An Interview with Kevin O’Connell, director of The Niceties at Perisphere Theater

by Norah Vawter

Kevin O’Connell is the director of The Niceties, currently playing at the Perisphere Theater. Having grown up in the Hudson Valley, he’s been involved in theater his whole life and earned a master’s in dramaturgy from Catholic University, but he’s always balanced his creative work with day jobs. Once in the D.C. area, O’Connell formed Barabbas Theater to produce plays for the Capital Fringe Festival, including his adaptation of Henry V.

The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess, first produced in 2017, centers on an intimate confrontation about race and the legacy of slavery. Black student Zoe (Hannah Taylor, making her professional debut) turns in a paper that argues that the American Revolution succeeded because of slavery. Sparks fly when Zoe meets with her white history professor Janine (Sue Struve, veteran of local stages and Perisphere) to discuss the paper.

Says O’Connell, “The play becomes a microcosm of the revolutions they study in this professor’s class. The student has to decide whether to keep her own revolution moderate, which will likely result in modest progress but leave many injustices in place, or bring it to a radical level, which will seek to bring about real equity but will likely fail.”

Having helmed Perisphere since 2019, serving as artistic and executive director, O’Connell will pass the torch in April to Gerrad Alex Taylor and Lizzi Albert. O’Connell looks forward to diving into freelance theater work and returning to writing. Taylor and Albert have just announced that Perisphere’s next season will include The America Play by Suzan-Lori Parks and Marie Antoinette: The Color of Flesh by Joel Gross.

What drew you to directing?

Directing has always been my favorite role in the theater. I’ve done many other jobs as well, including dramaturgy and sound design. I’ve acted a few times, but usually because a last-minute replacement was needed and I was very good at memorization. Whenever I was involved and not directing, I couldn’t help seeing the big picture and thinking of the choices I would make.

Talk to me about the mission and values of Perisphere.

Perisphere had always focused on history. That was particularly appealing to me; I have a master’s degree in that subject as well. (I’m sort of addicted to school.) I worked with our board of directors to sharpen that focus. The plays we’ve produced in my tenure are not just about historical events; they examine the notion of history, digging into questions such as who gets to write history, how history is manipulated, and what things we’ve always believed about history that just aren’t true. 

Why did you want to produce and direct The Niceties? 

The Niceties was actually the first play I wanted to do when I took over Perisphere Theater. I read it in a compilation of plays by women produced at the Contemporary American Theater Festival. It’s perfect for our mission. When he saw it at CATF, critic Peter Marks wrote: “One of the best plays I’ve seen about who gets to tell the story of America, and how.” But, another local company had a hold on the license to produce the play and only relinquished it last year. 

Perisphere is a black box theater.  Is there a benefit to putting this play on in this environment? 

Because only two characters exist, it is best suited to a black box or other intimate stage orientations. … I staged it to revolve around the professor’s desk and chair, which serves as a metaphorical seat of power. 

How important is it for us to have these kinds of conversations about race and other social issues in real life or on the stage?

It’s certainly important to have these conversations in real life. But in real life, either emotions take over or, at the other extreme, people are too careful to address the issues. There’s certainly a lot of anger expressed in The Niceties, but, for the most part, the characters stay on point. …  And, as Burgess points out in a note in the script, “When it comes to the facts of history, almost everything that both of the women in this play say is right.” Neither character is the sole “mouthpiece for the truth,” as Burgess puts it. … The play gets audiences to consider a point of view they might not have before. But it’s also not providing a neat solution.

I’m hearing a lot of talk from theatergoers about the direction theater should take today. For instance, should we focus on plays that make us think critically or that entertain us? Should we choose new playwrights or classics? Should we embrace diversity

I also hear a lot of that talk. …  I’m never quite sure what practical steps are being proposed. Yes, we should go to plays that make us think critically about social and political issues. And, if we want to, we should be going to those that entertain us with spectacle or fun. And there’s room for both new plays and classics. I think, though, that people sometimes forget that the play has to be good. As I have searched for plays for Perisphere, I’ve come across many that check all the boxes. They’re just not any good. That’s subjective of course. But if you want to do a play about, say, the disproportionate effect of climate change on people of color, you shouldn’t just put up a thinly veiled lecture. You need to have a good story and tell it well.

Diversity and representation are vitally important. We need to provide opportunities to artists who have historically had barriers placed in their way. And we need to provide audiences with subject matter they can relate to. This doesn’t mean there’s no place for classics from the likes of Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Miller. At their best, these plays have near-universal relatability. But sticking to the canon to the exclusion of newer works perpetuates an injustice.

What have you seen at theaters around the area this season that’s gotten you excited? 

The best play I’ve seen recently was an adaptation of The Oresteia by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in Baltimore. All of the actors and the director, Lisa Bruneau, did great work.

In today’s world, why does theater matter when there are so many pressing, practical issues to contend with?

When done right, theater causes people to think, feel, and empathize. We need the practice.

Perisphere’s production of the The Niceties plays through March 23 at the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre at 8641 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910. For tickets, buy online here. Running time is 1 hour and 50 minutes with a 15 minute intermission.

Kevin O’Connell is the current artistic and executive director of Perisphere Theater, as well as the director of Perisphere’s production of The Niceties. He  was the founding artistic director of Barabbas Theatre Company, which produced highly acclaimed plays in the Capital Fringe Festival.

Norah Vawter is the Local Authors Editor for DCTRENDING. She’s a freelance writer, editor, and novelist, represented by Victress Literary. Norah lives in Virginia with her family. Follow her on Twitter where she shares words & works of DC area writers every Friday.