Northlight Dramaturg Kristin Leahey interviews The Outgoing Tide playwright Bruce Graham
Kristin: Bruce can you tell us how you came to write The Outgoing Tide?
Bruce: It’s kind of funny because I’m actually sitting out on the steps right now looking out to the water. I don’t have much of an imagination; I just look at my own life. It’s a theme (aging) I dealt with in my first play – 28 years ago in fact – and I just wanted to go back. I’m fascinated with these characters, who are trying to get through the day. And you have to throw in the mayhem and dilemma or, otherwise, people are going to walk out. I just begin to project the future. It’s kind of a self-reflective – unfortunately some of it has become rather autobiographical, more than I expected. But I had the idea in my head for a few years. Then BJ called and asked, “Do you have anything for John Mahoney?” And I wrote this while I was rehearsing another play. It’s somewhat based on a play I wrote a while back.
Can you talk a little bit about your relationship with Northlight?
BJ did one of my plays 20 years ago at Northlight, and we’ve stayed in-touch ever since. If I’m ever in Chicago, we make sure to see each other, and we catch-up over the phone. We wanted to work together, so when he called me about this play I said, “Yeah, I’ve got an idea. I don’t have it written, but would you like a page or two of a treatment?” I work in the movies and do everything in treatments. He said, “Yeah, sure.” And I said, “Great, I’ll get you something this summer.” And he said, “Well, I kind of need it here today.” It’s funny how I write my scripts. I’m a fast writer. I’m a slow thinker but a fast writer. I asked him, “BJ, can I write the ending and then we can just go from there?” And he said, “Okay!” And the next thing I know I’m on a plane coming to Chicago to read it at Northlilght’s Interplay Series. It was a very rough draft, a little embarrassing, but the audience seemed very with us. And I did another reading and each time I’d go back and make changes.
Can you tell me a little bit about how Philadelphia and regionalism influences you work?
Most of my plays take place around the Philadelphia, PA area. I know the area. I know the northeast. But with Chicago and Northlight, people are more low-key, much more easygoing. In Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Boston people are much more highly strung. I comment on it in one of my plays The Philly Fan, a one-man show about a Philadelphia sports fan. You can see it in sports fans. Cub fans are much more laid back and gregarious than Philly fans. They’re passionate, sure, but they’re not throwing punches at each other like we do. Everything’s a little heightened, a little dramatic in the northeast because we’re all a little hyper ourselves. I don’t think a character like Gunner would be as interesting if he were from Oklahoma because there isn’t that kind of urgency that most people from the Northeast have.
Your skills as a comedian, actor, and director come to play in your work. How do you feel it manifests in your work?
I think every playwright should be forced to be an actor, onstage, every ten years. I think the fact that I map everything out first, and I don’t jump the connections (at least, I don’t think I do), and that I willing to make changes happen because of this experience. I saw this play in grad school ,and I thought to myself, “This author has never been onstage in his life.” He had characters do things he wanted them to do, not because of motivation or some action or reaction to the story. I think being a comedian is the best training I ever had as a writer. I was constantly writing new material. And there’s nothing more subjective than comedy or on-the-level than comedy, being on your own on stage and hoping you get hired the next week. All these things influenced me. Sometimes I start directing in the script, blocking an intention. And then I tell actors and directors to just forget those; that’s just me playing with it. You want to move here? Fine. There’s no specific action; I had been directing in my head.
You teach at Drexel University. Can you talk about how your role as an educator influences your work? And how do your relationships with your students influence their work?
I teach a film writing class. It’s exciting for them, I think, to come to the theatre, and they have. And they can say “My professor wrote this.” I give them scripts. I gave them The Outgoing Tide, and I ask them to critique it. I told them, “It does not affect your grade; be honest” And they were honest. They made a couple of comments that I was already working on. It was great to have some of their influence, and it was great because they were reading the play with a critical eye. And also there’s this idea that a guy can go in his mom’s garage and write something one weekend and call himself a playwright. I can’t look back at my Little League years and call myself a ballplayer. You’re not a playwright unless somebody else-other than your mother-calls you a playwright. And over the years, I’ve taught at a lot of places. I’ve seen some very frustrated teachers because they went into teaching because they couldn’t make it in the business. That’s not how it works. Those teachers are just wallowing in bitterness. In our department at Drexel, everyone there has been in the business. And I think we give the kids a much more realistic outlook. We don’t tell them, “Oh, the theatre is a wonderful place.” It’s not. It’s a very tough place to pick up. And movies are just as bad. We’re realistic about it. We tell them, “Don’t think you’re coming in here for your Oscar or your Tony.” I think that’s important. I try to scare the hell out of my students because then I can say, “Now, I can teach you.”
What are things that you’re excited about this production of The Outgoing Tide? What are you realizing from this first production?
The first production always teaches you everything. In my entire career, this is only the second play that premiered outside of Philadelphia. The one thing I’ve been really looking forward to is this hell of a cast. They’re a fabulous cast and BJ is doing a great job making sure everyone is putting forth incredible effort and showing their incredible talent. I have nothing to complain about. Sometimes a playwright can say, “Oh, the actors screwed me up,” so all I can do is blame myself on this one.
