Talking With... Thomas Gibbons

Playwright of SILVERHILL

Conducted by Rebecca Wright, InterAct's Literary Director & Dramaturg,
                        and Angela Coleman, Literary Intern

InterAct: The Silverhill community of the play is based on a real community, the Oneida community, which was founded in upstate New York in 1848. What initially sparked your interest in Oneida?

Thomas Gibbons: I first came across Oneida’s history many years ago, while researching a never-staged play about the Millerite religious movement. 19th-century America produced many utopian experiments, but Oneida was the most successful (with the exception of the Shakers, who still exist)---and in some ways, the most radical. What fascinated me about them was that they based their communism not on Marx but on the Bible, and also practiced a system called “complex marriage” (which we would call free love).

InterAct:  Can you talk a little bit about the process and challenges of writing a historical play?

Thomas Gibbons: For me the first challenge is finding the right language---speech that springs believably from its time but without being pedantic or stilted. We’ve all seen historical plays in which the characters don’t use contractions. After that, it’s a question of trying to put myself aside and inhabit characters who have different assumptions and beliefs about the world. In the early drafts of a historical play, you tend to include too much of the information you’ve acquired because it’s genuinely fascinating. Gradually you see the outline of the story you’re telling, and the nonessential elements separate themselves out and fall away.

InterAct:  While Silverhill wrestles with many themes that are still alive and well today, its 19th century America is in many important ways very different than our 21st century America. Why this play now?

Thomas Gibbons: The only reason to write a historical play is because the subject casts light on our own time from an unexpected angle or opens a new perspective. In Silverhill’s case, the combination of religious belief and rejection of capitalism stands in fascinating contrast to the current moment, in which Christianity so often presents itself as a wholly owned subsidiary of capitalism (for example, the “prosperity gospel” movement).

InterAct: What drew you to Silverhill’s themes of capitalism, communism, utopia, and ownership?

Thomas Gibbons: There are some days when I feel that money and ownership are the only possible subject for a writer now. Writing about a different time period allows you to point to a time when the possibilities were different---and utopian communities, after all, are founded on possibility.

InterAct:  You have a reputation for writing provocative plays, and Silverhill, in depicting unconventional ideas about monogamy and sexual mores, follows suit. Do you ever have any reservations about pushing people out of their comfort zones?

Thomas Gibbons: I’ve always believed that audiences go to theatre precisely because they want to be taken out of their comfort zones---not all audiences, maybe, but certainly InterAct’s. Why go to the theatre to have your assumptions confirmed and your judgments flattered? I want a play to pick me up, throw me against the wall, turn me upside down, shake my pockets out, and force me to see the world in a new way. Failing to achieve that, I can understand; but not even making the attempt---well, what’s the point?

InterAct:  This is your eighth production with InterAct, but many of your past plays have focused on race in contemporary times. Why the shift in focus?

Thomas Gibbons: My last play, A HOUSE WITH NO WALLS, completed a trilogy that began with BEE-LUTHER-HATCHEE and PERMANENT COLLECTION. I could have continued writing about race, but I began to feel that I was wandering in a hall of mirrors. Also, I’ve wanted to write a play about religion for a long time because the impulse to religious belief has always fascinated me and baffled me in equal measure.

InterAct:  Can you talk a little more about your experience working in a long-term collaboration with InterAct?

Thomas Gibbons: What’s kept the relationship alive for such a long time is that Seth and I have always had very similar ideas about why we do theatre and what theatre is for. I don’t think people understand how unusual he is among artistic directors, or how rare InterAct is in the contemporary American theatre. The process of working on this play is the same we’ve always followed---private readings of various drafts alternating with soul-destroying meetings with Seth about the play’s stubborn deficiencies. We haven’t started rehearsals yet, but one thing that excites me about this project is the chance to work with actors who (with the exception of Tim Moyer) I’ve never worked with before.

InterAct: Thanks for talking with us.

THE 2010/2011 SEASON

Introduction

Silverhill

Make a Purchase

About The Play

Running Time

Production Sponsor

The Playwright

Playwright Interview

The Director

The Cast

Talk-Backs

Calendar

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