Director’s Note

I fell in love with this play. Yes, part of the reason it first interested me was the photo of Jimmy Smits in the book where part of it was reprinted. I admit to the sensual draw of the man, after all, that’s part of the story.

Smits (New York’s Juan Julian) has done the play several times and seen even more productions; he admits being enamored of the script as well. Neither of us can explain why, exactly. But we aren’t alone; this play won its Pulitzer before it neared Broadway. Somehow the seekers after great literature found it on a regional Florida stage. I found the play, ironically, as I was in the throes of reading Anna Karennina. No joke! (I finally finished it last June and, like Santiago, I like Levin best.) 

It’s a book that also has a mysterious draw, although it is difficult to pinpoint why.  Perhaps it’s the sheer beauty of great literature, of glorious words in poetic motion — that literature does influence life, or at least allows us to step back and recognize our lives’ reflections. Maybe it’s because the stories are about love, many kinds of love, both constructive and destructive, if the latter can still be termed "love."

After this whole process of searching, researching, pulling people from different departments, casting, incorporating dancers and drummers, talking, thinking, rehearsing — after all this, I think I don’t need to know why I love it. It’s magical in some ancient-new way — its frankness and subtle depth startled the students at auditions. It affects people; it affects me. I release needing to know why. I decide to go on loving, and slowly savor the moments.

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