A special artistic connection
By Barbery Byfield January 9, 2009 San Miguel de Allende

Theater 
The Death of Reason
Wed–Sat, Jan 14–17, 8pm
Sun, Jan 18, 6pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
200/300 pesos

Michael Grais, who has written and produced a dozen major movies (Poltergeist, Great Balls of Fire) and Stefanie Glick, a New York City playwright, met in San Miguel about six months ago and a dynamic artistic connection was born.

Presently teaming up to co-direct Glick’s original play, The Death of Reason, the creative pair recently shared a cup of coffee with me at Café Santa Ana in the Biblioteca. 

Barbery Byfield: How did you meet?

Stefanie Glick: We were at a dinner party talking about our respective writing projects, his a novel and mine a play, when we discovered that both projects center around a transvestite hitman. We were surprised, to say the least.

Michael Grais: We were both dropped on our heads in the delivery room. That is the only connection we could discover.

BB: How did the decision to co-direct come about?

SG: I gave Michael the script and asked him to read it with an eye toward directing. Because of its absurdist and over-the-top aesthetic, people either love this play or hate it. Lucky for me, Michael loved it.

MG: When Stefanie gave me the play to read, I had it sitting by the bed, and every time I opened a page at random I laughed out loud.

SG: But he didn’t commit right away.

MG: One day she said, “Let’s arm wrestle. If I win, you have to co-direct the play with me.” Humoring her, I agreed. My arm was only in a sling for a week.

BB: What’s it like to direct together?

MG: It has been a blast for me. Stefanie and I see the play, amazingly, the same way. We also have a great cast and creative group, and we’re all enjoying the process and laughing a lot.

SG: And Michael has the final say because I’m always right.


BB: Do you have a directing philosophy?

MG: I think first of all you have to choose material that fits your sensibilities. And then you just let the play speak to you…and it does! Material seems to demand that it be presented in a certain manner. And this play certainly spoke to me and demanded it be directed in the style in which it was intended. We’re hoping we don’t get arrested.

SG: When working with actors, our philosophy is, give them lots of space to figure it out for themselves, and lots of affection.

MG: But we don’t do that.

BB: Tell me about the play.

SG: It’s in rhyme.

MG: It’s sublime.

SG: It all takes place in someone’s mind. (Oops, that’s a slant rhyme.)

MG: Like everything in Mexico, it’s doused with chili and lime.

SG: After San Miguel, it’s going to New York to hang in the Guggenheim.

MG: That’s good. 

The Death of Reason is being produced as a benefit for IREE, the only school for deaf children in the region. The production features live Klezmer music, great acting (with visiting professional actors from the States and a strong local cast), and apparently lots of men in black cocktail dresses.


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