Video: Meet the Cast of DAKAR 2000

It's within the lens of a spy thriller, but it's also a love story

and it's also an examination of our world 25 years after the millennium

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. Up next to Manhattan Theatre Club's New York City Center Stage 1 is Dakar 2000

the new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist, Rejeev Joseph, and we dropped by the rehearsal room to meet the company

So I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal and West Africa from 97

to 2000, and it was a really important time for me. And I never thought I would write about that as a playwright

But then a few years ago, I started thinking about the specific, you know, kind of adventure

I had right around the turn of the millennium. And I started thinking, maybe this would make a good show

Okay, so let's get into the play without giving anything away. What can you tell us about the play

The play is about a clueless Peace Corps volunteer at the turn of the millennium

who kind of get sucked into the world of global espionage without even not

knowing it. And so that's sort of where we are with it. It's within the lens of a spy thriller

but it also a love story and it also an examination of our world 25 years after the millennium This is a dream for me I love Rajeev work Hugely inspirational to me And working on a new play is what I love most

I love the thrill. I love the uncertainty. And I don't know, the rollercoaster ride ahead

Talk about who you're about to play and what you love about her already. So her name is Dina Stevens

She's a State Department high-level, state department employee. and she is also, I don't want to give too much away because it's a bit of a spy thriller

but she is involved in some more covert anti-terrorism operations. And it's a rare, rich part for a woman of my age

It's just an unbelievably complex. You know, she's very capable and she's also breaking down

She's very funny and she's also extremely powerful. She's experienced a great loss and is trying to hold herself together

She's multi-dimensional in the best way. So I'm just praying I can bring her forward

I play boobs. I made the mistake in an interview earlier going I love boobs I made the same mistake earlier which will haunt me What do I love by this character I like that he puts everything out there and that he you know he like kind of marches to the beat of his own drum which is hilarious to me

We were blessed because the actors have been developing it with us since May

And so when MTC announced it, they were already part so involved in just the DNA of this play

continuing that collaboration, deepening those relationships is such a gift in the theater of time

and, you know, depth of relationship that you don't often get. I'm very, I love this play

I love this play. And I mean, I love this play. I was sitting in rehearsal yesterday

And, you know, I think I just, like, accidentally, like, choked on soda water in the middle of one of the scenes

And I had, like, a moment where I got emotional. Like, I started, like, tearing up in the inside just because I was like, wow, how beautiful it is to work on something that, you know, you love so much

and with people that you've looked up to it for the longest time. What is it like when you're working on a new play? Tell me

Joy, chaos. I mean, well, all processes are different, but in this particular process

the play is very much in development bursting with life and it thrilling to be part of that because Rajiv is bringing in new scenes new drafts and he allowing us the actors to be a part of that And that is a rare

joy to kind of, like, lend your heart and your eye to that process. And then Rajiv is an insanely

great writer and an insanely quick and deep rewriter. So then he'll come in the next day with a whole

new section that is even deeper and better than we thought. So, you know, it's exciting to have it

evolve. I love it. I just talk about the excitement of doing a new play, because things change every day

What that means to as a playwright, how organic it all is. Well, it's my favorite thing, actually

about the rehearsal process is the sort of elasticity of the storytelling and how things get cut away

and things are added through the discussion I have with the actors and with May. And, you know

it can be really scary and frustrating and nerve-wracking, but it can also be really thrilling

And, you know, I'm excited by the changes we're making. Right now, like the play is in pieces

You know, it's not even actually, I don't even have a draft. Like, it's like this scene over here and that scene over there

And so it's exciting and it can be kind of, you know, terrifying at the same time. Yeah