John Cariani Julianne Boyd

Fast forward twenty years or so: Cariani has now appeared on and off Broadway, received a Tony Award nomination for his portrayal of Motel the tailor in Fiddler on the Roof, and enjoyed a recurring role on television's "Law and Order." He has also been seen on "The Good Wife," "Homeland," and many more series and some feature films, too. His play Almost, Maine has been produced in New York City, on the regional stage, and elsewhere. He is musical, quirky/funny, and vastly versatile. He came to Barrington Stage last summer and snared the spotlight in the Julianne Boyd-directed Much Ado About Nothing. Cariani and his constable character Dogberry were a summer treat.

He has been rehearsing the two person Dancing Lessons with Paige Davis for two weeks. Playwright Mark St. Germain has been in the hall for virtually all rehearsals. "It's about an autistic man who asks an injured Broadway dancer to instruct him," says Cariani. "She says she cannot because of her injury, but he replies that she can because she is still able to teach. He is Asperger's high functioning. You think the play will be all about him but it is about a neuro-typical journey toward freeing oneself of the confines of the mind. Her mind shuts down because she cannot dance and the healing process is not easy. He helps her move forward and she helps him continue."

Cariani plays opposite Davis, a musical stage performer who has hosted television's "Trading Spaces" and "Home and Family." Cariani added that Davis is an actual Broadway dancer and that "Julie (Boyd) was drawn to her because Paige understood the loss. Dancers understand it while actors sometimes do not."

This is John Cariani's first time acting in a new play. "I now respect even more so, actors who have to adapt to changes when I write plays. So far, the changes have not been big here—but numerous. It's all about focusing and clarifying. For the moment, I just think actor which means make what is there work. Let others decide what needs to be changed or rewritten. Mark does listen to us a lot."

St. Germain has authored a number of enduring, new plays which Barrington Stage has presented. These include Freud's Last Session, Best of Enemies, and Dr. Ruth, All the Way. All were, to some extent, historical. Dancing Lessons is not. Cariani said, "Mark has a friend whose son is autistic. The boy, who was diagnosed as Asperger's, has become an impressive adult. I think all of this inspired Mark."

Cariani, reflecting upon his own growth as an actor, says, "What I still carry with me from my training at StageWest is the discipline. I learned about 60 of the 80 pages of this play before I came to one rehearsal here and that makes it all better for me now. I always build physically and do not go for emotional recall. Instead, I let the physical life inform emotionally."

Working with a script which centers upon Asperger's will likely challenge actors involved. "We were fortunate to have Michael McManmon come speak with us." Based in Pittsfield and respected widely, McManmon has great expertise and assists some who have Asperger's in order that they are able to become productive, functioning adults. Cariani says, "We are always told on self-help shows to practice daily maintenance to sustain health. That is what the training teaches these children who have Asperger's. They need to be sure not to hermit, but to go out and learn social cues. We all have things to work on. Dr. McManmon reminds people how to behave one-on-one and so on. He arrived and provided us with great insight. He told me that I was built like an autistic person and that my clothes were like an autistic person's. I thought that was very, very funny. I think he actually asked me if I was autistic. I have a cousin, 20 or 21, who is; and I just copy him. Seriously."

"My character is older than Paige's and hers might have the possibility, still, of dancing. Julie lets us try different things. She tells us how she wants it to feel and we try to find it. We get to work a few different ways and then pick one. There are five or six separate scenes. The play takes place in her apartment and I come and go a lot. All of it is pretty hard, at least right now. Last summer, working on that clown (Dogberry) was also difficult since you know it when people aren't laughing. This one doesn't require laughter. I really think that, once we have this one down, it will be a joy to do. Dancing Lessons is a truly romantic play and romantic people think things are not going to last. It is not sentimental, which means that those in the play will think that all will be fine. Here, there will not be a disaster, not a tragedy—but romance. You hope for happy but you might not get it."

The segue here is to John Cariani, playwright, who composes comedy, sometimes just off center, sometimes with an edge; and through distinctive voices. His plays are not sugar-sweet but one feels the romance. When he finishes at Barrington Stage, Cariani is off to do a workshop of a new musical which is coming to New York. A man who is succeeding with more than one genre, he is happy with what goes on. Considering himself a character actor, he is selective about auditioning. "I am just not going to play a super-hero or really cool guy. I play someone smart or whatever. The way film and television has taken over our storytelling prompts me to try to figure this out with plays. I grew up with people who thought plays are boring. My challenge is to bring this to people at the right length so that those watching are not thinking about everything else they have to do the next day."

Julie Boyd founded Barrington Stage Company 20 years ago. I have a clear visual of that time when she and I met for lunch and talk during those early days as she was outlining initial steps and possibilities. First, the company was based in a high school in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Now, she carries forward with two stages in Pittsfield. She has directed in New York and elsewhere and continues to push forward with a blend of musical, straight play, and new work. Last summer, she initially met John Cariani. She now arrives at our table at Dottie's during mid-conversation—delayed as she needed to make some set choices.

One of her current goals in garnering an audience is to find people between 40 and 60 and get them to the theater. She says, "Once people have growing children who are either nearly out or out of high school, couples find other couples and, perhaps, get to theater. We love having the older set but we need the next group, too."

When Julie was casting for Much Ado About Nothing more than a year ago, John Cariani appeared on the scene. "I didn't know him and he auditioned for Dogberry and the moment he opened his mouth, I knew he was perfect for Dancing Lessons. I called Mark St. Germain since we were already working on his play and I told him I found the perfect Ever (the character's name). Mark said, 'Oh, come on.' When Mark was up here, he took John to lunch—and then told me I was right: John would be the perfect Ever.

Boyd pretty much auditioned John, during the Dogberry tryout, for Dancing Lessons. She comments, "My association with this play goes back, even to when Mark had it as an idea. He then sent me the first twenty or so pages and I told him I loved it."

Julie went on to point out that the play is "about a woman who is hit by a taxi and has two ligaments torn. To me, it then becomes about who is the most handicapped—the woman with the cast on her leg or the man with Asperger's. The volley goes back and forth in the play. Both have psychological impediments that try to prevent them from functioning in life."

Cariani interjected to note those who have been said to show signs of Asperger's: Albert Einstein, Michelangelo, Ted Williams, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Emily Dickinson ... Boyd said, "People who might be just a bit awkward, reluctant to be touched, do not like to look at someone in the eyes. Behaviors like this can be dealt with." McManmon, with a well of experience, has been helpful. Julie added, "He teaches people to shake hands, look at one another directly, and further social skills."

This sounds like a daunting project for a director. Boyd says, "I love it. I've learned. I don't want to do something I've done before." Cariani notes that "People with Asperger's might have different traits from one another. Dealing with intimacy and humor varies." Julie compliments St. Germain for "making Ever both sympathetic and humorous. We did a reading on the main stage last September and then in March in a small rehearsal room in New York City. You get it better, the bigger picture when it is on stage."

Thus, Boyd has a history with the play as St. Germain provides his re-writes. "The dancer's character is neuro-typical, by the way. I am trying to let my two actors make discoveries. It has to come from the performers' behavioral instincts. His character is based on impulses and is not thought through. Ever is both sympathetic and humorous."

My thinking, from a step away, is that Ever might need be one dimensional. "So did I," says John, "but the opposite is true. It is richer than anything I have ever done. Asperger's people are impulsive and over-empathetic."

Boyd explains that "people think 'Aspies' are always on one level and they are just not. They have a full range of emotions which might be inappropriate. They are often very bright individuals who can hide feelings. When they connect with people, they are even more empathetic. Yet, they do not think through." Cariani says, "I just figured out today that I (Ever) need to find more things to do so that I will not die. It is the hardest part I've had but not the scariest. Dogberry was scarier." John, already cast, came to the auditions for the dancer. At this point, Julie knew: "I really wanted someone who stood as a dancer did. You know that right away."

Sounds to me like a very, very intimate play. Actor Cariani and director Boyd concur. I came to know John Cariani sometime during the early 1990s when he was a young actor at Springfield's StageWest. I met Julie Boyd when she was actualizing plans for Barrington Stage Company—same time period. Now, they are, respectively, star and director as Mark St. Germain's Dancing Lessons opens. This is, most deservedly, Boyd's turf and each BSC show includes high level production elements; that goes without saying. St. Germain is a fixture and the second stage now bears his name. Cariani? Born in Brockton, Massachusetts, he grew up in Presque Isle, Maine. He then went to Amherst College and trained at StageWest. His plays often appear at Portland (Maine) Stage Company and TheaterWorks of Hartford. Finally, this is an acting return, for the second season in a row, at Barrington Stage. Somehow, another gathering at Dottie's next year and/or the next—seems not at all unlikely.

Dancing Lessons plays Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts from August 7-24. For tickets, call (413) 236-8888 or visit barringtonstageco.org.

Also see the current theatre schedule for Connecticut & Beyond

- Fred Sokol