Pulitzer Prize鈥搘inning playwright Tracy Letts鈥� newest Broadway play Linda Vista didn鈥檛 start out as a play at all. 鈥淚t started with a little free writing,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 was surprised by the voice of this guy.鈥�
Letts followed his curiosity and found Wheeler, a 50-something divorc茅 living in Southern California and re-entering the dating scene when he meets age-appropriate Jules and, in a different way, young-and-in-trouble Minnie.
鈥淲hat drew me right away is Tracy鈥檚 ability to write fly-on-the-wall experiences that are deeply human, funny, raw, scary, but they鈥檙e all that because they鈥檙e very true,鈥� says Cora Vander Broek, who plays Jules.
鈥淗e has great powers of observation about human behavior,鈥� adds Ian Barford, who plays Wheeler, 鈥渁nd as actors it鈥檚 great to feel like there鈥檚 real dimension to your character.鈥�
Those dimensions are a result of Letts鈥� introspection as he contemplated the ways in which he was similar and dissimilar to Wheeler. 鈥淚 started to think about the ways in which, when it comes to my views on politics and culture, I think of my opinions as unimpeachable,鈥� Letts explains. 鈥淎nd at the same time I鈥檝e lied, cheated, not always conducted myself with integrity in personal relations. I started thinking about the dichotomy of that and thought that was worthy of exploration and then it grew into a bigger picture about the way we see ourselves and the way we see other people.鈥�
But the fact that Wheeler is not clearly a hero or anti-hero is exactly the point. And Letts makes an argument that how we treat people is more about us and less about them. 鈥淚 would hope that [audiences] would think about treating people with compassion, even people who don鈥檛 deserve it,鈥� says Letts, 鈥渂ecause it鈥檚 easy to give compassion to people who deserve it, it鈥檚 harder to give it to people who don鈥檛.鈥�
So Wheeler became a collection of contradictions. 鈥淗e鈥檚 so complicated. He鈥檚 hilarious, he鈥檚 despicable, he鈥檚 noble, he鈥檚 awful. He鈥檚 very bright but he鈥檚 maybe not very evolved,鈥� says Barford. But through Linda Vista, Barford sees a 鈥渟piritual awakening鈥� through his character鈥攅vidence that maybe he is capable of change.
Wheeler鈥檚 story, according to Vander Broek, leads us to wonder: 鈥淎re you ever too old to come of age? That鈥檚 the question this play is asking.鈥�
