220px-JohnPatrickShanley-2011 

 

By Sherry Amatenstein

 

 

He is undisputed theater royalty – the author of  more than 25 plays including the Pulitzer and Tony-winning Doubt: A Parable.  Shanley’s latest, Outside Mullingar, starring Debra Messing and Brian F. O’Byrne, is the first to focus the playwright’s lush talent on his Irish heritage. Shanley’s Oscar-winning Moonstruck, of course, struck a blow against the stereotypical portrayal of Italians as mobsters.

 

Mullingar (loosely based on his relatives in the Irish Midlands) feels so personal to Shanley that watching the play night after night from the audience during previews, he bit back bawls.

 

During our interview, Shanley was tear-free:

 

Q. YOU’VE WON PRETTY MUCH EVERY ACCOLADE POSSIBLE. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE BRONX HALL OF FAME?

A. Kind of great. They named a street after me…So eccentric! And I didn’t have to take the ‘award’ home. I‘ve gotten two statuettes – won’t say which – that were very heavy and not particularly attractive. I put them out with the trash. My son Nick protested, ‘You can’t throw things out that have your name etched into them!”

 

Q. WHAT BRINGS ON THE WATERWORKS WHILE YOU WATCH THE PLAY?

A. I cry at every freaking performance. There are many autobiographical details. A lot of ghosts come up for me. There’s something so naked about a play that is about ‘the big’ stuff – like the scene with the dying father. And a couple of things Debra Messing says really get to me like: ‘There’s no one left to catch you laughing.’

I can’t cry the way I want to cry though. Left to my own devices I’m a wailer.  So I have the stress of stifling – attempting not to make noise at certain parts of the play.

 

Q. YOU AND I ARE FACEBOOK FRIENDS. YOUR STATUS UPDATES ARE LYRICAL AND MOVING: ‘MY THOUGHTS ARE CROWDED WHEN I REMEMBER LOVE’ AND ‘LIFE. REWRITE THE END UNTIL THE BEGINNING WORKS.’ WHAT SPARKED THIS SOCIAL MEDIA OUTPOURING?

A. It’s a challenge. I sharpen my wits and prime the pump for the day. Also, I’m an extremely audience-oriented person.  Getting a reaction versus mailing a poem to someone is how I understand what I’m doing.

 

Q. WHAT TRUTHS DID WRITING OUTSIDE MULLINGAR TEACH YOU?

A. The play is about mortality and love; the keen knowledge of the limited amount of time you have to accomplish what you want in this world. And if what you want to accomplish is a truly loving, successful relationship it requires, at least for me, a certain amount of time and failure.  When Debra and Brian finally find love after so many years not taking the risk, there is a real sense of appreciation. They will treasure that love every day.

 

Q. WHEN YOU WON THE OSCAR FOR MOONSTRUCK, YOU THANKED EVERYONE WHO EVER PUNCHED OR KISSED YOU AND EVERYONE YOU’D EVER PUNCHED OR KISSED. WHAT WILL YOU SAY IF YOU WIN THE TONY FOR MULLINGAR?

A. It’s a nightmare to have fantasies about winning.  I won’t write a speech beforehand. And the ‘Best Play’ category in the Tonys is so unfair. You have to split your tiny parcel of time with one or two producers.  It’s about getting up there, saying something with twitter-like simplicity, and splitting before you feel like a fool.

 

Q. WHAT SHOULD I HAVE ASKED YOU?

A. In Mullingar two people between them consume one bottle of stout, nobody sleeps with their mother, no one says f—k. I am covering a piece of territory – a positive depiction of an Irish family – that hasn’t been covered in a long time, if ever!