BTL chats with Jeff Daniels

Actor discusses "Escanaba" at The Purple Rose Theatre

By Donald V. Calamia

Originally printed (Issue 1738 - Between The Lines News)

Now onstage at The Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea is the third in Jeff Daniels' trilogy about the Soady family in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which began in 1995 with "Escanaba in da Moonlight" and concludes - maybe - with "Escanaba." Playwright and Tony Award-nominated actor Daniels, who is currently appearing on Broadway in "God of Carnage," spoke recently to Between The Lines about his popular series of Michigan-based comedies.

Back in 1995 when "Escanaba in da Moonlight" premiered at The Purple Rose, did you ever imagine that 14 years later, you'd be completing the third in a trilogy of plays about the Soady family?

No. "EIDM" was written to stand alone. More specifically, to bring people into the theater, any theater, who had never been before. People who'd never seen a play, perhaps, or hadn't in years. We used "EIDM" to build our audience. It worked far beyond any expectations we might have add. We just needed a play to fill the fall slot.

I can remember sitting in a rented house near Toronto, working on "EIDM" during "Fly Away Home." Having written the three plays now, I sometimes imagine the playwright I am now walking in on myself 14 years ago and saying, "Y'know this play you're writing? It starts in 1922 when Alphonse tries to hang a door in a brand new deer camp."

{BOLD What is it about these characters that have given them life long beyond that initial installment?

I think they're simultaneously larger than life and recognizable. We know them. Or know people like them. Or have heard about people like them. Or we imagine this is what they're like and, being mostly Michigan natives, maybe they're a lot like us.}

I am a student of Jim Harrison and Robert Traver, also known as John Voelker. Traver wrote a book called "Danny and the Boys," published in 1951, about some lumberjacks and loggers in the Upper Peninsula. While outrageous at times, Traver always kept them true. Authentic. I believed they existed. I've tried to do the same thing with the "Escanaba Trilogy."

Did you have a "back story" figured out for these characters when you wrote the first play?

Not much. Certainly, nothing that lead all the way back to 1944 and "Escanaba in Love."

As far as the present play, "Escanaba," I knew I was going to write a third play before I began work on the second one ("EIL"). Didn't know much, but I did know that this play would be about the year Alphonse built the camp and the Great Soady Ridge Buck. I found the story later.

How closely have you followed that road map for these subsequent "prequels"?

"EIDM" and "EIL" gave "Escanaba" end points. I knew I had to write this play in a way that logically led to the next two. That was the challenge of it and also the fun. I took elements of both plays and made sure that whatever "Escanaba" became, it was a true beginning. The origin of everything that came after.

"Escanaba in Love" takes place 40 years prior to "Moonlight" and introduces the audience to the previously unseen Big Betty Baloo. When does "Escanaba" take place? And who - or what - is the focus of THIS show?

"Escanaba" takes place in 1922. Alphonse Soady is literally hanging the door. Tools are all over the place, sawdust in the air, the Soady Deer Camp is about to become a reality.

The play deals with home, what is home, does everyone has a home somewhere, what it means to have or to not have a place to be; what I think are universal questions for all of us. While the play deals with its place as the beginning of the trilogy, it also explores those questions.

Besides yourself and director Guy Sanville, the one constant among the three plays is actor Wayne David Parker. A lot of top notch actors have appeared in the "Escanaba" trilogy, but Parker's Jimmer Negamanee seems to be the most memorable character to come out of the series. Did that in any way influence your decision to include the character in all three plays? And how important is it to have Parker back in this third chapter?

The Negamanee Family Tree is as important to the trilogy as the Soady's. I found that out writing this play. One of the actors in "EIL" said to me, "Why do the Soadys allow Salty Jim Negamanee (and in "EIDM", Jimmer) in their camp?" And they do. They treat them like royalty (Jimmer) or tolerate them (Salty Jim in "EIL"). I answer that question in "Escanaba" when Alphonse Soady meets James Negamanee, the first meeting between members of the two families.

Having Daba (Parker) play all three roles is a wonderful opportunity for an actor. To play direct descendants that span 70 years is rare. As a playwright, to know you're tailoring the part, again and again and again, for the same actor allows you to write even more specifically to his rhythms, his strengths, and to trust that he can do everything you put on the page.

You've written several successful plays since "Moonlight." While some authors say they never like to revisit stories, plot or characters, this is your third time with the Soady family. How easy is it to revisit these characters?

I went back to the "Escanaba" stories partly out of the desire the audience seemed to have for the first one. They liked "EIDM." Couldn't get enough of it. Wanted to know when we were bringing it back. We revived it once, the BoarsHead did it twice, we ran it at the Gem Theatre for 16 months, and then made a film out of it. And yet, they still wanted to know when we were going to do it again.

Instead of milking that creative cow any more, I gave in and planned a trilogy. Hollywood has given a bad name to sequels and prequels; we don't look at it like that. If by returning to those story elements and writing a second and third play you find there is more to be found, why not write it? So I did. And then did again.

Has your growth as a playwright - which has been noted by the American Theatre Critics Association over the years - helped you dig deeper into these characters than you otherwise might have?

If you truly work at it, the more you do anything the better you'll get. "Escanaba" is my 13th play for the PRTC. I'm simply a better playwright than I was when I wrote "EIDM."

I see that mostly in what I cut before anyone else sees it, including Guy. Things were left in that came to light into disastrously random uneven readings of early "EIDM" drafts. Now, Guy & Co. don't see a new script from me until the third Draft. It's my rule. I don't torture anyone other than myself and I don't like torturing myself, so I hit the delete button fairly fast now.

I think I've always written with depth, at least enough to ground the comedy. In "EIDM," there is a strong family theme throughout - love conquers all - that resonates amidst the flatulence and beer. Hard to see, perhaps, but it's there. I'll always love comedy, love writing it, love finding the truth that only humor can deliver. As I get further down the road as a playwright, I imagine I'll always hang onto that in some way.

When did you start writing the script?

I had the initial idea before I started "EIL." I knew the third play would be set in 1922, the year Alphonse built the camp. I also knew it would involve the Great Soady Ridge Buck, referred to in triumph out of the Soady Family Log Book in "EIDM" in 1989.

When I finished writing "Panhandle Slim & The Oklahoma Kid" and that had opened, I started doing something I've done that last three of four plays: I thought about it. For months. Gary Ross, a great screenwriter-director ("Pleasantville," "Dave"), told me he thinks about it for seven months and writes for two. So, I made notes, wrote small snippets of scene ideas, a vague outline, some themes that might emerge, and a basic story direction. I did that from June '08 through April of this year. After "God of Carnage" opened in late March and the hubbub had died down (well, sort of...), I sat down in NYC and wrote "Escanaba" in two months. Turned it into Guy in early June. He and I worked through two more drafts and then turned it over to the Company on June 25.

Although this is billed as the "final installment of the classic Yooper trilogy," are there any dangling plot lines or ideas rolling around in the back of your mind that you'd consider addressing in yet a fourth chapter? Or have you now said everything you wanted to say about these beloved characters?

Yes and no. No, this was written as the final installment. A trilogy. The beginning that leads to the middle and finally to the end.

Yes, the prolific playwright in me noticed that I couldn't help but drop in a reference to Alphonse building a deer camp in the middle of the Escanaba woods so he could get away from his "wife and six daughters." Chekov in the Upper Peninsula, perhaps?

ABOUT JEFF DANIELS:

Jeff Daniels has written 12 plays for The Purple Rose Theatre Company: "Shoe Man," "The Tropical Pickle," "The Vast Difference," "Thy Kingdom's Coming," "Escanaba in da Moonlight," "Apartment 3A," "Boom Town," "Across The Way" (2002 American Theatre Critics Association Best New Play Finalist), "Norma & Wanda," "Guest Artist" (2006 American Theatre Critics Association Best New Play Runner-Up), "Escanaba In Love" and "Panhandle Slim & The Oklahoma Kid." His three CDs, capturing his critically acclaimed live performances, are available for purchase in the PRTC lobby or online at http://www.jeffdaniels.com; proceeds benefit the PRTC. This spring, he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in Broadway's "God of Carnage."

ABOUT THE SHOW:

"Escanaba" plays in previews Sept. 23-24 ($20-$25), then runs Wednesday through Sunday (with an occasional Tuesday) through Dec. 19. Tickets: $20-$38. The Purple Rose Theatre Company, 137 Park St., Chelsea. For information: 734-433-7673 or http://www.purplerosetheatre.org.