In 1996, actor David Greenspan received an OBIE Award for his performance in the Off Broadway revival of the 1960's groundbreaking play, Boys in the Band. The award came after many years of work downtown as an experimental playwright (Jack, 2 Samuel 11, Etc and The Home Show Pieces), a director (most notably as a resident director of The Public Theatre) and an actor (Phaedra at the Vineyard , Richard Foreman's Benita Canova and Second Hand Smoke at Primary Stages). Playbill On-Line caught up with Greenspan to share a few (indeed, very few) words about his latest acting project, a revival of Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings by The Worth Street Theatre Company.

Playbill On-Line: What interested you in Small Craft Warnings?
David Greenspan: Well, I had a friend who told me that they were auditioning for the role and that they may be able to use me. So, I went in and I got the part.

PBOL: You have very eclectic taste. What do you find interesting about a project?
DG: Really it's whatever's going on at the time. With Small Craft Warnings, I had never read the play -- I knew some of Williams more famous plays and saw where this was similar in style to a lot of those plays, but much darker.

PBOL: Besides Small Craft, have you worked on a Tennessee Williams play before?
DG: I haven't done one of his plays, but I think I've had to have done some of the his scenes in acting class. I'm just not sure which ones.

PBOL: Recently one of your plays, Myopia, was read for the Public Theatre's "New Works Now!" Series. What's going on with your playwriting career?
DG: Well, I've been acting in other people's plays more than I used to, so I haven't had as much time to write plays like I used to. PBOL: What is the first live theatre event that you remember attending?
DG: I remember going to the opera once when I was very small, but I'm not sure which one it was. Other than that, I remember seeing Mary Martin in Peter Pan, but that doesn't really count because it was on television.

PBOL: Did you clap to save Tinkerbell?
DG: (Laughs) Yes, I did.

PBOL: Who is your favorite person in theatre today?
DG: Hmmm. Right now, I have to say that I've seen a lot of Mark Brokaw's work and like what he's doing quite a bit. I saw a play called Minutes From the Blue Route at The Atlantic Theatre Company that I really liked. Other than that, there hasn't been a lot.

PBOL: Do you have a theatrical nemesis? Someone whose work you hate or someone in theatre that you just don't get along with?
DG: I can't think of anybody offhand that I would hate, and even if I could It's not something I would tell you.

PBOL: Do you have a dream role -- a part that you have always wanted to play?
DG: I don't really have a dream role, whatever the role I'm currently working on is my dream role.

PBOL: Is there a credit that you couldn't wait to get off your resume?
DG: There been a lot of shows that I've written or that I've been in that didn't go the way they could have, but the only reason I would take something off my resume is to replace it with something more recent.

-- By Sean McGrath