BWW Interviews: Claudia Weill Directs THE BELLE OF BELFAST at Irish Rep

The Irish Repertory Theatre (Irish Rep) is currently producing The Belle of Belfast through June 7th at the DR2 Theatre Space in Union Square. The play is written by Nate Rufus Edelman and directed by Claudia Weill. Broadwayworld.com had the opportunity to interview Weill about the show and her career.

The Belle of Belfast takes place in 1985 when fiery Anne Malloy drinks and smokes her days away with her chubby curry chip-addicted best mate. When she turns to her parish priest, Father Reilly seeking the comforts of the flesh and soul, she discovers her troubles have just begun. This is a bittersweet portrait of a city at war and a piece that forces people to consider what is wrong and what is righteous.

Claudia Weill is a television, film and theatre director who has garnered impressive awards for her work. She produced and directed her first feature, Girlfriends in 1979. Next she directed It's My Turn for Columbia Pictures with Jill Clayburgh, Michael Douglas and Charles Grodin. In television, her most recent work has been for HBO's Girls (Episode 6 "Boys"). She is known for multiple episodes of thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, Chicago Hope Once and Again, TV/Cable movies such as Face of a Stranger by Marsha Norman, Johnny Bull and 20 short films for Sesame Street that are still on the air. As a theatre director, she has worked at Williamstown, The O'Neill, Sundance, ACT, Empty Space, Manhattan Theatre Club, Circle Rep, EST and The Public Theater.

Ms. Weill teaches TV Directing at the Columbia School of the Arts. She was on the faculty at USC for many years where she taught the Advanced Directing Class in the Graduate School of Cinema. She has guest taught Directing for Film, Television and Theatre, as well as Directing for Writers at Harvard, NYU, USC and Cal Arts among others. She regularly mentors young writers and directors, serves on the Executive Committee for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to which she was the 3rd female director admitted.

We asked Weill when she first became interested in the arts?

In my family, fresh off the boat from Europe in the early 40s, the arts were like sports in an American family-just what or how you played! I painted and drew with my dad since I was tiny.

Who have been some of your mentors?

Carl Lerner, the film editor who was a big champion of women, and my first employer- and I would say my girlfriends!

What directors have you admired?

Coppola, Ozu, Wenders, Renoir

With the vast variety of theatre, television and film you have worked on, what attracts you to a piece?

The heart of the piece - what it has to say about people with characters that have specific voices and make compelling choices!

How does teaching compliment your career as a director?

Teaching makes me a better director, because it makes me pay attention to what's happening in front of me first of all. Otherwise, I get too inside my own head and try to impose something with out evaluating: i.e. SEEING what's happening.

What have some of the challenges been of directing Belle of Belfast?

The challenges are also the strengths- the rapid change in tone of the play from comic to tragic, and back again. Plus if you don't supply the context for the love story, war torn Belfast in 1985, it doesn't make sense. I was very lucky to work with an incredible design team to create the world with grit and elegance (Justin Townsend, lights; Jeff Lawson, projections,; Daniel Kluger, sound; John McDermott, set; Terese Wadden, costumes).

Tell us a little about the cast and creative team at Irish Rep.

The Creative team Charlotte Moore and Ciaran O'Reilly are the best a director could wish for! They are supportive, smart, there when you need them, not when you don't! And, both are great directors themselves, excellent resources!

What are some of your plans for the future?

I'm off to direct a new play by Rinne Groff (Compilsuon, The Ruby Sunrise etc) and next fall I will be teaching TV directing at Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts.

The Belle of Belfast will be performed through June 7th at DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15th Street, New York, NY 10003 (Just East of Union Square). For tickets please visit the Irish Repertory Theatre website at www.irishrep.org.

Photo: Courtesy of Claudia Weill