April
24, 2001
By Dale Morris © 2001
Wednesday,
April 25, 2001
Dr.
George Flint moved to San Diego from New York in 1990 after retiring from a
38-year career as a surgeon. At
retirement he was a Professor of Clinical Surgery at Cornell and Albert Einstein
University Medical Schools. Having
interrupted a youthful acting career to become a surgeon, he knew that he wanted
to become involved in theatre again. In
the past 10 years he has acted in many shows with Lamb’s Players, Shakespeare
LA, North Coast rep., Blackfriars, Octad, Sweetooth, and the Fritz. He was
President and Chairman of The Board of the Actors Alliance for 5 years. In 1999 his Renaissance Theatre Company produced the highly
acclaimed Waiting For Godot at the Lyceum Space in Horton Plaza.
Those of us in the theatre community have been anxiously awaiting his
next choice. A ripple of excitement
has worked its way through our ranks with the announcement of Long Days Journey
Into Night. I spoke with George
yesterday:
DM: Why Long Days Journey Into Night?
GF: My
original concept of producing was to fill what I saw as a void in San Diego
theatre. The void consists of
theatres not producing the great plays of modern times.
I’m not talking about going back to the Elizabethan Classics or
Restoration comedies – not that kind of thing; but modern classics that are
rarely produced. I decided I was
going to do great plays with a truly professional production.
So I got my feet in the water last year with Godot and it worked so well,
and it was so well received by theatre people and by the press.
DM: That’s
wonderful.
GF: Unfortunately,
it wasn’t that well attended.
DM: Did you
take a bath on it?
GF: Yeah,
sure. But, that didn’t bother me;
I was expecting…well, I would have been happy to break even.
Especially since it’s a non-profit, I don’t make any money from it, I
don’t draw any salary – it’s truly a labor of love.
So, to get back to your question, in looking for the next play to do, I
looked to do what is widely regarded as the greatest American play ever written (Beckett, of course, being Irish and writing Godot in French.)
I wanted particularly to do an American play.
I went to Samuel French to acquire the rights for Long Days Journey Into
Night, but there was a restriction on it. Evidently,
a Broadway or national production was about to be mounted.
So, for a time, I went in another direction.
My next choice was an idea to do something with Matt Walker of The
Troubadour Theatre Company of Los Angeles who played Gogo in Godot.
I think he is a genius at physical comedy.
So, I wanted to do a Moliere play and he was really enthusiastic about
doing it, Jonathan McMurtry would have been a part of it also.
My approach is to try to fit the play to the people available.
Not, “okay, I’m going to do this play”…with no idea of whether or
not I have the right people to do it with.
I want to go at it at a different angle: Who’s around that I can get a
great play for? So, I had Walker
and McMurtry for a Moliere play but Walker was suddenly hired to direct by
Turner Television and the chance was lost.
Then Samuel French called and said LDJITN was available!
DM: That
was an easy switch for you!
GF: Yes it
was. I immediately took it to
Jonathan McMurtry.
DM: What was his reaction?
GF: He absolutely flipped! (laughs) He said I’ve done
all the great parts but I’ve never done James Tyrone – I’d love to do it.
DM: How did Rosina (Reynolds) jump into your mind?
GF: She was dying to do it in the very beginning!
I’ve worked with her for years at the Actor’s Alliance.
So, we chat. I tell her what
I’m interested in. When I told
her of my idea for LDJITN her eyes lit up!
DM: She is a
great choice.
GF: Yes, she is.
DM: How did you find your Director, David Ellinstein?
GF: Good
story. The first person I nailed
down was Jonathan – I knew I had to have a strong James.
Jonathan suggested I give David a call.
And I said, “Well, I know David. He
directed a staged reading that I took part in at the Streisand Festival last
year”. I was very impressed with
his work. So, I called and met with
David and was immediately struck by his knowledge, sensitivity, and thought he
was just terrific. He jumped at the chance to direct this show.
Of course, he has directed in Los Angeles, and around the country, but he
thought that the chance to do LDJITN with a great cast was “a life changing
opportunity”. Everyone has been
so enthusiastic about this show; it’s been very gratifying.
DM: I was in a show – The Elephant Man – at NCRT with
Sean Robert Cox. He was a joy to be
in a show with. How did you end up
casting him?
GF: He auditioned. He
came in and he had actually memorized a long difficult monologue by Edmund, and
just blew us away with it. I asked
him afterwards, when did you learn that speech?
And he said he had started on it a few days ago.
Oh, youth!
DM: I can’t wait to see him in that part.
GF: He’s going to be great. He’ll be working well with people like Jonathan and Rosina,
Karla, and Brendan Ford who is playing Jaime.
We found Brendan in Los Angeles after first looking at several people
here. We naturally preferred to
cast one of our local actors, but someone I was interested in wasn’t
available, and others didn’t fit the role physically.
We then went looking in L.A.
DM: Is
casting San Diego actors important to you?
GF: Absolutely! Not
only because of local chauvinism but also because of housing costs.
Other Equity Theatres in town cast almost exclusively out-of-town.
The Globe is starting to hire more local people – which is encouraging.
Ron Choularton just got cast in DA.
He was so wonderful in Waiting For Godot.
He got applause after that long speech every night.
DM: My feeling is that San Diego theatre people need to
get behind you to guarantee the success of this show in order to – I don’t
know how else to say it – to keep our own hopes alive of one day being cast in
one of your shows.
GF: Not only that, but also to have the opportunity to
see great plays done with the highest professional quality.
DM: How important to you financially is it for this show
to make money?
GF: Well, let me put it this way…it’s important for
me not to lose much money. I lost
quite a bit of money on Godot. If I
lose as much money on this show…
DM: You’re done?
GF: I’m not sure I’m done, it would depend on how
much backing I could get from others. Last
year (with Godot) I did it all on my own – with a few minor contributions.
If we’re not doing well financially, I will have no choice but to seek
funding of some sort.
DM: My hat is off to you, sir.
GF: Thank you. One
additional word: I would love to do
an entire season but there is no theatre available that is worth renting.
I’ve talked to several people about finding a space that several
companies could use but nothing has come up so far.
There are so many plays I would love to do – including a Moliere play,
of course. We just don’t have a theatre to do them in.