INTERVIEW: Meet Pete. Now meet Nero, a Tyrannosaur Rex.
Photo: From left, Rosie Sowain and Greg Carere star in Pete Rex at 59E59 Theaters. Photo courtesy Hugh Mackey / Provided by Karen Greco PR with permission.
The new surreal comedy Pete Rex, currently playing 59E59 Theaters in Midtown Manhattan, envisions a Midwestern man named Pete and his encounters with Nero, a Tyrannosaur Rex. Although on its surface the play features some absurdity, this dark comedy is actually rooted in the issue of depression and the fragility of life.
The Dreamscape Theatre production, directed by Brad Raimondo, continues through March 3.
Pete Rex is the brainchild of playwright Alexander V. Thompson. “It comes from two things actually, one my sort of lifelong love of dinosaurs,” Thompson said in a recent phone interview. “Since I was a little boy I thought they were the coolest things in the world, and two it comes from a slightly darker place with my own struggles with depression. Those two things have kind of come together in this story in which a guy from the Midwest battles depression in the form of a dinosaur that hatches in his living room.”
Nero is a speaking character in the comedy. He’s up on stage as “pervasive absurdism” as the playwright calls the role, but he’s also a real threat against Pete.
“It actually affords a lot of lateral flexibility to explore different things, to the point that we actually had to trim it down while we were developing with Dreamscape, the producing theater,” Thompson said. “There were a lot of different ideas that we got into — some of them political, some of them personal, emotional, but maybe veering off of the central theme. So we decided to focus this time largely on the effect that this half-scavenger, half-predator creature has in the realm of depression and not into those other ways we could have gone.”
Thompson described his first draft as “silly,” emanating from his idea of what might happen if a dinosaur hatched in a living room. Eventually the metaphor of the dinosaur as depression started to take shape and inspired the playwright to keep writing.
“By the time we actually got to a rehearsal draft, it had already changed significantly from the initial draft, and then in the course of rehearsal, while the themes have stayed there, and the larger shape of the show has stayed in place, I would say the script itself is probably a good 40 to 50 percent different than what we started rehearsal with,” he said. “The cast and Brad, the director, have been remarkably collaborative, and it’s been a really nice atmosphere to sort of grow that.”
The rehearsal process for the 59E59 staging was unexpected and mutually beneficial.
“I really didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “I’ve known Brad and the cast for the past two years prior to getting into this process, so I knew we were friends. But I didn’t really know what the professional relationship was going to be. … Was I going to be just handing it off and walking away, or were we going to really dig in together? It has been very collaborative. The cast is fabulous. All three actors are tremendous. They’re doing a really great job. They’re telling a better story than I knew I had written. They’ve upped the quality of the show I think, and Brad has been a terrific leader. … The concept is mine. I wrote the original script, but I think what people are going to see on stage is the result of a lot of people’s effort. It’s been a really supportive and warm, fun atmosphere.”
Thompson said audience members can enjoy the show on two fronts. For one, there is the metaphor of the dinosaur and the pervasiveness of low-level depression in society.
“I also would like for people to see the show, and if they really don’t care for the metaphor to still have a great time and see a comedy that’s a little bit different,” Thompson said, “see a comedy with monsters and dinosaur attacks.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Pete Rex continues through March 3 at 59E59 Theaters in Midtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
