Interview: Playwright Bryan Delaney and THE SEEDBED at NJ Rep

The World Premiere of The Seedbed by Bryan Delaney will be onstage at New Jersey Repertory Company (NJ Rep) from October 15th to November 15th. Written by Bryan Delaney and directed by the theatre's Artistic Director, SuzAnne Barabas, the cast includes Gina Costigan, Kevin Hogan, Michael Louis Serafin-Wells and Cathryn Wake.

The Seedbed is an impassioned family drama set in Ireland about a husband and wife and their troubled daughter who returns home with her fiancé after a long absence. When dark secrets are suddenly revealed, relationships are put to the test and their lives begin to slowly unravel.

Broadwayworld.com interviewed Bryan Delaney about his career and the upcoming show at NJ Rep.

Delaney is a playwright, screenwriter and dramaturg and currently resides in New York City. From 2010 - 2014 he ran the New Playwrights Programme at The Abbey Theatre, Ireland's national theatre. His TV pilot Jordan (co-written with Daniel Dowling) was one of the winning scripts in the 2015 BAFTA Rocliffe TV Drama Competition in the UK and was selected for the BAFTA Forum List. He is the recipient of the 2014 Theater Masters Visionary Playwright Award in conjunction with the Aspen Institute. Plays include The Seedbed (nominated for L. Arnold Weissberger Award; finalist Verity Bargate Award), The Onion Game (a winner of the 2013 BBC Writersroom open submissions competition; public readings at New York Stage and Film and the Vineyard Theatre off-Broadway); The Cobbler (Irish Classical Theatre: Katherine Cornell Award; joint winner 16th International Playwriting Competition); The Bohemians (Carnegie Hall, New York) and Stretching Larry (Theatre Upstairs, Dublin). In 2006 he was awarded the Samuel Beckett Centenary International Writer's Residency at the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris. He has recently been appointed to teach advanced playwriting and screenwriting at University of Pennsylvania and playwriting at Harvard Summer School.

Delaney told us a little about his earliest interest in writing. "I wrote bits and pieces in my teen years but I started seriously writing years later." After graduating from Dublin City University, he recalled a time when he was visiting friends in the west of Ireland and was browsing through one of their poetry books. He was struck by the language of the poems, the richness of the text and how the pieces "captured the inner world of their characters in words."

We asked Delaney about some his motivational forces in the business. "For me, the Irish canon has been very inspiring." He told us that he very much admires the work of Samuel Beckett. As a teen, his French teacher gave him a copy of Waiting for Godot in French and after reading it he went to see a production of the play at a local girls' school. He also loves the work of John Millington Synge who wrote "Playboy of the Western World" and "The Well of the Saints." Delaney is also a fan of European theater - Molière and Max Frisch among others.

Delaney told us about his inspiration for The Seedbed. "I was fascinated by the idea of what might be called 'psychological Chinese whispers' - how a single thought can grow in the mind of a character - in this case a mother - and then be transferred from one family member to the next and take on a dangerous new life in the mind of each new person who encounters it. I sat down and started writing an argument between a husband and wife and built forward and backward from that to develop the script and its themes. The play was written while I living in the Southeast of Ireland in an old Jacobean castle. I found many interesting images there that found their way into The Seedbed."

Delaney commented about working with NJ Rep. "Gabe and SuzAnne are extraordinary in what they've built here, a theatre dedicated entirely to new works. They are wonderful to work with on every level. They have a terrific creative staff and the show features a remarkably talented cast. I couldn't be happier with the team."

In addition to the World Premiere of The Seedbed at NJ Rep, Delaney has some exciting projects coming up in the near future. His television show, Jordon is being optioned at the moment and he co-wrote a feature film "LIV", directed by Catherine Eaton, which is in the final stages of editing.

We asked Delaney if there was anything else he wanted Broadwayworld.com readers to know about the play. "New Jersey audiences should know that The Seedbed is a moving and suspenseful family drama with a healthy dose of Irish humor."

New Jersey Repertory Company is located at 179 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ.
Sneak Previews of The Seedbed will be on Thursday, October 15th and Friday, October 16th at 8pm & Saturday, October 17th at 3pm. Opening Night with Reception will be on Saturday, October 17 at 8pm. Tickets are available at www.njrep.org or by calling 732-229-3166. Coupons and Discounts are accepted on Thursday and Sunday evenings only, pending availability. For more information about New Jersey Repertory Company visit www.njrep.org.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Bryan Delaney

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