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Official Name
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En-US
INGE 230 - Sigourney Weaver
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Description
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En-US
Sigourney Weaver about Christopher Durang
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Internet Media Type
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En-US
video/mp4
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YYYY-MM-DD
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En-US
2008-03
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ISO or Range
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En-US
2008-03
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transcript of
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Okay, tell me when you guys are
Roll tape. Speed. Speeding. Got it.
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Chris has referred to you as the odd couple
relative to the Cabaret Act, Das Lucania. What
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did you mean by that? Well, I think Chris uh saw
us as an odd couple. First of all, the disparity
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in our heights. Um, and I think uh the other thing
was that we often when we worked together we would
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have a a very serious approach to comedy. Um,
and uh uh I think that that was just something
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we we had in common. We used to sing, we used to
participate in this singing class um at Yale and I
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remember we sang Two Lost Souls from Damn Yankees
and it's sort of a dark but somewhat cheery song
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and I know we sang it without any inflection or
sense of humor almost as if we were cursed you
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know and it was very funny um and that kind of
that that enjoyment of working together became
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really dusatenia song we were making fun of all
the the breed bile we'd done at Yale and how
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seriously they'd taken it. So, um but I think you
know you see these people come out, this man and
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this woman and and sing with great intensity about
things that make absolutely no sense. And I think
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that we that was just so easy for us, you know,
we just had the same sensibility about comedy
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and about the crackpotness of the world and um uh
yeah, it was fun. Okay, that little noise that we
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had. Is that I think it's all right. All right,
moving on. Everybody okay behind me? Yep. Okay,
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let's go for it. When Chris talks about his Yale
experience, it sounds like a powerhouse of talent
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in every class at Yale able to point to as many
successful alums. You know, is every class at Yale
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able to point to as many successful alums or was
that a unique coming together of playwrights and
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actors? Well, I think the playwriting department
was the the darling of the school uh Robert
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Brewstein loved uh Chris Dang, Albert Inorado,
but for instance, Wendy Wasserstein was there at
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the same time and and they really gave her short
shrift. So I think actually when you were there
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they they might have been uh encouraging I think
to Chris and Albert um but not at all to Wendy and
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uh in terms of the actors I know that our class
was always in terrible trouble. They were always
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kicking people out of our class and they kept
talking about the class before us as a group of
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people who were going to have huge careers and you
know not that fame is any indication really but
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you haven't really heard of any of those people.
So Merryill was there when I was there. I was
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there. Um, it it felt like a powerhouse of talent
and that we we were all very excited to be there
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and and work together, but they weren't I don't
think they were an encouraging place, especially
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to women writers. So, uh, you and Chris by now
have had a long-standing friendship. You've each
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watched the others career blossom. How is Chris
the same as when you first met him in Yale? And
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also how has he changed? Well, Chris always had
a very strong point of view about the world and
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the things that went wrong in the world and the
people who acted crazy in the world. And I think
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that that is still the same. If anything, he's
probably a bit more pissed off about about things.
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Um certainly the last eight years of Bush I think
have I think have made him even more politically
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active. Uh I think of him as a very subtle and
very funny but ultimately um a very uh important
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and significant playwright. His his plays are
about um you know the the state of things.
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uh a play like Miss Witherspoon which is about a
woman being reincarnated again and again against
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her will was fantastically funny but deeply
upsetting and that is that take on things I think
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has not changed since he was uh 20. Um if anything
it's it's just I think become fuller. Okay. Has he
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changed at all? Um I think he's become more
politically active. That's that's uh I think
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the last uh few years that Chris is perhaps more
impatient with things that aren't uh fair. And um
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uh I think I think that he although he's a writer,
I think it's galvanized him into being much more
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active on the internet uh and and really, you
know, putting out his his feelings about the
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way things are and the way things should be. uh
in another form besides just his plays. Okay,
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moving on. Chris said that he had you and Kate
quote in his brain when he wrote Beyond Therapy.
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Does that mean he wrote the character Prudence for
you or that he was modeling the character after
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you? Well, I like to think that sometimes uh Chris
might have flashed on on me as a kind of little
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inspiration for a scene. maybe he could picture
me in some of these awful situations and that that
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helped him uh uh write the dialogue. Um uh I think
his his characters are so to me universal that
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um that they could I don't think he wrote them
for anyone. I mean, I really think they're they're
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uh they're really good classical universal
characters, but I I'm happy to think that I could
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have inspired Prudence in any way. Um, and of
course, we all went back into therapy after that
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show. That's cute. Mike apparently ran out of time
while interviewing Chris and didn't get to talk
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much about sex and longing. How would you describe
that play to our audience? Well, I think Sex and
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Longing was his most pointed uh political satire.
Uh it had a you know homosexual character being uh
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shocked on stage for finding a man attractive. So,
it was it was pretty um hard-hitting and I think
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uh made people really really uncomfortable as all
his comedies do. Um uh and I think that the you
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know the the idea of this woman who uh you know
had to have sex every 15 minutes to feel alive,
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to feel real was something that that you know
all both sexes uh could relate to. And um and as
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with all of Chris's plays, I think there all the
characters are so touching. you know, he even, you
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know, finds humanity in in Jack the Ripper. Um,
so I think it was a very ambitious play uh that
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we did on Broadway with Lincoln Center and and um
very uh innovative in a lot of ways, took a lot of
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risks and um you know, I'd love to see it again.
Um what is what is Chris's passion? What is it
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that he still wants to do or say with his voice?
Well, um I think Chris is continuing to to uh
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write wonderful uh uh plays. Um I'd love to see,
for instance, his uh Christmas Carol. You know,
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he he shakes things up and I think he'll continue
to do that. Um, I for one am am such a fan that
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I I feel a night like tonight, this wonderful
tribute to him, uh, is is so appropriate and,
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um, I I don't feel he can be honored enough
because I think his voice is so clear and,
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uh, compassionate and angry and and so funny,
so smart. Um, and I think that I know that at my
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daughter's school, they just did one of his plays.
uh this is this is a writer who can really speak
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to all all the future generations and I I don't
think he's had enough acknowledgement but I'm
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delighted for him that this is happening tonight
because I think that he he deserves every glorious
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minute of it that was a glorious job I have to do
one more thing at the end which is congratulate
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him which I can do in the end back toback
short messages translate from all interviews
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here straight to camera okay straight to Okay.
Hi, Chris. Um, I'm so sorry I can't be with
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all of you tonight. I want to send you heartfelt
congratulations and we look forward to reading and
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seeing and being in so many more of your plays
and um you deserve every second of this and we
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here send you so much love and congratulations and
big kiss. Okay, great. Thank you so much. I really
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