I think it’s very important
that our country – where
we are all so diverse –
have a theatre, because
we learn to connect with
other people... – A.R. GURNEY
between feelings and money, it’s all mixed up together:
S: Pete, this is the final play of your Signature residency. Do you have any thoughts looking back on your time here?
what money does to love and all the rest.
ARG: I think it’s a great place to work. In both plays of mine so far, Signature resurrected plays that I didn’t really think had
S: How does the music of Cole Porter fit into the world of
the play?
a chance, particularly The Wayside Motor Inn. I said to Jim, “This play is never done. Are you sure you want to do it?”
ARG: If we had to pin down a poet of WASP culture, I’d
to put a drummer in, allowed the designer, Michael Yeargan, to use rear screen projections in a new way. I said, “It’s not
say Cole Porter is it. Cole Porter went to Yale, he was two
gonna work.” But it worked! So my experience of Signature was
classes ahead of my father, and everybody talked about
them pointing out to me value in work of mine that
what fun he was, and so I find myself turning to him when
I didn’t think had much value. And that’s a special
I’m trying to write about this culture. In my play Sylvia, there’s
thing about Signature. n
And he said, “Yeah.” The same thing happened with What I Did Last Summer. Signature allowed [director] Jim Simpson
a great Cole Porter song that they all sing when he has to
S: Pete, what does Mark bring into the rehearsal room
as a director?
A.R. Gurney: Mark is an ex-actor himself, and you can tell he
knows how to talk to actors. I never, in any serious way, acted
on the stage, so it’s his knowledge of the practicality of saying
a line, getting on, getting off, that’s always appealed to me,
‘cause he’s been there. All the actors always like him. He has
no enemies. He doesn’t boss them around, which some directors can do. He has a real sympathy and understanding and an
ability to get good performances out of them.
S: How did Love & Money come about?
ARG: When Mark says that WASP culture always interested
him...it always interested me, too! And I had established a
reputation to talk about that culture, so now—I’m 84 years
old. I wanted to say goodbye to that culture, and I wanted
that culture in a sense to say goodbye to itself because I
think it’s over. I wanted to write a play which dealt with that.
S: Where does the title come from?
say goodbye to his dog and take a trip, and she gets on the
couch—which she’s not allowed to do—and sings “Ev’ry Time
We Say Goodbye.” And certainly my play The Fourth Wall is
nothing but Cole Porter. Cole Porter is the music that best
illustrates both the wit and cleverness of the WASP culture,
but also its dissolute quality, the booze, the “…in the still of the
night, do you love me?” kinds of questions that he asks.
S: What does the theatre represent to these characters?
ARG: It’s the most communal endeavor that you can do. I
think it’s very important that our country—where we are all
so diverse—have a theatre, because we learn to connect
with other people, and that’s what Cornelia wants at the
(right): Juliet Brett and Noah Galvin in What I Did Last Summer at Signature
Theatre, 2015. (below): Jennifer Van Dyck in The Dining Room at the
Westport Country Playhouse, 2013. (bottom): Rebecca Henderson,
Kelly AuCoin, Ismenia Mendes, and David McElwee in The Wayside Motor Inn
at Signature Theatre, 2014.
end of the play.
ML: I always think in Pete’s plays, theatre is a kind of escape
from the constrictions of the WASP background.
ARG: I agree. The WASP culture has a number of ways of
escaping. Too much of it being about booze. The theatre is
a way of escaping creatively. And speaking to others in an
ARG: It was an old expression...“You can’t get that for love
outgoing way.
or money.” But I thought it would be Love & Money, not
ML: Sharing. It’s sending a letter to the world and welcom-
Love or Money, ‘cause the play isn’t about the combat
[Theatre is] sending a
letter to the world and
welcoming a diverse
audience into a world
and a vision. – MARK LAMOS
ing a diverse ]YY[