INTERVIEW: Novices and grandmasters are welcome to chess-inspired ‘After Endgame’
Photo: After Endgame, written by and starring Kevin James Doyle, is now playing at the SoHo Playhouse. Photo courtesy of Josh Goleman / Provided by DARR Publicity with permission.
Kevin James Doyle is currently marrying his two favorite pursuits — chess and comedy — into one unforgettable evening of theater called After Endgame, playing through March 8 at the SoHo Playhouse’s Huron Room in Manhattan. The show finds Doyle on stage offering both chess lessons and life lessons, according to press notes, and he welcomes one and all to dive deep into the strategic world of kings, queens, bishops, rooks, knights and pawns.
Doyle was one of the creative forces behind the successful show How to Be a New Yorker, which ran for more than 300 performances. His other plays include The 30 Year Old Virgin and Diary of a Bald Kid. He’s also familiar with SoHo Playhouse, having brought his third solo show, Fool Proof, to the theater.
For After Endgame, Doyle is assisted by director Cory Cavin. Together they have dreamed up an immersive space where after experiencing the 65-minute play audience members can enter the SoHo Chess Lounge for some drinks and chess games. To learn more about the show, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Doyle. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
Is the story of After Endgame based on real life, or is it a story of fiction?
It is all true. I have been teaching chess in New York City for 12 years, and in March of 2023 I was flown to Singapore to teach some of the richest people in the world. It’s a story I can’t believe I lived through but it all happened.
When did you first fall in love with chess?
I have been playing chess since I was 5, but those first few years of teaching in New York City was when I fell in love with the game. That was also when I learned strategy and technique to understand why I was losing, and my game improved significantly. Me and a bunch of my friends were spending all day teaching, and then we would meet up and play and share our wisdom with one another. It was a magical time.
Can the lessons of chess be applied to real life?
Yes. The only problem is that there are about 10,000 lessons you can learn in a chess game. Life, as in chess, is too complex too for a simple lesson. That is why I think the most important lesson you can take from the game of chess is how precarious and fragile your power position is. You must never take for granted that you are the one who is two steps ahead and you have the power to execute your plan perfectly. Being adaptable is a great lesson and clarity of the situation you are in and humility in your execution.
Do you feel that chess is misunderstood by those who don’t know the game?
I think the biggest misunderstanding is that chess is too complex. It is like music. Yes, Tchaikovsky is complex, but you can still learn a lot from a beginner piano lesson. Start with “Hot Cross Buns.” The joy of chess is finding someone at a comparable level to you and playing across the board to the best of your abilities. And at the end of the game looking over the game to understand the mistakes you made and the strategies you applied that worked. You don’t need to be a grandmaster to do that.
What’s the SoHo Chess Lounge going to be like?
The audience will be seeing a show about chess surrounded by chess history. Positions of the greatest chess games will be on the tables, on the walls the most important characters and events in chess history. My story is just one of the thousands of stories throughout the thousand-plus year history of chess, and I will tell it surrounded by those other stories. And at the conclusion of the show the audience can continue or begin their own relationship to the world’s greatest game, by exploring the museum or sitting down for a match.
Do you play a game of chess every day of your life?
There has not been a single day in the past decade that I have not thought about chess at least once. And since March of 2020, I would say that has increased tenfold — teaching, playing online, and then in the development and performance of this show. The reason that it has, as a game, maintained relevance over the centuries is that it truly doesn’t get old. It is like a vast ocean to explore deeper, and deeper and just when you think you’ve hit bottom, it goes deeper.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
After Endgame, written by and starring Kevin James Doyle, continues through March 8 at the SoHo Playhouse’s Huron Room in Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
