INTERVIEW: NYC play finds one man discovering his ‘Identity’
Photo: Amy Liszka, Matthew Tyler, Nicholas Linnehan and Tim Connell star in Identity. Photo courtesy of Anthony Arcidi / Provided by Kampfire PR with permission.
For Nicholas Linnehan, his play Identity is a personal testimony of his life, his thoughts, his trials and his triumphs. The show is semi-autobiographical and charts his journey as a gay man who is Roman Catholic and living with a disability.
Identity runs through March 24 at El Barrio’s Artspace on East 99th Street in New York City. Linnehan not only wrote the show but also stars in it, along with Ben Dworken, Tim Connell, Amy Liszka and Matthew Tyler. Christopher Scott directs the limited engagement.
In the play, Linnehan’s character, based of his own life, feels trapped and decides to have a doctor remove his identity. What transpires is unexpected and revealing.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Linnehan about Identity,. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What inspired Identity?
Identity was inspired by my realization that being a gay, disabled Catholic was unique, or at least I thought it was. I never met anyone who I shared all of these things with. I was at a place in my life where I was frustrated as I felt no one could identify with what I was going through because of who I was.
I started writing Identity as a way to express my feelings about these three things that can seem in opposition to each other. Writing is a way that I can express myself, and through that deeply personal expression the play was born.
How autobiographical is the play?
This is a difficult question because the essence of the play is 100 percent autobiographical. Most of the incidents in the play happened to me, but some of them have been added for artistic and dramatic reasons. I would say that 75 percent of it is completely autobiographical and the other 25 percent added for dramatic effect.
What do you believe the play offers as a lesson for the audience? What do you hope is the takeaway?
I hope the play will help people accept all of themselves as they are and not see themselves as warring factions but as unique, special, complete persons that have special pieces in their nature that combine to make up their identity. I hope that people will start living as whole people and not feel like victims because of their identity. I want people to accept themselves as they are and go out into the world and feel good about being themselves.
If people are struggling to accept parts of themselves, I hope this play will offer them insight into how they might begin to reconcile their differences.
What has it been like to rehearse with this ensemble?
This rehearsal process has been incredible. I am surrounded by such lovely and fun people that I often forget that this is based on my life. They have inspired me to dig deeper as a playwright and put forth the best possible version of this play. I have felt supported and challenged throughout this process, which is a great combination for me. As an artist I genuinely care about each of them, which makes me want to enhance the material in order to serve them well.
When did you first fall in love with theater?
In middle school, I was cast as the Mayor of Munchkin City in seventh grade. When I performed opening night and heard laughter from my performance, I fell in love with theater at that moment. It was a relief to find something that my disability didn’t affect negatively, and I seemed to be pretty good at it. At that moment I knew that I wanted to do theater for the rest of my life and have done so.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Identity runs through March 24 at El Barrio’s Artspace in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
