Dramaworks play examines conflicted friendship between Williams and Inge
Terry Teachout was in his 50s and well-established as an arts journalist when his first play, “Satchmo at the Waldorf,” astonished him by becoming a runaway success.
“I had no serious expectation that it would go anywhere,” he said.
The one-man show about jazz virtuoso Louis Armstrong has had 15 productions since it premiered in September 2011, including Teachout’s directorial debut in May 2016 at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach.
It’s because of Satchmo that Teachout’s second play, “Billy and Me,” premiered Fri dayatPalmBeachDramaworks.
Producing artistic director William Hayes was impressed by the audience’s response to “Satchmo” and Teachout’s natural abilities as a director. So impressed that when he conceived the idea of a play based on the relationship between playwrights William Inge and Tennessee Williams, he ran it past Teachout over lunch when he was in town for a “Satchmo” meeting.
“My jaw dropped,” Teachout said. “Not only did I think there might be a play there, but it was exactly the kind of play I’d been wanting to write.”
Hayes picks up the story. “He became as obsessed with the idea as I was,” he said. “He wrote the first draft on the plane home.”
That’s how Te a chout came to be juggling rehearsals for “B illyandMe”with his duties as drama critic for The Wall Street Journal , critic-at-large for Commentary, author of the About Last Night blog and contributor to the monthly podcast Three on the Aisle.
He’s also keeping watch from afar on his critically ill wife, Hilary, who insisted he fulfill his commitment to Dramaworks when he proposed scrapping the pro- duction.
“I’m 61 and the clock is running,” he said. “I dis- covered I seem to be pretty good at this — good enough to have a commercial success right out of the box — and I enjoy it.”
Creating theater is a refreshing change from writing about it, he said.
“The thing about becoming a playwright in your 50s is that you’ve spent half your life writing in a room alone and suddenly you’re surrounded by all these wonderful people.”
He’s written three more plays since “Satch mo”that he shelved to pursue “Billy and Me.”
Hayes’ idea intrigued him because although it’s about two giants of 20th century American theater, “the blank spo ts I nee ded to function creatively were there,” Teachout said. He began with the facts. Both playwrights were gay, alcoholic and warped by dysfunctional families.
Inge was motivated to become a playwright after seeing Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” in 1944 in Chicago.
Williams was envious of Inge when Inge’s career took off in the 1950s, with plays such as “Picnic,” “Bus Stop” and “Come Back, Little Sheba,” as Williams’ popularity was declining.
Inge committed suicide in 1973. Williams survived him by 10 years.
But there’s a great deal we don’t know about their friendsh ip. For ex ample, were Williams and Inge ever sexual partners? And where was Inge during the 1959 Broadway premiere of “A Loss of Roses,” his first flop?
“Billy and Me” speculates on both topics.
The basic structure of the play has remained the same since the first draft.
But there are now more than 100 drafts.
“The joke around here is that I do revisions while youw ait,” Teachout said.
Perhaps the biggest change was making “Billy and Me” a memory play narrated by Williams.
That enabled Teachout to convey a lot of information to the audience quickly and tied the play neatly to “The Glass Menagerie,” a memoryplaythatexp lores Williams’ guilt over his sister Rose’s lobotomy.
In “Billy and Me,” Williams grapples with jealousyandguiltasheswings between mentoring Inge and belittling him. Many of Teachout’s on-site re-writes dealt with making Williams more likeable by exposing his vulnerabilities.
One of the play’s themes is coming to grips with a talent that can be both a blessing and a curse.
“We never look at the price an artist has to pay to be an artist,” Hayes said.
Teachout isn’t count- ing the cost when he’s imme rsedinr ehearsals.
“There’s a reason why they call these plays, you k now,”hes aid.
Maybe it’s time to pull those three other plays out of the drawer.