By Kevin Hylton
May 20, 2004
Matching Up With Stephen Belber:
An Interview With The Author of MATCH and TAPE on His New Play and Working With Ray Liotta
I first became acquainted with Stephen Belber by accident. A few years ago I got some free tickets to see a production of Belber’s show, TAPE, at the Jose Quintero Theater on 42nd Street. In order to fully understand my experience with TAPE you have to know a little more about the Quintero. The theater was tiny and old and probably seated only seventy-five people. The stage was right on top of you. For those of you who saw the production, you will understand when I say that seeing the play was an uncomfortable experience. My discomfort was not based on poor acting or directing and it certainly was not related to the script. On the contrary, I felt TAPE’s success was in its ability to make its audience feel as though they were locked in a hotel room with three people who wanted to
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kill each other. TAPE was a visceral, dark piece of theater that could easily be compared with some of Shepard or Albee’s work. After seeing TAPE, I immediately fell in love with Belber’s dialog and story lines. Apparently, I was not alone in my affinity for the playwright. The actor/novelist/director Ethan Hawke put together a production deal for the film while he was shooting his directorial debut, CHELSEA WALLS. Hawke helped line up Richard Linklater (DAZED AND CONFUSED, SLACKERS) to direct while Hawke and his then-wife, Uma Thurman, starred along with Robert Sean Leonard. The film was shot in record time on digital video and, in many ways, captured the emotion and frenzied feeling that you got seeing TAPE live in the Quintero Theater.
A few months back I heard that Ray Liotta was going to be doing a show on Broadway. When I learned it was a piece written by Belber, I knew the show was a must see. The prospect of uniting Liotta so soon after his brilliant work in NARC and Belber sounded like a great match. And ironically enough, Belber’s new play at the Plymouth Theater is entitled, MATCH. It wasn’t until last week that I had the pleasure of meeting Belber. Stephen Belber lives in New York having grown up in my hometown of Washington, DC. He’s a graduate of Julliard’s playwriting program who has also acted on stage in DC and in New York. MATCH stars Liotta, Jane Adams (most recently seen on screen in ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND), and Frank Langella (recent Tony winner for FORTUNE’S FOOL).
Kevin Hylton: What can you tell me about MATCH?
Belber: It’s not a huge surprise thing but there is a sense of these two worlds colliding. This young couple or semi-young couple comes to interview a dance professor. The guy has lived a long life internationally and they are sort of a stay at home couple. The contrast between them is sort of the fun of the early part of the play and also leads to some of what is revealed later in the play.
Kevin Hylton: Your plays frequently seem to have a small cast and make use of a small space. I read in another interview with you that you like putting characters into a tight space and watching what happens. MATCH is playing in a large, Broadway theater. How does the venue change your work?
Belber: It’s true, I don’t think TAPE would ever have worked on Broadway. But although this play has only three characters, it feels bigger because literally the topic is bigger. TAPE was about the intersection of ambiguity and detail really. And MATCH is about larger forces at work with bigger themes in terms of family and art and isolationism. MATCH just feels like a bigger play and it naturally inhabits the space better. It’s been said that MATCH is a sentimental play…which is true. Because I’m a sentimental guy. And so when you get in a bigger venue you can play with bigger emotions and it becomes less about “cleverness.” If TAPE is characterized as anything it’s sort of about one’s inability to put one’s finger on something. In MATCH you can put your finger on something very precisely but it doesn’t necessarily get you where you want to go.
Kevin Hylton: Did you write MATCH knowing that it was going to a large venue?
Belber: Yeah, I started writing it and as soon as I knew that I was writing about this particular character, this Frank Langella character, I realized I was headed towards more commercially viable territory. And my normal instinct is to run away from that (Laughing). But this time I decided, “Ok, this could be fun, let’s see where it goes.”
Kevin Hylton: How did this show happen to get on Broadway then?
Belber: I had a friend who was an actor with Richard Chamberlin in THE SOUND OF MUSIC on Broadway. And she was like, “Richard Chamberlin is looking to do a play.” You should write something for him. It’ll take you two weeks. And so I sorta had that in my mind for a while
and then I met someone, in my “real life” who was such a big, beautiful character. So I said, “Ahh, I could get Richard Chamberlin to play that” since I knew I could get him a script basically. So I wrote it based on that and
then kinda came up with a story around it. And my friend actually gave it to Richard Chamberlin and he passed on it saying it was too many lines. So, the husband of the woman who was in THE SOUND OF MUSIC knew Frank Langella sort of vaguely and he got him a script. And Frank Langella called me up and said, “You wrote this part for me but you didn’t even realize it.” And he started helping me get producers attached basically.
Kevin Hylton: So, you were involved very early on?
Belber: Yeah, it was nice because we went through one producer and it didn’t work out. The [eventual producers of MATCH] are my age and six or seven years ago we all did a show together off off-Broadway-- you know painting the sets and stuff--before they hit it big. So it was nice to get the script to them and knowing Frank was attached to it, it sorta made sense.
Kevin Hylton: And as far as Liotta and Jane Adams involvement?
Belber: Liotta was a thing where a lot of names were being thrown about. And people were like, “We need a star, we need a star.” And I have to say I came up with his name because he had that type of star quality they were looking for but also he was perfect for the part. And so many times when you’re looking for star quality you
sacrifice that. And I literally went home and my friend had some movie index guide and I looked under all people under that age. I went through it page by page until, “Oh fucking Ray Liotta.” And luckily we got him, because it’s not as big a part as Frank’s but it’s as vital. He also had a personal connection to it I think and he was the first person we went to.
Kevin Hylton: Have you been involved in the production itself after it got to the director?
Belber: Yeah, I was, since it had never been done before. There was a lot of rewriting. In fact, Ray Liotta had some very strong opinions that were really helpful. Stuff that I didn’t see that was really fresh. And even Frank had been involved and we had actually done a three-day workshop a year ago. So we were all sort of blind to something and Ray came in and sorta helped us figure it out in a very astute way. So there was a lot of rewriting in rehearsal and during the three weeks of previews we did a lot. It was pretty hardcore.
Act fast and catch MATCH. It’s slated to close its doors in the next few weeks. Tickets to MATCH can be obtained through the box office or through Tele-charge over the phone (212) 239- 6200/(800) 432-7250 or online at www.telecharge.com.
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