We all love Mustang Bobby. We’ve seen his cars and his flowers; we know that he’s a playwright, what a good guy he is, and that he has one of the greatest nyms of all time. But now we get to see one of his plays being performed, from the comfort of our own homes!
Mustang Bobby has a performance coming up this Sunday afternoon – a virtual reading of his one of his plays – so I asked if he would be willing to share a little more about himself, and about the play.
Before I forget: This Sunday’s Medium Cool with BGinCHI will be devoted to a discussion of the play!
The performance on Silver Tongued Stages starts at 3pm ET, and of course Medium Cool will start at 5pm ET, as always.
Click below to watch the play!
Take it away, Mustang Bobby!
Hi, I’m Philip Middleton Williams, and I’m a playwright.
It’s a bit ironic, but most playwrights don’t really like to talk about themselves at great depth. It’s not that we’re painfully shy; it’s because we would rather our works speak for what we want to say. If you want to get to know me, read my plays. Most of me is in them in some form or another, but here’s the short version. I was born in 1952. I grew up in an upper middle-class suburb of Toledo, and I went to college to get a degree in theatre. I came out as gay when I was twenty-three, I went on to grad school for more degrees, and spent most of my career as a mid-level administrator in a variety of businesses, including public schools. I had a partner named Allen for fifteen years. I’m also a recovering alcoholic, so naturally I became a playwright. It’s cheaper than therapy and doesn’t damage my liver.
I started writing stories in grade school, but I didn’t write my first full-length play until I was in grad school and getting an MFA in playwriting. My master’s thesis was a play a called “The Hunter,” which I hope will never be produced again. That’s when I learned that writing a play is different from a novel or a short story. Like a musical score, it’s a collaborative effort and requires other peoples’ participation – directors, designers, and actors – before it can be seen by an audience. But there’s also more instant gratification with a play. It usually doesn’t take as long to write one – I’ve batted out a ten-minute play in less than an hour – and if you want to hear it, you can gather some friends in your living room – or on Zoom – and get feedback. You can read a play, but it’s truly not done until you hear the words and see the characters come alive.
I’ve written over thirty plays ranging in length from one minute to two hours. I’ve taken them to theatre festivals and conferences all over the country, including the breathtaking shores of Prince William Sound in Alaska, and made friends and learned so much from them by listening to them and hanging out before and after readings that we often joke about hosting a theatre conference without reading a single play. I’ve also had plays produced around the country including one off-off-Broadway production, and even in Australia. I try to see them when I can – I did make the trip to New York – but more often than not I send them out on their own. I trust them to do right by themselves.
“A Tree Grows in Longmont” started out as a monologue which is now at the end of the play. It’s a remembrance of the life I had with Allen, my partner, my lover, and my husband in every way, from our first meeting in 1984 through our life together, our separation in 1999, and his death on June 8, 2018. It didn’t take very long to write it – it’s 33 pages – but it was both a joy and an agony as I wrote it. He gave me immeasurable love and deep pain, as any relationship will. He’s the main character in this play, and he also shows up in a number of my other works. He told me to move on, and I did, but I’m taking him with me. I even took a small urn of his ashes with me to Alaska last summer, knowing he’d want to go, and death being just a minor inconvenience.
The last time I saw Allen (left) when he was passing through Miami, in January 2013.
Me, Allen and Sam when we lived in Petoskey, Michigan in August 1995.
Thank you, WaterGirl for giving me this space, and I hope you all enjoy “A Tree Grows in Longmont”.
We’ll both be there with you.
*****
Note from WaterGirl:
This is Allen’s 1982 high school graduation photo, which Philip still carries with him.
Some love lasts forever. I can’t wait to watch the story unfold at the virtual reading.
This Sunday, May 3, at 3 pm ET, “A Tree Grows in Longmont” will be presented by Silver Tongues Stages of Miami.
This Sunday’s Medium Cool will be devoted to a discussion of the play.
*****
Update on 5/4: the upload took longer than expected, so the play was late starting, and we missed the window for discussing the on Medium Cool yesterday. The play will be the topic for Medium Cool, just a week later, on 5/10.
Click below to watch the play on YouTube!
WaterGirl
I believe that Mustang Bobby plans to be here to participate in the thread. If so, please chime in so we’ll know you’re here!
Baud
It was better than Cats!
Mustang Bobby
Hi, everybody. Have at it. But, to quote the line from Robert Anderson’s “Tea and Sympathy,” “Years from now when you talk of this — and you will — be kind.”
Oh, go ahead. Ask me anything (which is also the title of one of my short plays).
Baud
@Mustang Bobby:
I enjoyed reading your story.
Will the play be available on YouTube in case we can’t watch live?
BGinCHI
REALLY looking forward to the play and the discussion.
Hope everyone gets a chance to watch.
See you Sunday!
Mustang Bobby
@Baud: Yes, that’s the plan. Silver Tongued Stages has a YouTube channel. That’s where it will be shown.
SiubhanDuinne
Just reading the brief autobiography, and seeing the pictures, was enough to make me want more. I’m looking forward to Sunday. (And I’m glad to see you again, Mustang Bobby — I was thinking just a couple of days ago that I hadn’t seen your nym for a while.)
WaterGirl
@Baud:
It’s hard to go wrong with that one!
Mustang Bobby
@SiubhanDuinne: Thank you. Good to be back.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Looking forward to watching, MB.
WaterGirl
How did the rehearsal go last night? What is it like to see someone read/perform a play for the first time?
Mustang Bobby
@WaterGirl: Very well. The actor playing Allen looks and sounds like him that there were times when he was so close to him that it was really hard to watch… for all the right reasons. The actor playing Philip was certainly a better actor than the real-life person he’s based on. The director, Ricky J Martinez is, to use his word, amazing. The five hours on Zoom went by so fast and well that the filming on Saturday should be stunning.
Baud
@Mustang Bobby:
Do you have to put the production together yourself or do playwrites have producers like in the movies?
WaterGirl
@Mustang Bobby: The rehearsal was 5 hours, how long is the play?
laura
I look forward to the Sunday performance and the debrief.
Mustang Bobby
@Baud: There are times when playwrights have to pull the company together. A theatre will say “You supply the cast, we’ll supply the space… for a small fee.” But in this case, and as it usually happens, a theatre or producer will do it all.
Mustang Bobby
@WaterGirl: When we did the run-through without stopping, it came in at 61 minutes.
Baud
@Mustang Bobby:
When they do it, how much veto power do you have? Like if you really hate the actor for the part or something like that?
Mustang Bobby
@Baud: As the playwright, I’m entitled to sit in on auditions and have a say in casting decisions. I’m also entitled to attend any and all rehearsals. No changes to the script are allowed without my consent, and I have the right to withdraw the script from production if I don’t like what’s going on and can’t reach accommodation with the director and producer. These rules are laid out in a standard contract laid out by the Dramatists Guild, of which I’m a member. For this production, we didn’t do a contract, but I’ve never worked with a theatre that hasn’t respected them.
WaterGirl
@Baud: That’s a good question.
I wonder what it’s like to see someone playing YOU. I think that would be complicated. What if they don’t get you? Or they make you seem like a jerk. (when you weren’t)
Or, assuming Philip hasn’t written his character as a perfect person, I wonder what it’s like to see your (possible) imperfections being played out in front of you.
MomSense
I’m really looking forward to this. Thank you, MB.
Omnes Omnibus
I don’t buy Mustang Bobby’s story at all. He says he is from an upper middle suburb of Toledo. I call shenanigans.
Mustang Bobby
@WaterGirl: I knew I wouldn’t be me on the page or on the stage, and I tried creating him as a character named “Philip” with a lot of my history. I think my imperfections show up pretty well.
In many ways, a lot of the characters in my plays are different aspects of me. I could bore the hell out of you by listing them, but suffice it to say that if a character is fully developed, I’m in there somewhere.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I bet he doesn’t even own Mustang. Probably drives a Pinto.
Mustang Bobby
@Omnes Omnibus: Busted.
BGinCHI
@WaterGirl: When Tom Cruise plays me in those Mission Impossible movies, I get nervous every time.
You just don’t get used to it.
BGinCHI
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s the thing. Before Reagan, even Toledo had posh outskirts.
WaterGirl
@Baud: hahahahaha
WaterGirl
@BGinCHI: You guys are making me laugh.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
I am going to see it again and again.
West of the Rockies
Thank you for sharing your story, MB. I look forward to the play!
Mustang Bobby
@WaterGirl: Me too!
Baud
@Mustang Bobby:
Do you have a genre? Drama, comedy, musical?
Mustang Bobby
@Baud: Pretty much drama blended with comedy. I’m a huge fan of the works of Lanford Wilson, so I like to think I follow in his footsteps, and I’ve studied the plays of William Inge (“Picnic,” “Bus Stop”). A lot of my full-length plays are about family dynamics or a character having to choose where his life is going.
On the other hand, my short plays are usually either comedy or tear-jerkers. And I’ve written a bunch of one-minute plays that are basically jokes with a surprise ending.
Baud
@Mustang Bobby:
Have you thought about turning Balloon Juice into a play?
Mustang Bobby
@Baud: I have thought about how to write something that does it justice, but it may be above my abilities.
Baud
@Mustang Bobby:
The naked mopping scene alone would be worth the price of admission.
Elizabelle
I look forward to this. So generous, Mustang Bobby.
@Roger Moore: That was hilarious. SNL.
Elizabelle
Peeps: before we get to Sunday with Mustang Bobby, the National Theatre of Britain is streaming their play, Frankenstein, with Benedict Cumberbatch as The Creature, directed by Danny Boyle, through about May 6. Have been looking forward to this one.
WaterGirl
Not everyone will see this thread, so if you guys can help spread the word on BJ threads between now and Sunday afternoon, I’m sure it would be appreciated. Most certainly by Mustang Bobby, aka Philip, but also by me.sigh. never mind.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Decades ago (1992 IIRC) I was at a Stratford Festival production of “World of Wonders,” based on the great Canadian novelist Robertson Davies’ Deptford Trilogy (Fifth Business, The Manticore, World of Wonders). The amazing Nicholas Pennell played the protagonist, based on Davies himself. And, here’s the coolest part, ROBERTSON DAVIES WAS IN THE AUDIENCE — one row in front of me and about four seats down.
He seemed to enjoy himself very much. And he definitely enjoyed Nicky’s portrayal.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: YOU AREN’T MY SUPERVISOR!!!!
WaterGirl
Does one say “break a leg” to the playwright? Or is that only said to the actors?
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh my god, I hardly know what to say.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: How fun, and how amazing that you recognized him.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: This might help.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: I met Robertson Davies. Got to talk to him at a lecture and booksigning @ Georgetown U. He was a lovely and very approachable man; good sense of humor.
Would love to see his work performed. It could be a play, or an excellent series. Amazon or Netflix: pay attention!
The criminals with such modest ambition.
The director Atom Egoyan held a lot of options on his works. But no movie has ever been made. I wonder if the options have expired by now. Has been years.
HinTN
For Mustang Bobby
“Part of you flows out of me in these lines from time to time.”
I think that’s about right.
Mustang Bobby
@SiubhanDuinne: I think I was at Stratford in 1992, but I missed that production. Oh, I adored Nicholas Pennell. I went to Stratford almost every year from 1970 to 2013. In fact, <shameless self promotion warning> my plays have been on sale at Fanfare Books on Ontario Street.
Mustang Bobby
@WaterGirl: I prefer “check enclosed.”
“Break a leg” is for actors, referring to bending the knee to take a bow.
WaterGirl
@Mustang Bobby: I had no idea!
Omnes Omnibus
@Mustang Bobby: So the BernieBros on Twitter were really wishing Biden good luck?
gwangung
@SiubhanDuinne: I produced a show where the playwright wrote himself into the show as the main character. And, as we were old college buddies, I was able to fly him in for the show and sit next to him during the show. (It does help that he’s a Tony Award winning playwright).
I was suitably amused by his comment, “I prefer to be portrayed by handsome actors” (reasonable, since he’s no slouch in the looks department). I was also amused by all the reactions he did to all the subtle stuff I layered into the production…
Mustang Bobby
@Omnes Omnibus: Only if they were theatre majors.
something fabulous
Very exciting! Can’t wait. Will put in my calendar now so I don’t let the time zone difference sneak up on me, as it usually does!
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m reading Fifth Business to my husband right now. It is so good.
On the play — I’m not sure I’ll be able to take any sustained time away from work on Sunday afternoon, but I’ll try.
Mustang Bobby
@gwangung: Neil Simon pretty much wrote himself into his plays later in his career: the Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound plays, and very obviously in Chapter Two. He was the honoree at the William Inge Festival in 1997 and he was asked about writing himself into that play. He joked that he thought he looked better than Judd Hirsch.
zhena gogolia
@Elizabelle:
I was just wondering why I’ve never seen a film/TV version of the Deptford trilogy.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mustang Bobby: One of my favourite bookstores in the world. And I say that as a person who literally grew up in the family bookstore!
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
He was extremely recognisable!
Elizabelle
@zhena gogolia: That amazes me too. It’s extremely filmable.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mustang Bobby: Man, those days — Nicky Pennell, Richard Monette, Bill Hutt, Martha Henry. So many great thespians.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: Santa Claus. Three rows up.
SiubhanDuinne
@gwangung: What a wonderful and singular experience for both of you!
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle: Pretty much, yes. During his heyday, he was probably one of the most caricatured men in Canada.
Mustang Bobby
@SiubhanDuinne: My first time there — 1970 — I saw Irene Worth in Hedda Gabler. Years later I saw Peter Ustinov as Lear and Brian Bedford as Lady Bracknell. (William Hutt was good, too, as Lady Bracknell.) It was my theatre education formation.
I haven’t been back since 2015. Miss it a lot.
Mustang Bobby
@zhena gogolia: It will be on YouTube so you can watch it whenever you want after Sunday.
gwangung
@Mustang Bobby: Yeah, but Dave had the audacity to name the character after him (first, middle AND last name).
@SiubhanDuinne: Well, he got to do it multiple times, so I think it got to be a game for him. But I certainly got a kick out of introducing him to the cast (total star struck quality. Not by coincidence, my standing in the community rose ever so slightly after that….)
zhena gogolia
@Mustang Bobby:
Great, thanks.
Mustang Bobby
@gwangung: My name is in the play, but I decided to just go all out and not change our names because it was as close to being honest about us as I could. You’ll see. :)
SiubhanDuinne
@Mustang Bobby: I saw Hutt’s Bracknell (along with Pennell and Monette as the Earnests). That was the matinee. The same evening, the same cast did The Tempest — Hutt as Prospero, Pennell as Ariel, and Monette as Caliban. Martha Henry was also in both plays. Most amazing day of theatre I’ve ever experienced because of the ensemble.
I saw Maggie Smith as Rosalind and Brian Bedford as Jacques in a delicious AYLI, can’t remember the year.
Gin & Tonic
@Mustang Bobby: I thought it was a reverse-superstition type thing – saying “break a leg” meant you wished no harm to come. Like my mother, who always said “Hals- und Beinbruch” when I was going away, which means break your neck and a leg..
Mustang Bobby
@Gin & Tonic: I think the real meaning is lost in the mists of time; my story is the one I heard. It’s one of the theatre’s many superstitions along with the Scottish play and peacock feathers on a set.
Mustang Bobby
Thank you, friends, for this chat. I’ve loved every bit of it, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Sunday after the show.
I’m signing off. Thanks again to WaterGirl for making this happen and making me feel like a real contributor to the Balloon Juice community.
Peace.
Dan B
@Omnes Omnibus: My parents had friends in an upper middle class neighborhood in Toledo. We visited them once. I recall they had an Abyssinian Guinea Pig with the wild long whirls. I was entranced by this improbable creature. Toledo was a decent but not exciting city at the time – 60’s.
J R in WV
Bobby,
so glad to see you here again. Hope to be able to watch your play… partly depends upon the weather, if it’s heavy cloud cover we sometimes loose our network connection via sat dish.
By the way, I remember your photos of blooming orchids in your yard from long ago. Year ago I bought wife a blooming orchid at the grocery. I’ve been nursing it along on a small kitchen windowsill for years now. It lived, seemed to put out new leaves on schedule, but never bloomed.
Now, during the Trump Plague, it started blooming just the other day. I intend to send in a picture for the On The Road, or in Your Back yard series, along with a tree on the front door, etc.
Hope you’re doing well, and will get to drive your old car to some shows this summer, tho the odds of that seem slim right now. Take care, keep in touch !!
zhena gogolia
Hate to be OT, but this is just the cutest tweet I’ve seen and I think we all need it.
H.E.Wolf
I’ll be at a virtual reading of another play – will be thinking of you all, esp. Philip and Allen, and sending love.
Anya
@Mustang Bobby, your story should be a movie. I can’t wait for the play.
WaterGirl
I updated the post at the top so you can simply press “play” on YouTube above. For anyone who prefers, here is the direct link.
https://youtu.be/sUD-_O_kodc
I hope everyone will watch it – we’ll be talking about the play on Medium Cool this coming Sunday.