BWW Interviews: BURNING BOY's Reed Birney

Theatergoers of a certain age will remember walking past The Little Theatre (now the Helen Hayes) when Albert Innaurato's comedy GEMINI was running and seeing Kenn Duncan's black and white photographs outside. The one that received the most attention was that of the bare-chested Reed Birney who was featured in that long-running comedy. Birney also received even more attention when the television ads for that production were aired. The TV commercials not only popularized a phrase that became a buzz word throughout the tri-state area: ‘Herschel, take human bites!"; but gave Birney a few seconds of air time that were unmistakable.

That was in 1977. Today, Reed Birney is still very much in the minds of serious playgoers. He is presently starring in David West Read's gripping drama, THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY, at The Roundabout's Black Box Space, The Roundabout Underground. Thirty four years have flown by since GEMINI, and Birney is still commanding the audience's attention. He may no longer be doing beefcake photos, but he has certainly honed his acting skills and is giving a compelling performance as an English teacher who has an encounter with one of his students just prior to the boy's untimely death. It's a performance that Erik Haagensen of BACKSTAGE justifiably calls "redoubtable" and the New York Times' Christopher Isherwood says, "Among this fine actor's many skills is his ability to find delicate shadings in similar states of feeling."

Speaking by telephone on a recent afternoon, Birney reflected on the success of GEMINI and the pleasure of being in DREAM OF A BURNING BOY, as well as a host of other projects that have made him one of the most consistently employed actors in New York. He's relaxed and articulate and seems to enjoy the recollections of an extremely rewarding career.

Recollecting GEMINI, Birney mentions "I still meet people who saw that show but when I mention it to the kids in my current play, they never have heard of it. What a phenomenon that show was! Lots of actors tell me they've played my part in one place or another. It's a popular play for colleges because it has so many good parts for young people. There are also great monologues in it that students are always doing in acting classes. There was a revival of the show that Second Stage did 22 years later, as well as two musical adaptations that have been tried. I saw a backers audition for one that changed all kinds of stuff. Herschel, for instance, became obsessed with rock and roll instead of the subways and that gave him the opportunity for some songs. They opened it up where the family went to an Italian restaurant for the birthday dinner instead of eating in the backyard-you know, all kinds of random ideas." Birney quickly adds that there was another musical version of the play in Philadelphia that Albert Innaurato was involved with. "That one was much truer to the original material but the play was so musical as it was that it didn't really need songs."

How does Birney account for the longevity of GEMINI's original run? "At the time, the TV commercial turned everything around for us. It was the first play that used television advertising and it happened to be an amazing commercial with all those quotes. I think PIPPIN was the first one to use television commercials, but that was a musical and we were the first play to use television effectively." After a moment's reflection, the actor adds, "It really was a phenomenon and touched so many people in a profound way. And a fantastic production. In 1977, it was crazy-racy, nobody had seen anything quite so out there but also truly hilarious. It felt kind of dangerous. But it also had such a huge heart. It really was a terrific feel-good play." Birney looks back on seeing the revival at the Second Stage and comments, "I thought it was a pretty good production of the play but everything that seemed so outrageous in our production seemed quaint. It was amazing to see how sweet and dated GEMINI had become in those 22 years. That may be the reason it hasn't had much of an after-life."

Birney stayed with GEMINI for two years. "The play started as a showcase. Several of us went straight through with it: Jonathan Hadary, Jessica James, AnneDe Salvo and I were the four actors  who stayed with it from that very first production. We were all wildly inexperienced. It was the first thing of note that any of us had ever done and we had to learn-as a company-how to maintain a show. When we went to The Circle Rep, Marshall Mason took over as our director and gave us a lot of heart and grounded it in truth. Once we opened, though, no one was looking after us and helping us maintain it and so the show often got out of hand. Even so, it was such a good time and hugely, hugely important in my life."

The Delaware native always seems to have been interested in acting. "I remember being five years old and performing in front of a group of grown-ups, and told them that that's what I wanted to do and they all laughed at me. They thought it was sweet but eventually realized how serious I was. Other than a two week period in there when I wanted to be a fireman, I've wanted to be an actor my whole life. Now both of my kids want to be actors so maybe it's a genetic thing!"

Having a family can be rough for an actor because acting isn't a nine-to-five job. "It's hard," Birney reflects. "It's hard because I've been working this year pretty much straight through since August without a break, often rehearsing all day and performing at night. As a result, there have been days when I literally have not seen my wife and kids. They'll be gone to school before I get up and they'll be in bed when I get home. It becomes very challenging. Of course, when I'm unemployedI'm around all the time. So it's one of those kinds of situations."

THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY isn't the first play that Reed Birney has done for the Roundabout Theatre Company. TIGERS BE STILL was his inaugural performance for the company. "I have to say that they are fantastic people. Last year I had a recurring role in a TV series called "My Generation" and I had to fly to Austin, Texas to film an episode in the middle of TIGERS BE STILL. It involved my flying out on a Sunday and missing two shows. The Roundabout was great about it. They canceled those shows and called everybody and made it as easy for me as possible. They knew they didn't have understudies at the Underground and knew I had this job when I was cast and they assured me that if I had to go again I should simply let them know as soon as possible. I've never experienced anything like that in the theatre. Even Todd Haimes came and told me to have a good time. They're a very classy operation."

Birney has a longer and richer relationship with Playwright's Horizons. "I started with GEMINI in December of '76 and Adam Bock's wonderful play, A SMALL FIRE, closed two months ago. All told, I have done eight plays there. It's been a consistent artistic home for me over 36 years. That institution feels very much like family."

Moving to New York in the August of 1974, Birney had dropped out of Boston University and enrolled in Circle-in-the Square's theater school. "That was so my parents would think I had some structure and wasn't just wandering around the city." However, he dropped out of that two year program after three months because he'd gotten his Equity card by doing a children's theater tour that Barry and Fran Weissler produced before they became prominent theater producers. "They had these institutional tours; one was for elementary schools and the other was for junior and senior high schools. I was on the elementary tour and we did "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". I was Sir Lancelot. We also did a version of "The Swiss Family Robinson" that was set in America. There was nothing Swiss about it. I was the older brother. We were seven people traveling in an un-air conditioned station wagon as we performed from Maine to New Orleansand every cattle crossing in between. It was actually agony, but it got me started. GEMINI started in December of '76, so that was within two years of coming to New York"

In GEMINI, Birney played the young, good-looking Randy but the laws of nature dictate that one doesn't stay young forever and Birney has since moved into more mature roles. What was the transition like? "It wasn't that hard in that I was just living my life. I was lucky that there were parts along the way that would fit where I was. I did go for a long time playing parts that were younger than I was. I think in my last juvenile part I was 32 and playing an 18 or 22 year old. I remember feeling really angry about it. It had become boring to play so young. I guess I still looked pretty boyish, though. Then I rather weirdly jumped to playing men with had teenaged children. I never had the period where I played the young dad. Now I feel like I'm the oldest person in every play I'm in!"

"It's so interesting and ironic to me," continues the actor, "that I'm having way more success now as a middle-aged man than I ever did as a kid. Of course, the roles are better, too. If anyone had told me when I was 22 that I was going to have to wait thirty four years to be taken seriously as an actor I'm not sure I could have continued. But, in retrospect, of course, it all feels like it has made sense and certainly been worth the wait. I feel that I've grown into the right emotional placefor the kind of work I want to do."

The topic of youth leads right into THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY because the play features several extremely gifted young actors playing the students in the school where the action takes place. "When our wonderful director, Evan Cabnet, told me they wanted to cast really young people in this production I thought, ‘Well good luck finding the young people who can play those parts," Birney relates. "I think they've done better than I could have dreamed." Indeed they have because the complex teenaged roles are cast with some exceptionally gifted young actors who do extraordinary jobs in bringing the characters to life. In fact, they're nothing short of brilliant.

"I'm thrilled to be in this play," Birney admits. "I became involved with the play two years ago. Right after I did BLASTED, I did SAVANNAH DISPUTATION at Playwright's Horizons and I got a phone call asking me to do a reading at NYUand they'd pay fifty bucks. That's a lot for a reading! So I went down to NYU and it was a very rough version of this play. It had big problems and I had major questions but it had the thing that's still in the play: it had this amazing characterthat I am playing now and a very sophisticated and authentic depiction of middle-aged grief. It's astonishing that David, at the age of 26 knew how to write this character. David and I stayed in touch and a year ago there was a presentation of the play for Todd Haimes at The Roundabout. They had called, asking me to do itand I wasn't available. Then, whatever I was doing fell through and I called right back saying I could do it now. Unfortunately they'd made an offer to somebody else but they assured me that if he couldn't do it they'd come back to me. I felt that I had blown this fantastic opportunity but happily the other person turned them down so they came back to me. That's when I think it all cemented."

David West Read had done substantial work on the script. "Todd really responded to the play and committed to doing it at the Underground," explains Birney. "Then last summer, we all went up to the O'Neill Playwright's Conference and worked on it some more. It's been a great, long process. It's unique in my career to have collaborated on a play for two years. And to have it be such a hit makes me doubly proud."

Audience reaction to THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY has been very enthusiastic. Birney ponders for a moment and mentions, "I don't know who comes to The Roundabout Underground because it's not part of the regular subscription season. People tend to be there because they want to be there and yet you wonder how they even know about this play. How do you know what's going on down here? However, this venue has a very devoted following and this is only the fifth play they've done down there. All of the plays that have been performed there have been received very well and they've been wonderful productions. It'svery gratifying to see people so moved at the end of our play. It makes me feel that they've gone on the ride with us. Some audiences will laugh more at the kids, but the grown-ups in the audience truly respond to Larry's story and are moved by the terrible sadness and grief that he's experiencing. After a certain age there's just so much more to cry about."

THE DREAM OF THE BURNING CHILD has been extended at The Roundabout Underground until May 15th. "It's a nice, long run and that's great. It's certainly one of the best parts I've ever had," says Birney. "It's also the hardest part I've ever had. It's very challenging emotionally. At the same time, I am so aware of how lucky I am to be working. Not just working, but working on such a beautiful play by an amazingly talented young writer."

Thinking back on that original GEMINI television ad, one recalls another line from the play that anyone who's eaten dinner in an Italian household could relate to: "I'm not hungry, I'll just pick." Reed Birney is certainly not Italian and surely he isn't hungry. However, he does seem to have his pick of some of the finest plays that are being presented in New York City these days. That's a very good thing because with his skill and actor's intuition, he's one of the most intriguing people to watch on stage. Audiences are getting their chances to do so with THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY. It's one of the finest new plays being done in the city.

THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY is playing at the Black Box Theatre in the Harold & Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, 111 West 46th Street, (212) 779-1300. Or go to www.roundabouttheatre.org.