“Litigation Regarding the Existence of God”
Until December 14th
Mosaic Theater Company at Atlas Performing Arts Center
1333 H St, NE
Tickets: $42- $56 (discounts available)
mosaictheater.org
With each new work, Samuel D. Hunter became more and more interested in “big ideas grown in small containers.” He increasingly prefers to write plays with very few characters and simple sets.
His 2022 two-person play A Case for the Existence of God (currently being performed at Mosaic Theater Company) is one such minimalist work. “Audiences might come in expecting a theological debate set in the Vatican, but instead it’s about two men sitting in a private room discussing the terms of a bank loan,” says Hunter (we’ll call him Sam).
Like many of his plays, this award-winning production takes place in rural Idaho, where Hunter grew up. Two men, one gay and one straight (here played by local out actors Jacen Wright and Lee Osorio, respectively), bond over economic worries and the joys and challenges of single fatherhood.
His recent success has diminished as well. Little Bear Ridge Road, touted as Hunter’s long-awaited Broadway debut, stars Laurie Metcalf as Sarah and Micah Stock as Ethan. Ethan is Sarah’s estranged gay nephew who returns to Idaho from Seattle to settle his late father’s estate. The 90-minute play has a small cast and the stage consists only of reclining sofas in a dark space.
“I’ve been very happy making plays off-Broadway. Off-Broadway is where most of my favorite plays are performed.” But Hunter, 44, says, “For years, I’ve had this idea that my plays were too small or too Idaho for Broadway, and I feel that’s wrong. So now, with my play at my favorite Broadway house, the Booth Theatre, it’s kind of been proven.”
Although “smaller” plays are not necessarily popular on Broadway, he is satisfied that he was able to reach Broadway without compromising the kind of plays he wanted to write.
Hunter first spoke with The Blade in 2011 when his “Bright Day in Boise” had its regional premiere at the Woolly Mammoth Theater. At the time, he was considered an up-and-coming playwright, but he had already won an Obie Award for this dark comedy about joy-seeking at Hobby Lobby in Idaho.
In 2015, his production of The Whale was performed on the Rep stage, starring actor Michael Russotto as Charlie, a morbidly obese gay English teacher struggling with depression. Hunter wrote the screenplay for the subsequent 2022 film, which won an Oscar for actor Brendan Frazier.
The year leading up to the Academy Awards was filled with travel, press, and festivals. It was a hectic time. The film’s success has led to numerous productions of “Whale” in languages other than English around the world.
“Not everything is visible,” Hunter says. “When I was invited to Rio de Janeiro to see the premiere of Portuguese, I went. It wasn’t difficult to say yes.”
And during the film’s hoopla, Hunter says, director Joe Mantello and Laurie (Metcalfe) approached Hunter about writing a play to be performed at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater before moving to Broadway. He had never met either of them and they gave him a clean slate.
Early in her career, Hunter didn’t write gay characters, but after meeting her husband in graduate school at the University of Iowa, she began exploring parts of her life in her plays, including interspersing herself with queer characters without making them autobiographical.
“I’ve never taken a character or a story wholesale from the real world and put it into theater, whether it’s my own or someone else’s. I need space to understand the character on its own terms. It’s not fair to ask an actor to play me.”
Hunter added that his plays were more successful artistically because of his queer characters. “I started putting something of myself at risk. For whatever reason, it was probably internalized homophobia, so I held back.”
Although his work is personal, he prefers theater compared to other forms of writing because it quickly becomes a collaborative effort when left to its own devices.
“There’s a certain sense of separation. I’m just part of the team contributing to the story. There’s joy in that.”
Hunter is married to influential playwright John Baker. They live in New York City with their little girl and two dogs. As a father, Hunter believes that no matter what happens in the world, it’s your job to have hope.
“Having hope is a harder choice. I do it not just for my daughter, but because I feel like cynicism is laziness disguised as intelligence. Having hope is a better way to live.”
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
