Interview: Joey Landwehr of EXQUISITE PRESSURE at Odyssey Theatre

For Joey Landwehr, playing Tennessee Williams in Jennifer Jonassen’s new play Exquisite Pressure is the latest chapter in a decades-long relationship with the legendary playwright’s work.

Written, directed, and produced by Jonassen, Exquisite Pressure follows Hanna (Sonya Leslie), a devoted Tennessee Williams fan whose visits to a statue of the playwright take an unexpected and increasingly magical turn. Landwehr steps into the role of Williams, or at least a version of him shaped by Hanna’s imagination, admiration, and need for connection.

With a long history of performing Williams’ work, Landwehr was excited to tackle this role. He talks about his fascination with Tennessee Williams, collaborating with Jonassen and Leslie, and why he hopes Exquisite Pressure introduces a new generation to one of America’s most influential playwrights.

Landwehr admits that he was both humbled and honored when Jonassen asked him to take on the role. His connection to Williams began in high school and has continued throughout his career. He has played the Gentleman Caller in The Glass Menagerie three times, appeared in the Williams-inspired spoof The Glass Mendacity, performed in Not About Nightingales under the tutelage of Betty Buckley, and appeared locally in one of Williams’ later works, The Chalky White Substance.

His admiration even inspired his own writing. While attending graduate school at The Ohio State University, Landwehr wrote a one-act play using only Williams’ stage directions from multiple works.

“Honestly, his stage directions and descriptive settings of his plays are absolute poetry,” Landwehr said. “I encourage everyone to read his works as well as see them.”

Despite his extensive experience with Williams’ work, preparing to play the playwright himself gave Landwehr an opportunity to dig even deeper.

“Needless to say, going into this work I felt pretty solid that I knew all there was to know,” he said. “But being the true theatre nerd that I am, and with the love I have for script and text analysis and character development, I decided to dig hard and found some deep cuts about him and his genius.”

He hopes audiences may leave Exquisite Pressure with a few discoveries of their own. “Hopefully, when one comes to see the play, the audience may just leave knowing something about T.W. that even scholars didn't know before, or refused to believe.”

Of course, the Tennessee Williams audiences encounter in Exquisite Pressure is not intended to be a strictly historical recreation. The character exists somewhere between the real man and Hanna’s perception of him, making Landwehr’s approach to the role particularly intriguing.

“There are many different ways to approach this particular character,” he said. “His origin is complex and can honestly be interpreted in as many ways as there are audience members present.”

After many conversations with Jonassen and Leslie, Landwehr found his own way into the role. He imagines that this version of Williams simply continued where the playwright’s life left off.

“The way Jennifer has brilliantly written Tennessee, it is as if everything abruptly stopped just before he passed in 1983, and then many years later when this effigy of T.W. was created, he began again as if there were no pause in his timeline,” Landwehr explained. “That is my approach to the character: this version is just an extension of T.W.’s life.”

That approach also allows Exquisite Pressure to explore Williams’ legacy in a contemporary world. Landwehr worries that younger audiences may not have the same familiarity with Williams and his work as previous generations.

“Most people over 40 were very excited and immediately reminisced about their favorite T.W. work or character or quote,” he said of sharing news about his role. “Almost unanimously, anyone under 40 would crane their head at an angle, like a little puppy, and glare with complete and utter emptiness.”

For Landwehr, the play offers an opportunity to help keep that legacy alive.

“I am hopeful that this piece will take off and perhaps Jennifer will expand it in places because it will help keep his legacy alive,” he said. “And it must, it simply must!”

His collaboration with Jonassen brings another layer of history to the production. The two first met approximately 36 years ago as undergraduate students at Lindenwood College, where Landwehr’s first college production was An Inspector Calls and Jonassen played his mother.  Although they were not always in close contact over the years, Landwehr said reconnecting felt effortless.

“When we reconnected, it was as if no time had passed and we were right back to where we were in undergrad at Lindenwood College.”

That shared history has created a level of trust as Jonassen takes on the unusual triple role of playwright, director, and producer.

“From my side of things, I trust Jennifer completely,” Landwehr said. “Do we always have the same artistic aesthetic? No. But when you work closely with someone during the formative years in undergrad, an unspoken shorthand is created.”

The two also share an understanding of the importance of theatre and the responsibility artists have to one another.

“I learned very early on while at Lindenwood that theatre changes lives and theatre saves lives,” Landwehr said. Those lessons continue to influence his work with young artists throughout San Diego County and in his role as Education & Outreach Associate for Broadway San Diego.

His guiding principles are simple: “Respect the art. Treat others with compassion and bring your characters to life through love and empathy.”

That empathy is especially important in developing the central relationship between Tennessee and Hanna. Hanna is a woman who feels profoundly alone and unseen, and her connection with Tennessee becomes one of the emotional centers of the play.

Landwehr has high praise for his co-star.

“Sonya Leslie is a true artist who speaks pure truth in her acting,” he said. “She is a joy to work with in every way.”

The relationship between Hanna and Tennessee also explores Williams’ deep connection to women. While Williams was gay, Landwehr believes that his affection and admiration for women, and the remarkable female characters he created, make the emotional relationship at the center of Exquisite Pressure feel particularly fitting.

“Tennessee absolutely adored women of all kinds,” Landwehr said. “That is why some of his most complex and memorable characters in his plays are female. He empathized with and connected to the poetry and strength of the female voice.”

For Landwehr, Exquisite Pressure ultimately offers audiences an unexpected doorway into Williams’ world. He hopes the magical encounter between Hanna and her literary hero encourages people to seek out the playwright’s work for themselves.

“I want Tennessee’s legacy to continue on with reverence and aplomb,” he said.

In a world of constantly shifting attention, Landwehr hopes audiences will take the time to rediscover artists whose work helped shape the culture around them.

“Jennifer has done a beautiful job of giving our modern-day society a taste of Tennessee Williams,” he said. “I hope it may intrigue them enough to search out his works and bring his beauty and passion into their hearts as he originally did with me.”

And, ultimately, he hopes that passion will continue from one generation to the next.

“Not because they have to,” Landwehr said, “but because it interests them and they want to be more than just the status quo.”

How To Get Tickets

“Exquisite Pressure” runs Saturday, September 5 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, September 6 at 2 p.m. at the Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. Admission is free, and no reservations are necessary.

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