INTERVIEW: ‘Morrie’ is back, and ready to talk on Tuesdays
Photo: Tuesdays With Morrie stars, from left, Len Cariou and Chris Domig. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Varner / Provided by DARR Publicity with permission.
Tuesdays With Morrie was a publishing phenomenon when it first appeared in print from author Mitch Albom. The book, which is slim and could almost be read in one sitting, tells the story of Mitch and how he reconnects with a sociology professor named Morrie, who is battling Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Mitch decides to turn the reunion into a weekly visit. On Tuesdays, the two meet and discuss life, death and everything in between.
Along with Jeffrey Hatcher, Albom adapted his book for the stage, and Sea Dog Theater has decided to mount a new production of the show this month at St. George’s Episcopal Church in New York City. The incomparable Len Cariou (the original Sweeney Todd) plays Morrie, and Chris Domig, the artistic director of Sea Dog Theater, portrays Mitch.
“I knew the play and the book,” Domig said in a recent phone interview. “I had read it before years ago, but I picked up the play again during the pandemic. And I think the reason I did at the time was, of course, I was coming to terms with the way that the pandemic was affecting the elderly in terms of sickness and dying. I was thinking about stories that had elderly folks in the center of the story, and Tuesdays With Morrie came to mind. That’s why I did it, and then, of course, I was just taken by the universal themes of it and the importance of friendship and mentorship and reframing one’s life’s goals the way that Mitch and Morrie are in that constant dialogue.”
The core team for this production is small but talented. In addition to Cariou and Domig, there’s director Erwin Maas. Domig said that the three built a “relationship foundation” that allowed them to work well with one another during rehearsals. Tuesdays With Morrie is actually Cariou’s third Sea Dog show.
“When we first launched our company seven years ago, the second play that we did was Awake and Sing! by Clifford Odets, and I needed someone for Jacob,” Domig remembers. “I wanted to ask Len, and then I happened to have a friend, Erwin, who referred me to Len. And I sat down with Len for lunch, and he didn’t know me from Adam. I wasn’t someone that had any sort of industry importance. I was just a young man with a dream to start a company, and it was only a reading I was doing. He treated me to lunch, and we spoke about theater. And he came and did that reading with us, and that was the beginning of a friendship with Len and his wife, Heather. Then we did another play, Inherit the Wind, a few years back.”
When the pandemic hit, Domig wasn’t sure if Sea Dog would continue as a theater company. Tuesdays With Morrie changed that outlook, and the artistic director saw a path forward.
“I knew I wanted Erwin to direct because, you know, who doesn’t want to be in the room with their friends and create something special,” Domig said. “We got such great feedback from people and encouragement to pursue a production that we started toying with the idea, and given the fact that we’re a fairly small company and wanted to do this in-house, we wanted to produce it ourselves. It just took some time to get it on its feet. That’s sort of the relational background to how this particular project came to be and also how Len came to be involved in it.”
The reality for small theater companies like Sea Dog is that dramatic pieces like Tuesdays With Morrie are attractive because they are logistically and financially doable. This is a two-hander with a limited set, and that’s music to Domig’s ears.
“Unfortunately, that’s just the reality not just for small companies, even mid-size theater companies,” he said. “Sea Dog Theater is in permanent residency at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan, and this is an old church with incredible facilities. But these aren’t theater spaces. I know there are churches that have revamped certain spaces to really make it [work]. Like Saint Clement’s in the Broadway area is an example that is an Episcopal church that has actually made a theater out of their main space, but this is very much still an active parish that loves the arts and has allowed us to be in residency here. So when we do our readings, that’s a fairly easy setup. We have a beautiful space to do that, and we do a hospitality aspect and have some food and wine and have conversations around the plays. That’s the heartbeat of our company, but when we go into larger spaces like we are now, where we’re doing it in a beautiful chapel, you’re basically setting up your own theater space.”
Setting up one’s own theater space means Domig and company bring in risers, chairs, lights and sound equipment. That’s the disadvantage, but the great advantage is that the play has a beautiful backdrop of an actual chapel. Domig believes that this setting adds a lot to the production.
“The two-person cast helps tremendously with cost, but also the fact that this is a memory play and it doesn’t require a lot of set,” he said. “That is a bigger challenge for us then even bringing in lights and sound. We are working out of spaces that are multi-use spaces, so there are other groups that need access to them. And so the biggest obstacle for us has been to do productions that have an intricate set that’ll take up the space. Lights and the sound and even chairs, you can set that up, and you still retain the efficacy of the multi-space use. So that’s another limitation that we’ve had to work out, but again the advantage is that we get to use and have an artistic home in the heart of Manhattan with a really generous community. Sometimes limitations bring about really exciting aesthetic choices … and I do think that we have found ourselves in such a scenario right now. This production is stripped down to a 9-foot Steinway piano that we have, a wheelchair and a walker, and then of course lights and sound. … This whole production is really focused on this relationship between Morrie and Mitch.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Tuesdays With Morrie, produced by Sea Dog Theater, stars Len Cariou and Chris Domig. Performances continue through Saturday, March 23, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
