With Music, Laughter & a Touch of Dramatics, Griffin Matthews & Matt Gould Bring Their Experience in Uganda to Invisible Thread

Griffin Matthews and Matt Gould—partners in life and show business—are sharing their experiences as aid workers in Uganda with off-Broadway audiences at Second Stage. Their musical Invisible Thread follows Griffin (played by Matthews himself) as he leaves his New York life with boyfriend Ryan (Corey Mach) to volunteer for a service organization in Africa. In a recent chat with Broadway.com, the two creators discussed lifting true-to-life experiences for a musical dramatization, finding humor in the seemingly humorless and bringing down the house with a supreme beltress.

I was surprised by how comedy permeates this entire show, even in the most powerful moments. How do you find the balance between presenting a true story with a healthy sense of humor without undermining the gravity of the situation you’re in?

MATTHEWS: We do a lot of laughing in our lives. Ugandans have a really sick sense of humor. It’s one of the biggest surprises when we go. Their dry humor keeps us laughing, and then two minutes later they’ll be in tears. Comedy is birthed out of pain. There are moments in our show where in the middle of a heartbreaking situation, out pops a joke. But that’s how life is.

GOULD: A great lesson for us in going to Uganda is that when we’re not in touch with the earth, we aren’t in touch with how fragile things are, and we start to make things important that are perhaps not as important as we think. Even in the direst circumstances, there is humor. There is love. Even in the most joyful circumstances, there can be pain.

In what ways has being actual partners in life affected the process of collaborating artistically?

GOULD: Collaborating with somebody artistically is like being in a relationship. You have to learn to speak the same language. From the very beginning, I knew I had a partner in Griffin in life and work—someone who understood what my vision was and whose vision I understood. It’s been very rewarding share a common vision about what art can do and what theater can be.

MATTHEWS: Matt and I also have very different perspectives of the world. Matt’s Jewish; I’m Christian. I’m black; he’s white. I like sweet melodies; Matt likes pounding, heart-pumping rhythms. You can hear the tension in our professional and personal relationship inside of the music, but I’ve spent enough time with his Jewish New York family to know there is comedy in tension.

At the ART [under the title Witness Uganda], the character of Ryan was written as Griffin’s female friend. Ryan is now Griffin’s boyfriend. What led to that change?

GOULD: For the first several trips, Griffin went to Uganda with female friends. We wanted to have a female experience; we are both surrounded by strong, powerful women. But the ART run was the same time as the anti-gay laws were being passed in Uganda. It felt like a responsibility that we needed to go deeper into that.

MATTHEWS: Griffin is not just a gay man with a best friend; he’s a gay man who has and wants to give out love. It’s truer to my experience. It’s really about humanity. When you are getting to know somebody, sexuality becomes so small. Griffin’s sexuality is not the thing that defines him. And the students’ culture or religion is not something that defines them.

So where does the Ryan end and Matt Gould begin?

GOULD: There are aspects of him that are certainly related to me, but I don’t think Ryan is Matt Gould. I also don’t think the character of Griffin is literally Griffin Matthews. I would say all of those characters up there are closely related to us. As writers, we write ourselves and what we know into everything. They are all us, and none of them are us.

You recently took a trip with the cast to see Uganda and the people you depict. How have the students responded to aspects of their lives presented on stage?

MATTHEWS: One of our former students was actually here on the night of our first preview. I think they’re excited that people are hearing about their lives and about the beauty of their country. As humans, we crave understanding. We want our stories to be understood. It’s why we tell them and share them.

That Act II church scene, with the “Bela Musana” number, is such a showstopper. What’s going through your head on stage as the audience takes that moment in?

MATTHEWS: My exploration as a gay Christian man has been complicated. A lot of our cast members have been through similar stories. We try to just live that moment every night. I think the audience’s response is a reflection of that fact; we include them. People are shouting at the stage, but none of us think they’re shouting for us. It’s an invitation for everyone in that room to be together. And then there's [soloist] Melody Betts.

Tell me everything about her.

MATTHEWS: We found her on a YouTube video!

Wait, is it the one of her singing "Let Me Be Your Star"?

MATTHEWS: Yes! And we were like, “Who is this lady?!” She’s from Chicago, so she flew here and did our workshop. We started to create moments on stage to highlight her gift. She’s one of the most extraordinary vocalists I’ve ever seen. And she’s an incredible person.

You’ve been developing this show for years, and it continues to progress. What’s in store moving forward?

GOULD: Our audiences have been so enthusiastic, but we don’t know yet.

MATTHEWS: For a new musical with new writers and a predominantly African American cast, mixed reviews are tricky. But I do think that with a show tackling some modern issues, we need the full support—not just of our incredible producers and creative team. We need the support of the media to champion new, original work.

GOULD: Griffy and I will never stop telling this story and others like it. We need to keep hearing new voices. We need young African American writers like Griffin to have their stories in the mainstream. That is what the spirit of this country is about; it’s what the spirit of theater is about. We will never stop. Wherever it goes next, we’re going to be there.

Invisible Thread will run through December 27 at Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theatre.