Interview: Karen MacDonald Makes New Memories in SpeakEasy Stage Company's PRU PAYNE

Actor Karen MacDonald has done everything from the classics to contemporary dramas, comedies, and musicals – including some 70 productions as a founding member of the American Repertory Theater – on greater Boston stages and beyond.

So it’s hard to believe that after appearing in four prior shows with SpeakEasy Stage Company – “Heroes of the Fourth Turning,” “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Other Desert Cities,” and “The Children” – McDonald is only now being directed by SpeakEasy Stage Company's artistic director Paul Daigneault. Not a moment too soon, either, as Daigneault has announced that this will be his final season with the company he founded in 1992.

For one of his last two SpeakEasy Stage assignments, Daigneault chose to direct the New England premiere of “Pru Payne” – a play by Pulitzer Prize nominee and Newton native Steven Drukman (“Another Fine Mess”) about memory, identity, and connection – at the Roberts Studio Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, through November 16. Set in 1988 and 2008, the play tells the story of the erudite Prudence “Pru” Payne, a well known critic who has decided to share her life story in a highly anticipated autobiography, being played by MacDonald.

Before those plans are fully realized, however, Pru begins to experience memory loss and is placed by her son in a state-of-the-art care facility, where she discovers love while the familiar world around her begins to slip from her mind.

Emmy Award winner Gordon Clapp (“NYPD Blue”) co-stars with Elliot Norton Award winner MacDonald in a cast that also includes Marianna Bassham as Dr. Dolan, De’Lon Grant as Thomas Payne, and Greg Maraio as Art Cudahy.

A Norwood native who was brought up in South Boston and Milton, and currently calls Watertown home, MacDonald – who this summer played another character dealing with the onset of cognitive decline in the Gloucester Stage Company rolling world premiere of “Wipeout” – was in her dressing room recently when she took a call to discuss “Pru Payne,” Paul Daigneault, and more.

Tell me about your character?

Pru is a public intellectual who writes reviews about all kinds of culture. She’s a journalist, but in the mode of Susan Sontag. She grew up wealthy and privileged in New York. Rather than marry a stockbroker and become an Upper East Side hostess, though, she followed her own path. Part of the play is set in 1988, when women were trying to claim their place, and we see Pru receive a major award as the first woman to do so. She has a son who is biracial and she leads an interesting life. Money is not a concern for her. To me, Pru is reminiscent not only of Sontag but also of Joan Didion and other women writers.

Do you like Pru?

I do, and I have since I first played her in a reading of this play for Kate Snodgrass at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre a few years back. Pru has a stick-to-itiveness that I admire. Even as she begins to grapple with dementia, she refuses to succumb to it. As her doctor says, “It may be that what we’re actually seeing is her becoming the real Pru Payne with no more protections. She’s revealing her true self.”

In the memory care facility, Prudence becomes close with fellow resident Gus Cudahy (Clapp). What is that relationship like?

Prudence and Gus couldn’t be more different. Gus has been around people like Pru because he’s been what he calls a “custodial engineer” at a boarding school, but they’re very much an unlikely couple who meet in an unlikely setting. We see their relationship from both their perspectives as they teach other things and help each other, too.

We never really know where love will take us, of course, and just because you have dementia doesn’t mean you’re dead. Pru is able to open her heart and mind to Gus, and she falls in love with him. They don’t have the same condition, but they’re both dealing with something similar. Part of the story is about being more open about illness. What it really is, though, is a story about people falling in love. As I see it, the play’s message is that you have to keep moving forward. Even as you experience very difficult things, there are ways to go on.

What kind of research did you do for this part?

I did a lot of reading, especially about the physical changes that go on with these kinds of conditions. At the end of the day, people with these conditions can experience something called “sunset syndrome,” which involves really divergent, sometimes violent behavior. And then the next day is a new day and they don’t act out. Mostly, however, I relied on my own firsthand experience caring for a close family friend who dealt with a memory-loss condition for several years before she passed away.

Has the playwright been directly involved at SpeakEasy?

We did all of our table reads with Steven Drukman and he was with us for the first three days of rehearsal. It was fantastic to have him here, especially because this is a new play. He responds to texts immediately and you can ask him anything you want.  

How is it to finally be directed by Paul Daigneault?

Paul has so many ideas. He’s always fully prepared and genuinely collaborative. He trusts his actors, his designers – his whole team really, which is terrific. We were supposed to work together in 2011, when I played the title role in “The Drowsy Chaperone” at SpeakEasy, but Paul had to step away from that production. I’m so glad to have this opportunity to be directed by him now in this serious, but also very funny play.

Photo caption: Karen MacDonald and director Paul Daigneault consult with each other during a rehearsal for “Pru Payne.” Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

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