Interview: Dan Hiatt of MARK TWAIN'S RIVER OF SONG at TheatreWorks Talks about Finding the Character of Twain and Looks Back on His Remarkable Career

BroadwayWorld recently caught up with Bay Area theater mainstay Dan Hiatt while he was in the midst of rehearsals for TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's new musical "Mark Twain's River of Song" in which he plays the title role. Mr. Hiatt discussed his process for finding the character of Twain, and also shared some insights from his remarkably rich career, having worked with most every high-profile theater company in the Bay Area over the past 25 years. In conversation, he is exceedingly thoughtful and self-effacing, taking great care to respond to questions directly and honestly. The following has been edited for length.

"Mark Twain's River of Song" sounds pretty different from the kind of one-man Mark Twain show that, say, Hal Holbrook made a mini-career out of. How would you describe this show?

Well, Hal Holbrook and Mark Twain himself did one-man versions of Twain's material. I feel that in this show, Twain is more of an emcee of an evening of music. The quotes are all pretty much from him. There are some that just for our purposes have to be written by the playwrights, but he gets his chance to shine and to deliver some of the things that you might expect from a one-person evening of Mark Twain. But for me, this evening is really about the music. It's wonderful - 30 songs of roots/folk/blues music played by a crack team of musicians and singers, and then there's me to inject some of Twain's words. I think really the impetus was "How can we have an evening of this music? And take it from North to South, and explore all the musical styles that you might have found in the 19th century of in America? What can hang this all together? Two things: the Mississippi River and Mark Twain." And it's very satisfying that I don't have the weight of a whole evening on my back. I come in and out and help to move the evening forward.

Given that you're playing such a well-known cultural figure, how have you approached creating the character of Mark Twain for this show?

Well, I work kind of instinctively and I [already] had a notion of who Mark Twain was. It may have come largely from the wonderful work that Hal Holbrook did back in the 70's. I youtubed that for a little while and I said "Oh yeah, that's brilliant. I'd better not watch too much of it, or I'll have feelings of inadequacy." [laughs] But I'm just trying to put together a physical persona and a vocal persona that will be recognizable as Twain. It's interesting watching the Ken Burns documentary about Twain. Someone made the point that Mark Twain had a duality about him. You could almost say that he was Samuel Langhorne Clemens and he was also Mark Twain. There was the man who was cosmopolitan, well-educated, loved the finer things in life, could stand his ground with the intellectual elite of the nation, and there was also the kind of good ol' boy, down-to-earth populist who would like to just drink and smoke and play pool and tell jokes. That is just something I hit on the other day. I'm probably on thin ice to say this, but Hal Holbrook seemed to be more the Samuel Langhorne Clemens in the bits that I watched recently, and I was thinking maybe for this particular evening it's more Mark Twain. I was [also] thinking who's voice could I think of, and I was thinking of American actors and Jason Robards came up, that kind of dry thing - not that I do a Jason Robards impersonation - but just to kind of find the territory where he lives vocally. And he's [Twain's] in his 70's so you want to add a little bit of age to him. I'm about 10 years younger than that.

Have you learned anything surprising about Twain from your process?

I knew he was funny, and in this show the thing maybe that's surprising to me is the beauty of his descriptive passages. There are a few in this [show] - I think they're taken from "Life on the Mississippi" which is the book I decided to start reading in my spare time while we put it together. The descriptive passages of "the Mississippi" bookend the show in a way - the first act ends with a sunrise and the second act ends with a sunset. I think I expected the humor and the jokes, and then this kind of became my favorite part of the play.

Randal Myler, one of the creators of the show, is also directing. What has it been like working with him?

Oh, it's been great. He's been very open to input. We're still tweaking the script that isn't the music - ya know, the stuff in between - and he's been open to giving me a lot of freedom on that. And it's a really relaxed room. We're about to get up on our feet and finish putting it together. So far I've just felt really lucky to have this thing drop in my lap [laughs] because if I'd seen they were doing this show, I'd think "Well, that's not for me. That's for musicians and singers and that's not really me." And when it came kind of out of the blue I thought "Wow - Mark Twain. That's scary! People have strong feelings about who Mark Twain is." But being in the room, I get to listen to this music all day long and watch the musicians put that together and make choices. It's a really delightful experience so far.

This is Robert Kelley's final season as TheatreWorks' Artistic Director after an amazing 50-year run in that role. He's directed you in TheatreWorks' productions of "The 39 Steps" and "20th Century." Do you have any particular memories of working with him?

Yeah. I always enjoyed Kelley because as a director he carefully stages a show, and I really appreciate that. I think that is one area the actor really can't do [on their own] - we can't see the whole picture. And his rehearsals - I just always thought they were very pleasant. I remember he had a thing where he had a Plan A and a Plan B, and I appreciated the care that he'd taken in working that out. I felt I could trust that this thing looks good and that the movement is serving the story, and I really enjoyed both of those productions. "The 39 Steps" is a bear to stage.

Yes! I recently interviewed Leslie Martinson who directed the recent TheatreWorks production and she was talking about that.

Yeah, you need a steady hand at the tiller for that show because it's chaos, it's kind of controlled chaos. If you don't do it right, you're just going to lose the story. I really loved that about the recent version - how well the romance between Hannay and Pamela worked.

I honestly can't think of another actor who has worked so consistently throughout the entire Bay Area in the past couple of decades. It seems to me you're always working. Does it feel that way to you? Is it ever enough? Do you still worry about where you next job will come from?

You always do, but I don't really understand it myself. I feel very lucky. I've never been gifted with tremendous ambition, and things have come my way. [For this show] I got an email from Jeffrey Lo, the casting director at TheatreWorks and he said "We'd like you to play Mark Twain," and it was out of left field. Things like that have happened in my career, and I'm very grateful for it. I can't explain it, but you know it's been a good life, kind of remarkably really.

As a working actor, what do you think is the best part of your job?

Hmmm. Well, it's changing as I get older. In the old days I think it would be performing - going to the theater every night, having a new audience, having great words to say for 2 hours, and having a section of your life that's carefully figured out. You know exactly what you're going to do and say for 2 hours and it's usually things written by Shakespeare or Shaw. I did a lot of comedy when I first got into theater. I think what kept me around was the laughter and just being around so many people who were so funny, and who thought I was funny sometimes, too. As I get older I think it's more [about] the rehearsal now, putting it together and finding ways to work a little deeper. I used to watch older actors onstage and I'd think "Oh my god, he's doing NOTHING and yet you can't take your eyes off him." And I think it's trying to find that now.

So, this is kind of an impossible question, but how do you find THAT?

I think it's NOT doing something. It's taking away, it's figuring out that I don't need that. It's more like - I don't really have an answer to this question; I'm kind of pulling this out of left field - but I think it would be that you find ways of being present and find ways of really listening and really paying attention to the people around you. And as I say this I realize "That's a good thing to remember, right?" as we get up on our feet [with "Twain"]!. Cause in a way in this show I have to find how this works. There's a way it could be I don't even exist for the other people onstage, that Twain is in his own separate world, and I don't want to do that. And I also have the question "What does Twain do during the musical numbers that he's not involved in?" I think it might be just honestly enjoying it, you know? And maybe I can find a few dance steps to put in while the music is going.

... But yeah, I don't know the answer to that. I don't know it's anything you set out to do, but just life teaches you to kind of get out of the way or to try to stop being so "me-centric" and just look out and see what's going on around you. Maybe that's it - I don't know. And maybe you almost can't help it, maybe if you live a life it shows in a way.

Out of the many roles you've played, which one was closest to who you are offstage, and which one was the biggest stretch?

Oh, boy, I'd have to think about that for a while ...

I'm not sure this answers your question ... I think that where I was at the best in my career was in farce. And maybe this IS me - somebody who is sort of careful and wants to be in control and wants to be the guy who knows everything, who gets into situations where he's done something out of his comfort zone and he has to think on his feet, and can't be in control any more. And I think those roles - like in Feydeau or in "Noises Off" or something like that - are the ones that I probably did best in my career. So maybe there is something of that in me. What I love about farce is that it has to be absolutely truthful and real, then it spirals out of control. But all the building blocks have to be logical and make absolute sense. I think oftentimes the first act shouldn't even be funny because it's so real.

But the one that's furthest away from me? I'd have to give that some more thought...

Maybe you could remember a moment of fear, like "Wow, what did I get myself into with this one?"

Yeah, well, THAT fear was the only one-man show I ever did - sort of a one-man version of "It's a Wonderful Life." I loved doing it, but it was so complicated and it's all on your back. It's great working with other people and you derive so much from the interplay.

What is your favorite way to spend time when you're not working on a play?

It's kind of changed. I play guitar a bit. It's sort of the 3 G's of retirement that I'm looking at: it's golf, gardening & guitar. I like spending time in nature, but really I'm kind of a homebody and those are things I like - kind of quiet, pensive pursuits.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 50th Anniversary Season with the West Coast premiere of Mark Twain's River of Song, running from Wednesday, October 2nd through Sunday, October 27th at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View, CA. For information or to order tickets visit theatreworks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

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