Happy Hour's Joey Slotnick on Finding the Humor in Ethan Coen's Dark Comedy

About the author:
After appearing in The New York Idea earlier this year, Joey Slotnick is reuniting with off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company as part of the ensemble cast of Ethan Coen's Happy Hour, a new dark comedy composed of three one-act plays. In "City Lights," Slotnick plays a guitar player who weaves a tangled web after leaving a demo tape in a taxi. The actor has worked with Oscar-winning playwright/screenwriter Coen on two previous collections of short plays at Atlantic, 2008's Almost an Evening and 2009's Offices, and has appeared in numerous productions with Chicago's Lookingglass Theater Company. He has also been seen on TV's Alias, Boston Public and Nip/Tuck. Below Slotnick discusses the thrill of watching a play grow in rehearsals and why a piece is never complete until it finds an audience.

This is my third Ethan Coen play, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be working with him and Neil Pepe again at the Atlantic Theater Company. Neil (our kick-ass director) and Ethan (our kick-ass playwright) make a really good pair in the rehearsal room. I don’t think that’s always the case with a new play—the director/playwright relationship can sometimes be fraught with tension—but this is the third outing together for these guys, and they’re running the show like a couple of “Real-Professional-Type-Artist-People.”

I’m also a big fan of rehearsing. I love seeing how a play starts with a group of artists in the room, and then watch it grow into a living and breathing thing, taking on a life of its own; busting out of its ‘rehearsal space’ and pushing forward onto the actual stage in front of an audience. Because, let’s face it, we need the audience. As much as we like to complain as actors about “a really quiet house” or “don’t they know it’s a comedy?!” we love performing, and we can’t do it without the audience.

This play feels like we’ve been pushing the envelope (at least for me). It’s a dark piece but still very funny, and finding the humor in it is the key to really making it sing. I haven’t played a character like this before: an angry, self-loathing musician. I know if a part scares me because of its challenges, it will give me confidence that I will grow as an actor…at least I hope it will! If I’m not being challenged with each new role, what’s the point, right?

I remember the first set of one-acts I did with Ethan and Neil in 2008, Almost An Evening. I sat in the rehearsal room watching my co-stars F. Murray Abraham and Mark Linn-Baker in awe. I almost choked because I was laughing so hard. They were so frickin’ funny and played off each other in the most brilliant ways. That’s the great thing about these experiences: the cast and crew are all so damned talented, you always want to be at the top of your game.

That was one of the main reasons I moved to New York a little over five years ago. I was in Los Angeles for a long time and had some great opportunities, but I wanted to push myself—and, in my experience, theater is the place to do it. I try to go back home to Chicago and work with my theater company, Lookingglass, as much as I can. For me, there is nothing better than being on stage or in a rehearsal room with creative people figuring out how to tell the same story. I don’t think there’s another job out there that allows for such vulnerability and forces you to discover things and stretch yourself within a safe and supportive environment with like-minded artists.

Also, I like to go out after a show and grab a drink with my castmates. It’s great to walk into the local hangout a bit buzzed from performing. You’re hungry and you’ve got all this energy and you run into people from other shows. I get a big kick out of it.

I came to New York for the first time ever when I was 13 years old. It was actually a Bar Mitzvah present from my uncles. Yep, I was hooked. I was here for a week and they took me to see Barnum, A Chorus Line and Sugar Babies (wow, I’m really showing my age, huh?) plus the New York City Ballet, the last automat and the Empire State Building. Those magical experiences stuck with me and only add to the excitement of being an actor, especially in New York.

But I digress…

I’m really looking forward to continue performing Happy Hour and being on stage with some wonderfully talented actors. Come see us!