Here is how obsessed playwright and Emmy-winner Rick Cleveland is with politics:
As a child, he could not turn away from the televised Watergate hearings. “My mom said I was the only kid who stayed indoors to watch them,” says Cleveland in an interview from his Los Angeles-area home.
He won an Emmy for his work on the TV hit “West Wing,” which was all about poltics.
C-Span is his TV channel of choice.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that Cleveland has written four plays about presidents. Next up for Arizona Theatre Company is the world premiere of his latest, “Five Presidents.” The co-production with Milwaukee Repertory Company opens in previews Saturday.
The idea was launched by the iconic photo of five living presidents at Richard Nixon’s 1994 funeral. Standing shoulder to shoulder with their wives and each other were Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, then the sitting president.
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Cleveland says he began to wonder, “What do they talk about? What do they sound like when behind closed doors?”
He went on:
“My belief is that these guys have more in common than differences, and they may have some grievances they might want to get off their chest.”
While there are people who know what the past and present commanders-in-chief talked about at that funeral, they aren’t talking.
So Cleveland immersed himself in research and put those words in their mouths.
He called on his political friends, such as Clinton’s one-time press secretary Dee Dee Myers, for guidance. He compiled hundreds of quotes from each of the presidents. He delighted in finding off-color remarks.
Old grievances, frustrations, discussions around honor, political secrets, and yes, jelly beans, punctuate the play, billed as a drama but woven with humor.
“There were a lot of interesting things happening then,” Cleveland says.
“I think that this play is in some way an examination of the toll it takes on a person who has gone through the job,” he says. “It reminds you they are just men. But it also asks what is wrong with you if you want that job.”
Expect wit, insights, a good story — Cleveland has displayed all those traits in his television work: Besides “West Wing” he has been a writer on “Six Feet Under,” “Mad Men,” “Nurse Jackie” and “House of Cards,” all series known for their smarts and wit.
While politics spawned the idea for “Five Presidents,” it isn’t a 90-minute political discussion by any means.
“It is not a partisan play, but this ex-president club is a partisan club,” he says. “I think people will be delighted at how not political it is.”
Most of all, says Cleveland, he hopes the play gives audiences “a greater understanding and maybe sympathy for them, no matter your politics.”
And one more thing:
“I hope they will be wildly entertained.”
