Interview: Paul Slade Smith of THEATRE PEOPLE at Westport Country Playhouse

A Season of Laughter continues at the Westport Country Playhouse with Theatre People, a new adaptation of Ferenc Molnar’s 1924 three-act farce, Play at the Castle (Játék a kastélyban). This adaptation was written by Connecticut native Paul Slade Smith.

Theatre People premiered in September 2023 at North Coast Repertory Theatre and transferred to Laguna Playhouse where Smith is wrapping up the title role of The Remarkable Mister Holmes. Smith’s play was previously presented as a Script in Hand reading in the Westport Country Playhouse 2023 season.

The plot and characters of Theatre People, or The Angel Next Door become popular in English through adaptations by P.G. Wodehouse’s The Play's the Thing in 1926 and Tom Stoppard's Rough Crossing in 1984. The screwball comedy is now set in a Newport mansion in 1948 and includes two conniving playwrights, two naughty actors, a starstruck author, and a disgruntled housekeeper who wants everybody out. There’s romance, chaos, deception, antics, and everything you expect in a farce. For your information, Smith’s play has been successfully produced at different theaters under the titles Theatre People, The Angel Next Door, and Theatre People, or The Angel Next Door. But farces are meant to be head spinning, right?

Theatre People is a tribute to the theater by someone who has been involved in it all his life. Smith recalls, “I was a natural ham as a kid. I inherited my love for theatre from my mom.” His “strong connection” included performing in school plays and ushering with his mother at Hartford Stage. His mother had a subscription to the Westport Country Playhouse. Keep that in mind when you see the show.

What drew him to Play at the Castle was “the central conceit of a conversation heard through a wall that throws everyone’s plans into chaos. Someone has to undo the damage that’s been done, and in my version, that’s a playwright named Charlotte Sanders.

“It’s the first time I wrote a play about theatre people. It’s a joy to spend time mocking my own profession. It’s fun to make fun of us and also to celebrate us. The idea that theatre can solve things.”

The play was originally in Hungarian, but Smith used his own original interpretation of the play with online translations rather than the ones of Wodehouse and Stoppard. “It felt like I was collaborating with Molnar, but he was a very generous collaborator. He came up with the original plot, but anything I wanted to change, he let me change.”

Asked how his play differs from the Molnar, Wodehouse and Stoppard scripts, Smith said he believes his play has “more heart and romance and care and feelings than the original. The original is very cynical [but not in a negative way] about the young lovers and the mistakes they made.” Smith added more romance, more theatre to this version. He relates this to Tom Stoppard’s 1981 play On the Razzle, which was adapted from Johann Nestroy’s 1842 play Einen Jux will er sich machen. The original play was previously adapted by Thornton Wilder as The Merchant of Yonkers in 1938 and The Matchmaker in 1955, and then Hello, Dolly in 1964. “It’s the same plot,” he says, “but a completely different telling. It’s always been exciting to me that these different interpretations can all succeed.”  For the record, Stoppard’s version eliminates the role of Dolly.

For Smith, playwrighting is an extension of his career as an actor. He believes it is natural for someone in theater to be drawn to some other aspect of the craft. As he was performing in plays that other people wrote, he started to think about the playwright’s view. What is the overall story, and not just his character? He adds, “I think I view things from a comic angle.” He admires playwrights such as Tom Stoppard, Larry Shue, Martin McDonough, and Sir Alan Ayckbourn because “They excite me with their words…. They’re often like puzzles. I love words. I love dialogue, playful dialogue, word play. That’s what I gravitate to.”

BroadwayWorld asked him what kind of roles excite him most as a performer. “I think the honest answer is that we don’t get to choose,” he says realistically. “You’re just looking to get hired. The most exciting role” is the one “that someone will let me audition for…. I love good clear storytelling, a fun story, with twists.”

What was the most valuable advice he got as an actor and as a playwright? “I just learned the valuable lesson is that theatre is storytelling. Good storytelling is compelling but it’s also clear and understandable.” Things could go wrong if the story isn’t clear, people can’t hear you, the lighting is too dark. “When I work on a play, I write a few pages, then go back [to find the] logic to it. That’s how I view either approaching acting or writing.”

Any advice for aspiring playwrights? Smith suggests just to write, even if you’re having difficulty with a section. “When I became a playwright, I had a lot of experience working in theatre…. [It was] easier for me as a 30-something playwright to have a relationship with directors.” He would ask them to look at his play. “Playwrights staring out just don’t have that,” he notes. He adds that it’s a good idea to just get involved in theater. “Theatres are always looking for help backstage and in other ways and getting to know theater more fully would make you a better playwright.

What else would Smith like readers of BroadwayWorld.com to know about him and his plays? “I’m grateful to all people who support theater and see theater and keep it going. It’s an important art form. There are always threats to theater, meaning watching TV. I celebrate all people who keep theater going by making it themselves or supporting it or going to see it.”

Theatre People's cast is comprised of Erin Noel Grennan as Olga, Isabel Keating as Charlotte Sanders, Michael McCormick as Arthur Sanders, Mia Pinero as Margot Bell, Michael McCorry Rose as Victor Pratt, and Rodolfo Soto as Oliver Adams.

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