Secrets behind the 700 projects Andrews and Soin discuss what came before "After Ashley"

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The Middlebury Campus: How did you choose the play?

MacLeod Andrews: I actually saw the play in its first production ever at the 2003 Actor's Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival of New American Plays. The show quickly became my new favorite. The actor playing the lead role, my role, Justin, was actually a Midd alum named Jessie Hooker who absolutely nailed it. Since then I've had the play in the back and forefront of my mind. I had seen some of Himali's class work in directing and was attracted to her aesthetic, and her ability to handle humorous material, so I got down on one knee and asked, "Will you be my director?"

TC: What kinds of plays are you drawn to in general?

MA: This was the first time that the choice was really mine. Usually as an actor my place is to find pleasure and excitement for the texts that others bring to me. It's hard for me to read a play without mumbling the text to myself. I look for interesting characters - relationships, stakes, objectives and story. If I can connect personally to the characters in the script then I'll probably like it.

Himali Soin: The kind of plays I would choose are the poetic ones, I think everyone expected me to do a play like 'Art' by Yasmina Reza, Sartre, Shakespeare. But Macleod asked me to direct this, and I thought it an interesting indictment of American culture and an opportunity to seek within it, so I took it.

TC: What is the biggest challenge you had to overcome in production of the play?

MA: Just being open to making big changes I guess. The issue was usually trying to find the genuine moments for a character written as a relentless smart-ass. Himali really pushed me to find vulnerability underneath it all and whenever she saw a spark of it she urged me to fan it into a flame. As a producer, that's just hard all over. We had a bit more stress over the set than we did for some other elements.


TC: Do your two artistic visions ever conflict?

MA: Sure. I would cringe when an abstract direction would come our way. We ended up folding a lot of the abstract into the naturalistic in a very effective way, but at times when something was just visual without a basis in character motivation, I would get pretty uneasy. I'm open to abstraction but in a naturalistic text you have to justify it.

HS: Our personalities are very different, but the thing in common is a reconciliatory nature, and I think we were able to hone the best in each other. But yes, I would be standing looking at the frames on the wall, talking about "illusory depth" and Macleod would look at me and roll his eyes and say, "Or they are just empty frames spray painted silver!" That, in a gist, is a difference between us.