Teaching Artist Leah Reddy spoke with Knud Adams about this production of English.
Leah Reddy: What adjustments or changes are you considering as the production moves to the Todd Haimes Theatre? How does the difference in theatre space change your approach?
Knud Adams: Sight lines, volume, and energy are specific to every space. It’s a fun challenge to preserve the integrity of our design and ensure that the story impacts the entire theatre. Ninety percent of the Broadway shows I’ve seen were from the very last rows of the balcony, in the most affordable seats, and it always felt classist when those folks weren’t taken into consideration.
And yet, part of the beauty of this production is that it invites you to peek into a real room that exists in three dimensions. The intimacy and multiplicity of that experience is very purposeful. No two seats will have quite the same vantage point, and we have to be brave about that. Thankfully, the entire original cast and design team is returning. It is such a privilege to premiere on Broadway with your chosen family, and I’m forever grateful.
LR: How do you approach rehearsing a play with the same cast for a second time?
KA: I believe theatre is about honoring the truth of the moment. We can’t try to replicate exactly what happened the previous night, let alone two years ago. I’m curious to see what sparks when these remarkable artists gather this time. That said, it’s a boon that we all have such profound familiarity with the play. For a premiere, so much of the collective energy goes into testing and developing the text. Before, we hoped. Now, we know.
LR: Has anything changed in how you think about directing since the 2022 production?
KA: We started rehearsing English at the height of Omicron. It was my first in-person production post-quarantine, and the whole endeavor had a sheen of surreality, as if we couldn’t trust that it would actually happen. Each day felt like borrowed time.
Perhaps my Broadway debut will feel equally surreal, but I’m more confident in myself and in my ability to advocate for my work within our sympathetic but besieged industry. Since the first production, I’ve seen the best and worst of people. I have a couple more tools in my toolbox, and a couple more scars to show for my efforts.
LR: You’ve directed original productions of two Pulitzer Prize-winning plays in a row—English and Primary Trust. What about each of these plays feels important to you at this moment in time?
KA: Gosh, isn’t it wonderful? Talking to [playwrights] Sanaz [Toossi] and Eboni [Booth] immediately after their wins were two of the happiest phone calls of my life. It’s so rare when the world sees what you see. It gives me hope for our community. I’m told that no director has gotten to direct the consecutive Pulitzer winners before, ever. And that English and Primary Trust are the two Pulitzers in Roundabout’s history. It blows my mind.
On the other hand, prizes can be a burden. For myself and my writers, we cannot measure our success by something so beyond our control. Reviews, lists, and awards are more fun to have than not, but I’ve worked on brilliant, brilliant plays that never got that embrace. The work is the reward: trying to use our powers for good, to have some small impact on the culture, to nudge the needle towards truth and taste. Hopefully, I get to keep doing that for a very long time. That would be the best prize.
Both English and Primary Trust are blazingly of this moment, but they also transcend this moment. That’s why I believe they’ll last. And in their own exceptional ways, they are more interested in specifying than generalizing. Both plays trust the audience with patience and subtlety, and both plays create opportunities for remarkable performances. That’s what folks from around the country, and indeed the world, are responding to so gloriously: wit, honesty, story, and soul.