But as soon as we combined several of the plays into one document and emailed that out, people were able to see how it could function as a complete and satisfying evening of theater.

Q: Two of the plays have never been seen before, is that right?

Moses: That’s right, Temping and Chemistry Read.

Q: Chemistry Read underwent a significant rewrite during the rehearsal process.

Moses: Yes, I never really heard the play before, so once I heard it in the rehearsal process, I realized there were some things to work on.

Q: This isn’t the first time you two have worked together. How did you meet?

Moses: I met Michelle in Fall ’97; it was my junior year at Yale, her senior year. I auditioned for her production of Arcadia-

Tattenbaum: I was a directing major, it was my thesis.

Moses: And I was a dilettante actor.

Tattenbaum: He was called back for a role, and after the callback he sent me a long, passionate email about how much he loved the play. At the time, I was 21 and knew that putting up Arcadia was going to be incredibly hard work, and I wanted people who were really passionate about the project. His email made a strong impact on me.

Moses: She also later directed me in Beauty Queen of Lenane and Guys and Dolls!

Tattenbaum: He played Harry the Horse.

Moses: It’s one of the roles in the show that doesn’t require any solo singing.

Q: Did you continue to collaborate after college?

Tattenbaum: We stayed on similar tracks. We both came to New York, he interned at New Dramatists, and I interned at Manhattan Theatre Club, where I ended up working for three years. And after that, I continued to direct and develop new work.

Moses: And I was writing mostly new work, so it worked out great.

Tattenbaum: Mostly new work? When were you writing old work?

Moses: I actually wrote Hamlet at that point, but she didn’t want to direct it.

Tattenbaum: Yeah, I just found the script kind of psychologically shallow. [laughter] Anyway, a year or so after Itamar came to New York, I asked him to write the book of a musical. And I directed readings of several of his plays in their early stages, including Bach at Leipzig.

Moses: You definitely directed the first reading of Outrage.

Tattenbaum: And I directed The Four of Us in Los Angeles this fall.

Q: And what was that experience like, working together on that show?

Tattenbaum: That wasn’t so much about working together, actually.

Moses: I was in San Diego, at the Old Globe for Back Back Back, so I was only able to come up for the final preview, and to drink at the opening.

Tattenbaum: I had wanted to direct The Four of Us for a long time.

Moses: And I wanted Michelle to direct the play.

Tattenbaum: I’m very very proud of how it turned out. I had seen the New York production and was very impressed with it. But I had different things to express about that play. I know that Itamar trusts me as a director, so I felt like I could make different choices.

Moses: It was a very different cast. Both actors were very different types from the actors who played the roles in New York. And since it is about a relationship between these two people, that was really interesting; it was a completely different music. I think it’s weird when a writer wants the play to stay ‘frozen’ from the initial production. That stifles the possibility of aliveness in the play.

Tattenbaum: We found cool things-

Moses: Also, Michelle was using a tiny stage, four pieces of furniture and a wall, and what they did in that space was amazing. Also, the stage had two levels, which was great. I’d never seen the play done that way before.

Q: So did that collaboration lead to this production at The Flea?

Tattenbaum: The Flea show was already arranged before we both went out West. The Flea already wanted to produce the plays, and Itamar already wanted me to direct them.

Moses: We had been developing the scripts together. More than half of the evening includes plays Michelle had already directed to great effect.

Q: Were either of you familiar with The Flea, and more specifically with The Bats?

Tattenbaum: I hadn’t seen a Bat play until this season, but I had a positive awareness of Bats based on the kind of young actors I knew who were auditioning. I’ve worked at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, with their lab company, and it’s interesting to see what paths they follow, as their next step. Some of the best ones were interested in being Bats.

Moses: I knew of the Bats. I was aware of The Flea ever since The Guys. But I’ve never seen a Bat show. I was aware of Eno’s evening [Will Eno’s Oh the Humanity and other exclamations, five one-acts presented in winter 2008]. One of Eno’s one-acts was also in an evening at Naked Angels; we were in the next evening with one of these plays. So I was aware that The Flea was willing to do this kind of evening with a new voice. And I knew what the Bats were- and thought this script was not only a good fit- they are actually perfect for it, as a company of actors, they are just right for the characters, in a way it is literally about them, or people just like them.

Q: And how do you feel about your particular company of Bats?

Moses: We have the best five Bats, naturally, what do you think?

Tattenbaum: I have sat through many days of non-Equity auditions at other theaters, and the auditions for this production involved the strongest group of non-Equity actors I’ve ever encountered. Even those who didn’t end up getting cast were amazingly talented. It just came down to the fact that with Itamar’s writing, there are people who get it and people who don’t. It’s very verbal, and some actors get the way it functions and some don’t. We picked those who got it the best.

Q: Did you craft the scripts according to your cast?

Moses: Not consciously, but perhaps unconsciously. As they find the characters I might make little tweaks that make it work better for that actor. Here’s one example. I rewrote a speech Felipe [Bonilla, member of The Bats] has in the first play, in which his character is attempting to cover something, badly. I rewrote the line as “I actually, it actually, I actually’ – I knew that would be right in the pocket for him.

Q: What do you both think about Downstairs @ The Flea, a somewhat unusual theater space?

Moses: I love the space. It’s so weird, it’s unlike any other theater space I’ve ever worked in. It is insanely wide. And because we have five different plays, we can make the audience look in totally different areas for each.

Tattenbaum: I am thrilled that we get to rehearse in the theater. I’m learning the space in a way that’s incredibly useful. I get to sit in every audience seat, and learn the vocabulary of the space. No rehearsal room could be as helpful as that. I’ve done three of these plays before – and I know it can be a challenge to maintain creative liveliness in revisiting work that you’ve done before. The space has kept that happening for me. Also, I really love the leg room, and that you’re not just staring at the back of the audience member in the row in front of you. It’s a basement space with a low ceiling but somehow less claustrophobic than other spaces, I think because of the deep rows in the audience.

Q: If someone asked you why they should see this play, what would you tell them?

Moses: ‘Cuz it’ll blow your motherf***ing mind? Seriously, I think short plays are a legitimate theatrical form, and short plays are often treated as an afterthought. But I think they can be just as powerful as a full-length, maybe more so, because they are so contained and focused, the impact is like a theatrical punch to the face.

Tattenbaum: It’s like a kamikaze shot instead of a beer!

Moses: Also, there is a resonance and conversation emerging among the different plays, just by virtue of having juxtaposed them in this way. As the evening goes on, layers of artifice are peeled away. A play can tear itself apart and then end, and a new one can begin.

Tattenbaum: My short answer is going to be: It will make you look at love and relationships in a new way.

Moses: It’s a great Valentine’s play [laughs]. What new way is that?

Tattenbaum: It’s twisted and analytical. But it’s also a compassionate exploration of what makes relationships so hard.

Moses: There are pretty girls in the show.

Tattenbaum: I think the guys are pretty sexy too! Also, the evening is funny. In listening to us talk about it, it sounds heavy, but it’s actually really funny.

Moses: So much stuff about love and relationships is painful and troubling. And those are the funniest things. We are right on the line between pain and absurdity.

Interview by Sherri Kronfeld, Audience Development and Marketing Manager, The Flea **

LOVE/STORIES (or But You Will Get Used To It)
runs Jan 29 – Mar 9, Downstairs @ The Flea

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