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Video: In Rehearsals for WE HAD A WORLD with Andrew Barth Feldman, Joanna Gleason and Jeanine Serralles
Feb 9, 2025
Rehearsals are officially underway for the world premiere production of Joshua Harmon's We Had A World at Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by Trip Cullman. Watch in this video as Andrew Barth Feldman, Joanna Gleason and Jeanine Serralles to chat about what the new play is all about.
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It's three of us playing this family drama, this memory piece, and the part is irresistible
0:05
It was irresistible to me, so I just, I said to Chris, I said, I'm going, you walk the dog, you know
0:11
I'm coming to do a play. I'm going to do a play. Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
0:19
Up next to Manhattan Theater Club is Joshua Harmon's new play We Had a World
0:23
It's directed by Tripp Coleman and it stars Joanna Gleason, Andrew Barth Feldman, and Janine Sorales
0:30
caught up with all of them during a break in rehearsal. It feels a little bit like a homecoming
0:34
Two of my favorite productions I've ever done were done here, like 12 years ago
0:41
in the same context of reopening stage two after a period of dormancy
0:45
And those were choir boy and murder ballad. So it feels like incredibly beautiful to be back here, reopening stage two
0:54
and especially with a writer who I absolutely love, respect and in mind
0:59
as much as Josh Harmon. It's been 12 years. I think Sons of the Prophet may have been the last play I did
1:06
And since that time I written and directed a feature film and a short and I been directing opera and just doing And I didn know if I had those muscles still in me you know to do eight shows a week and do that kind of stuff
1:23
So I read a lot of plays, a lot of things were sent to me, and nothing really rang my bill until this play
1:29
And I said, it's Josh Harmon. The writing is great. It's Tripp Coleman. I love his work
1:34
And it's three of us. It's three of us playing this family drama, this memory piece
1:39
and the part is irresistible. It was irresistible to me. So I just, I said to Chris, I said
1:45
I'm going, you walk the dog, you know. I'm coming to do a play
1:49
I'm going to do a play. I am playing Joshua, the sort of, yeah
1:56
representative of Joshua Harmon, not quite exactly him, but sort of him
2:04
And I adore him. I adore his inquisitive and his way of doing them through his artistry
2:12
This play is really the asking of a question, of in a family, how can things be so wonderful sometimes
2:18
so awful the rest of the time, and then it's over. Like things just we just sort of lose people we lose places How do we wrestle with that This play is the wrestling with that And that through what Josh was written as my character
2:37
I get to do the asking and the wrestling of the audience, of the two of them, of myself
2:43
That's an incredibly fulfilling gift. The last time I was on stage was 2019
2:48
So it was before the pandemic. And I know we're reopening stage two here
2:52
So it does feel pretty special to be here. my first play being back
2:57
the theater's first show. So it's, I'm a little overwhelmed sometimes because I, I've missed the theater
3:02
I've missed it. I mean, it is a dream cast for sure. Just like, you know
3:09
ranging from someone like Janine Zarales, whose work is, off Broadway has been like unbelievably
3:14
brilliant and who I went to drama school with. We were in the same year
3:18
and she was my muse at drama school. I cast her in all the leads and all the plays
3:22
that I directed. And my nickname for her her is Janineas, because I think she's an actual genius
3:28
And then Andrew Barth Feldman, I met through Helen J. Shen, who's the star of maybe happy ending, and because I did The Lonely Few with
3:39
with Helen. And I just like was so sort of taken with his energy and his kindness and commitment to supporting Helen through the lonely few and just immediately thought of him for the role of Joshua
3:56
And then I don't know what to say about Joanna Gleason other than truly like when I was a little
4:01
kid dreaming of like being a director in the theater, she was definitely on my bucket list
4:06
of like I would die a happy man if I would able to direct her one day. And so now here I am
4:10
So dream fulfilled. It's a three-carriage of play, two other incredible actors
4:15
what it's been like being back in the rehearsal room, creating this play with them and your director
4:19
and having the playwright in the room. Yeah, there's nothing like it. There's nothing like it. Janine Serrales and Andrew Barth Feldman and I immediately trust each other
4:30
adore each other, and Tripp and Josh, and everybody's in the room, and there's an ease
4:35
You know, you don't feel this on a movie set ever, and you don't feel it in television, which is rushed
4:39
and you don't make these bonds. And you're not in the trenches the way you are without a net eight times a week
4:47
And so right away there's this way of being together that's just easy
4:53
And the work is going well and nobody is throwing up, you know, emotional or psychological blood because we're all here because we all love it
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