Interview: Paul Sand on the World Premiere of His Play THE PILOT WHO CRASHED THE PARTY

Tony Award winning actor and Second City alum Paul Sand (pictured) is proving yet again that you are never too old to follow your dreams in the entertainment world. His resume includes being a Tony and two-time Drama Desk Award-winning actor, writer and director who has been working in film, television, and theatre for over 60 years. And now at the age of 91, he is excited to be directing the world premiere of The Pilot Who Crashed the Party, his off-beat homage to drawing room comedies of the '30s, this time set in his beloved Santa Monica Mountains.

I wondered what his secrets might be to having such an extraordinary lifetime of work and still be writing and directing at 91. So I decided to speak with him to find out!

First of all, congratulations on your latest world premiere play, The Pilot Who Crashed the Party. You first presented it last year as a 3-day workshop at the Odyssey Theatre. How has this version changed since then?

Not a lot. Added some, cut some, a little funnier, a little more intense here and there, turned up the heat, added another musician. The musicians score the whole play because they were at the party when the pilot crashes, so they become part of the party. They play whatever they feel is right for the moment. I LOVE them. They improvise as they see fit.

Lee Boek and Sol Mason

Is this the first full-length play you have written?

Yes. But I also wrote a good short one called Louis, From Work, which opened at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, directed by Jerome Robbins.

What was the inspiration for writing it?

While growing up in the theatre world as young man in Chicago and New York, I would notice fellow actors, without failure, would eventually say to me, "You remind me of me." This would begin to go further into assuming I WAS them. That I thought like them. I later learned it's called projection. I've been thinking about and writing this play off and on for many years. Then during our global pandemic, I figured out how to do it. I discovered this projection stuff was nothing but trouble. You're about to watch what I've come up with so far.

Jacqueline Wright, Claudia Ferri, Sol Mason

The play is set on "a violent, stormy night filled with rain, lightning and thunder... on a narrow, winding and newly full-of-mud mountain road." Why there?

Frankly, more theatrical. Plus how dangerous assuming we know each other can be, thinking "We're so much alike."

Tell me a about the party hostess and her guests. Are they really interested in each other, or are they just there for the cocktails and/or contacts?

They're not there for the cocktails. They're there for love and death in this play. A previous title was Possible Dangerous Side Effects.

Sol Mason and Claudia Ferri

How does the pilot who crashes the party change the way in which the evening progresses?

By being treated differently by six people, each of whom think the pilot is very much like themselves.

Is the incident based on a true story?

Yes, because we all do it. In a way, it's autobiographical because I've noticed it all my life - to me and from me. But now that I've grown up, I see it's a big deal.

Chris Rorrer, Debra Lane, Yennie Lam

Have you worked with any of your cast members, musicians, or creative team before? And if not, how did you encourage them to join you on this stage adventure?

I asked them to read the script. One lady said no, the others jumped up and down. A few I've worked with before and I'm nuts about them.

What questions do you think the audience would like to ask you after seeing the play?

Perhaps some of the questions you're asking me during this interview. Which I think are terrific questions.

That's what's on my mind when I think of what to ask!

Debra Lane and Sol Mason

Now, let's talk about you still working as an actor. Tell me about your most recent film, Loren and Rose, and your recurring role in the upcoming streaming series Mrs. American Pie, specifically the other actors in each and the roles you play.

On Loren and Rose: Jacqueline Bisset is so beautiful I find myself staring at her or not even able to look at her. I have a mild role, but I hear it works.

I've never had such a pleasant experience on any TV show in my life as on Mrs. American Pie. (except on The Carol Burnett Show - and guess what?! I have a scene with Carol Burnett in Mrs. American Pie where we play ex-high school sweethearts, where she dumped me and I never got over it. Now I'm old and rich and have a yacht and a dreamy gold digger in Palm Beach, and I'm still not over it. Carol and I meet up again and she's richer than I am and she still doesn't want me back. Carol is a goddess with a great and crystal-clear sense of humor. Who could ever get over her, right?

Absolutely! You have lived in many wonderful places during your career including Paris, New York City and Chicago. Have you found a favorite vacation spot where you go to unwind?

My humble ivory tower in Santa Monica on the 13th floor on the edge of the entire Pacific Ocean is its own vacation spot to unwind. Although I don't think I ever unwind. I can act like it, but I don't really. There is a windy beach on Sardinia which kind of gets to me also.

Speaking of Santa Monica, as the co-founder and artistic director of Paul Sand Projects, you have brought creative works to locations around the city including the play Save the Pier! which recounts the fight to save the Santa Monica Pier from demolition. Is this a play you wrote?

The Looff Hippodrome, originally built in 1916, houses the Santa Monica Pier Carousel.

The author is Jim Harris, a pal of mine in charge of the whole pier. We've done this play many years now, celebrating the actual event of when a group of people who worked in Al's Kitchen on the pier saved the pier from being torn down by beating City Hall, legally. They fixed it so it can never be torn down. I actually lived over the merry-go-round just after high school for a couple of years during that same time. It's become a community event, and it's natural for me to be a part of it. As an infant I learned how to walk, to take my first steps on the pier. I remember holding my mother's and father's hands on each side of me. We go into rehearsal this April to do it again. Come one come all. It's an inspiring event proving you can beat City Hall. And it's free.

I'll be sure to look for it this year! I spent many weekends as a child riding the merry-go-round at the pier. Tell me about your play, An Illegal Start, which is set there among the carousel horses.

Also written by Jim Harris. It's about two teenage boys (actors Sol Mason and Irish Giron, now grown up) who crash their car just outside the merry-go-round and sneak in to wait out the storm. Jim's play covers the next few years in their lives. Time is expressed by a lone Chicana riding one of the horses while playing the violin. The years glide by with music.

I staged it on the merry-go-round among the horses because we were standing next to it while talking about it. It was set to open in a local theater, but what's a fella to do when things fall through? I love that show and we want to do it again, especially since it was very popular.

Do people often tell you they remember you best as Robert C. Brand, the IRS auditor on the Mary Tyler Moore Show? And how did you land that job?

Paul Sand as tax auditor Robert C. Brand who developed a crush on Mary Richards in the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" episode "1040 or Fight."

Yes. Valerie Harper was a solid friend of mine. We had been on Broadway together doing Paul Sills Story Theatre. She recommended me for the role, I auditioned and got it. Mary was a wonderful actor and a very deep person. I liked her.

And lastly, to what do you attribute your longevity and ability to keep creating art at age 91?

I don't know really. Eat well, still work out regularly with Lou, barely took drugs or drank alcohol. But I'm told I have a passion, and my passion is playing, and playing to me is all this theatre stuff. But who really knows?

Someone who is looking out for you, I think! Thanks so much, Paul. I really enjoyed getting to know you during this interview. And I hope you are looking forward to a big celebration, or perhaps premiering another play, when you reach 100!

The Pilot Who Crashed the Party, written and directed by Paul Sand, features cast members Marcia Lynn Anthony, Lee Boek, Francis C. Edemobi, Claudia Ferri, Debra Lane, Sol Mason, and Jacqueline Wright, with musicians Yennie Lam (violin) and Chris Rorrer (cello). Produced by Amanda Weier and presented by Public Works Improvisational Theatre Foundation in association with Paul Sand Projects at the Broadwater Theatre Main Stage, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038. Performance run April 8 - May 7 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 3pm. Tickets run $20-$35 available at www.onstage411.com/Pilot.

Cast photos by Agi

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