Talking With... Sean Christopher Lewis

Playwright & Performer of CITY OF NUMBERS

Conducted by Rebecca Wright, InterAct's Literary Director & Dramaturg,
                        and Lindsay Allen, Lliterary Intern

InterAct:  Can you describe the project that led to the creation of CITY OF NUMBERS?

Sean Cristopher Lewis:  Well, basically I was in residence at InterAct Theatre on a playwriting residency through this great organization called the National New Play Network- and Seth (the Artistic Director of InterAct,) told me that Mural Arts was looking for a playwright who would be interested in going into a prison and working with inmates involved in their painting program. He asked if I was interested and I said “yes.”

Once we were in the prison, I started doing interviews. The plan, originally, was to create a twenty minute multi-character piece to present for the inmates only. Once I talked to the men there, however, I knew it was much bigger. I had to reach out more. This is when I started going into the community, talking with victim’s advocacy groups and more. Once I had a script, I knew I had to start showing it to people and getting it performed, but all I had was me. So, I began performing all the roles, travelling to cities around the country doing the show and then holding talk-back sessions. And that was amazing.

InterAct:  Did developing this piece affect your ideas about crime, the prison system, or any of the other issues dealt with in the show?

Sean Cristopher Lewis:  It dispelled presumptions I had in regards to 'what an inmate was.' It also made me look at Philadelphia and our urban centers across the U.S. differently. When I went into certain neighborhoods to do research for this piece, people who'd lived here for some time literally told me that I was crazy and that they would never go there. And when I did travel, the massive shift from the landscape of Center City to North Philly was tremendous.

I wondered then if there was a willful ignorance to crime, a sense of "I don't live there" or "what can I do." And I say this without damning that idea- that's too easy, because on a day-to-day level, what do any of us do? What can we do? I mean, it's an insanely complicated issue. No one wants killers on the street, we all want justice, we all want safety and fairness. so what lines are drawn? I mean: when a life is lost- what punishment is right? If it were your family victimized? If it were your family that was responsible?

The show for me became a sincere investigation of crime, of Philadelphia and of myself. Where did I fit into this? Could I do anything? And if not- why not?.

InterAct:  What led to the choice to make a one-man show?

Sean Cristopher Lewis:  Immediacy and economics created the form. I wanted people to see this NOW. I didn't want to wait a year or two to develop the play as a multi-character play, then cast it, then schedule it- so basically I decided to do it myself and pay for a lot of it myself. Theaters were interested last Spring in doing weekend or off night showcases of it- the subject matter was intriguing and I was willing- so, I threw my set into my Ford Focus put a bunch of gas on my credit card and drove around performing it.

InterAct:  Is it a challenge to represent people of different ethnicities/cultures than your own? Has there been audience response to this?

Sean Cristopher Lewis:  The only challenge of performing characters of ethnicity is the knowledge that you aren't part of that community and that it will automatically open you up to attacks. You basically have to believe in what you're doing- understand that there will be people who will not get past that- that no matter what, they just don't want to see a white guy doing that. And I understand and respect that. At the same time I expect them to respect the fact that if its between me taking that risk and exposing myself and the play existing, or me just deciding it's too hot-button and that too many people might get offended and then not doing it- well, I'm going to choose doing it, making sure the piece exists every single time.

In the end- I believe- it is that issue of honesty. Do you respect the people you are putting onstage, do you honor them in your performance by being truthful, not judging them and portraying them in the humanity they offered you when they were interviewed? This is the only thing I have to answer to.

The response has been all over- some people don't care, some people do- for me it's often troubling when it comes up because people aren't really worried about me "playing ethnicity." Meaning ethnicities as a whole. The truth is they assume every inmate in my show is black and they are uncomfortable with the idea of a white guy playing a black guy. The problem? There's only two black characters in my show. Only one is an inmate. I think it's interesting and far more telling when people say "do you think it's okay that you play all these black inmates?" And I just sit there and think- "when did the script ever say they were black?"

A lot of the people- the high majority who bring up the issue- are white, to be honest. And I think it's fascinating- they want to be a defender of political correctness but the assumption they jump to about the people I interviewed and portrayed is horribly skewed by their own prejudices.

On the flipside of that, we've had youth groups, half way homes, ex convict groups, victim's advocacy groups, detention centers and more come to each show in each city and not a single one of them has been mad at me. If that audience respects how I am bringing them to the stage then I'm good with it too.

InterAct:  As a writer and as an actor, what's it like performing your own work?

Sean Cristopher Lewis:  As an actor I feel like it's been my master class in the craft. You have to risk a lot to do it. You have to take chances- and this is what it's all about as a writer and an actor- because we are in a moment right now where that's not encouraged.

What I mean is that the true way that an artist grows is by succeeding wonderfully and failing miserably- and people don't want to fail, theater's can't afford for you to fail and so people make safer work. They take safer paths; they go to the right grad schools, they submit to the right conferences, they get the right agents. I'm guilty of this too. I've gone to grad school, I've followed some of these paths and then I realized: I wasn't getting better. I was only getting safer.

And we don't need that in the theater.

You can't be scared of critics. You can't be scared of finances. You can't worry about ruining a reputation or a career (only .01 percent of the population even know anything about theater- so that's basically impossible to begin with). Because then the best work you make will be no better than your fear of what you were willing to come up to before stopping.

Long windedly- the process is terrifying and I feel like it will kill me each time. It means a year of re-writing after every performance, of putting myself out there in talk-backs and performances as nakedly as possible.

It's lonely as well, because you travel and work alone. And its not romantic. Trust me, I thought doing it was romantic when I did the first one- I was 24. I've learned since I was an idiot.

But I do think, for me, that it's an absolute necessity.

InterAct:  You've been touring this show all over the country. What have the responses been like? How do you feel about doing the piece in its "hometown" of Philadelphia?

Sean Cristopher Lewis:  I was in Columbus this past weekend to see a performance of a new play at a theater where I first did the show and it was amazing. Ten people or more came up to me at different times and thanked me for doing the show, in NYC a guard from Rikers hugged me, the next day I received a letter from the head of a detention center for incarcerated teens who said the kids wanted her to write and say how much they respected what I did, in Kansas strangers came up and told me stories about the imprisoned relatives they have that they’ve turned their back on…

It’s been life changing.

It’s the first show I’ve ever done that I see has stayed with people. I get emails days, weeks and months after performances. I didn’t know what I was getting into- I still don’t in some ways- it’s only been a year since the thing was written.

I’m glad to have the chance to bring the show back. Grateful and humbled. Philadelphia shared a lot with me; I’m glad to give the show back in return. That sounds very “up with people,” but it’s true.

I expect lively debate- Philly is no joke. People speak their minds. But the audiences are also amazingly intelligent and kind when they see something they respect.

InterAct: Thanks, Sean.

THE 2009/2010 SEASON

Introduction

Chad Deity

CIty of Numbers

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About The Play

Playwright/Performer

Playwright Interview

Talk-Backs

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When We Go Upon The Sea
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