2015 A stage odyssey

A dream cast, Vinnie Marano the director and Robin Lane the producer.

My only ambition when I translated and self-published my novel “Te souviens-tu de moi?” previously published by Buchet-Chastel of Paris, was to enable Toni, my American wife, as well as our New York friends to sample a taste of my writing and I chose that particular novel because it had just been well received in France. I also I thought that “Do you remember me?” a story of friendship, love and betrayal was universal even though it takes place in Nazi-occupied France. I could not imagine where this translation would take me.

The odyssey started when Robin Lane, a theater producer and a friend from the National Arts Club in Manhattan, invited Toni and me to a weekend in Massachusetts where she and her husband had rented a Summer house. When Robin took me aside and congratulated me on “Do you remember me?” I was happy of course, but she had more on her mind that day. She told me that she saw a play, yes a stage play, in my story. She wanted to produce the play for a reading at the National Arts Club. My initial reaction was bluntly negative; the struggle for survival in the Buchenwald concentration camp takes a good half of my novel and I just couldn’t see how this could possibly be adapted for the stage. So, for me it was basically “Thank you for the lovely weekend and I’ll think about it.” As far as I was concerned that was the end of it, but I would soon discover that taking no for an answer is simply not part of Robin’s DNA.

It took months before I finally heard myself say “OK, OK I’ll give it a try.” I didn’t anticipate then that I would find myself drawn in by this project and thoroughly enjoying the challenge of what was for me an entirely new form of writing. True, I had written a couple of screenplays and taken one of them to the screen, but a playwright deals with a totally different set of parameters and constraints. It was a bit intimidating.

I started sending drafts of scenes to Robin (only after having them vetted by my old friend John Hayes whose task was not only to take away my French accent from the dialogues, but also to act as a sounding board.) Robin was always encouraging while constantly giving me advice. I’ll never forget my reaction when she urged me to write funny lines. “The audience needs them,” she said. “Inject some levity.” What? I thought. What’s funny about sending your best friend to Buchenwald? I’m not Mel Brooks. But of course I tried and it was for me the most difficult challenge. Comedy is hard, they say. Well, they’re right.

After months of work and rewrites, we finally had a play that satisfied Robin enough to offer it to directors. It was an eerie experience for me to have lunch with Robin and a director, hearing him describe how he would handle the play and thinking, here I am about to veto a man who knows so much more than I do about the theater. Only I’m the author and I don’t agree with his views. Fortunately Robin and I saw eye to eye.

Eventually, Robin decided to send the play to Vinnie Marano, a director she had previously worked with and very much appreciated. Bingo! Vinnie liked the play and we started exchanging ideas. I learned a lot from him. One example was how to handle flashbacks, an easy exercise in movies – too easy sometimes – but something I had trouble envisioning on stage. In the process there were many rewrites. Fortunately I love editing.

The next step was to approach actors, hoping that they would like the play enough to commit to reading a part. It was then that Robin scored big: Len Cariou, a Tony winner for his part in Sweeny Todd and an inductee of the American Theater Hall of Fame, agreed to read the part of one of the two friends. Then Margaret Ladd, the famed actress with a stellar résumé, agreed to read the part of his wife. Other actors followed and soon we had a dream of a cast.

I will never forget the first table reading of my play. As I told the actors afterwards, they made me quickly forget that I had written the words they spoke and I found myself amused or moved in a way I hadn’t envisioned. Hearing them give their own interpretation – the silences, the intonations, the outbursts – was an extraordinary experience. There were other such readings, one of them in the Paul Newman’s library at the Actors Studio on 44^th street. I pinched myself as I entered this hallowed ground of American theater.

Finally, came our D-day. Monday October 19. Invitations had been sent out weeks before. After hours of final rehearsal, the public started to file into the National Arts Club. Len Cariou’s name had been a big draw and soon the room was full. I was seated in the first row between Toni and John, my two faithful supporters.

To me it was an out of body experience. For some reason, I had to constantly remind myself that I had written the play to which these talented actors were giving life. Then there was the applause, Len Cariou inviting me on stage, the congratulations from friends and people I’d never met. It was all very strange indeed.

And then? Well, the following day, we learned that a critic had been in attendance and written a very positive review. I learned that I was welcome to attend the weekly readings of the Playwrights and Directors Unit of the Actors Studio. There I mingle with Broadway professionals who know far more about the theater than I will ever do and it is a thrill.

And now what’s next? Honestly I don’t know, I tell my friends. It’s all in Robin’s hands. For the moment I consider myself blessed to have lived this experience and I’m back at my desk writing a new novel.