
William Jackson Harper's Tony-Nominated Performance in 'Uncle Vanya'
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William Jackson Harper
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William Jackson Harper
All right, unk. Welcome to McDonald's.
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Kusha Navadar
You're listening to all of it. I'm Kusha Navadar in for Alison Stewart. Last week I saw Uncle Vanya, the classic play by Anton Chekov. Even if you're not familiar with this specific play, you might know that Chekov can be hard to get into. But I was struck by how accessible the play was. The intent, the humor, the grief. It was right there. If I'm being real, accessible is not the first word that comes to mind when I think of Chekhov. But I'm here to tell you the emotional wallop is there. And so is a powerhouse cast, in no particular order and a non comprehensive list. Alfred Molina, Allison Pill, Anika Noni Rose, Steve Carell, and my next guest, William Jackson Har. Some of you remember William for his Emmy award nominated performance as Chidi in the TV show the Good Place. Or most recently for his Obie award winning performance as Kenneth in the Off Broadway production of Primary Trust. Last year in Uncle Vanya, which is playing at the Lincoln Center, Will stars as Astro. His performance has earned him a Tony nomination and he is sitting right across the table. Hey Will. Welcome to the show.
William Jackson Harper
Hey, how you doing? Good, good.
Kusha Navadar
So glad to have you here. So, for people who aren't familiar with the story, can you give us a brief overview of the plot and the emotional themes that we're dealing with here?
William Jackson Harper
Oh, man. I kind of can't almost, because it's Chekhov and it's sort of rangy and I feel like it's one of those things where the central plot is kind of. Kind of amorphous in a lot of ways. But it basically deals with this man and his niece who live on a farm with his mom and the professor and his new young wife that comes to live with them in the sort of months and weeks in between. Well, the, the months and weeks of them staying there. Actually. That's basically where it starts. And then it takes off in all kinds of directions after that.
Kusha Navadar
Yeah, and it's about the love, the grief, the unrequited dreams that you've experienced before. You play a doctor, a young doctor in it. And I mentioned at the top that Chekov has always been a bit out of reach for me personally. Have you had a similar experience with him? What made this version different for you?
William Jackson Harper
Oh yeah, I totally felt a little bit. Well, it was one of those things where I think that maybe reading it and studying it in school in my 20s is a very different experience from performing it as a 40 something guy. I think that there's something about the unrequited love, the path not taken, all of that stuff that hits differently now than it did when I was 20 something. And just seeing these people on estates bemoaning their lives and I'm just sort of like, your rent is paid, like hush. You know. So like that's sort of where I started with it as a young guy studying it. But then I think like, there is something about. One of the things I keep thinking about with this play is how much of my life is something I do because I love it and how much of something. How much of my life is something I do because it's what I've always done at this point. And there's. Yeah, like this finding, like what is. Are you actually happy? You know, like the collateral damage of changing your life at this stage in life is very different from the collateral damage of changing your life straight out of college. You know, it's sort of like expected that everything's going to turn over and you're going to try something new and everything's going to turn on its head and then you'll, you know, land on your feet again, hopefully. But it's a different thing as you get older. And I think that that theme in Chekov is something that I'm connecting to a lot more.
Kusha Navadar
Something that came through with me in terms of accessibility as well, was just the adaptation itself of the piece. It felt so much more. Not just modern, but, like, just I could go out and I could follow all of the emotional beats. Can you talk about that adaptation a little bit? What was different about it that really spoke to you?
William Jackson Harper
Well, I think it feels really American. I feel like a lot of other versions that I've read feel very British, and the ones that I've read. There's other ones. There's other American translations, I'm sure, but I'm not really all that familiar with them. And so I think that with that, there's sort of the. I think that there's an issue of class in this version that we kind of navigate in a way that feels a little bit more familiar to us. And I think that, like, the other versions that I've seen, there's something a little bit distancing for me where I'm just sort of like, I didn't grow up with that system in my brain. And so I feel like those translations, a lot of the sort of class stuff in British culture gets mapped onto it a little bit more legibly than this version. This version feels very American.
Kusha Navadar
So Heidi Schreck did the adaptation that we're talking about right now. Did you talk to her about that class element? Is that something explicit or something that you feel like you picked up?
William Jackson Harper
It's something that I picked up. We didn't really dwell on that so much. I think that I feel like in this play, a lot of the class stuff is a little amorphous. And, you know, like, we have a character, Waffles, who's this guy who lives, works on the farm and also played by Jonathan Hederi, who, I should say, who plays him beautifully, who lives, works on the farm also, like, is from the family that sold the farm. And so it's like this. You know, there's something interesting about, like, how do we navigate this thing? How do we. How do we explain this guy being here and explain these folks? Like, there's night watchmen in the original version, you know, and it's like, there's things like that which don't really. They don't really. I don't connect to. And I'm not sure that a lot of audiences will connect to it in the same way. And so it's weird. She did sort of. We Talked about removing some of those things that don't really contribute directly to the story, just to make sure that we're focused on the relationships of the people that are living in this house.
Kusha Navadar
Yeah, it's a funny point. Why is Waffles there?
William Jackson Harper
Yeah, you know, I think he's just a real cool guy. He's the accordion. Yeah, he's a real cool guy. We all like him.
Kusha Navadar
We all like him. I love when he busts out the accordion during the play. It's really wonderful. We're talking to William Jackson Harper, who stars in Uncle Vanya, which is at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln center through June 16th. You mentioned that it feels American. It feels especially like rural American. Right. Can you talk a little bit about that?
William Jackson Harper
Yeah, I think that it's something that Heidi mentioned to us when we were doing the table work on this play was she was interested in this not being necessarily like in modern times, but maybe like 10 years into the future. So there is a sort of sense of things have taken a turn for the worse and society's not quite what it used to be. You have these people living sort of, you know, maybe off the grid a bit, but they're like sort of this progressive weirdo household somewhere. And it feels very New England to me in a lot of ways. And. And that explains why the world feels a little further away. And it makes a lot of sense to me. And it also. The rural part of it, I think that figures really heavily into Astro's track. I think the fact that he's having to travel so far to get from patient to patient, and that there's not a lot of, you know, there aren't, like, these medical facilities readily available to him at all times. And when something goes wrong, everyone winds up in one place and he's overwhelmed. You know, that figures really heavily into the story. And that's also something that I've. In some of the research and, like, podcasts I listen to and books that I've read, something that I've heard a lot of rural doctors talk about, which is just like the traveling the great distances and just being so stretched so thin and how challenging that is and how much you just can't do because you're just one person covering hundreds of miles.
Kusha Navadar
How did you research for the part?
William Jackson Harper
Well, there was this really great article about this doctor in West Texas. And then I also read this book, My Own country by Abraham Verghese. I hope I'm pronouncing that name right, but it's about this doctor from An Indian doctor, I think he's actually from Kenya. And he was. He lived in Tennessee during the AIDS crisis and was an epidemiologist, sort of working on all of like, what's going on here and trying to get to the bottom of everything that's going on and dealing with new patients and, you know, all of that that goes on and also being, you know, like, not. He had access to a really great facility, but there's a lot of communities around where he lived that didn't have access. And so like trying to get to these people and like verify if this person has AIDS or HIV and all of that was something that was a. It's a challenge for him. And it's like a brand new thing, you know, that something that showed up. This all takes place in the. In the early to mid-80s. So it's. It was still relatively new and it was something that people were watching over on the coast and being like, you know, thinking it's not going to come here. But then it did show up there and he's this man who's the. He's the specialist that knows about it and he was stretched really thin. And it's a really. It's a really informative book and it really helped to kind of put me. Helped me try to wrap my mind around what it is to be the only person that knows what's going on somewhere and be the only person that has the access and the knowledge to possibly do something about it.
Kusha Navadar
So you do that research. There's that sense of being harried, of being the only expert in the room. A lot of times can you point to choices that you make in your character of Astrov that you're like. That's where that comes from in my performance?
William Jackson Harper
Well, I think it's really clear for me, it's like in the very top of the show, I think that it's. I mean, there's a lot of other things figuring into this, like, as well as. Because I think that my take on the character is that this was not supposed to be the final stop. I was going to come out here, do this rural thing for a while, earn some money, pay off some loans and then go back. But I wound up staying here for various reasons. But I think that the exhaustion of coming out to deal with a case of gout and there's other things going on. But then, you know, homeboy just like takes off for a walk while I'm there.
Kusha Navadar
Homeboy is Alfred Molina's character.
William Jackson Harper
Homeboy is Alfred Molina. Yeah, yeah. So, like, it really figures in heavily there because that's sort of the longest time that I get to talk about what my job has done to me and how it's affected me emotionally.
Kusha Navadar
There's another part that I want to point out in terms of, like, acting choices that. That really spoke to me watching you. It's. There's the scene where you're. You're quite drunk, your character's quite drunk, and you're. You're playing it pretty well. And while I was watching, I was thinking acting tips from. From Will. How do you play drunk?
William Jackson Harper
Oh, man. Carefully. That's. That's something that I'm sort of calibrating all the time. There's moments where I think earlier on I was probably drunker. I'm not sure when you saw it, but it was just last week. Oh, last week. Right. You said that. So there's moments where I've definitely been drunker, and it became less about me connecting with my partner and more about trying to make sure the physicality's right. And that put me in my head in a weird way. And I think that there's something about the complete word vomit that my character has in that scene, which does a lot of the work for me. And I was talking to my partner about, how do I do this? I don't know if I'm doing this right at all. And she was like, you know, whenever you have had a couple, there is a different swagger, there is a different way of moving. And you're mischievous when you're.
Kusha Navadar
You will.
William Jackson Harper
I'm mischievous? Yeah. And, like, I'm a little bit of a, you know, a trickster when I. When I've had a few. And so it's like, sort of like, okay, so what is that. What is that feeling? You know, there's like. You know, she says that there's a smirk on my face and, like, I'm about to do something, like, real dumb. And I'm like, okay, so let's lean into that. And also just take the filter off when it comes to being emotionally raw and open with. With Sonya, with Alison Pill, that. That's a big part of it, just not filtering the thoughts at all and just letting them come as they come and just saying them and.
Kusha Navadar
And a playfulness and a playful.
William Jackson Harper
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Because, like, part of it is I do want to joke. I do want to have a good time, even if I am being. Being really raw. And I think that's something that is very present in Heidi's translation, too, which is she gives us a lot of opportunities to play and. And to joke and to tease, and she told us to lean into that stuff as much as we could.
Kusha Navadar
I'm so happy you brought that up and that you brought up Alison Pill, because that was a part. That tenderness between you two playing with each other, that really does come through. It's part of what made it so accessible for me, at least while I was watching. How does Allison support you when you're on stage?
William Jackson Harper
Allyson is a treasure. She's so emotionally available, open, live, and, you know, it's. I can't say enough good things about her. It's really easy to just let it all out with her because it feels safe. And she's also an incredibly, incredibly smart actor, and she's very meticulous about timeline and all of these things. But then when it comes down to just being in the moment, she's very good at just being in the moment in a way that I really, really admire. And so it's really easy to just be emotionally available and open with her on stage.
Kusha Navadar
Do you try to do. I mean, I obviously do try to do the same with that. How does that come through for you when you're on stage trying to be a good scene partner?
William Jackson Harper
Just staying, you know, just listening, that's the biggest thing. And I feel like whenever something is taking me from listening, that's something I need to probably trim away from whatever my interpretation is. And so, like, that's something that we were, you know, we were definitely. We're calibrating still. I mean, this is a play that gets really. There's so. There's so much there. It's so dense that we're always kind of calibrating and recalibrating things from night to night and, you know, like it and looking for the moments and the ways in which we can really connect with each other and make sure that the scene is existing between all of us on stage and not us on stage, trying to make sure that we're, you know, like, getting this point across to the audience. We want to make sure that we're getting our point across to each other and affecting each other as people in the scene.
Kusha Navadar
Well, I mean, speaking of the stage, and I don't want to ruin anything, but there's a part where there's a lot of water. I'll just put that out there, like, with a lot of water on the stage. At one part, do you feel like that I was watching number one. How do you stop from slipping? But then also does the Water itself ground you, does it? Did you have to get around it at a certain point? Just kind of put out the back of your mind so you're not out of your head. Talk to me about that a little bit.
William Jackson Harper
Oh, I mean, well, I definitely slipped a few times because your character's drunk, and also I'm clumsy. But, yeah, I've definitely slipped a few times. I honestly just don't even think about it. It's just like, that's the reality of the world. And, you know, there's. There's water on stage. There's. And so it's like you play with it like it's the thing that it is. And so I don't really. Yeah, I think I try not to. I try not to, like, twist my ankle or knee or anything like that. So I'm as careful as a person would be on. On said surface. But, yeah, I don't really think about it all that much.
Kusha Navadar
So it doesn't like having that water there. Because, I mean, there's a part where Allison actually, you know, lays down on the ground, and you see the water, the wetness on her on her shorts. And that really grounds me, at least as an audience member of, like, oh, wow, this is really real. Does it have any kind of effect for that, like, you when you're on stage?
William Jackson Harper
Sure. But, you know. Well, you know how sometimes when everything has been ruined, there's nothing to do but just kind of stand there and look at it?
Kusha Navadar
Yep.
William Jackson Harper
I think that if. If there is any effect of that sort that I think that you're describing, I come out on stage, candles have been rained out. There's bottles of wine on a table that are just soaking wet. There's all these medications in a basket that are just, you know, damp, and it's. And so there is something about that which is like, now it's a real thing. I don't have to pretend that this moment happened. It's like, this moment happened, and now it's just like, okay, well, I'm just gonna deal with this as it is, rather than having to manufacture or pretend as if something else is going on.
Kusha Navadar
Yeah. You know, we just got an unsolicited text come through from a listener that I want to read. It says, we went to see Uncle Vanya last week. Three impressions. The ensemble cast was uniformly excellent. The play is much more powerful on stage than on paper, and its existential nature really comes through, which I thought was such a lovely thing to say. O so thanks to the listener that sent that in, we're talking with William Jackson Harper, who's an actor, a star in Uncle Vanya, which is at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln center through June 16th. Will. While I was watching it, another thing that really came out for me was how into it the audience was and how much we were laughing together. And it made me wonder, are there any times that the audience is laughing and in your head you're like, that wasn't intended to be funny, but I'll go with it.
William Jackson Harper
Oh, goodness. The first preview, we were. Look, the first preview, you're. You never feel like you're ready. And I described it as white hot terror because it's like, oh, my God, we're about to do this. And I feel like there's so many things that I'm still questioning here. And that first preview was. There were so many laughs that surprised us. We thought things were moderately funny to each other. They were meant to. There's so many things that are meant to make the other character laugh as a character or jokes that are meant to. You know, we're flirting and we're teasing and we're doing all of that with each other. And so it's. There's so many of those things that we thought were funnyish but weren't gonna get a laugh. And when 1100 people just embrace you with this huge wave of laughter when you don't expect it, it's. I mean, I just had no idea. I had no idea the amount of laughs that we had in the show.
Kusha Navadar
You know what it makes me think of as. Well, I really would love to hear as an actor who's evolving and becoming better and better known as just such a powerful comedic actor, does it ever feel like that? That reputation creates situations where people assume everything you do is supposed to be funny, and it gets in the way a little bit.
William Jackson Harper
I don't know. I don't mind any laughing ever, honestly, as long as I'm not chasing it. It's one thing to be doing something to make sure the audience gets a chuckle out of this. It's another thing when it's in the scene and it's just meant to. It just happens to come out in a way that the audience finds funny. And so it doesn't ever really get in the way. For me, I feel like laughing has its place. And I really. I bristle at the idea of theater as church. I think that it. Whatever your reaction is, is a reaction that you have, and it's valid. So if something is really funny to you and no one else thinks so that's kind of the, that's the beauty of it is that you're bringing your own experience to it and reacting in a way that feels true to you and you're reacting to something that I don't, I don't even understand. But it's only for you. And that's, that's fun for me. Yeah.
Kusha Navadar
And you know, we're wrapping up here, but you know, in the last minute or so you talk about the, the roads that you've traveled and doing this in your 40s as you, as you leave this in your, in your last run of the show, what do you hope you take from having played Astrov in, in your own life?
William Jackson Harper
Well, I'm honestly just, I'm over the moon that I got to do this at all. I didn't really. So, like, the thing is, Heidi and Lila are two of my favorite creators in the city. Chekhov is something that's one of those things that I've had a hard time wrapping my mind around. And to get the opportunity to dive into something that is a little bit scary and that I'm not sure if I can do it and to sit down and do the read through and have certain things affect me in a way that I wasn't expecting and then to actually go through that whole process, that was great. And so I think that honestly, the thing that I'm gonna take away from this is that I got, I have a challenge, I completed a challenge that I'm really excited about.
Kusha Navadar
We'll have to pause it there. Will, thank you so much for joining us.
William Jackson Harper
All right, thank you.
McDonald's Customer
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William Jackson Harper
All right, unc, welcome to McDonald's.
McDonald's Employee
Can I take your order, miss?
McDonald's Customer
I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps. What's a snack wrap? It's the return of something great. Snack wrap is back.
Marshall's Advertiser
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Podcast: All Of It (WNYC)
Episode: William Jackson Harper's Tony-Nominated Performance in 'Uncle Vanya'
Air Date: May 30, 2024
Host: Kusha Navadar (filling in for Alison Stewart)
Guest: William Jackson Harper
This episode explores William Jackson Harper's Tony-nominated turn as Astrov in the current Lincoln Center Theatre production of Uncle Vanya. The conversation brings listeners behind the scenes of Chekhov’s timeless drama, offering insight into the production’s modern American adaptation, Harper’s approach to his character, and the emotional and practical realities of performing the play. The discussion also delves into the accessibility of Chekhov’s work, the experience of ensemble theater, and the discoveries Harper has made on stage and in his own career.
Plot and Emotional Themes
Connecting With Chekhov Over Time
The Adaptation by Heidi Schreck
Removing Barriers to Relatability
Rural American Feel
Researching Astrov’s Rural Doctor
Incorporating Exhaustion
Playing Drunk on Stage
Working with Alison Pill (Sonya)
Staying Present
Surprising Laughter
On Audience’s Subjectivity
The conversation is warm, candid, and reflective, capturing both the artistry and day-to-day realities of live theater. Harper’s insights are thoughtful, self-effacing, and anchored in humor, vulnerability, and a love of the craft.