BWW Interviews: Davy Raphaely for A LIFE IN THE THEATRE

Walnut Street Theatre's A Life in the Theatre is a play about actors. It focuses on the relationship between two actors: the older experienced Robert and the young and ambitious John. The audience sees them fighting for the spotlight, but in a backstage setting. A Life in the Theatre will be performed at George Mason University's Center for the Arts this Friday February, 06 at 8:00 p.m.

I got the chance to talk to Davy Raphaely, who plays John in this production. He has been in three other Walnut Street Theatre productions, most recently Bad Jews. He has acted in a wide variety of work ranging from William Shakespeare to David Auburn. We discussed his work on this David Mamet piece and what made it possible for him to have such a successful career.

Hannah Menchhoff: Not that I need to tell you this of course, but you have been acting since you were 10 and you have a fairly extensive resume including productions in Philadelphia, New York, and even DC. At what point did you say to yourself, "I'm an actor and I can make this my career"?

Davy Raphaely: Well, when I was younger, maybe when I was in 5th grade is when I kind of got the bug. I saw a show that some of my family was in. I said to my mom, 'you know, this is what I want to do,' and she signed me up for anything that I could get my hands on: dance lessons, acting lessons, singing too. I just knew right then that's what I wanted to do with my life. I got a great opportunity. I'm from Baltimore and I went to high school of performing arts there, auditioned and got in. Then, I decided I wanted to go to college for [acting] at University of the Arts here in Philadelphia. I wanted to get out of Baltimore, to a bigger city and you know I took it very seriously. In college I was very realistic. I knew that coming out of college; I wasn't going to have an overnight thing. Someone wasn't going to come up to me on the street and say 'Hey, you're going to get a TV series.' I knew I was in for the long haul and it was going to take a lot of work and a lot of dedication and persistence. I'm going to get a lot of 'no's.' I just stuck with it and I think just because I was very realistic about it and my expectations weren't that [an acting career was] going to happen overnight. It took a lot of work and I think that is the reason why I am able to keep doing it today. I have been doing it for about 14 years now professionally.

HM: What is it like working with Walnut Street Theatre? Have you gained any experience that you wouldn't have otherwise had?

DR: Walnut Street Theatre is one of the oldest [theater's] in America and they have given me some great opportunities. This is actually going to be my fourth show with Walnut Street Theatre. They are just a lovely company. I did one show on the main stage, beautiful theater; I think it seats about 1,100. It's gorgeous. Then, this is my third production in the studio. What I really appreciate about the studio is they take chances and they take some plays that are maybe more obscure, or a little bit maybe not so mainstream. I love that they do that. In the larger stage they do more musicales, a little bit more commercial things, but then in the studio they take chances on some really obscure work. Like A Life in the Theatre, which is a very early [David] Mamet piece, I think it was written in 1975, it's not that well known. It's a two-hander, which is different for Mamet as well. For [Walnut Street Theatre] to take this type of play to put [in the studio] is really nice. It gives me an opportunity to work on some grittier plays. Not grittier, but I just really like the kind of work that they choose in the studio. They kind of push the boundaries and give the opportunity for the audience to see plays that aren't really produced as often.

HM: The producers of this show describe it as "A behind-the-scenes peek at the challenge of actors battling to share both a dressing room and the spotlight..." And you play the actor John, who is considered a new comer to theater. Of course this show is dramatized, but are there any elements of truth to this play? Have you experienced any of the things John experiences in this show?

DR: Yes, I think completely. David Mamet definitely knew what he was doing when he wrote this play. I find myself working with Bill Van Horn, who is the other actor [in A Life in the Theatre] and he directed. I've experienced many things in the dressing room. When I was a lot younger, my favorite thing during a show was whoever was the oldest guy in a show or the more experienced, my way was to get buddy-buddy with him and pick their brains and learn everything I could from them. It was almost like me going to graduate school. Every show I found the most experienced person and got connected to them. I knew I could learn from them because they are still [acting] and that's where I want to be when I'm that age. Within this play, I think John does that as well with Robert. Especially in the beginning, but I think Robert kind of pushes it on John a little bit too much. There's definitely jealousies that happen with fellow actors, some get more success, work and auditions, then myself. You know there is always a little bitterness that happens with working actors and I think that shows in this play. So I can relate to that. Just being in a dressing room with someone, what I like about this play is A Life in the Theatre is kind of like any other job. You develop relationships just like any other working employee. The only thing that's different is you are sort of sharing this tight dressing room space. So you are changing in front of people, you are putting make up on, you doing things that are a little bit out of the norm then with a normal 9 to 5 job. It is unique and I think it's very nice that the audience gets to see the inner-works of what actors have to go through just on a day to day basis. It's not just always glam up on the stage. You are dealing with personalities; you are dealing with people who have to change clothes in front of one another quickly. And it's kind of nice for audience members or people who aren't necessarily in the theater world or who have never seen the backstage life to get a glimpse.

HM: In one of my theater classes we were recently watching a TED Talk on storytelling. It was presented by Andrew Stanton who has written the screenplays for some of Pixar's biggest films. He talked about how not enough stories have this wonder moment or a moment of discovery. What would you say that moment is in this play?

DR: This play is almost like a slice of life. I wouldn't really say there is a strong plot to the play. It is really more of a character study of these two people. I think that it's out of the norm. There is a plot, it's loose. It's more about the experience and the journey of these people in the theater. I think there is a moment in the play where Robert, who is the older actor and more experienced and has been around. John is new and the younger actor, right out of college, fresh, just starting on his career. You can see that he's going somewhere. Robert is already there. There is a moment in the play, I don't want to give up too much, but it's almost like a changing of the guard. And I think where John is almost surpassing where Robert is and Robert sees that happening. You're kind of talking about the climax of a play and this one is just a little bit different. It's not quite like that. It's more subtle.

HM: Yeah, the show is more vignettes anyway, so that makes sense.

DR: We have scenes that are maybe just five lines long. We have a quick change. We change our clothes, sometimes in front of the audience, and then we do a scene. A scene that's seriously maybe five lines, then we do another quick change into a whole other scene. I think the audience will enjoy that, I thinks it's sort of humorous and it's fun. I think we do something like 25 quick changes in this 80-minute play.

HM: That's insane.

DR: It's crazy. It makes me laugh because the audience sees a lot, but then backstage the actual me Davy as an actor, it's a whole other play going on backstage of us changing our clothes quickly and running around back there to get back on stage. It's like a play within a play within a play for me. If the audience could see what's going on backstage, it's a whole other thing.

HM: This is of course a touring production, is this a new experience for you? What challenges do you expect to face?

DR: I think Walnut started doing the tours, I don't know how many years, but it's still fairly new. I'm estimating three or four years. I was in the first touring production of Proof and Bill Van Horn was actually in that production as well. So that's where I met him. I'm very excited to do this again because it's a really great opportunity. There's a lot of driving, a lot of downtime. I'm an avid reader so I can get a lot of reading done. Luckily, Bill and I get along really well; we're very similar so we don't have problems with that. Are you located in Fairfax?

HM: Yes, I go to George Mason.

DR: So Proof actually came to George Mason University. It's a lovely theater so I'm excited to come back. My family lives in Baltimore and I have some family in DC so they're all going to be coming.

HM: Why should audiences come see A Life in the Theatre? Why do you think Walnut Street chose to do this production now?

DR: Why I think they chose this play, I think it just shows their love for the theater. This is almost David Mamet's ode to theater and I think maybe Walnut, by choosing this play they are almost saying the same thing. They respect and they love what we do because I think you have to love it to do it. You have to be a little crazy. I think maybe that's why Walnut picked this play to show their audiences this is what we love and this is what we do and this is how crazy we are. I don't know though, you would have to ask Bernard [the President and Producing Artistic Director]. Also it's a two-hander, there's only two people in it. Right now we're running it with two of us, a stage manager, an assistant stage manager, there's only one person back[stage]. It's an easy production to take on the road, so I think logistic wise. That's probably the boring answer but I think that's also another reason. It's a fast moving show that you can take on the road which is helpful too. It's also a Mamet play, it's not really produced that often, which is nice to throw this out for the audience to see, something that's not super mainstream.

HM: Yeah, I actually just read my first Mamet play a few weeks ago so I'm pretty excited to see this one.

DR: There is a specific style. And this is very early on. I've work on a couple of Mamet pieces and this one is definitely very challenging. I would have to say this is one of the most challenging I've worked on.

HM: What made this so challenging for you?

DR: The text is very broad. You could do anything with them [the characters] I feel and it wasn't that specific. I was kind of left to my own self to grow to put whatever I could into the role. And the dialogue also it's written very conversationally. There's a rhythm to it. Reading it on the page is almost intimidating but once you get the language in and memorized and you start working with your fellow actors, it comes out very naturally. Once I got that, then I was okay. First working on it and memorizing it was very daunting, a little scary in the beginning but then you just start doing it and it seems so natural. Now it doesn't feel as challenging as it was in the beginning. It's just kind of flows.

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