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Go Inside the Rehearsal Room with Nina Arianda, Sam Rockwell & the Company of FOOL FOR LOVE
May 17, 2024
Manhattan Theatre Club's upcoming Broadway premiere of Fool for Love by Pulitzer Prize winnerSam Shepard, directed by Obie Award winner Daniel Aukin, will star Nina Arianda, Sam Rockwell,Tom Pelphrey and Gordon Joseph Weiss. The limited engagement of Fool for Love begins previews Tuesday, September 15 and opens Thursday, October 8 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). BroadwayWorld brings you a look inside the rehearsal room below!
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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Manhattan Theater Club kicks off their new season with an electrifying new production of Sam Shepard's Fool for Love
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Under the direction of Daniel Aalkin, it will begin previews on September 15th at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater
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And we dropped by the rehearsal room to chat with the company, led by Tony Award winner Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell
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Enjoy. Well, congratulations. Welcome back to Broadway. Thanks, man. Working on a play. How does it feel
0:27
It's exciting. It's daunting, it's challenging, but it's a great play. It's a great play
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How well did you know this play before you started? I knew it really well, actually
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I worked on it in class with a teacher named Maggie Flanagan, and I, and Nina knew it very well
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So we were kind of ready, in a way, when we heard about the opportunity
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But the lasso was a bit of a challenge. You had to learn the last show and stuff
0:59
But, yeah, we jumped in. Because you guys did jump in. You had, like, such a short window of getting together and doing this
1:06
and the electricity in that production up there. I mean, talk about working with Nina
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what that whole experience was like in Williamstown and now working in the rehearsal room again
1:15
Well, she's amazing. I mean, she brings it. She's fully committed person and an actress
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I mean, she's full throttle. Yeah, she's amazing. In what you love about this role
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He writes the best characters, the best roles What you love about him
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I love I love No, just there's a lot of emotional depth
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With these guys, you know And they're funny It's a lot of emotional depths Yeah
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You know, I was talking to Daniel And Daniel said very early on The rehearsal process up there
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He said you started running the show Because you have to stop talking about it for a while
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And just get it up and start doing it, right? That's right, that's right, yeah That's right. And it works. The show really works. It's relentless, though. It's really, it takes a lot of energy
2:04
Oh, I can imagine. Yeah. And working with your director, Daniel, tell me what that whole process has been like and why you, he's one of the finest directors
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He's amazing. He really lets us go and he's very clever. He thinks outside the box. I mean, he's just great. I love Daniel
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Yeah. He knows about when, you know, not expend too much of our energy. He's very smart about that
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It must be great to sort of revisit this because you sort of knew what you did, but it's sort of like polishing the diamond this time around
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Yeah, we get to fix a few things that weren't working and deep in stuff. It's good
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You always come back to the stage. We lose you for a while, for films and everything else
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What do you love the most about the process of working on stage as you don't get in film and TV
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I think it's mainly it's a real workout in a way that you can't get on film
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It's a real gym workout. And a lot of times you don't get the kind of text in film
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With the exception of maybe like Frost Nixon or a Martin McDonough movie or something
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but you don't get that kind of text. Yeah. What are you looking forward to the most with being back in New York on Broadway with this play with this company
3:08
I would say just that you're looking for that charge, you know, that electricity
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How does it feel working on this? It's terribly exciting. It's really, really very exciting
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I think it's a very important moment in theater in New York to be able to do
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do this show on Broadway. Yeah. I went up to Williamstown to see you
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give this electrifying performance in this brilliant production. Did you know the show well before you started
3:35
I did. Surprisingly, this was on my, if one can have a bucket list
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at this point in my life. Yeah, so this was on my bucket list since I was a wee one. Yeah
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Do you remember the first time you read it? Yeah? Yeah, I was 12, which isn't really reading material
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for a 12-year-old. But that's how it goes. and I was justause by
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honestly the relationship and as I kept reading it throughout the years it the the unconditional kind of love that this play has is it just it breathtaking Yeah And what you love about this woman you getting to play here in New York what you love about her
4:14
I love, I love her, and I never thought I'd say this, but I love her vulnerability, and I love her
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the fight that she has. Because you really get to explore that in a different way every night, and you kind of are able to take in
4:30
your partner in a different way every night. Was she easy to unlock for you as an actress
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I don't know if I've unlocked anything, so I'm hoping that that's just a process
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Yeah, so I don't know. Unlock is a very kind of firm way of knowing something
4:46
and I don't know anything, so I don't know anything. No, I love that because I talked to Daniel
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I said, you had all done this in Williamstown, now you're back rehearsing this in New York. You've added Tom into the mix
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and it's like starting from scratch all over again, isn't it? It is. Well, in a way, yeah, it is
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I mean, you always have the words there, you know. But it's very, it's such a privilege to be able to kind of revisit something and have Tom here
5:11
and have the different space and the different everything and kind of see what worked and what you want to keep
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And then what's fresh about it and what's different and let things inform you in a way
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Well, let's talk about working with Sam Rockwell. I mean, when you first did this play, you had very, very little rehearsal time
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Yes. And you were electric on stage. together. I mean, you were like so connected. I mean, tell me what it's like working with him
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What it was like working with him in Williamstown, now working again here in New York. It's fantastic
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I mean, the man couldn't be more supportive and present and loving
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And in a play like this, I think kindness is so important to bring into the room
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and challenge. And he does both. He comes all, he always, he always approaches me with unbelievable kindness
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and challenges me at every turn. And I hope, I hope I, I hope I do the same for him
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Being back here at MTC, what it means to you? It's lovely
6:05
It's the people that work here and the way they approach actors and the way they approach the work
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It's very supportive and it's very heartwarming that this exists. Yeah. And what are you looking forward to the most
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You're back in New York, back on Broadway again, with this incredible play. What are you looking forward to the most
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with bringing this to a New York audience? I think... I don't know how to explain it other than it's..
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an unbelievable honor to be able to share this story. I don't know what, and that means a lot of
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different things, but the community involved is what is, that's my, that's my love. Well, first of
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welcome back to the New York stage. Tell me what this has been like working on this show so
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far. Well, it's been a, it's been a great experience working with, you know, Sam and Nina and
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Gordon. They've obviously done the show together before. The chemistry is pretty amazing and
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I think the show is going to be really good, just, you know, based on what I'm seeing and
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feeling in the room, so. Did you know the play well before you started this
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No, I mean, I've seen scenes from it. I think, you know, every actor knows Sam Shepard plays from scene studies as you're coming
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up, but, you know, reading the play and certainly working on it now, you know, appreciate it
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more and more, the more we work on it. This is such a landmark play
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What can you tell us about the role that you've been? left? Well, Martin is, Martin's showing up to take May out on a date. And I think it's safe to say that he
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has no idea what world he's about to walk into and probably also safe to say that Martin might not
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exactly be up for it. You know, he's not exactly, he's not exactly cut from the same cloth
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as, you know, Eddie and May. So, yeah. And just working in the rehearsal room so far
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about working with your director, what that whole process has been like? Yeah, well, Daniel's been great. You know, obviously he directed the show before
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and I think he knows what works but he also very open to seeing what we can discover this time You know he made that clear from the start He like we won pretend that we never done it before But at the same time he said you know I want to see what else we can discover
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and what we can bring to life here and, you know, make this almost a new thing
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Which is great for me being the new guy to hear that and certainly feel that he's encouraging me to, you know, explore it my way
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And it's just been a great process. Daniels very much gives the actors a lot of freedom
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And so the rehearsal room feels very alive and it's entertaining. You know, and it's great
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It's been, you know, great so far a week and a half end, it's great to be a part of. What makes Sam Shepard such a beloved playwright
8:53
I mean, when you listen to the words, I mean, what is it? Yeah. Well, I think Sam Shepard, you know, obviously he's a beautiful writer
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His dialogue's fantastic, but also it's always very very. heightened circumstances. Any actor would love to
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get to do a Sam Shepard play because you really get to go within
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yourself and see how deep you can go to bring the play to life. And like all of his
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plays, this play holds a lot. The more you can bring to it, the more it will hold
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And, you know, maybe that's not always the case with other playwrights. And it also
9:27
holds a lot of different interpretations. You can go as deep as you want and you can you know, in some ways go as crazy
9:33
as you want, which is why when I heard that Sam Rockwell was doing this part, I was
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excited just as a fan of theater. I was like, that's going to be good
9:42
What are you looking forward to the most with being back on the New York stage and bringing this show
9:46
to Manhattan Theater Club? Well, it'll be great to be back, you know, on the stage
9:52
but really just my castmates. I love them. It's been a great time
9:56
I'm very impressed with all of them. And I'm grateful for how welcome
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they've made me feel and part of the team and they're doing fantastic work in that rehearsal room
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so it's going to be good. How excited are you to be bringing this to New York
10:12
Oh, my God. It's like, I just won the lottery. You know what I mean
10:16
It's like doing this about almost a year ago to the day in Williamstown
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with everybody the same, with the exception of one new guy, Tom Pelfrey
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who's just terrific in the role. It's, you know, as an actor, you dream that this will happen sometime
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You know, that, oh, I get to go to Broadway. And you're in something that looks like maybe it should or maybe it could
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But then to have it actualized, you go, okay, all right, there is a God
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There is a real God. You know? So, you know, this piece is certainly, I'm such a Sam Chepard fan anyway, but to actually be in it
11:00
And then to be on Broadway with it is like, okay. All right, this is..
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And the play itself, to me, I just love this play. I love Sam Shepard's writing
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but what we did with it last year and what we're doing with it now
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being it, every syllable is the same, nothing's changed there, but there is so much depth and texture in it
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that we feel like we're kind of panning for gold now. Do you know, you're out there
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waist high in some crazy river, You know, that's a torrent of current with, but there's gold and, you know, then
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So you feel like it doesn't end. You know, you don't get to a place where you go, oh, this is a defining way to play that moment
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And that's a testimony to the writing, the quality of the writing. When writing is that good
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And you've got a stunning director like Daniel Alkin and Sam Rockwell, Nina Aeron, and Tom
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Paul free got your back you know that it makes it like levitating It really is It no exaggeration You feel like okay we in a different world that real And yet the audience never is ahead of it We oftentimes don know oh my goodness there a pause that feels like it just went seven seconds too long and yet it should still go
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It should still. And it holds it. That to me is so exciting. I can't even find the words to describe
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the levity of it. I mean, you know, I mean, because there's humor in it, there's humor in it
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that you go, we've got to laugh. It's too terrifying to just sit in the terror. Well, like I was
12:52
just telling you, I had the wonderful opportunity of coming to see this production up in Williamstown
12:57
Tell me what you love about this play and why you wanted to direct it. I read this play years
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ago, I think, as a teenager initially, and it wasn't that I read it and I completely understood
13:07
it, but I read it and was just blown away by it. I've just felt like something really dynamic
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and Elemental was getting worked out about intimate relationships, I guess, and as soon as an opportunity to present itself to actually get to work on it, I just leapt at it
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And working with this cast! No, I feel very, very lucky. A lot of the time, I just get to sit back and let them
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and the things they find on their own, there is so much of that with actors of this caliber
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and it's just really thrilling. You know, it was such a beautiful production up in Williamstown
13:44
Of course, you've added Tom into the mix, so I absolutely adore. Yes. What is the new process
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Do you look at through fresh eyes now? I mean, how do you start again when you're putting this together for New York
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Well, when we're starting again, initially, we just remind ourselves of what we did last time
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because some of that stuff is very hard one. But, you know, just trying to stay present with what's happening in the room
14:06
And if something new is happening, then we follow that. So it's just trying to, you know
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It's a living, breathing thing, theater, and you can't pin it to the ground and expect it to stay alive
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So we just tried to stay alive with it. Talk about the chemistry between Nina and Sam, because when they first got together up there
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they had like really a short amount of rehearsal time. They were so brilliant in that
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Why do you think they work so well together? Well, both, you know, Nina and Sam are extraordinary actors
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but there's something about the chemistry and their intimacy and the way they worked together
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both in the rehearsal and on stage, which I just feel really blessed and really lucky to have
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and this play is very lucky to have them doing it. What unlocked the play for you
14:51
Like you said, you read it early on. I was the same way. Sam's shows are so, when you read them, it's like, what's happening here
14:57
You know, what unlocked it for you? I think it's just moment to moment, just trying to understand it moment to moment
15:04
Because it's real time, every moment builds on the last in some way
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one thing that we did notice pretty early on when we worked on it the first time was that
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in a way that's unusual at least for me we were starting to do runs of the show in the
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rehearsal room quite early because it became hard to talk about at a certain point it became
15:23
hard to talk about individual moments everything was so connected so we would do um so that
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that's some aspect of working on the show that's particular to this text i think
15:31
why do you think sam shepherd is such a beloved playwright uh i just think he's uh one of the most uh
15:38
I think he's a true explorer. He dives into the unknown in himself and in his characters in a truly fearless way
15:53
And over and over again, wonderful actors just respond to that and want to be in conversation with that material
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What's given you the greatest artistic satisfaction with working on this play with this company
16:08
Just to try and... I just feel very lucky to have been able to make something very special with this group of people
16:19
that I feel honours one of the great plays written in the last hundred years
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