Currently running at The Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street, Ethan Coen's 'Almost an Evening' sold out before performances began in its first home at the Atlantic Theater Company. Here, actor Joey Slotnick sits down with BWW's Faetra Petillo and talks about the success of the show, his career in theater, and what it was like working with such a talented cast and crew.
Faetra Petillo: Congratulations on the unprecedented successful run over at Atlantic and then the transfer to The Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street. Is this the first show you've done in New York in awhile?
Joey Slotnick: Well, the first show I did in New York was The Altruists by Nicky Silver- it premiered at the Vineyard. That was a long time ago- that was eight years ago. And then I did an improvised three-person show called Slotnick Katz and Lehr. Then in the fall of 2006 I did The Cartells at Comics- it was a four part soap opera written by Douglas Carter Beane.
FP: Well, welcome back. How did you come into this project?
JS: I auditioned. I was sent the script and I thought it was fantastic. I went in originally for another role and then they had me read the role I'm playing right now in "Waiting"- just a cold read of it but it was great. Neil is always a pleasure to audition for as is Will, the casting director. Whenever they bring me in it's always a good experience and Ethan was great as well.
FP: Has anything changed in the transfer of the show? Have you had to make any adjustments?
JS: We had about a week of rehearsal mainly to bring in Tim and Johanna. I have to say, though, I think they are terrific and I think the show has gotten better. I think it's gotten deeper. I think everyone is feeling good in their roles and very comfortable. Not comfortable as in we don't have to work but comfortable where it feels good. And the downtown crowd is fantastic. We just love all that laughter coming from different parts of the theater.
FP: Was the uptown crowd different? Did you not get as many laughs?
JS: You know it's a smaller theater and I think sometimes in a comedy people are a little bit shy in a small space to laugh out loud. Sometimes we'd get an audience and there would be mutterings and spatterings of laughter but then sometimes you get a crowd and people are just guffawing. I think you just have to get that one person to be the first one.
FP: Did you start out as an actor working in film or theater?
JS: I started in theater. I actually started a long, long time ago when I was about eleven years old in children's theater. That was a great experience and I don't think I'd be as successful as I am if I didn't have that experience. Believe it or not it was in Las Vegas where I went to high school. It was a great, great experience and if you weren't in a play you were building sets or stage managing or doing the lights or the costumes. We would take classes every Monday and it was terrific. And I continued doing that through high school and then I went and studied at SMU and got my BFA from them. They had a great theatre program. I'm from Chicago so then I went back to Chicago and started working and then met up with the Lookingglass folks.
FP: How did you come into the Lookingglass Theatre?
JS: I was actually working in a restaurant waiting tables and there was a girl who worked there who had friends in the company and she invited me
to a party and I met a lot of people there. I had also seen Mary Zimmerman's production Secret in the Wings and that just blew my head off. I saw it twice and then I met people in the cast and Mary…this was back in the spring of 1991. Then I did a little part in West that David Catlin directed and David Schwimmer was in the show and that's kind of how it started. I became an ensemble member in 1996.
FP: Do you prefer doing theater over film since it is your home and your roots?
JS: There's something very different about the two. What I love in theater is the rehearsal process – getting to rehearse with a group of people over a long period of time and in film that doesn't happen as often. Also, you have a camera right in front of your face and you have to be as vulnerable and as open to your emotions as you can and I think the camera doesn't lie and it knows when you're faking it. I think in theater people know when you're faking it too but in film it's not as subtle. And I'm still working that out. (laughs).
