Crème Magazine: Can you tell us a little bit about your character? I know it’s all very hush, hush…

Kerry Washington: Yes, it is very hush, hush [but] I play a lawyer.  I hear other people saying other stuff but I’ve always been told to just say you’re a lawyer--that’s it. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m a lawyer named “Susan.” And the play’s about race. What else?

Crème Magazine: So, what did you do to go about preparing for his role? I know it’s your Broadway debut and you’re obviously an accomplished actress.  How is it going from movies into theatre? And preparing for this role? And having David Mamet call and say, “Hi, are you interested in playing Susan?”

Kerry Washington:  The preparation is different. It’s a different beast. It’s a long time since I’ve done a run this long. I’ve never done Broadway. But it’s been a long time since I’ve done a run in the theatre. I’m thrilled. It’s really, really, really a dream come true for me. Growing up in New York, this is what I’ve always wanted to do more than anything. I’m happy.

Crème Magazine: How did you get attached to the project?

Kerry Washington: I’ve been missing theatre a lot and looking for the right project.  So I read a few scripts and met with a few people. I hadn’t really found the right project for me, I felt, to make a Broadway debut. And then the opportunity came along to originate a role in a David Mamet play and it was like, ‘Duh. Sounds amazing.’ And read the play and I was--it sent my brain spinning and I thought this is incredible. It’s so complicated and rich and layered; and this character, I love this character. 

Crème Magazine: How are you preparing for the every day task of just being on stage?

Kerry Washington: Working with a voice coach, trying to take good care of myself. Getting a lot of sleep.

Crème Magazine: You have a cast here, some whom you’ve worked with before. Does it make it easier to just get involved even though you’re the youngest one.

Kerry Washington:  I knew David. David did a day for us on “Litte Man,” the Wayans Brothers movie that I did. And it was the most fun day of any day on set. I told him, it was the only day actually when I almost peed in my pants laughing so hard. And then James and I did a six episode arc on “Boston Legal” with James. So we’ve already even played lawyers together before.  It’s nice to walk into the room with some history.

Crème Magazine: As an African American actress, or even as an actress in general, the last couple of years or so we’ve been hearing Nia Long and Sanaa Lathan asking where are “these roles” for us. You’re in that golden group of actresses of this generation.

Kerry Washington:  That’s a nice word, golden group.

Crème Magazine: I’m curious. Listening to you talk, sounds like this is one of those roles. Any actress would dream of, but what are the implications of you being where you are in your career and being an African American actress and being in a David Mamet play? What is the significance of all of that?

Kerry Washington:  I don’t know, we’ll see. I don’t know. I mean for me it’s not really about that. I am an actor and I love my job. What makes me love my job is being a part of telling stories and this is a fun one. It’s provocative in the way that David Mamet is and it’s just one of those things when I just sat down and I thought I have the opportunity to originate a role in a David Mamet play. This is the kind of shit you tell your kids about. As an actor this is a dream come true, so, I don’t know what the implications are than I love my job and I get to do it and I’m really happy about that.

Crème Magazine: Do you think that the voice that he’s given you as the character of Susan is a legitimate voice?

Kerry Washington:  What do you mean by that?

Crème Magazine: One of the questions I have is, David Mamet is not African American but he’s writing for the voices of people who very much are or who obviously identify as such. When you were reading it, do you feel he understood the authenticity and legitimacy of that? Or the necessity for such?

Kerry Washington:  The necessity for?

Crème Magazine: For sounding legitimate and being authentic?

Kerry Washington: Yes, I think .You know what was clear to me when I read the play—These are complicated issues that the play deals with: race, gender, socioeconomics, age, the generation divide. And what you have, four different characters who have very different perspectives on all of these issues and he fully embodies all of these different perspectives. And gives you—He takes these issues and puts them in a prism to kind of pull it out. So you as an audience member get to go, “Whoa! Where do I fit in here?” Who do I agree with? Who do I identify with? It’s interesting.

Yeah. I would say that there are certain things that my character says that I completely identify with as a Black woman. There are certain things that the other characters, that the Black man in the play says that I identify with. Or that the White man says in the play, that I identify with. One of the things I think we need to understand is how, where we meet and where we don’t [and] how we differ.  It’s not always in the places we think it is. It kind of spins all of that to get us to ask those questions.

Crème Magazine: How long is the run for?

Kerry Washington: We don’t know. It’s open.

Crème Magazine: Do you think the production is honest in its discussion?  I was discussing with Mr. Spader how it’s such an emotional issue and it’s something you would have had an experience with to make real. And I was wondering how that feels for you. Does it feel honest to you? Or does it feel inflated?

Kerry Washington: Do the issues feel honest?

Crème Magazine: Does the script feel honest to you? If the show feels real for you?
 
Kerry Washington:  You know we’ve had two days of rehearsal, yeah?

Richard Thomas joins the discussion…

Richard Thomas: I don’t think you could ever call a David Mamet play inflated, in any respect.

Crème Magazine: Inflammatory perhaps.

Richard Thomas: Well, one can only hope.

Read part 1 to this story here.