Talking With... Larry Loebell

Playwright of HOUSE, DIVIDED

Conducted by Peter Bonilla, Literary Manager, Becky Wright, Dramaturg,

and Emma Ferguson, Literary Intern

InterAct: In its earliest form, HOUSE, DIVIDED (originally called EFRAT FROM AFAR) was a monologue in the voice of Doug and Lou’s father, Ben. Now there are six characters and Ben is not on stage. Can you describe how you got from there to here?

Larry Loebell: Some of the evolution was just part of the natural process of writing. As the story became clearer to me so did the structure. The people Ben talked about in that original monologue needed to have their own say. Once the characters began to evolve, their stories made demands. Oren’s story, in particular, needed more stage time and his part grew. Originally I thought HOUSE, DIVIDED was going to be a play about Lou and Doug and their relationship with their father. And though it still is that in many ways, at some point Ben simply ambled off stage in favor of characters from the next generation. Finding the story is what forced him out of the proceedings, though he, like the women, none of whom appear on stage either, still seems very present to me.

IA: The absence of the women is interesting. We do not see them, yet they exert a huge influence.

LL: Yes. I see this play as being partly about absences – literal ones and metaphoric ones. It has come to seem fitting to me that the offstage characters, these missing loved ones, have as much influence on the characters as the ones we watch. To the extent that this is also a play about how we tell ourselves our most significant stories, the on-stage characters have canonized certain things about the absent ones, leading to fixed ideas about certain events or utterances that occurred in the past. The way they talk about their missing wives and girl friends is not so different from how they talk about each other when they are not in each other’s presence. And maybe not so different from how the various factions in political disputes think and talk about each other in the absence of direct contact, imputing motive and attributing meaning to the other’s actions.

IA: Have other works of yours gone through the kind of metamorphosis this one has, or is this play unique in that regard?

LL: I always find it easier to take stuff out than to add once the real shape of the play is clear to me. So my early drafts often have things in them that do not make it to the final version. Perhaps this one is a little more extreme than some of my others, but the process seemed pretty familiar. Readings and table work with actors also help identify what really belongs and what needs to go, and having good dramaturgical assistance also helps. Becky Wright, who dramaturged this play, has had a lot of impact on the shape of it simply because she asked smart questions about what belonged and what didn’t. And, of course, the fact that Seth [Rozin, Producing Artistic Director] and InterAct have been involved in the development of this play from the very beginning, and Seth was committed to direct it from very early on – meant that his directorial and dramaturgical input also had a significant impact.

IA: This is your sixth full length play. Almost all of them have some political dimension. How do you choose what to work on? What drew you to the specific subjects of this play?

LL: I write about what interests me. Family dynamics interests me and politics interests me. My plays all try to connect the political and the personal. My last play, LA TEMPESTAD, was about the 60 year use of the island of Vieques for bombing practice, and it was also about marriage and family and how parents relate to and detach from their grown children. I would love to be able to tell you that my next play was going to be a fluffy love story, but it probably won’t be. Specifically, HOUSE, DIVIDED evolved after my wife, Diane, and I went to Edinburgh to the Festival and Fringe in August, 2004. At that time, I was working for InterAct as the Literary Manager and Dramaturg. We saw a play in Edinburgh that was written by a Palestinian attorney about the two weeks he had been confined in his home during the Israeli occupation of Ramallah in 2002. I was concerned the play would be predictable and one-sided, but it turned out to be fascinating and provocative. The negative feelings the playwright had about the Israeli military and government shared the stage with the negative feelings he had about the PLO and its bumbling, corrupt, and violent unwillingness to engage in long-term nation building. What impressed me about the play was the writer’s dogged avoidance of propaganda. While I didn’t agree with many of his opinions, it was clear to me that he saw people on both sides as individuals, often trapped in roles not of their own choosing, and what impressed and depressed him he looked at unflinchingly and with heart. I wanted InterAct to do that play. Seth thought the subject needed context and he envisioned a dialogue of plays, performed in rep, that spoke to various facets of the Israeli/Palestinian political drama. As literary manager I went looking for other plays that might fit the bill. I found plenty of what seemed to me to be pro-Palestinian plays, but I could not find a single contemporary English language political play that included a positive view of Israel or that contained a more complex view than a binary one: Palestinians-oppressed/Israelis-oppressors. I wanted to find a play that had reasonable characters who believed in Israel’s democracy, and who could articulate how Israel’s history and reasons for existing remain relevant to the situation as it exists now, and even who saw Israel’s military response to Arab militancy as being an arguable necessity. But I could not find such a play. After some time, I decided I would try to write the play I was looking for. I had several agendas. I wanted to include the views of patriotic, religious Israelis. I wanted the play to connect the personal and political. I wanted to explore the conflict from an American perspective. And I wanted to talk about how the stories we tell ourselves shape our views. Creation can be an act of exploration, and that is what this play came to be for me.

IA: You have family living in Israel.

LL: I do. They are religious Zionists, and while this play is not their story, there are elements from their lives in the play, just as there are elements from mine. I am and have always been staunchly anti-war and anti-military. During the Vietnam War, I did apply for Conscientious Objector status and had a grueling draft classification hearing. But this is not a biographical play. Unlike Doug’s father in the play, my father was completely supportive of my CO application. The story, characters, and situation in HOUSE, DIVIDED are fictional.

IA: You received a commission from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture that allowed you to travel to Israel for research. How enlightening was that experience?

LL: I read a great deal before I left, history, novels, Jewish studies, news reports and analysis, but nothing really prepares you for how complex things are there. From the point of view of writing the play, I simply wanted to absorb the place and talk to people, including my family, to try to get a more personal perspective on things I had read about. I was there in May of 2006. Shortly after I got home, Hamas kidnapped a soldier in Gaza and Hezbollah took two soldiers in the north and the resulting escalation ended with Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. I had been in a number of places in the north that were under siege.

IA: Was it common for young American Jews to emigrate to Israel in the late 60’s and early 70’s as you portray here?

LL: I’m hesitant to speak generally. I graduated from Central High School here in Philadelphia in 1969, a time when a significant number of its students were Jewish, and then went to Temple University which also had a large Jewish population. Among my circle of friends, there were kids who saw it as their goal to make Alyiah, to emigrate to Israel, and there were kids for whom that idea seemed completely absurd. Moving to Israel was never on my radar, but for some of my friends, there was a certain romance to the idea of becoming “kibbutzniks” that dovetailed with other 1960’s ideas -- back to nature impulses, utopian ideas, socialism, egalitarianism. And some of my friends, at a time when identity politics were really beginning to have an impact, felt going to Israel was the logical way to express their religious or cultural identity, not to mention a way to avoid being drafted into our military or paying taxes to support the Vietnam war. In the play, Young Lou articulates some of this. I continue to know people whose families are split here and there. I assume that in most families the schisms are not as extreme as the one I have created, but some probably are.

IA: Do you think there has been a shift in the feelings of American Jews toward Israel?

LL: I read in the New York Times recently that there is a new lobbying group called J Street that is trying to counter the monolithic view represented by the lobbying group Aipac (American Israel Public Affairs Committee)and others that “to oppose any Israeli policy is to be anti Israel.” This is certainly an indication that there are divergent views within the American Jewish community. It’s hardly a secret that many American Jews think there are other approaches to the issue of Israeli security than aggressive military action, walling out your neighbors, or expanding settlements. But generally I think there is a parallel view, even among the most ardent peace advocates, that Israel’s existence and security are vital. So to answer your question, perhaps a shift in thinking, but not necessarily a shift in feeling.

TICKETS & SHOW TIMES

Performances of HOUSE, DIVIDED are Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. Individual tickets are $15.00 for preview performances, $23.00 Tuesdays - Thursdays and $27.00 Fridays - Sundays. Purchase information is available by calling 215-568-8079; by dropping by InterAct’s box office at The Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., Philadelphia, PA; or through the links provided below. InterAct offers discounts for senior citizens and full-time students (with valid I.D.). Group rates are available, and students with proper I.D. may purchase Rush Tickets for $10.00 five minutes before curtain (based on availability).

2007/2008 Season

Introduction
Last of the Boys
Black Gold
Frozen
House, Divided



InterAct's 2008/2009
Season Announced

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