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The author of Nixon’s Nixon strikes again
BY SALLY CRAGIN
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Getting into the mind of a professional paranoiac might have gotten to playwright Russell Lees. As we set up this conversation, the author of Nixon’s Nixon, a play that imagines Nixon’s last night in office, asked, only half joking, " You’re not going to rake me over the coals, are you? " When he was reassured of my friendly intentions, his relief wasn’t feigned. Later, Lees couldn’t say exactly what his concern had been, since he has had little reason to fret over the reception of his work. The author of several lesser-known plays, he’s raked in the plaudits for his surreal political comedy about the 37th president, which started Off Broadway and went on to be produced in many venues, including Merrimack Repertory Theatre in 1998 and the Huntington Theatre Company in 2002, as well as in London in 2001. Monticel’, which Boston Playwrights’ Theatre will unveil next Thursday, ventures into another corner of presidential territory, taking place just after the 1800 election, when it’s not clear whether Jefferson or his party mate Aaron Burr will wrest the office from Federalist John Adams. Back then, Lees explains, " the way they elected the president and vice-president was very different. It used to be whoever gets the most votes is president and whoever gets the next most votes is vice-president. " Since Jefferson and Burr had received the same number of votes, this meant that " the Founding Fathers were duking it out for control of the country. Jefferson thought of that election as a second Revolution, to return America to bedrock values. " But in Monticel’, the election takes second place to another dramatic line. " I started the play when fairly definitive DNA tests came out and it seemed like Jefferson and Sally Hemmings really did have a relationship, " Lees says of the Monticello master’s rumored long-time liaison with a slave. " I thought, ‘I’m not interested in political agendas — but what does this mean on a personal level?’ " And Sally’s brother, James, is a pivotal character. " A lot more is known about him than about Sally. He did somehow talk Thomas Jefferson into giving him his freedom, which was very unusual. Jefferson freed very few slaves in his lifetime, though he freed a lot in his will. " Lees discovered that James went to Philadelphia and became a chef, then returned to Monticello. While he was there, " there was some kind of brouhaha, which seemed to involve James. " Letters have survived that indicate that after his visit, some slaves wanted to be transferred to other estates. Imagining that " brouhaha " is where Lees gets to flex his dramatic muscles. So far, Monticel’ has gone through several stages, including a " substantial revision " last summer, according to Boston Playwrights’ Theatre artistic director Kate Snodgrass, who met Lees when he was a student in one of her classes at Harvard Extension School. " It was immediately very clear that he was a playwright. I encouraged him, begged him " — she laughs — " to apply for our MA program at BU. " He arrived in 1991 and wrote a draft of Nixon’s Nixon in Nobel laureate Derek Wolcott’s class. Since then, he’s stayed in touch with the department and with Snodgrass. As for Jefferson, Lees says that he was " viewed as the ‘American sphinx’ " and that even 200 years later, " there’s a little distance about him. It’s hard to read his writings and feel you know him. " But as the playwright continued delving into the period, he found that he got " more interested in James, so Jefferson receded a little bit. Very early on, it was no longer just a play about Thomas Jefferson. " Will this be his last " presidential play " ? Possibly, he says, though one impetus was the joy of research. " I discovered as I wrote the play about Nixon, ‘Wow, it’s fun to write about someone who has lots of power.’ " Monticel’ is presented December 4 through 21 by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Avenue. Tickets are $10 to $20; call (617) 358-7529.
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