Michael Stuhlbarg
What on earth do you tell people when they ask you to describe this play?
I try not to give anything away. I just say it's about a writer in a totalitarian state being interrogated about his short stories. And I say the play just gets stranger from there.
Do you find it depressing to play a character who's revealed to have been tortured by his parents on a daily basis as a child?
It's somewhat solitary, but not necessarily depressing. He's a survivor. He's been through quite a lot, and his story is worked out on the stage. For me, it's about listening and taking things one step at a time every night.
What touches you about him?
The fact that he survived what he's been through, and he still has a sense of humor. I think he's full of love and full of joy in his own particular way. It's just misused and misplaced.
You literally draw a picture of what your character looks like?
What a fascinating book that would be!
Does the reaction of the audience vary from night to night?
Do you urge everyone you know to see The Pillowman? Or do you sometimes find yourself saying, "Um, maybe you won't like this."
People actually walk out?
Was it a big decision for you to maintain a weight gain of 25 pounds, which you originally put on for Martha Clarke's Belle Epoque?
Still, I remember when you were what Paris Hilton would call "hot," if you'll pardon the expression. You weren't reluctant to alter your appearance so drastically for so long?
Do you have to work to keep the weight on?
Be honest: How disappointing was Tony night?
Were you upset that The Pillowman didn't win Best Play?
Tell me a little about your background.
And instead of a surfer, you became the ultimate New York stage actor.
How did you get to Juilliard?
Was it a good experience? Audra McDonald makes is sound like a hellhole.
Where did you get your taste for dense, difficult texts? There's no Barefoot in the Park on your resume.
You and Liev Schreiber are New York's leading young Shakespearean actors, but you've never worked together, have you?
You've played Richard II and had featured parts in Twelfth Night and The Winter's Tale, among many others. What Shakespeare roles would you like to do?
Do you enjoy acting in Central Park?
What are your memories of Tony Randall? I know you did three shows for the National Actors Theater.
What's your personal life like when you're doing a demanding play on Broadway?
This interview is so serious. We need to lighten up!
Tell me something outrageous about yourself.
Would you like to open in a big musical?
We'll move Norbert Leo Butz into The Pillowman and you can go do Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
See Michael Stuhlbarg in The Pillowman at the Booth Theatre, 222 West 45th Street. Click for tickets and more information.
They were ideas that came from the text or from discussions with our director, John Crowley. I usually sketch my characters as part of a process of figuring out what they might look like. The idea of the bleached spot came when I was doing research and discovered that when people suffer trauma, patches of their hair sometimes go white.
Sure, I've done that for years.
I've actually thought about putting it together in some kind of book, but it would take a lot of work. That might be a side project for me someday.
Very much so. At first, people are not sure whether they should laugh at some of the humor because it comes from a very dark place. Sometimes audiences respond to the humor quite vociferously and other times they appear to be horrified [Laughs]. It's a mixed bag.
I wouldn't recommend bringing children, of course, but on the whole, I think everybody can come and have a good time. People from all different walks of life seem to enjoy it. And if they don't, they get up and leave!
Oh yes. There are always a few who feel like it's something they just don't want to deal with. But on the whole, I find that there's so much humor in the piece, even people who seem to be afraid of it at first have an absolutely wonderful time. They also find the play somewhat redeeming and strangely moving in the end.
It really wasn't. I had done four workshops of Belle Epoque over the course of two years and after looking at Toulouse-Lautrec's paintings, I observed that the café owners were heavy-set men. I thought, why not use that? So I put some weight on and grew a huge beard. When I auditioned for The Pillowman, I asked John if I should start losing the weight and he said, "Shave your beard-and don't go on a diet." In fact, his vision of the character was very much what my physical being was at that time, someone who sits around the house and does a lot of comfort eating.
A play like this doesn't come around that often, and you want to fulfill it as well as you can. Honestly, I felt like this was a fun opportunity to change my appearance. I love to alter myself as much as I can and see what new things I can find. I also find that changing your body changes your voice and how you hold yourself. It has served me in the telling of this story, and that was important to me.
Actually I do. I had a good metabolism before, although it has slowed down a little. But I've cut back on eating, and doing the play is a workout in itself, so the weight it coming off slowly.
It was fine. Really. [Laughs.] It was just so exciting to be there. My sister came with me; we don't get to spend that much time together, so it was wonderful to be with her. The Tonys are something I've watched since I was a kid so it was great to experience it up close, and it was tremendous honor to be nominated. I congratulate Liev. I think he did a marvelous job.
[Laughs.] You never know what's going to happen with these things. My only thought was to have the best time I could, and I truly did.
It would have been great to win, but people are still coming. Losing hasn't closed us, which is a blessing.
I'm from Long Beach, California.
I didn't spend too much time at the beach growing up, but there's a part of me that misses driving very much. I was very involved in music and art and theater as a kid.
I was a student at U.C.L.A., and halfway through my second year there, my roommate and I auditioned for Juilliard. I got in and decided to give New York a try.
She was in a different division [Laughs]. Our class was well taken care of and got to do some amazing things. We studied Chekhov in Lithuania, and Tony Kushner was the playwright in residence so we got to do the unofficial premiere of Millennium Approaches in 1991-92. I played Louis, which was fantastic.
No indeed! I got bit by Shakespeare as a younger person and studied it a lot at Juilliard. There's something about having puzzles to figure out in a play that appeals to me-something to keep your interest and to challenge you night after night on a technical basis, a language basis, and a thought basis. The passion behind the language is what interests me.
No, but I'd absolutely love to. I've admired him for years and we've done some readings together. I almost had a chance to do his Henry V but there was a scheduling conflict.
I'd love to play Hamlet. I feel like I'm as ready as I can be. That's the one I'm aiming at now, and I'd love to do it in New York. Berowne in Love's Labors Lost could be a kick in the pants, and as I get older, I'm looking forward to doing Lear. There are a lot of roles I want to do that are a while off.
Oh I love it! What's not to love? People seem to be having a great time and you're outdoors. It's a unique challenge to play a space that size and to keep the audience's interest. And the natural elements like planes flying over and birds swooping down keep it interesting. I've done it five times and it's been glorious every time.
He was always kind and supportive of me, and I bless his vision for trying to bring classical theater to Broadway in a repertory format. In some ways he succeeded and in other ways he fell short, but he did it, and I bless him for trying. His heart was in the right place.
I'm trying. It's never easy but you just have to embrace what comes your way and make the best of it. There are times when you starve and times when you feast. You have to save up and be careful with your money.
It's somewhat solitary. There's a responsibility to do the best I can with every show that I give, so I try to eat and sleep well. Under different circumstances and with different plays, I might go out every night and socialize with the cast. With this one, it's important to get my rest. Once awards season was over, I felt I could relax a little more and go out with friends for a drink after the show.
I'm actually a very silly person. I'm a goofy guy, and I think one of the reasons I love this play is its sense of humor.
I secretly love to go out dancing. How's that? I love to dance, although I haven't done it in a long time. It was a big part of my life as a young person.
That would be wonderful I was in Cabaret for six months [as Ernst Ludwig] and I loved it. I actually got started acting in community musical theater.
There you go! That sounds like fun.