BWW EXCLUSIVE: Preston Sadleir Talks ME, MYSELF & I and More

Concluding BroadwayWorld's exclusive three-part series on Edward Albee's newest masterpiece ME, MYSELF & I, comes this exciting and energized interview with the youngest star of the show, playing one of the titular twosome both named Otto, the enthusiastic and expressive Preston Sadleir! In this in-depth conversation we discuss working with Elizabeth Ashley and Brian Murray on ME, MYSELF & I in addition to his onstage twin Zachary Booth, as well as the director, Emily Mann, and the master writer himself, Edward Albee. Additionally, we discuss the rehearsal process at Playwrights' Horizons, the themes of the play, the acting process onstage acting every night with two of the greats, as well as what the play means to not only himself as an actor, but also to the twenty-first century audience coming to see the show (which has just been extended and now runs to October 31st). We also talk about the exciting workshop productions and readings of two burgeoning musicals that are eyeing Broadway soon, including the much anticipated Broadway revival of CARRIE and a new original cougar-themed musical starring Jane Krakowski titled MRS. SHARP! Few performers are so at ease in plays and musicals as Preston is - and at barely twenty-five years old - so here is a chance to see why he is one of the hottest new theatrical stars on the rise! Enjoy!

The Play About The Ottos

PC: You're so young. Tell me how you were first exposed to the work of Edward Albee. Were you familiar with WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRIGINIA WOOLF? Or maybe THE ZOO STORY?

PS: My exposure to the Albee canon was pretty limited. I was familiar with VIRIGINIA WOOLF. And I had read ZOO STORY and A DELICATE BALANCE. But, the second the opportunity was presented just to have an initial audition, after having read the script... I just thought it was a brilliant masterpiece of words and I was so excited to really understand the way he wrote.

PC: A fascinating process, I'm sure!

PS: Yeah, I made it a point to really, really understand his work. There were many a days that I curled up at Barnes & Noble in the corner and just read a bunch of Albee.

PC: Sounds great! What are you going to do now that it's closing? You won't have a place to read the text anymore!

PS: (Laughs.) I guess I'll have to contemporize myself and figure out how to do it on my phone or something. (Laughs.)

PC: It's too bad that all the bookstores are disappearing in New York.

PS: Totally. There's something great about being able to physically handle scripts and be able to sit and scan pages.

PC: Your co-star Liz Ashley was telling me she learns all her lines out loud. She doesn't read anything.

PS: Right.

 

PC: Did you rehearse with her that way?

PS: Yeah. She is... (Pause.) She is an all-in type of lady!

PC: Damn right!

PS: You definitely want to do things her way. If she wants to run something, if she wants to do something, if she wants to drill something - however she wants to do something, you do it. She sure is... she is one of the greats.

PC: Had you seen her onstage before?

PS: I had never had the privilege. I definitely knew who she was and her career and what a revered actress she is. But, now I know what all the chatter is about!

PC: Most people our age know her best from EVENING SHADE.

PS: Oh, yeah. I definitely went back and watched a ton of her old work when I found out I was working with her.

PC: Tell me about your relationship, onstage and off, since the play has so much to do with mothers and sons.

PS: The relationship that I have been able to develop with Liz has been amazing. I don't know if it is subconsciously derived that I am the good, sweet son, but... (Laughs.)

PC: You're the good Otto!

PS: Her motherly instincts have kicked in and she has become so sweet and near and dear to me. Granted, she calls me her little "acid muffin" but... (Laughs.)

 

PC: She's famous for her nicknames!

PS: She is! But, really, she's so honest and supportive... but, she doesn't put up with people's crap, either. She's a really no-nonsense lady and she really brings out the best in us in the performances of the people she works with. She's really just so... quick!

PC: Like a knife! I love her book, ACTRESS.

PS: Yes! She gave me a copy, she gave me a copy! I'm gonna have to sit down and really give it a cover-to-cover read really soon. I'm sure interviewing her was so much fun!

PC: Totally. A dream come true. She's had a wild and outrageous life!

PS: Oh, my gosh, yes!

PC: From Williams to Shakespeare: What about working with Brian Murray? Did you know him from 30 ROCK and all the movies and stage work he has done?

PS: Yeah, I definitely knew his work. Brian is such a master of language. This whole rehearsal process would have been so difficult and tricky if we didn't have his help and guidance. He just really knows and understands the way that language can assist the theatrical experience. Edward Albee even told us in the first couple days of rehearsal that he writes really specifically to the sound. He hears the way the show sounds in his head and, to him, it's more like a piece of music. It has a rhythm and a meter and Brian Murray really understands that and how something is supposed to flow and time out. You are always in good hands with Brian Murray.

PC: For sure!

PS: Plus, he's got that big, booming, monster voice that's so fun to listen to!

PC: It's interesting that your comments are so similar to his. You all seem to be on the exact same page in this production.

PS: It is nice to feel that we are on the same page. We all are doing the same play, as it were!

PC: How would you categorize this play? It's an absurdist farce, really. Right?

PS: Yes. It is.

PC: What about working with a piece so obscure and one that is changing constantly like this was in previews?

PS: When we started in on the audition process it was the Tyne Daly version that they did at the McCarter Theater in Princeton. The show has changed and it has been rewritten a number of ways but I would say that the majority of it is still intact. Definitely all the themes and philosophies are still right there in this new version of the script.

PC: Were any of the changes really harrowing? Did you have to learn a whole monologue in two hours or anything?

PS: (Laughs.) No, I feel like there were no huge changes that required total re-memorization. I think most of it was just kind of refocusing and eliminating chunks that were hindering the forward motion of the play. So, it was just mostly remembering when to skip ahead a few pages.

PC: I only ask because Albee is famous in TINY ALICE and, especially, SEASCAPE for rewriting a lot. SEASCAPE lost its entire third act!

PS: Wow!

PC: Yeah, it all takes place underwater with the lizards!

PS: Wow, he's just crazy. And audacious!

PC: You've got that right. What is your first theatrical memory?

PS: Well, I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. So, it wasn't like I was exposed to a great amount of theatre growing up.

PC: You weren't quite one the vaudeville Albees then?

PS: No! (Laughs.) I didn't have that privilege of being theatrical royalty. I have to talk to Edward and get some more of those great stories from him!

PC: Are you familiar with THE PLAY ABOUT THE BABY?

PS: Oh, yeah! I love it.

PC: Do you feel ME, MYSELF & I takes place in the same universe as that play? I was discussing this with Brian, who was in both, of course.

PS: Oh, yeah. I do think they take place in the same universe. And, Elizabeth, who has acted in WHO'S AFRAID OF Virginia Woolf?, has said that in many ways the show is a strange and interesting response to what was written there.

PC: Wow! How provocative!

PS: Yeah, definitely.

PC: What do you think the main difference between the two Ottos are? What about your relationship with your brother onstage?

PS: (Pause.) Well... (Pause.) It's written into a scene, actually, between Elizabeth and Brian. You are sort of exposed to the crazy side of Mother, when she is explaining that they are perfect names for identical twins because they read the same way forward and backwards.

PC: Right. Palindromes.

PS: Right. Yeah! They are these palindromes, but in her mind they are not the same name exactly because of how one reads forward and the other reads backwards. You know, also, that one is all capital letters and one is all lower case to help differentiate. But, of course, as we all know, there's no differentiation there at all so it makes a very confusing identity and relationship between the two characters.

PC: What about the idea of one being real and one imaginary. Are you twinned? Is one a ghost?

PS: I don't think even I, myself, have locked into a definitive answer for that. I think I am the twin brother of Zach up there and he does have to exist and we have to deal with a whole confusing whirlwind of issues when he announces to our family that I do not.

PC: The impetus of the drama, really.

PS: Right. But, as far as what is written there and what is supposed to be gathered by the audience, it could be a whole host of other things.

PC: So many possibilities.

PS: Yeah, you know, portraying the idea that there are many versions of ourselves: the version of ourselves that we play to the audience or the people around us, the version we pretend doesn't exist, the one we wish existed that we invent, but doesn't actually exist. There are a lot of ways to look at it.

PC: Undoubtedly.

PS: As far as being able to get up there and act it, I definitely have to - in order to really find the heartbreak in the piece - I have to have to invest myself in a real and palpable relationship with Zach.

PC: Edward makes it real for you and you make it real for the audience and the audience makes it real for the play.

PS: Yeah, I think that's the genius thing about what Edward writes. He takes these ridiculous situations - such as having a relationship with a goat [in THE GOAT] - and making it kind of hilarious and totally heartbreaking for an actor to act and the audience to watch. I think the audience gets a kick out of the fact that Zach is sitting up there onstage every night saying I don't exist and I'm no longer his brother.

PC: Chilling, too.

PS: Yeah, he's just decided all of a sudden that I'm no longer his brother. We all know that's a decision you can't really make in real life, but Edward made that a possibility onstage. So, that makes it really heartbreaking for me every night, as little Otto, to go through, but, it's probably - in a weird, twisted way - it's fun for everyone to watch me twist and turn.

PC: That's the essence of drama, after all. Right?

PS: Right! Don't I know it.

PC: Would you ever consider playing the Doctor? In about forty years?

PS: (Laughs.) If I was ever to somehow morph into the vocal champion that Brian Murray is. If I could be as good as he is, I would love the challenge. He's such a great example to me.

PC: Would you ever want to switch roles ala TRUE WEST with Zach?

PS: Oh, yeah! Zach and I had actually joked about that early in the process. But, I think the characters are very specific in terms of how they navigate in their family and relate to other people. I think that Zach and I are best suited to the parts we are playing, but that would be a really exciting challenge to have the chance to switch. I didn't expect an unanticipated trip-up, but... rarely do you ever have a process where you are so inextricably tied to another person. How they sound, how they're walking, how we look, how we respond to each other.

PC: Twin overload!

PS: Yeah, so over time you develop these complexes. "Zach is doing it right and I'm doing it wrong!" And "We need to be more like each other!" So, through the process, we have gotten to know each other so well and are so aware of each other that maybe that isn't as tricky as it sounds.

PC: What's the future of the show beyond October, Halloween?

PS: I feel like we all feel the show is where it needs to be and what we're doing is what we need to be doing right now.

PC: So, no more changes?

PS: None! Plus, for the show to be opening the fortieth season of Playwrights' Horizons, and it's Edward's thirtieth play, and this is the first time he is having a premiere at Playwrights Horizons. It's the perfect venue, the perfect cast and the perfect combination of things to allow this play to have its first New York stage life. It think we're all just happy where it is and doing what it's doing.

PC: You'd do it on Broadway, if offered, though, right?

PS: Are you kidding? (Laughs.) Yes!

PC: So, you'd consider it.

PS: Oh, yeah. I'm just trying to focus on doing it. I mean, I never want the wonder of it all to escape me... that I am as young as I am and being new to New York and being able to have this debut in the new Edward Albee play is just...

PC: "Oh my God!" Right?

PS: I'm totally still in awe of the entire experience.

PC: What's your favorite moment every night onstage?

PS: I really enjoy... there's this really frenetic scene where little Otto is really scared and he dashes into the bedroom and finds his girlfriend there. It's this crazed scene. He's drilling her with questions without giving her time to respond. Natalia Payne is the girl who plays Maureen and she is just so sweet and calming and it perfectly counteracts the crazy, hyper questioning I am going through. It's a really fun, fast, crazy scene to do every night.

PC: Did you have any issue with the edgier content and nudity?

PS: Well, it's no secret that I'm this sweet child from Salt Lake City, Utah, so it's not the type of material that was in my household growing up...

PC: It would be burned there!

PS: (Laughs.) Yeah, when I'm up there onstage I realize what I am doing is really necessary and I don't think there's anything I'm ashamed of doing onstage.

PC: Nor should you be. Everyone has their limit, though.

PS: Oh, yeah, and I certainly do, too, but I don't think anything in this play compromises my integrity or anything.

PC: Definitely not. Define collaboration.

PS: I think in the realm of theatre and acting, I think collaboration has everything to do with... deep listening. I just feel like when I'm involved with a company that's deeply involved and committed to listening to each other, I think collaboration is born.

PC: What's next?

PS: I have a strong background in musical theatre. Last year, I was there in Playwrights Horizons working on a new musical with Jane Krakowski called MRS. SHARP. I played one of her students who helps her plot to kill her husband.

PC: Yeah, it's about a cougar, right?

PS: Yeah.

PC: How is the score?

PS: Aww, it's fantastic! Ryan Scott Oliver is a new, young composer and I really don't think it's beyond me to say that he will be a huge Broadway force in the coming years.

PC: And what about CARRIE?

PS: I'm not supposed to say anything. But, I did the workshop and everything went really great.

PC: We can't wait to see you in those two musicals - or in ME, MYSELF & I - whichever comes to Broadway first!

PS: Thanks. This has been so much fun.