BWW Interviews: MODERN ORTHODOX Director Steve Bell Chats 30 Years with BCP

Director Steve Bell of Teaneck has been an active member of the Bergen County Players for an impressive thirty year run. Wearing many different hats, Bell is a life member and past president of BCP. He has directed over 13 productions including "Gypsy," "Epic Proportions," "Lucky Stiff," "Deathtrap," "Urinetown," "Curtains" and "The King & I." Among the shows for which he has served as musical director are "Sweeney Todd," "Company" and "Honk." As a performer, he has appeared in such shows as "Follies" (Perry Award Winner), "Anything Goes", "City of Angels", "Into the Woods" and "Forum". However, nothing could have prepared him for the controversy that arose last year when he chose to direct what he calls "a perfect little comedy", Douglas Carter Beane's 'The Little Dog Laughed'. Tony-nominated for 'Best Play' in 2007, the four character comedy tells the tale of a closeted Hollywood actor and a friendly hustler. In the play, the two male characters appear nude for a brief scene in the play's first act, prompting one Bergen County theater goer to complain, "This is a family-oriented area, not the East Village!"  

Bell is currently in rehearsals for his upcoming BCP production of Daniel Goldfarb's 'Modern Orthodox'.  He took time out of his busy schedule to speak with BWW about last year's controversy, his latest directing endeavor and his 30 year history with the Bergen County Players.

I wanted to start by asking you about last year's rather controversial production of 'The Little Dog Laughed'. Were you surprised by the reaction you received and by the fact that a few theater goers actually walked out of the show?

Well I anticipated a reaction. What I didn't anticipate was the anger from some people that came along with the reaction. That I did find surprising. In hindsight, I guess I should have been prepared more for that but considering that it was 2011, I thought people would have been a little more tolerant, even if they didn’t agree with the gay aspect of the show. However, feelings are deep rooted and they are hard to ignore. We had some members of the audience who were quite upset by it.

Could you talk a little bit about finding that balance between choosing a production that’s going to be exciting and challenging for you and your cast and at the same time trying to appease your core audience base.

Well one of the balancing acts that we run here is finding things that are not only fun for us to perform, but that will attract an audience. Over these many years that I’ve been a member, over 30 years, we’ve seen the audience change. Obviously with any theater group or any organization the membership ages and it changes. We are trying to attract new people, we’re trying to get younger people to the theater. There are a few of us directors who go to a lot of theater and see many contemporary plays and every time I see something that I know will fit in our theater I put it on my list of things to consider when I’m looking for things to direct here. I felt that 'The Little Dog Laughed' was a perfect little comedy, four characters, two men, two women, that would work very well on our stage. And being a contemporary play that dealt with contemporary issues, it’s not much different than many of the things that we see on TV nowadays. We have the Kardashians and various others, Charlie Sheen, everything going on in the news. I thought this was very similar to scenes in 'Little Dog Laughed'. And I felt that this would bring in a younger audience.

The play that I’m directing this year, 'Modern Orthodox' is the same thing. I saw this play and I said to myself, ‘this is perfect for Players. This would be a great play to do', because this one doesn’t have the controversial element of being about gay characters and having men kissing on stage, which some people found more objectionable than the male nudity on stage. But we try to balance things. We have to still bring our core audience back but as I said, that audience is changing and part of our job is to try to attract a new audience so that we have new people coming to the theater. That is what I was hoping to do with 'Little Dog Laughed' and that’s also what I’m hoping to do with 'Modern Orthorthox'.

So would you say 'Modern Orthodox is perhaps a little more ‘family friendly’?

Yes it is. There’s no homosexuality, and there’s no nudity so right away it’s a much different play. It is a four character comedy, two men, two women. It’s actually a bit of a fish out of water story. The way the story is constructed, you’re not sure who’s the fish and whose water you’re in. Both protagonists, the two men, one being an orthodox Jew and one a secular Jew, are very wary of the other and sees the other one as being different. The two of them are trying to find a balance between them in order to maintain a relationship or even have a relationship.

I don’t know if you’ve had the opportunity to see 'Book of Mormon' on Broadway, but after reading the synopsis of 'Modern Orthodox' it appears to have a similar theme - that religion is really all about what makes you feel good and what seems right for you. Would you say this play carries a similar message?

Absolutely, however the twist is that both men are Jewish, so it’s the degree that you’re going to accept religion and religious practices in your life.

Do the two main characters almost see each other as having different religions even though they are both Jewish?

Completely. One sees the other one as being very hard and backwards and the other one sees him as being not righteous and not living a worthwhile life. And over the course of the play they both come to see the other’s point of view and make big changes in their own lives. They are able to make the changes they need to in order to be more fully adjusted in society.

When the play starts, the secular couple, Ben and Hanna, as I’ve described it, live very full lives – they’re both have high powered jobs, she is a doctor in the hospital delivering babies, he is a financial consultant. They lead high powered lives, but there’s no substance to their lives. Whereas Herschel, the Orthodox Jewish man, he is all substance. Everything is rooted in tradition and prayer and in religion, but he has no life, he has no friends - he has nothing. The people with the lives try to find substance and the person with substance tries to find a life. That ‘s what this play is about.

Your daughter Joanna Koster plays one of the characters in the play. 

Yes, Joanna plays the blind date that Herschel is set up on at a Kosher restaurant.

Is this the first time the two of you have worked together?

It’s the first time I’ve directed her as a character. She’s been in a couple of the musicals that I’ve directed or that I was the musical director of, but in those cases she was part of an ensemble. In this case she’s a character that I’m directing as a specific person.

And how is that going? Does she accept your critiques well? 

It’s going very well. It’s actually going very smoothly. I will say though the very last scene which is an epilogue, takes place on the wedding night of both couples. (Laughing) Directing my daughter in a bedroom scene on her wedding night gets a little bit touchy! But we're working our way around it!

And I understand that both your daughter Joanna and the other female lead, Vanessa Garrabrant both were married during the play's rehearsal period.

Yes, during the rehearsals they both got married, they both went on their honeymoons AND they both married men named Craig!

So have they been able to draw from their personal marital experiences for the play?

I’m sure they have! And I’m not going to try to draw that out of them too much!

As you mentioned, you’ve been with the Bergen County Players over 30 years, which is really something. Do you have a preference for drama versus comedy, or do you enjoy them both?

I really enjoy both. I have not had the opportunity to direct any dramas here. I think the closest that I came to was ‘Death Trap’, which is actually a thriller. I’ve directed several comedies, and I’ve done many musicals, both as a director and as a musical director and as a performer and I’ve also been in some plays here, mainly comedy.

We have a group of directors where some people’s strengths are more serious plays and so we all kind of fit into our niches as to who does what the best. There are a few of us who do musicals, there are a few of us who do comedies, there are a few others who do more serious plays. This year for example, we had a fantastic production of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf' - really wonderful. That play has been on my list too but I could not have done as good a job as the director who did handle that one here. We have other directors who don’t go with any straight plays and others who like to do things that involve music. So in planning our season, we all try to fit into where we will bring the most to the production.

This probably is an impossible question to answer, but in all your years with BCP, do you have one favorite production that you’ve done?

Among them, as a director I would say my favorite may be 'Urinetown'. We were the first Community Theater to be granted the rights to do the play, even though, because of our schedule, our production wasn’t the first in the area. That was September of 2005. I loved the production. As a matter of fact, my daughter Joanna was in that as was Vanessa. Vanessa came to our theater because I cast her in 'Urinetown' and has remained here ever since. And now I have the pleasure of working with her again!

The Bergen County Players production of 'Modern Orthodox' opens on January 14th and will run through February 4th. All performances take place at The Little Firehouse Theatre at 298 Kinderkamack Road in Oradell. Performance times are Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm.

Tickets for the show are $19 for Friday and Saturday performances and $16 for Sunday matinee performances, and can be purchased online at www.bcplayers.org, by calling 201-261-4200 or by visiting the box office at 298 Kinderkamack Road in Oradell during regular box office hours. 

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