#57 - Leigh Silverman: What is Essential?

“It is, I think in the funhouse of this time, a very, very hard
thing to feel like the job that you do and the way that you do it,
and the life that you’ve chose as your north star is not there… and
not only a thing you always felt was essential, but you really
start to understand the word essential and you understand it
differently and you understand it doesn’t include you.” - Leigh
Silverman. We’re trying, right? As we emerge from the rubble of
this pandemic, lifting the theatre up has been a Herculean feat. In
the middle of all this, we as individuals are experiencing
existential dread and asking ourselves – as we essential? Sure, we
might not be essential workers, but we do have purpose. That’s one
of the reasons Tony Nominated Director Leigh Silverman chose to
direct Jane Wagner’s revival of The Search for Signs of Intelligent
Life in the Universe starring Saturday Night Live’s Cecily
Strong.  “It is a play that deals with people who are
searching for meaning at a time that feels meaningless,” continues
Silverman. It does it through humor and it does it through pathos
and it does it through a celebration of community and live theatre.
It’s the reason why I wanted to do the play. I couldn’t imagine
coming back to the theatre and doing any other play because this
play articulates and recognizes the power of being together in a
room full of strangers in the dark laughing and crying about the
same things. And I just quoted the play.” In this episode, Leigh
and Michael ask the tough questions. What is essential? What is our
worth within the industry? But these are the questions that need to
be asked. Plus, Leigh keys us into what it’s like to direct a
revival, the things that needed to be changed / rewritten,
fangirling over Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner, and the brilliance of
Cecily Strong.  And of course – how does the multi-hyphenate
help the director? Straight from the director’s mouth – learn how
the multi-hyphenate identity helps strengthen a theatrical
experience by approaching work from different perspectives. 
Leigh Silverman has directed on Broadway Violet (Tony nomination);
Chinglish; Well; The Lifespan of a Fact, and Grand
Horizons. Off-Broadway: American Hero (2ST); Kung Fu
(Signature Theatre); The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence
(Playwrights Horizons); The Call (Playwrights Horizons); The Madrid
(MTC); Golden Child (Signature Theatre); No Place to Go (Public
Theater; Two River Theatre); In the Wake (Center Theatre
Group/Berkeley Repertory Theatre and The Public Theater, Obie
Award, Lortel nomination); Go Back to Where You Are (Playwrights
Horizons, Obie Award); From Up Here (MTC, Drama Desk nomination);
Yellow Face (Center Theatre Group/The Public Theater); Coraline
(MCC/True Love); Blue Door (Playwrights Horizons); Well (The Public
Theater; Huntington Theatre; ACT); Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
(Second Stage Theatre). Recent regional: The Heidi Chronicles
(The Guthrie); American Hero (WTF); Chinglish (Goodman Theater,
Jeff nomination; West Coast/Hong Kong tour). Upcoming: SUFFS at The
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