Learning From Terriers
“My Lessons From Dogs,” a solo show written and performed by Patrick Christiano and directed by Kate Mueth, will be presented at Guild Hall on Sunday afternoon at 2. The program will benefit the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons.
Mr. Christiano is an actor, director, producer, journalist, and publisher of theaterlife.com, a website devoted to reviews, features, interviews, and photographs of the theater in New York City. He is also broker with Town & Country Real Estate in East Hampton.
The play, which Mr. Christiano described as “a dialogue with the audience, except they don’t get to talk back,” was inspired by the author’s 22 years with Norfolk terriers, one of whom, Franki, now shares its home with Tallulah, a Norwich terrier.
“The piece is about rekindling my childlike energy,” said Mr. Christiano at his East Hampton house. “I sold real estate from 1989 until 2000. I put blinders on. That’s all I did. I got my first dog since childhood in 1997, and I noticed the change right away. I was becoming more like I used to be when as a kid I had a dog.”
The result of the renewed childlike energy was a return to the theater. “I still do real estate, but I’m focused more on theater.” In 1999 be began an ongoing acting workshop with Zina Jasper, a protégé of Harold Clurman. Since then he has portrayed Truman Capote in “Tru,” Jay Presson Allen’s one-person play, in Jacksonville, Fla. Other credits include Harold Pinter’s “The Lover,” Bill Manhoff’s “The Owl and the Pussycat,” and Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”
“My Lessons From Dogs” was first workshopped at Guild Hall’s JDTLab in November 2014. “It was a reading, and I had just finished writing it. I worked with Kate Mueth for four hours on the stage there the night before putting it on. We literally rewrote it. I had never done anything like it. It was my voice. It was me. Acting is really different because you have a character to hide behind.”
During the play, which he stressed is still a work in progress, he talks about death, including people he knew who died and his own brushes with death, among them a serious automobile accident. “To me, unless you really know this is it, that life is not a dress rehearsal, you can’t be joyous, happy, and free. You’re holding on to something.”
Mr. Christiano, who is married to Barry Gordin, a photographer, is now writing a play that relates to his family in Alabama and, in the fall, he is directing a new play, “Thief in the Night,” by Paulanne Simmons, with whom he served on the Drama Desk nominating committee. “The thing about the dogs and childlike energy is that they allowed new things to happen.”
A $20 donation is suggested for admission. Reservations can be made by calling 631-434-5493 or emailing [email protected].