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James Houghton is the founding artistic director of the Signature Theatre Company, the first not-for-profit theater company in the United States to devote its productions each season to the work of a single, living playwright. Its playwrights-in-residence to date are Edward Albee, Lee Blessing, Horton Foote, Maria Irene Fornes, John Guare, Bill Irwin, Adrienne Kennedy, Romulus Linney, Arthur Miller, Sam Shepard, and Lanford Wilson. The 2004-2005 playwright-in-residence was Paula Vogel, and the company will mark its 15th anniversary in 2006.
GREAT PERFORMANCES: What is the idea behind the Signature Theatre Company?
James Houghton: Signature Theater Company was founded with the singular notion of honoring and celebrating a single artist over the course of a single season. So it is really one writer, one season. What we celebrate and try to witness is an opportunity to gain insight into a body of work, to celebrate an artist, and an individual's contribution to an art form. That's really what it's about. And having that writer present and involved in every aspect of that process.
GP: What do audiences gain from this approach?
JH: There is nothing like context to help you understand an individual artist and perhaps [his or her] impulses. Very much like [what] you experience in a gallery, where you may know one or two pieces of an artist's work, but you pass through an entire room, or perhaps rooms, of work that give you a deeper understanding of those gems that sort of have been celebrated of an artist. In the case of Bill, to be able to experience this season is really a one-year experience in a lifetime of viewing of that individual's work. So suddenly you are able to create your own context for it. You are able to experience repetitive themes, begin to get to know that artist. And here in Signature, the artist is fully accessible to the audience, and it's imperative that they are. So that you are able through that course of the year to put a face, a human face and a human touch onto a name. And that's essential to have a deeper understanding of the individual.
GP: Why did you invite Bill Irwin to the Signature?
JH: I have always wanted to do a Bill Irwin season from very early on. This is our 13th season, and I have always admired Bill's unique craft and identity. And I have known Bill for a quite a long time. I think Bill Irwin and his work belong in the company of the individuals that Signature has celebrated in the past: significant writers who have dedicated a lifetime of work to a craft. In some cases it might be Arthur Miller, who has written for 60 years; or Sam Shepard, who has influenced a very different generation of artists; and perhaps Edward Albee; or someone like Adrian Kennedy, who is one of the great poets of the American theater. All of them have had influence in different ways. Bill has influenced a craft and generations of individuals very much in line with those other artists.
GP: Why does Bill Irwin's work belong at the Signature?
JH: Bill Irwin is a playwright. He is not, perhaps, as obvious as some of the other artists that we have done who are clearly playwrights ... but Bill Irwin is a storyteller of the deepest and richest kind. He is a unique force in the theater. He is an individual that has committed a lifetime of work and energy to a craft. These are all things that I've said about every writer we've ever presented. Bill Irwin is a playwright.
GP: What are your reflections on the season with Bill Irwin?
JH: In a funny way, this has been the most linear season we have ever done, which is terrific. We always try to represent a full body of work. We usually try to find works that are from early on, where there is something left unfinished, as well as new work. In the case of the Bill Irwin season, it has been a wonderful exploration that has a full arc to it. We started with a piece called "Harlequin Studies," which is really an examination of the Harlequin character and Bill's take on that character. So we started and rooted this season in truly the roots, in traditions of physical comedy itself. And then we moved on to a real signature piece for Bill that people have long admired, "The Regard of Flight." We developed an evening called "The Regard Evening" -- we condensed [the original piece] and created a companion piece. We brought back the same collaborators, Doug Skinner and Michael O'Connor and Nancy Harrington. The companion piece was an examination of the same three characters 20 years later. It was a nice transition into what was ultimately the final piece of the season, which is this piece called "Mr. Fox: A Rumination." This is a piece that is really about the traditions of performance and a journey through performance as a performer through a lifetime in an art form. But on some level, it is about Bill's passage from physical comedy into another time in his life. So the arc of the season is very complete and has set up beautifully this examination.
Interview for GREAT PERFORMANCES conducted in April 2004.
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