Interview: Playwright Will Arbery Takes on Catholic Conservatives in His HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING

Rogue Machine Southern California Premiere of Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning just opened August 19, 2023, at the Rogue Machine at the Matrix. Rogue Machine Theatre’s artistic director Guillermo Cienfuegos directs the cast of Roxanne Hart, Evangeline Edwards, Samuel Garnett, Stephen Tyler Howell and Emily James. Will found time between his moving in and rehearsals to answer a few of my queries.

Thank you for taking the time for this interview, Will!

What serendipity brought you together with Guillermo and Rogue Machine?

I first heard about Rogue Machine's interest in Heroes through Emily James, who's playing Emily in this production. Emily and I initially collaborated at the Ojai Playwrights Conference, when she played the character of Jane Jr. in my play Evanston Salt Costs Climbing. A few years later, she wrote to say that her favorite director Guillermo Cienfuegos was interested in directing the play. I thought that sounded fantastic. 

How long has the gestation period of Heroes been, starting from the idea in your creative mind to this Southern California premiere?

I first started writing this play in the summer of 2016. The play was developed at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York, and then it had readings around town including at the Vineyard and New York Theater Workshop. I really found the play during a week of development at the Cape Cod Theater Project, which is when I started my collaboration with the director Danya Taymor, and some of the key cast members including Zoë Winters (Teresa) and Jeb Kreager (Justin). Finally, we did a small in-house reading at Playwrights Horizons, fresh off that Cape Cod workshop when the play was still very alive in our bones, and they offered to produce it in the fall of 2019. Thankfully, that went very well. Then came the pandemic, and Jeremy O. Harris produced a run of live Zoom productions with our original cast and designers. People from around the world were able to tune into it, which was beautiful. Meanwhile, we opened the play up to regional productions, and since then it's been done around the country. But I've been so eager for the play to be done in L.A., and I'm so thrilled that it's happening right as I've moved here. 

Was there a specific incident in your life that inspired Heroes?

The play wasn't inspired by an incident, so much as an entire lifetime. I grew up around these people. From as early as I can remember, I was witnessing "big conversations" like the ones in this play, being had by brilliant, passionate, tortured, and often very drunk Catholic conservatives. So, it was inevitable that I would write this play. 

How involved have you been in the pre-production of this Rogue Machine presentation?

By some serendipity, this production aligned with my move to L.A. and also the writer's strike, so I've been "pencils down" on my film and TV projects, which allowed me to attend callbacks and the first read-through at Rogue Machine. And I watched their second stumble-through in rehearsals. I've been able to chat with the cast and the designers and have kept up an ongoing conversation with Guillermo. I'm not as involved as I normally like to be -- when I premiere a play, I go to rehearsal every single day like it's my job. Because it is. In this case, I'm balancing it with moving in and some other commitments, but the fact that I'm able to be involved at all is a huge gift to me. I'm inspired by this group of artists. 

What would your three-line pitch of Heroes be?

Heroes of the Fourth Turning is a play that gives you access to a conversation that you would never otherwise have access to, because you being there would fundamentally change what was being said. No matter what you believe, there is something here to challenge you. And the empathy is not the point. To quote Ashley Chang: "Perhaps it’s possible to venture further, beyond the shallows of the shoreline, past the familiarity of fellow-feeling, to a place unknown; to a place of intractable values and irreconcilable positions; to a place of democratic confrontation so fierce, so vibrant, and so full of love as to be almost unthinkable."

Have you worked with any of Heroes’ cast or creatives before?

Emily James was in the Ojai workshop of Evanston Salt Costs Climbing, and Stephen Tyler Howell was part of a workshop of Corsicana that I did for Ojai! So was the production stage manager, Ramón Valdez!

What does the title Heroes of the Fourth Turning refer to?

It refers to a theory about generational cycles throughout history. It comes from a book, The Fourth Turning, by Neil Howe and William Strauss. I first learned about it when I was researching Steve Bannon, who was entering Trump's cabinet while claiming that we were currently inside the fourth turning, which is called "crisis." I was disturbed by the strange glee with which he seemed to talk about this crisis. 

What do you remember of being notified that Heroes was a 2020 Pulitzer Prize finalist? 

It was in the middle of COVID. I was alone in an apartment. I just lay down on the floor for a while and closed my eyes. 

Heroes went on to win the Whiting Award, an Obie Award, a New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, the Lucile Lortel Award and the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Playwriting Award. Any of those awards more special than the rest?

It was really cool to win a Whiting, because you're in a class with writers from other disciplines, and some of them have become friends of mine. But the most special was the Obie, because every single cast member, as well as the director and designers, won an Obie for that production too. Making that show was such an act of faith and perseverance, and everyone involved was brilliant. I'm so grateful to all of my collaborators. We were all holding a fragile thing in the air between us, protecting it, letting it shine its small light -- so it was very meaningful to all be honored together. 

With your script, when do your words become set in stone?

Usually right before the "script freeze" date, which is right before press previews begin. 

Your plays do revolve around your sisters (Corsicana and Piano). Is there another unique family drama percolating in your creative mind?

Yes, but I'm going to wait a few years to write it. I need to give my family a break!

Thank you again, Will! I look forward to meeting your conservative Catholics.

For tickets to the live performances of Heroes of the Fourth Turning through October 2, 2023; click on the button below:

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