Interview: Francois Battiste Chats About HEAD OF PASSES and Returning to The Public

Head of Passes is already turning heads at the Public Theater and BroadwayWorld has the amazing opportunity to chat with Francois Battiste, one of the many stars of Tarell Alvin McCraney's new play.

At the mouth of the Mississippi River, Shelah's family and friends have come to celebrate her birthday and save her from a leaking roof. But in this contemporary parable inspired by the Book of Job, unexpected events turn the reunion into the ultimate test of faith and love. As her world seems to collapse around her, Shelah (Phylicia Rashad) must fight to survive the rising flood of life's greatest challenges.

Below, BroadwayWorld chats with Battiste about his character, working with Tarell Alvin McCraney's text and returning to the Public. Read the full interview below!

Can you tell me a little bit about Head of Passes?

Tarell [Alvin McCraney] likes to say it's a meditation on grace. I know that for me personally, from my angle, it seems to be about family and how tenuous relationships can be and the fragility of life and there is this existential ponderance on our purpose and what we do and how much we control and what we do with our time. It surrounds a lot of different things for me. It speaks to me on a lot of different levels, but definitely it speaks to me on the familial level and on the level of relationships to siblings. It also discusses the crumbling of a family when people are holding onto secrets and the weight that it carries and the detrimental effect. The play has so many different layers. It covers so many different areas for me.

Can you talk a little bit about your character and how he fits into this world?

My character is the second child of three. His name is Aubrey and it's a little interesting because he's the second boy, but he's named after the father. He seems to be the one that Mom calls on whenever anything needs to be done. He seems to be the one who follows through. It's quite apparent that she has called on Spencer, the oldest, to do certain things that he doesn't seem to follow through on. Aubrey is the one who comes out to the house, makes the trip more often. He has a vested interest in his Mom's health, not that the other siblings don't, but I think he's a little more consistent with that. He seems to be a little bit more responsible with his finances and his livelihood.

Aubrey is the one who is throwing this party for Mom. Mom doesn't acknowledge her own birthday, she always acknowledges others and I think that speaks to who she is and the admirable qualities she has. Aubrey is the sensitive one, but he also has a flip side to the coin. We hear from the text that growing up he was the one who liked to pull pranks and always likes to have fun. He's a very sensitive and has a lot of empathy.

That said, he comes to a head with his sibling, Cookie, because he just feels that she is pulling on the family too much. He doesn't know some of the secrets she is holding onto so he is not informed on that level. What he does see is that Cookie has a substance abuse problem and doesn't seem to be responding to the pouring of love on her side and she doesn't seem to be turning her life around. So, he holds a little bit of resent to her.

How has it been working with Tarell's text?

Tarell is onto something very special because you can tell in this particular text a lot of his influences... the Greeks, Shakespeare, they are all present in his text and what it's doing is it's communicating the audience on a deep level. Tarell has written in a certain rhythm and it's like he's written a composition and we are all trying to play the notes of music properly. It took some time to do that, but it's been awesome.

You guys just opened this week. How have audiences been responding to Head of Passes?

It's been amazing! Now that the word is getting out, the houses have become more and more responsive and there is just a lot of love. One thing you understand doing this play and why theater has survived for thousands of years is because we really are trying to speak to people in a very basic and humanistic way. Even though people aren't from where this play is set or they might not even be of our ethnic heritage, it doesn't matter. We are speaking to the humanistic qualities of man and woman. You can tell that reverberates out there into the audience.

We had a talk back a couple of nights ago and I could not believe the amount of people that stayed. I couldn't even believe the things that people were asking. They talked about how they are fundamentally changed in their understanding of life. That is pretty special to hear. It's great to hear that they will not walk out of the theater the same way they walked in.

This isn't your first time working at the Public Theater. How does it feel to be back?

It feels like home. Personally, I've gone through a lot of changes since the last time I performed there. My wife and I moved away from the city two years ago. We have two kids and we make our home Sacramento, so I've been away from the business for a couple of years now. To be back in the fold, back at the Public, doing this particular piece with these particular players, it feels right, it feels as though I've never left.

Francois Battiste credits include: The Public: Detroit '67; The Good Negro (Obie), The Merchant of Venice and The Winter's Tale. Broadway: Bronx Bombers; Prelude to a Kiss; and Magic/Bird. Off-Broadway: Broke-ology; 10 Things to do Before I Die. Select Regional: Williamstown, Sundance, Chicago Shakespeare, The Goodman, Victory Gardens, NYS&F. Film/TV: Men in Black III, You Bury Your Own, Delivering the Goods, One Week, "The Normal Heart," "The Family," "Person of Interest," "The Good Wife," and "Are We There Yet?"