Taken from a recording with Michael Wright at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre offices on March 19, 2009.

1.     What was the FIRST play you ever saw? I’m not sure it was actually the first play I ever saw, but my first really vibrant theater memory was when I was in elementary school and I was looking for a high school to go to and I applied to some private schools. I went to a play, more of a variety show, St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute, an all male Catholic school, and I fell in love with the school because of this production.  I ended up getting a scholarship to this school, but it was because of this show, I just fell in love with theater.  I can remember distinctly just the joy of seeing this show.  It was really well produced, and they had a great theater program.  It was just something they threw together.  Something like, “St. Joe’s Follies.”

2.    What makes you LAUGH and CRY in a theater? I always laugh and cry in a theater.  My strongest memory is seeing Tom Aldrich in ON GOLDEN POND in New York.  I remember sitting there and literally laughing and crying simultaneously, the guy was so brilliant.  So that’s always been something that’s stuck with me.  That’s my favorite theater, when you’re laughing and you’re crying at the same time because it’s so true, so honest, you recognize human foibles and human misery at the same time.

3.    Who is your favorite THEATER ACTOR? Well, I’ve got many.  I love Tom Aldrich because of that experience with ON GOLDEN POND.  But I think we’ve got great local talent.  I love Jim DeVita.  I love Gerry Neugent.  I love Colleen Madden. Tracy Arnold.  Jim Ridge.  Brian Mani.  I think we have incredible people here, so that’s immediately where my heart goes.

4.    Has theatre ever CHANGED your perspective? I feel like often when I see theater, it opens my eyes, it opens my heart.  I do think it has the power to change people’s perspectives always.  So, yes, absolutely.  It’s a powerful communal experience viewing theater, seeing yourself up there.  Seeing your neighbors, your colleagues.  Who you want to be. Seeing your heroes up there, being inspired by that.  Theater changes lives.

5.    What is your FAVORITE PLAY? Usually one I’m working on.  My current favorite play is BROOKLYN BOY (which Michael was working on when we spoke).  I love this play.  Part of it is just loving the digging into it.  The experience of, the searching, and I don’t mean just looking through encyclopedias, just visualizing, thinking about a play.  Casting a play.  Design discussions. To me that is so rich.  My favorite play is always the one I’m working on right then and there.

6.    Why THEATER? Because there’s nothing like it.  That idea of sitting with a bunch of strangers in a safe environment and experiencing something collectively, recognizing that we’re all alike, although we’re all different, that we’re all part of the same family.  There’s nothing like it.

Michael Wright is the Artistic Director of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

Taken from a recording with Ray Jivoff at Skylight Opera Theatre offices on March 19, 2009.

1.     What was the FIRST play you ever saw? (Sharp in take of breath to kick things off) I think the first play I ever saw was when my elementary school put on a reduced version of CARMEN.  So it was a fifth grade girl singing “La Habenera”.  And then the next year they did HMS Pinafore.  (When told CARMEN is an opera and not a play, Ray reconsidered his answer.) Play?  That was so long ago.  I’m sure it was something like OEDIPUS at the amphitheater.  I was so distracted by the Parthenon, I don’t remember.  The Rep theater in the town that I grew up (Syracuse), offered high school tickets, and the school had a bus, and we would ride down and come back. And the only one I really remember is SHE LOVES ME.  But it’s not a play.  It’s a musical play.  I loved it.  And then years later I performed in it.  I’m sure that when I saw it I thought, “Oh, I’d be so good as Amalia!” but then I ended up playing one of the guys.

2.    What makes you LAUGH and CRY in a theater? I always like it when people fall down.  If they can’t get back up again I cry.  If it’s obviously a pratfall, I laugh.  Crying, I think it’s usual guess like someone being real nice to their mom.  That always makes me cry.  I’m one of those ones where people turn around and look at me when I laugh.  Not the most recent production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM at American Players Theatre, but the one before that, I howled a lot during that.

3.    Who is your favorite THEATER ACTOR? Cherry Jones, who we saw in New York in DOUBT. The other one about the penal colony…(Ray searches for the name of the play in a lot of different ways, including a quick Google search on his office computer)…OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD.  (Ray also realized from his Google search that Cherry Jones had done MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN and goes on about how great Laurie Birmingham was in the Milwaukee Repertory Theater production he saw several years ago.)

4.    Has theatre ever CHANGED your perspective?  Your life? I think it’s made me compelled to say something to someone, or to try and be truthful about something, or treat someone differently, or think about something different.  You know someone whose situation I might not have a connection to, so you learn something, like a minority or a kid or someone like that.

5.    What is your FAVORITE PLAY?  Where did you see it?  Why is it your favorite? There’s so many.  I do love MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.  Seen it a million times, directed it at the high school.  Love it.  Might be too easy though, because it’s so charming.  I’ve always wanted to see A LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT.  (Ray decided his love of MIDSUMMER needs further explanation.) I just think it’s really well constructed, really funny.  Love the language, love the characters, love the three worlds kind of rotating around.  I probably have seen that one more than any play.

6.    Why THEATER? Cause it’s live.  It’s happening right there in front of you. (I ask the question again, for  new answer.) Why not? (I ask Ray the A-B-C version of the question for three new answers) A. Because you’re in a room with a whole bunch of other people and they’re all experiencing it together.  B. It has everything about life all wrapped up inside it.  C. Someone took the time to make it up so you might as well help them achieve what they were hoping to achieve.