Interview: Douglas McGrath Discusses Expecting the Unexpected in One-Man Play EVERYTHING'S FINE

Douglas McGrath is a multi-talentented wrtier, actor, and director, whose incredible creative accomplishments include co-writing the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for Bullets Over Broadway, writing and directing the film Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, and Toni Colette, and writing the book for the Tony Award-winning Broadway show Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, plus many more.

Now, McGrath is bringing his autobiographical, one-man play Everything's Fine to the stage at the DR2 Theatre. Directed by two-time Tony Award and six-time Emmy Award winner John Lithgow, Everything's Fine charts McGrath's life, beginning with his teenage years spent in Texas, and an eighth-grade teacher who would change his life in an unexpected way. Everything's fine opens tonight, October 13, 2022.

The creative team features set design by two-time Tony Award winner John Lee Beatty, costume design by Tony Award winner Linda Cho, lighting design by Caitlin Smith Rapoport and sound design by Emma Wilk. Production Stage Manager is Amy Rauchwerger.

BroadwayWorld spoke with McGrath about telling his story on stage, working with John Lithgow, and more!

This is the world premiere of your one-man play Everything's Fine. What inspired you to create this show?

First, I wanted to create a portrait of my family so that people who've never had the pleasure of meeting them could know them. My parents were charming, funny, sophisticated people who came to Texas from the East, like the Bushes (and many others) did. Before meeting Dad, my mother worked at Harper's Bazaar for Diana Vreeland and was pals at the magazine with Andy Warhol. We have a number of his drawings that he gave her, so coming West to Midland was something of a culture shock for them. But they jumped in, whole heart, and made it fun for themselves and for us. That's very much the Midland spirit. The other part of my early life that I wanted to share with people was the strange events that happened when we got a new history teacher in the 8th grade. She took an interest in me - too much of an interest.

How did the process of writing material for you to perform alone on stage compare with writing for a whole company of actors in a stage production or in a film?

Though there are many characters throughout the piece, they come to life through my telling the audience about them - I assume some accents and posts to suggest them. But there's never any question that this is an evening of me telling a story. It's not like one of Anna Deavere Smith's wonderful evenings of character immersion. This is storytelling.

Without giving anything away, can you share what audiences can expect to see from you in Everything's Fine?

John Lithgow puts it best. He says, "It starts out and you think, 'Oh, I see, this is going to be an evening of good-humored nostalgia, a warm looking back at Doug's Texas youth. But then slowly, almost imperceptibly, it turns into a psychological thriller.'" I would add this to that: despite the scary turns the story takes, the show is quite big-hearted. There's a lot of tender feeling in it.

What has it been like working with your director John Lithgow?

I wish this was a question on a lie detector test so you could see how utterly truthful this answer is: he's just been a total joy, an endless help, a rock, an inspiration and, thankfully, when needed, a barrel of laughs. Unimprovably great.

How has it felt getting up on stage, just you and the audience every night, and sharing your story?

It's been so thrilling to tell this story and see (and hear) how it affects people. As the teacher edges deeper and deeper into the inappropriate, audiences have been very vocal. It's such a great feeling to know that they are connecting with the piece, whether in the funny parts, the scary parts or the more moving parts.

What do you hope that audiences take away from Everything's Fine?

Their Playbills. And also: I hope they will see how vital it is when one is in a troubling situation to reach out to smart people for help. When I got in this situation, I didn't tell my parents or the school, which of course is the first thing I should have done. A friend came and saw the show and brought his teenage sons. He said afterward their takeaway was "Don't be like Doug!" I only confided in one person, a fellow 14-year-old named Eddie. He didn't know how to handle it either, but he and I could laugh about it and sometimes, there is nothing more lifesaving in the middle of a crisis than the relief of laughter.