An Interview with Leigh Silverman

Leah Reddy: What is your theatre origin story? 

Leigh Silverman: I was a total theatre kid. When I was a sophomore in high school, I was doing a summer abroad program, and the first day everyone performed a monologue, and the teacher asked me to stay after and let everybody else go. And then she said, "Oh, Leigh. You're just terrible." But then she said, "But you had so many interesting comments and it seemed like you really have a good mind for storytelling. And I think maybe you're a director." It's so funny to tell this story now because I think, "Wow, I just believed her. That was it." I never acted again. I spent the summer working as her assistant and watching her work with people and reading plays and that was it. 

I never looked back. I directed a play in my senior year of high school. I went to the Carnegie Mellon pre-college program between my junior and senior year of high school. I got admitted into the program after that summer as a director. Since that moment, it was like, "I'm a director." My whole life kind of came together. And of course, it's not like that teacher is in my life anymore. She just saw me and offered this piece of insight, and it changed my life. 

LR: Does that experience change how you interact with young people at all? 

LS: Oh, that's such a good question. I love teaching, and I love mentorship, and I always jump at opportunities to think and talk about theatre and about the craft of directing. I felt the impact of what it was like for someone to really get me. I take that seriously and certainly look for any opportunity I can to be helpful. But I think I also feel that way about the work that I do. It’s not just about personal relationships, but the possibility you might be affecting or inspiring people with the work. 

LR: You've had the chance to return to shows you've worked on before. You returned to Harry Clarke. You returned to a very different version of Suffs, and now Yellow Face. What draws you back to work on something for the second time or the third time? 

LS: I've never had this much time pass [between productions]. This is 15 years later, and David [Henry Hwang] and I have done eight shows together since then. We've been in conversations about many other kinds of projects. Yet for me, this opportunity to revisit Yellow Face, feels like doing it for the first time not only because there's been so much work on it, but it's a whole different production in a whole different world. David was way ahead of the curve. The simplest way to say that is it feels like a real gift to be able to revisit work, to improve upon it, to learn from it, to hopefully bring new lived experiences to it. We're different people than we were 15 years ago. Our relationship is different than it was 15 years ago, and it's just a tremendous opportunity. 

LR: David is making some revisions, and you've made some different choices in how you're creating the show. Can you speak to any of those and why you made them? 

LS: There are so many things to say. This production really originated with Daniel Dae Kim, and so I was building a production around him, which was super exciting. A lot of the casting choices came from knowing that he was going to play DHH. The play, when David was first working on it, was always a one-act, and then it was too long, and we couldn't figure out what to cut. It became a two-act play. One of the first things we wanted to do was finally figure out, 15 years later, how to make it a one-act again, which forced some excellent cutting and compression. When you direct new plays, frequently you don't know what's going to happen in the writing process while you're working on them. So, you make a bunch of design choices without knowing really the finished product. [In the original production] we had beautiful scenery that I ended up cutting from the show.  A big part of this new production has been knowing emotionally where I want to go, and then working with this exciting design team to figure out what the visual storytelling could be.  

The other piece of it is that I was very nervous about how technology could function inside the show 15 years ago. And in this production, I'm embracing it. We have video. We have projections. It's a whole different vibe in terms of how technology functions. 

LR: You've also described the show as a shapeshifter. Talk about what that means and how that's influencing your directing choices. 

LS: The style is one of the things that's really challenging about the play and something that I really love about it. This play is a real ride. The play starts in a comedic, mockumentary style then transforms into a political play and then ultimately lands you in a very moving, heartfelt play that's very personal. This piece requires a real trust in the writing and a clear tonal directorial hand and strong point of view. 

LR: When you get to those first previews and you're listening to the audience and their responses, how do you take that information in as a director and how do you use it to continue to shape the play before opening? 

LS: I have to communicate effectively with designers and actors about where those tonal shifts come, and as a director, author them visually so that the audience feels and knows how to receive different parts of the play. And then, being able to say, "Oh, the audience is laughing. I don't want them laughing here. Something's making them laugh. What is it?" 

Being able to rigorously look at how and when people are sitting forward, when they're sitting back. You have to be able to take a critical eye to what you're seeing and say, "How could the storytelling here be clearer? How could it be more exciting? How could it be more joyful? How could it be more entertaining? How could it allow for more delight from the audience, more emotional engagement from the audience?" I'm always asking myself those questions while I'm watching in rehearsal, and certainly when I have an audience, that's what I'm looking for is that kind of feedback. 

LR: I'm also going to quote you back to yourself here. You described part of the role of what you do in directing as “listening for truth.” How do you do that as a director? 

LS: It requires not falling in love with your own work. I think it requires a kind of letting yourself walk into the space with as little knowledge as possible, a kind of forced amnesia about what you've seen and how you've seen it, so that you can experience it as new. Hopefully there’s a lot about the show – performances, design choices, directorial choices – that you might really enjoy and then you have to have permission to say, "Okay, I enjoy that, but is there something I can do differently or better?" And being willing to take that risk. Frequently, it means an energetic response to the show that lets you stay creative, flexible, and nimble while watching the play so you can make a list of all the things you want to work on the next day in rehearsal.  

LR: You've collaborated with David many times. What makes that collaboration successful? 

LS: We're very honest with each other. We're very direct. We care about each other's feelings. We care about the work we're making more than our egos. I'm always happy for him to tell me, "It works better when that happens," or, "This would be better." He's always receptive to hearing my thoughts. We have a very similar work ethic. We both like to work until they force us out of the theatre and lock the door behind us. We think the other one is good at what they do, and there's just a tremendous amount of trust and respect there. Also, we both work with other people all the time, so it's not too precious. That's the other thing. And we make each other laugh, and it's like any good marriage. 

I refer to him sometimes as my theatrical husband and somebody said, “Oh, you guys have been working together longer than many marriages." It's true. We have really been in the trenches together. We've been in good and also miserable times together.  

LR: What advice do you have for young or aspiring directors? 

LS: Read plays, see plays, see musicals, work as much as you can with other people. Stage things in your kitchen. Stage things in your bedroom. Think about all of the choices and ways that you would tell that story. Practice as much as possible. Do the thing that you love in the theatre as much as you can, whether you're a director or you're an actor or designer. Don't wait for someone to find you. Make your passion visible to other people by practicing it. Practice it as much as possible with abandon and enthusiasm. Be your own biggest cheerleader and patron. Abolish the feeling that someone is going to call you because it is going to be a long time before anyone calls. Do your work. Work makes work. Waiting for the call never made much of anything but despair. Stay curious and keep learning.