INTERVIEW: Penguin Rep transfers bullying play to 59E59
Photo: From left, Michael Frederic, Mia Matthews, Bill Phillips, Denise Cormier and Jolie Curtsinger star in After at 59E59 Theaters. Photo courtesy of John Quilty Photography / Provided by Karen Greco PR with permission.
Michael McKeever’s play Daniel’s Husband became a recent hit off-Broadway, and the playwright is back with another topical show that touches upon issues impacting society in 2019. This time he has written After, a play about an incident of bullying that leads to horrifying, violent consequences.
The show plays through April 14 at 59E59 Theaters in Midtown Manhattan, but it had its origins at the Penguin Rep Theatre Company in Stony Point, New York, approximately one hour north of the Big Apple.
Joe Brancato, who directs the production, also serves as artistic director of Penguin Rep, and he has been impressed with McKeever’s stories for some time.
“We originate plays there,” Brancato said of Penguin Rep. “We’ve done a number of new plays. In fact, we commissioned back in 1990 the original The Man Who Was Peter Pan, which was the basis also for the film Finding Neverland and then the musical beyond. We’ve done a lot of new works, and about I’d say three seasons ago one of my subscribers had sent me a little brochure about a play she saw in a reading in Florida I believe. I took a look, and it was called Daniel’s Husband.”
The title intrigued Brancato, and he requested a copy of the text. He was moved by the words on the page, believing the narrative spoke to everyone in the audience.
“Michael and I worked on that piece, presented it at Penguin first, and then that play was moved down to the Cherry Lane Theatre at the Primary Stages and ultimately recently at the Westside Arts Theatre,” he said. “So it played a beautiful run, and Michael and I, as a result of that, developed a good working relationship. So he submitted me this play that he tried down at his theater down in Florida.”
The director was similarly moved by After, which focuses on the parents of children involved in a violent bullying incident. It also dives into gun culture and the underlying reasons violence occurs in society.
“So he has this uncanny ability that I’m attracted to of finding subjects that somehow audiences are concerned with,” Brancato staid. “For instance, in Daniel’s Husband, it is about a gay couple and their decision to postpone the legalities of marriage and commitment on paper and suffer the consequences of that decision. Well, audience members across the board — gay, straight — they reacted to that and connected to that. It’s the same here with this story. He talks about parents and our responsibility to children and who is responsible for ultimately these actions, and so he hits these curious, very touching subjects that I think we’re all concerned with.”
After mounting After at Penguin Rep, Brancato and company thought the play deserved a longer life, so they reached out to 59E59. The off-Broadway institution was happy to present the play, and now McKeever’s words have made their way to New York City again.
The transfer to 59E59 also speaks to Penguin Rep’s increasing confidence in having their material stand the scrutiny of a New York City audience (and New York City critics).
“Ultimately it’s my responsibility I feel in listening to the play and seeing if people can relate to a piece so hopefully that audience accessibility or that audience appreciation quotient is in the room at all times,” he said. “So whether or not we’re doing it in this gorgeous pastoral barn in Stony Point 50 minutes north of Manhattan, or we’re doing it in Midtown or Downtown, Lower East, people who love theater love good stories and hopefully are moved by characters and well-acted characters.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
After, written by Michael McKeever and directed by Joe Brancato, plays through April 14 at 59E59 Theaters in Midtown Manhattan. Penguin Rep Theatre and InProximity Theatre Company are producing the show. Click here for more information and tickets.
