It Could Happen: Interview with Playwright Sean King and Director William Roudebush

Marcina Zaccaria: Tell me about your current affiliation with the Actors Studio?  How was Actor/ Director collaboration used as part of your rehearsal process?

William Roudebush: The PDU (Playwright/ Director Unit) which I belong to and which Sean used to visit quite frequently when Jim Bonney was alive is a wonderful laboratory.  I’ve met and made more contacts there and had more interesting projects that I’ve gained in my life.  It’s a group of very serious people who are really genuinely trying to help the author develop a play. 

This is something else that I do on a professional basis along with coaching actors.  I’m also a play doctor, and so people send me their plays feel like they have some issues with them and want an honest response to what they think their issues are.  There’s nothing more exciting for me than collaborating with creating something new.  It’s what my artistic focus has been for the last 10 years since I moved to New York. 

Marcina Zaccaria: Why did you choose to do a play about airport security?

William Roudebush:  There’s really two reasons – there’s a personal reason and a professional reason.  The personal reason is that I’ve known Sean for quite a while, and he was a close associate of somebody else I admired greatly,  a man named Jim Bonney who passed away several years ago.  So, personally, I was attached to Sean’s request to direct his play, but professionally, I love the play because it’s a satire and satire is always a real challenge for me as a director because in satire you’re always talking about the foibles of society and trying to make people believe that it could really happen, and that’s always a really exciting aspect of directing, for me, is making things that are sort of absurd seem like they could really happen.

Marcina Zaccaria: How have you grown as an artist, as you look through all your years in directing?

William Roudebush: I’ve directed probably over 250 or 300 productions, somewhere in that nature. After you’ve have this experience of your career and have gained confidence in your abilities, then all of a sudden, my focus switched to, you know, I just want to hire a bunch of people who are a lot smarter than me and edit what they think about the script … the real artistry of direction is casting, getting the perfect cast and letting their instincts lead you toward your own vision as it develops right in front of you every day in rehearsal.

 

 

Marcina Zaccaria: Did you explore movement in alternative ways, given that the play is about the air travel movement and the movement of a mysterious package?

William Roudebush: We use the metaphor of a maze, so that in the opening scene of the play that is a very believable scene.  And, so the actor is forced to take this strange package, it’s not the cop refuses to take it . . .  He’s sort of new on the job so he makes the passenger take it, and as soon as the passenger takes that package, he walks into a giant maze of the TSA and gets lost in that maze, and so we sort of used that metaphor of a mouse lost in a maze to work out the movement problems.

Marcina Zaccaria: Are there any interesting uses of music or sound in the play? 

William Roudebush:  There’s a a maintenance man who has his own world of music.  There’s another point where Sean does something with the play that’s very rare.  He does sort of an inner monologue of the character that he’s going through, and we use sound and lighting effects to make the belief of the inner monologue because the actors are not actually speaking those lines. 

 

 

Marcina Zaccaria: Sean, what’s the difference between being an Actor and being a Writer?

Sean King: When Lyle Kessler came to see our production of Orphans, Giovanni did an interview with him and someone asked him that question, and he said it was he started out as an Actor and he thought it was imperative that you were an Actor first before you wrote since that you were trained into getting into character finding out how a character thinks . . . I decided to write something.  It became much easier because I was able to imagine characters in my head.  I was able to, you know, imagine what they would say in this situation and be able to put them in different situations, and see how they react.  That all comes from acting training . . .  I want to do better work, and so it all came from just wanting, first wanting, to be an Actor.

Marcina Zaccaria: What type of recognition do you hope to receive for your artistry in the theater?

Sean King: Recognition comes from good work, so if the work is good, the recognition is organic, so I’m not thinking about recognition.  I’m just thinking about putting the the best production I can on the stage.

Marcina Zaccaria:  For you, is recognition different from the myth of fame perpetuated in Los Angeles?

Sean King: Especially at this age, if you’re going in to try to be looking for fame, you know, it is a myth.  I mean then you really are misdirected, and you’re gonna be very, very frustrated. I’m not thinking along those lines, at all, but I do believe in your theory that fame is a myth.  I just want to  pursue good work.  I just want to become better at whatever I pursue, whatever project I take on.  I just want to, you know, use everything I have to be to make it successful.

Marcina Zaccaria:  Is there anything else you’d like to say about the play as you move towards opening night?

Sean King: I just want people to hopefully know that the next time they go to the airport, and they go through the security, they see with different eyes.

 

 

Airport and The Strange Package opened on August 9th at The Gene Frankel Theatre, located at 24 Bond Street in NYC.  Performances are running through August 25th.