Exclusive Interview with SF Theatre Legend Bill English

Bill English [photo credit: Lauren English]

San Francisco Playhouse will kick off 2016 with Jennifer Haley’s play The Nether, which challenges audience to confront an explosive and controversial conversation that resonates with disturbing current events of the day. The Nether asks the question “How can the virtual world be policed—and should it be?”

Playhouse co-founder, Bill English directs the play. Here, in an exclusive interview with Cultural Comments, he explains more about the production and this remarkable theater.

Cultural Currents: The new season begins with "The Nether," a challenging play that raises disturbing questions about relationships and identity. How difficult is it to direct a work like this? 

Bill English: I’ve found it very challenging. The play deals with some very touchy issues. Part thriller, part science fiction, part love story. Very difficult to find the right tone. Also, we are working with child actors, who are amazing, but it adds a new dimension to the work

Currents: What other plays have posed similar problems?

English: I think Ideation by Aaron Loeb, which we’ll be taking to 59E59 Theatre in NY in March, was similarly difficult to direct and produce. Part thriller, part farce, we had to skate a fine line between these two contradictory styles to pull it off. And “The Nether” actually deals with very similar issues as another Aaron Loeb play, “First Person Shooter,” which posed the difficult balance between public safety and 1st amendment rights. 

Currents: Can you describe how SF Playhouse determines which new works are performed each season?

English: That is the province of the Artistic Director. I see, over 50 shows a year and read over 300. In addition, our Associate Artistic Director, Jordan Puckett, sifts thru the hundreds of submissions, reading more plays than I and makes recommendations. In the end, we narrow the choices down to 12-15 and then I consult closely with Susi Damilano, our producing director, not just on matters of programming and balancing a season but to make sure the season is viable financially. 

Currents: Have you leaned any great lessons from a play's failure? 

English: Well, I don’t know that I feel we have had any failures. I’m proud as can be of every show we’ve put on artistically. Some do better than others at the box office, which can be a bit of a mystery. We were discussing the other day, that plays about war and cancer have not done as well. These are tough topics. But there are lots of surprises, with show we don’t have great expectations for sometimes out-selling the ones we expect to make more sales. 

Currents: What about a smash hit? What's the secret there?

English: Hmmm. If I knew that, I’d probably be a famous Broadway producer. But seriously, there are some shows you just know will do well. Famous titles like “Into the Woods” we expected to do well, but were blown away when it set box-office records. We were pretty sure, The “Motherf**ker With the Hat” would do well. Theatre is a little like horse racing. You put your best thoroughbreds, best jockey, and best training forward and cross-your fingers. Theatre is not a business for the faint of heart!

Currents: How would you characterize your audience...your subscribers?

English: I think our audience is very diverse, and younger than the Bay Area average. We have every ethnicity and people from widely divergent cultures. I think our audience like to think, to wrestles with the difficult issues facing our culture and to feel. They expect to be moved and touched. I like to call our theatre “The Empathy Gym.” Most our patrons know that and they come to get a good work-out!

Currents: How should the audience prepare for your productions? 

English: I’d say, maybe read something else by the playwright if you can get your hands on it, read some articles about the issues discussed in the play, but mainly show up with an open heart to be a “witness.” I much prefer that word to “audience.” When I witness something, I feel like I have a responsibility to pay close attention and to report to others what I’ve seen. I am the one to whom the actors will be giving testimony and it is my responsibility to make decisions about their characters and the themes of the play

Currents: Why is the Playhouse such a good fit in San Francisco?

English: I think we have tapped into our community’s need for an “Empathy Gym.” It’s a spiritual practice, going to the theatre, and it seems there are many citizens of San Francisco that crave an opportunity, not only to be entertained, because we certainly do that, be to be confronted with difficult issues and other characters who are not easy to empathize with and opening our hearts to universal human experiences that enlarge our communities’ capacity for compassion.