Stagecraft for Our Times :: Evan Turissini on Opposing White Supremacy and His New Theater Company

The Boston theater ecosystem is one of great dynamism and considerable flux. We may have lost a couple of well-regarded companies recently – this last season alone saw the final productions of the acclaimed Zeitgeist Theater Company and Israeli Stage Company – but in Boston's firmament of stage work, it seems that when one light goes out, another ignites.

The newest, Acropolis Stage Company, honors Boston's literary and artistic traditions even as its inaugural production takes a hard look at our contemporary times and the dangers they present for the future. The company's founding artistic director, Evan Turissini, has chosen "Cherry Docs," David Gow's 1998 play about a Canadian neo-Nazi facing trial for the murder of an Asian man, as his company's first production, and has taken the directorial reins in hand to make it happen.

Gow's play takes its title from the preferred footwear of skinheads: Steel-toed Doc Martens, a work boot adopted as part of the "uniform" from the earliest days of the skinheads (they first appeared in Britain in the late 1960s). As skinheads became more violent and embraced racist ideologies, the boots also began to serve as weapons of choice in street scuffles and hate crimes.

Gow's play puts a Jewish lawyer (David Anderson, whom you might remember from, among other projects, Zeitgeist's "Love! Valour! Compassion!") in the same room as the young man accused of a vicious, racially motivated slaying (Eliott Purcell, star of SpeakEasy's 2017 productions of "Hand to God" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"). It's a classic setup: Two men from opposite sides of a seemingly unbridgeable gulf that need to find a way to work together. In order to do so, they (and we) will have to figure out how to begin and sustain, a dialogue.

Evan Turissini tells EDGE about his theater roots, his vision for the city's artistic leadership, and what it's been like to start the journey of a new theater company.

EDGE: First off, would you mind giving us a bit of background on yourself?

Evan Turissini: Sure! I'm a Boston area native and I grew up on Boston theatre. Many of the seminal theater-going experiences of my youth were amazing Boston productions – "Red" at SpeakEasy, "Avenue Q" at the Lyric, "Medea" at Actors' Shakespeare Project, and many more. My high school friends and I made a yearly tradition of attending Commonwealth Shakespeare's shows on the Common. I still pinpoint the pivotal moment in my development as an artist: Seeing Tommy Derrah on the Wimberly Stage as Mark Rothko and thinking, "Yeah, this is acting. I could be happy with acting for the rest of my life."

That's a lot of what drives me – and a lot of the reason that I have no major interest in making the Great Migration to New York that a lot of my Boston peers began itching for around their mid-twenties. I grew up inspired by Boston theatre artists and could think of nothing better than to add to the great tapestry of work being created in this city.

I approach stagecraft pretty holistically. I've been incredibly fortunate to work in the SpeakEasy Stage Marketing Department for three years now, which has been an unparalleled opportunity to see how the sausage is made with many of the best artists, directors, designers, and administrators that Boston has to offer. At this stage in my career, I'm excited to try my hand at anything, but directing is really where my heart's at.

EDGE: What was the impetus for creating this new theater company?

Evan Turissini: Firstly, I think there's a vacuum right now with a lot of great fringe theatres sadly hanging up the spurs in the past few years – Zeitgeist, Israeli Stage, Bad Habit Productions, Maiden Phoenix – and I think without a robust foundation of fringe theater in the city, the whole theatrical ecosystem begins to sag.

But my main purpose is to promote the vision of "The Boston Renaissance." There's no reason that Boston can't be the artistic capital of America. I'd say that if we all really put our minds to it right, we could accomplish that goal in five years. We have more arts and cultural organizations per capita than any other major city besides San Francisco, and yet we offer the least governmental support of any of those cities by a sizeable margin.

As Broadway continues to replace groundbreaking plays with highly lucrative Disney adaptations and jukebox musicals, I'm predicting (and already seeing) a second Regional Theatre Movement where Broadway theatre begins to look more like Las Vegas with celebrity residencies and tribute shows, and regional theatres become where the vital art is being generated. Part of Acropolis' purpose is to promote Boston art in all its forms so that Boston can be a large part of the second Regional Theatre Movement.

EDGE: You named Acropolis as a nod to the founder of the Boston Athenaeum. Are you a member there? I know it has been a haven for Boston writers – it that what the Athenaeum is to you?

Evan Turissini: I probably would be a member if I had the financial means to do so! Let's see if "Cherry Docs" recoups before I start putting down the $300+/yr for membership.

The name Acropolis, as you rightly point out, is a reference to William Tudor's assertion that Boston is the "Athens of America," the American city where intellect, academia, and artistic excellence are an intrinsic part of our DNA. Though we're often overshadowed by our "big brother" to the southwest, New York City, I still believe that Boston is and has been in many ways the forward-thinking capital of America. We house many of the country's greatest universities; we've been on the forefront of progressive values from American Independence to abolitionism to gay marriage to universal healthcare; we even have the trophies to claim athletic excellence. I see the Athen�um as one of the Boston institutions that represents what makes our city vital and what makes the Boston Renaissance a possible reality more than a far-off dream.

EDGE: It looks like Acropolis Stage Company is pretty much just you and Olivia Dumaine right now. Are you looking to keep the company's staff small, or expand over time?

Evan Turissini: Woof, no idea! On one hand, I'm of the opinion that if you're not growing, you're dying – but maybe that's weird American "Glengarry Glen Ross"-style capitalism affecting my brain. On the other hand, I love the essay "Embracing the Canoe," by local theatermaker Olivia D'Ambrosio, whose company and theatrical work I greatly admire. Right now, we're very definitely a canoe – and I don't think we ever necessarily want to be a yacht or a speedboat or a cruise liner. But maybe we'll want to be a paddleboat or a kayak or even a nice catamaran. To beat D'Ambrosio's lovely metaphor to death, I think the ocean's current will prescribe what kind of boat suits us best.

But I do have to say, I definitely could not be starting this company without the partnership, support, and infinite wisdom of Olivia Dumaine, our Managing Director, who has the ability to keep my head on straight when I'm completely off the rails. I'm very proud and honored to be embarking on this endeavor by her side.

EDGE: "Cherry Docs" is a play about a Canadian neo-Nazi accused of killing an Asian man, and the Jewish defense attorney appointed to defend him. It's an intriguing choice for a first production – especially in the throes of Trump's America. What drove the selection of this play to be your maiden voyage as a theater company?

Evan Turissini: I saw the Boston premiere of "Cherry Docs" at New Rep as a sophomore in high school. I loved the show, but, as a frankly very sheltered white boy from suburban Massachusetts, I thought that neo-Nazis were a small and outdated problem that would never be a factor in my life or the lives of anyone around me in my progressive home of New England. Fast-forward almost a decade, and like many other things I believed when I was fifteen, that belief turned out to be dangerously naive.

I've been thinking about this play since August 2017 when the Unite the Right rally happened in Charlottesville, Virginia. It's a play that speaks to our times and to the white people in America who believe that if we turn a blind eye to white nationalism, it will go away. Even if we vote out certain government officials, including the President, in 2020, white nationalism will not go away. And they're actively trying to recruit young white teenagers.

Most productions of "Cherry Docs" make, in my opinion, a mistake of casting a hulking, bodybuilder style actor to play the skinhead Mike. I cast Eliott very intentionally, knowing his history of playing deeply complex and troubled teenagers because that's basically what the face of white nationalism right now (besides the big orange face) – white teenage boys being radicalized online by nefarious sources. And, as a white community, we need to fight the radicalization of these young men.

I think the three questions that "Cherry Docs" speaks to deeply over the course of the play are: How do we know when repentance is sincere? What is the proper way to atone for one's trespasses? And are there any people that are unforgivable? I think people will walk away from "Cherry Docs" with a lot of different answers to those questions. Heck, I think the playwright and I have very different answers to those questions.

EDGE: I'm assuming that you've kept the time and place for the play as originally written... or have you? Did you maybe re-set the piece for America in 2019, in the wake of Charlottesville, street fights in Portland, and – may the gods help us – this so-called "Straight Pride" thing that's going to happen in Boston?

Evan Turissini: We haven't changed anything about the play in terms of place or time-period. The play, as written in 1998, doesn't really specify time-period, so as long as you can suspend your disbelief that the characters don't really talk about social media or iPhones, there's not really any reason that "Cherry Docs" couldn't be taking place in 2019. I have a feeling that many audience members might be surprised to learn that the play was written over two decades ago after they see the production - the script feels more and more relevant every time I read it.

As for Canada, I debated for a while asking the playwright if we could move the setting to Boston (which might make some of the legal terms a little more familiar), but I actually think Canada is the perfect setting for this show. I think liberal Americans have this idea of Canada as a progressive safe haven where there are no problems. But I think it's important to see that these issues exist everywhere. White supremacy is not an issue that we can run from or that is negated when we cross a border. It's a problem everywhere that everyone must face head-on, especially liberal white Americans. And if we do not face it head-on, it will destroy us.

EDGE: Has your production of "Cherry Docs" generated excitement from the theater community, backers, etc.?

Evan Turissini: Absolutely. It's not hard to draw interest to the issue of ending white supremacy when our president is issuing statements to American citizens of color to "go back where they came from." I think the New Rep production was recent enough that many remember how good it was, but not so recent that it feels we're stepping on their toes. The play has undeniably grown more relevant since their production almost ten years ago. I hope that, after another decade, our political milieu will make "Cherry Docs" feel less relevant, not more.

EDGE: "Cherry Docs" is your directorial debut. Is it harder than you imagined directing a show might be? Easier? More thrilling?

Evan Turissini: The directing part is easy, I purposefully saddled myself with two crackerjack actors and a meaty script with plenty to dig into. Producing is the hard part. Getting the checks everywhere in time, launching a social media presence, working with Liv to order all the necessary props, set pieces, and costumes... that's what's exhausting and terrifying to me. I'm your classic scatter-brained creative, so this process has really pushed my limits on my organizational skills and executive function. But it's also been an incredibly rewarding and educational process, and I'm glad to not be in this alone.

EDGE: I interviewed David Anderson a couple of months ago, and he was quite excited to be cast in "Cherry Docs" along with Eliott Purcell. How did you come to cast those two fine actors?

Evan Turissini: Eliott's a dear friend of mine who I came to know during our overlapping time at SpeakEasy Stage, and I had the pleasure of working with David on Praxis Stage's "Incident at Vichy" in 2017. I called them in to do a reading of the play in 2018, and they sat down with the script for the first time and delivered a performance that was exactly what I was looking for in both characters. They're two amazingly good dudes and they give it 110% every time. I'm so excited for Boston to see them in these roles.

EDGE: What other projects are you thinking you'll take on for Acropolis Stage Company's freshman season?

Evan Turissini: We're still in the works on what exact productions we'll be producing in the upcoming year. I will say that, as part of our mission to promote Boston artists, we're looking at plays for what I call our "Second Act Series" (it's a working title). There's a lot of great companies in Boston like BPT and Fresh Ink that are doing the necessary and amazing work of giving Boston playwrights a world premiere of their work. For our Second Act Series, we want to pick up the torch and give many of these plays the second Boston production they deserve to help continue their lives and the sustainability of Boston as a city for playwrights.

"Cherry Docs" runs August 23 - September 1 at The Rockwell Theatre in Davis Square. Follow Acropolis Stage Company on Facebook.