Playwright Lucas Hnath
Director Les Waters
P H O T O BY R E B E CC A M A R T I N E Z
P H O T O CO U R T E S Y O F AC T O R S T H E AT R E O F LO U I S V I LLE
“You have to want something” (right?) An interview with Lucas Hnath and Les Waters BY SARAH ROSE LEONARD
Playwright Lucas Hnath and director Les Waters met in 2012 at the annual
Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where Hnath’s play Death Tax was being performed. Waters had just stepped into his role of artistic director at Actors Theatre of Louisville, fresh from his stint as the associate artistic director at Berkeley Rep, and was blown away by Hnath’s play. He commissioned Hnath to write a play, and in 2014 the two premiered The Christians at the Humana Festival. The play was subsequently produced nationwide and the two artists formed a close collaboration and friendship. When Berkeley Rep’s Artistic Director Tony Taccone was contemplating the programming for the 2018–19 season—his last as artistic director—he asked Waters what he’d like to direct. Waters responded with A Doll’s House, Part 2 as his first choice. In this interview Waters and Hnath discuss with Literary Manager Sarah Rose Leonard the great art of creating and performing arguments. CO N TIN U E D O N N E X T PAG E 2 0 1 8–1 9 · I S S U E 1 · T H E B E R K E L E Y R E P M AG A Z I N E · 1 9
