Interview: PRT Artistic Director Marilyn Fox on Directing ALBEE/PINTER

Tony Award winning playwrights Edward Albee and Harold Pinter, who have left indelible marks in world theatre, both give voice to the outlandish and amusing behavior of humans in many of their dark comedies. Pacific Resident Theatre is offering a retrospective of two of their early one acts in tandem, both first produced in 1960.

Albee's Fam and Yam, set in an upper Eastside penthouse, examines an encounter between two unnamed playwrights, one famous, one not, offering Albee's biting wit and incisive satire at its best. In Pinter's The Dumb Waiter, two working-class hitmen wait in a basement for their next assignment. With little information offered in an atmosphere of menace, can these men survive together in such a claustrophobic setting without killing each other? I was interested in how these two apparently so different short plays were selected to be staged together. So, I decided to speak with Pacific Resident Theatre's Artistic Director, Marilyn Fox, to find out.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, Marilyn. First of all, for readers not familiar with you and your theatre background, tell me a bit about yourself.

Thank you Shari. I grew up in Los Angeles, however my mom was from Vienna, Austria and she had a great appreciation for the arts and was a beautiful singer herself, having studied with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf. In fact, both my parents and my sister had a lot of appreciation for the arts. My first acting teachers were Elizabeth Lynn, who had been a member of Michael Chekhov's company, and her husband, Benjamin Zemach, who had been part of Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theatre. After that I met and fell in love with Gar Campbell, who was the biggest influence on me as both an actress and person of the theater.

How long have you been Artistic Director at Pacific Resident? And how long have you been directing plays for the group?

I have been with PRT as an actress since 1985 but started to direct in the early 90s. I have been Artistic Director for more than 25 years.

When did you become familiar with the plays of Albee and Pinter, and why do you think that their work is important?

I first saw the film version of Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf when I was about 15 years old, and I remember doing an extended scene playing Martha when I was 16 in Benjamin Zemach's adult class in front of guests, Sam Jaffe and Nehemiah Persoff! I also remember doing a scene from The Zoo Story with my best friend in junior high school; I played Jerry. A few years later when I was studying with Don Eitner, he recommended that I go see a production of Pinter's The Caretaker, directed by Sherman Marks. Tom Troupe and Richard Bull were in it, and I deeply moved by it. It was an unforgettable experience. So, in answer to your question, I felt at an early age that these playwrights were writing plays that were unforgettable, filled with depth, humanity, and so much humor - just brilliant!

Why did you choose these two plays to be paired for this program of one-acts?

I thought it might be interesting to look at their early work and see the seeds of their genius in these short plays both first produced in 1960. I also liked the idea of doing a lighter work and a darker work tied together by similar absurdist and comic elements. (Pictured: Jason Downs and Brad Greenquist in Albee's Fam and Yam)

Additionally, since both Albee and Pinter were influenced by Samuel Beckett, and both helped bring absurdism to a wider modern audience, I thought that the two plays would be interesting to do together.

Are there similar themes in these two plays?

The characters in both Fam and Yam and The Dumb Waiter deal with feelings of uncertainty and loss and don't see or know what is happening. (Pictured: Anthony Foux and Jason Downs in Pinter's The Dumb Waiter) As we come out of these last few years of the pandemic, these plays, filled with uncertainty, depth, and humor, seem extremely relevant. Also, both plays have an element of surprise and game playing, of characters not knowing that they are participants in a practical joke. And as I mentioned, Albee and Pinter were deeply influenced by Samuel Beckett's absurdist/comic view of mankind's struggle for understanding in a world tinged with an unknown dark force.

While you are directing Fam and Yam on your own, Elina de Santos is co-directing The Dumb Waiter with you. Have the two of directed together before?

We have not directed together before, but we have worked together over many years. We worked on Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing! The production started in the Co-op of PRT and went on to the Odyssey Theatre, and then played regionally. (Pictured: Brad Greenquist in Albee's Fam and Yam) So, we collaborated (with Elina as Director and myself as actor), for a good many years. We also did Tennessee Williams's Orpheus Descending together, she was directing and I was acting. Elina has directed at PRT regularly over the years under my artistic directorship.

In the directing of The Dumb Waiter, Elina started workshopping it in 2019 and worked on it online during the pandemic. (Pictured: Anthony Foux and Jason Downs in Pinter's The Dumb Waiter) I took the helm for mounting the live production.

What were some of the challenges you faced when directing this program, and in casting it?

Well, we have such strong actors in our company... like Jason Downs, Anthony Foux, and Brad Greenquist, and they are all so wonderful to work with. But the plays take great care because when you're working on the playwrighting of these great writers, you know that getting to the center of the work is your job and that the writer has put the answer in the piece for you to find. It's definitely at the core of each of the plays and it's our job to find it.

Why did you decide to hold post-performance talkbacks after each performance?

Pictured: Jason Downs in Albee's Fam and Yam) Because both of these plays leave questions with the audience. Our audience at PRT has such an interest and capacity for appreciating the great playwrights, we knew that they would enjoy a chance to discuss and compare them.

Tell me more about the two special post-performance panel guests on Thursday, October 20 (Marlene S. Wagner; Ph.D) and Sunday, October 30 (Francine Leffler Ringold; Ph.D), both of which you are moderating. How and why did you select these two speakers?

They are both women of profoundly interesting theater backgrounds. Marlene Wagner did her dissertation on Albee, Pinter, identifying "the game play" as a dramatic technique in 20th century absurdist drama, a technique which replaced the Aristotelian concept of plot. (Pictured: Brad Greenquist in Albee's Fam and Yam)

Francine Leffler Ringold is a noted writer, poet, teacher of literature, creative writing, and theatre. She is a winner of the Writers Who Make a Difference award from the nationally distributed Writer Magazine.

How would you say this pairing of plays speaks to the style of Pacific Resident Theatre, and to the company's mission?

Very well. We are dedicated to rediscovering rarely performed plays, great world classics, and new works from developing and known playwrights. (Pictured: Anthony Foux and Jason Downs in Pinter's The Dumb Waiter)This Albee/Pinter evening certainly fits into our first and second categories of rarely performed great world classics. Fam and Yam has only been produced twice in America as far as I know, and The Dumb Waiter is often referred to as one of Pinter's greatest early plays, but rarely produced.

What do you hope audiences will be talking about after seeing the plays?

I am hoping they will talk about how they are entertained, curious, and moved by the plays. I do feel that our audiences are very interested and are going home with the desire to read and further study the work of both Albee and Pinter!

Thanks so much for your insightful answers, Marilyn. Is there anything else you would like readers to know about yourself, Pacific Resident, or the plays?

Yes, thank you for asking, Shari. I'd like your readers to know that Pacific Resident Theatre is in its 37th year, and that we are the only Resident Theatre Company in the Venice Arts District in Venice, CA. We believe that live theater can provide our audiences with community, hope, and understanding. We are dedicated to doing literate, intelligent, entertaining, and heartfelt plays that are very important to our shared humanity and our future. We are dedicated to educating our young audiences in our Youth Conservatory Program and giving established and young musical artists the floor in our ongoing Concert series. We look forward to seeing everyone at the theater!

ALBEE/PINTER runs at 8pm Thursdays - Saturdays, 3pm Sundays through December 17, 2022 (no performance on Saturday, November 19). Pacific Resident Theatre is located at 705 ½ Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291. Street parking or small lot in back. Tickets start at $20 online https://pacificresidenttheatre.org/albee-pinter or call (310) 822-8392.

The cast features Jason Downs (Gus/Yam), Anthony Foux (Ben), and Brad Greenquist (Fam). The creative team includes William Wilday (Scenic Design), Matt Richter (Lighting Design), Audrey Eisner (Costume Design), Christopher Moscatiello (Sound Design). For the health, safety and well-being of our patrons, staff and artists, PRT's current COVID-19 policy requires guests to wear masks while indoors.

Marilyn Fox photo by Jeff Lorch. Production photos by Myrna Gawryn.

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