Preview: Pictures from Home at Alley Theatre

Although it has been described as “a memory play,” playwright Sharr White doesn’t really like that label applied to Pictures from Home based upon the decade Larry Sultan spent taking pictures of and interviewing his parents and the book Sultan wrote about that.

“Memory plays can tend to be sentimental and I think this is the last thing this play is.” says White (On Broadway: Pictures from Home, The Other Place, The Snow Geese), who adds that he understands that many people could see it that way as it’s based on Sultan’s recollections. “But memory play seems just treacly to me and it’s not treacly.,”

The play set in California and first developed in the Alley’s 2020 All New Festival will be directed by Alley Artistic Director Rob Melrose. Zachary Fine plays photographer Larry Sultan, Susan Koozin plays his mother Jean and Todd Waite plays his father Irving .

Sultan began his work in the 1980s, taking photos and talking with his parents who agreed to go along with his project, whatever they might feel about it at different times along the way. Sultan was combining his memories of his childhood to better understand what their relationship was and what ultimately it might mean about him.

Its 1 hour, 45-minute run time is best seen without an intermission, White says, and features three main characters: Larry, his mother Jean and his father Irving, all with different perspectives on their lives together.

In 2015, White went to a retrospective of Sultan’s work (the photographer died in 2009). nd realized he’d seen some of his work before. A section of the exhibit featured photos from Pictures from Home including the now-famous photo of Irving, Larry’s father sitting in a blue suit on a bed. “There’s this quote between Larry and Irv [printed on the gallery walls] in which Irv says ‘Maybe but whose truth is it? It’s your picture but my image. Like the photograph of me sitting on the bed. Maybe I’m a little bored but I’m not melancholy or longing for the old days or waiting for death.’

“Here’s this man who very succinctly sums up the tension within ownership of an image and creation The image of this man sitting on the bed is not the image of someone who would be able to engage in that level of artistic dialog. And I just thought’ Who are these people? I want to know everything about them .'”

Once he read Sultan’s book White said he thought this was something he wanted to turn into a play but with hesitation. “I also thought it was a little insane, How does one make a play of this. So there was my challenge.”

Asked whether this was a comedy or drama or a combination of both, White describes it not as a comedy but a play that has humor in it. : “Their rapport is really delightful. There’s a lot of tension and there’s a lot of intimacy and love.” He knew what he really needed was to hear the stories behind the stories. So he contacted the Larry Sultan estate, which turned out to be his widow Kelly Sultan. Several emails and an in-person meeting resulted. “She gave me so much insight into how Larry accomplished the project. And who his parents really were outside of Larry’s frame.

“Irv was a really, really tough character. He was a tough customer. At turn angry, frustrated, kind, tender. Rejecting of Larry. Accepting of Larry. And within that the drama was very clear in terms of personal stakes but also the humor came out. I feel like really abrasive characters are also very funny. I think that’s where a lot of the comedy comes in too.”
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Larry had two brothers, but Larry was almost always by himself except for holiday gatherings, White says. Asked about this, White says Kelly laughed and responded: “Not only did he act like an only child, he acted like he was the only child in the world.” White made the decision to leave the brothers out of his play.

“Jean was always described as very funny, very acerbic. Jean is s like Irv’s guard rails. She’s described as very watchful. Irv was really a very explosive person. And Jean would not only diffuse him but she would fight back in a big way. And she would fight him down They had a pretty visceral relationship I think.”

As for Larry himself: “The book begins and the play begins as an exploration of Larry’s father. Larry exploring this man whose image of success Larry saw as being fetishized by Reagan and conservatives in the Reagan ere. And what he also saw was that his father was so devoted to the image of success and his question was ‘What happens to that man as he becomes discarded?'”

As Larry gets pulled into the drama it gets really head-spinning because he loses any objective distance even with the camera between him and his parents., White says. “He realizes he’s part of this drama, too. Then he realizes this isn’t just about his father. It’s about him. It’s about his mother. It’s about his family and then ultimately it’s about mortality. “

All of that is helped by the changes in Sultan’s own life during the decade, White says. “He begins the project when he’s single and by the end of the project, he’s met Kelly. They’ve gotten married They’ve had two sons. So his entire perspective on being human and mortal has changed. So the project changes along with that.”

Part of the book and the play addresses the willingness of Larry’s parents to go along with his photos and interviews over a decade. “They really agreed to endure his exploration of them and to me that’s really extraordinary. For me it’s part of a really remarkable demonstration of their love.” .

Asked what his play is about, White says: “It’s about intimacy. It’s about love and ultimately it’s about what we all are heading towards which is aging and our parents again and our questioning of what we have left behind us and our mark on the world. All of which are conversations that Larry has with his parents.

” I think that it’s a multigenerational exploration of intimacy and ultimately mortality. I think it’s more than current. I think it’s more than with us.”

Performances are scheduled for January 19 through February 11 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and 7 p.m. Sundays at Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $27-$81.