“Only Historic Broadway Seasons For Me” — Director Danya Taymor On THE OUTSIDERS

By any account, Danya Taymor was not the first choice to direct a massive Broadway musical. From Jeremy O. Harris' Daddy to Will Arbery's Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Taymor has made a name for herself in the Off Broadway space for years. When Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu's Pass Over was the first play to reopen Broadway after 18 months of no live theatre, Taymor was up for the task. Her direction led to playwright Adam Rapp asking if she would be interested in joining the creative team of The Outsiders. 

After a successful tryout at the La Jolla Playhouse, The Outsiders is now officially open on Broadway and certainly creating a buzz around town thanks to its insightful leadership and imaginative direction by Taymor. 

I recently sat down with Taymor here in New York City to chat all things Tulsa, finding her cast, and being a part of a historic Broadway season, yet again. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

Theatrely: I want to start off with opening night. Now that you have gotten past that, have you been able to sit back and take it all in on what you have created?

Taymor: Opening night was amazing. It was a kind of an out-of-body experience in the best way, because I've never worked on something so intensely towards a sense of completion. I'm still processing and metabolizing it all but it was beautiful. Everybody's family was there, and to have so many people who have invested in this story for so long — to have Susie Hinton there. It was simply amazing.

I want to ask you about finding your cast. We are obviously dealing with extremely well known characters, so take me back to the casting process and how you landed with your current company.

I think that we were looking for people who were unique. Folks who were able to bring their authenticity to the character. I think that there were little preconceived notions in my head for any of the characters. I remember Sky Lakota-Lynch, how definitive his audition was. I had seen somebody I thought was really interesting, and then this guy came in who I didn't know, and I was like "oh that's Johnny Cade". He brought me to tears. I think I was looking for people who were open to being in this kind of ensemble. It was an amazing and really long process to find the company that you see today.

You have worked with so many wonderful actors in your career, but with this company, they tend to skew younger with many making their Broadway debuts. What is it like working with young talent compared to more seasoned stage veterans?

When I was coming up as a director, I had the opportunity to work in university settings at NYU and Juilliard and I think that those experiences taught me what a privilege it is to work with people who are just beginning because they're so open. There's so much passion, there's so much energy that you really have an opportunity to channel that into something beautiful. I think that the time that we took to all get to know one another and work with one another also helped pay off so that they could really do the brave stuff that they're doing on stage. But for me, it was a privilege to be their first director, for some of them, their first professional director or their first Broadway director. That's something that's so tender in my heart.

I'm curious about your trip to Tulsa. Talk to me about exploring the city with your cast. 

It was such a gift. I got a chance to go to Tulsa before with some members of the creative team —it is such a specific place. It’s not the south, it’s not the West, it’s not the Midwest, it’s Tulsa. It has a real intense energy, a kind of buzzing that kind of permeates through it. It was so powerful for the cast to get to visit the city, and visit the places like the drive-in, to go to the neighborhood that is not that different from when Susie was writing about it. So much of our set design is based on buildings and things that we saw when we were there. And then obviously one of the most wonderful things was watching them get to be with Susie and ask her questions and connect with her. I think the trip helped ground them right before we started rehearsal and they also just got to bond as a group and know each other outside of the context of a rehearsal room which was so special.

So much of The Outsiders is about brotherhood and masculinity, but I want to pick your brain about Cherry. Can you talk to me about the development of this character?

So in the book Cherry has such an impactful but small footprint. She doesn't have that much text, but you remember her, even in the film as well. She's so crucial. What's remarkable about the character as written by Susie is that she's a person who Ponyboy thinks is nothing like him who actually sees him. And I think what Cherry shows us is the impact that a person truly seeing you can have on another human being, and you seeing them, because I think Pony also actually sees her. I think Emma also taught us so much about her. I remember when we met Emma Pittman and she is such a true triple threat, incredible actress, dancer, singer and that felt so right for the character of Cherry because of how she alights in Ponyboy's imagination. You meet her first as the platonic ideal of Cherry. This beautiful cheerleader who can dance, she's effervescent, and then the mask comes off and you see that she's a person. I think it takes a very special performer to do all those things. It took us a long time to find Emma, but she's fantastic.

Now that the show's frozen, I'm curious, how often do you plan on returning back and revisiting the piece?

I think at first, probably at least once a week just to keep the feeling of creation alive. The word freeze is always something that makes me feel really weird because I try to create pieces that can be alive. In La Jolla, I remember I took a couple weeks off and I went back for the closing, and the final performance was so much deeper than what it had been on opening night. I think the joy for me now is to watch them really dig in and go there and discover new things inside of the scaffolding that we've created. I’ve also worked closely with all of our understudies and swings as they're a major part of our process, they're such an integral part of the group. I'll definitely be there to rehearse those folks and watch them go on because they're not trying to mirror the performances of the people who play the roles, they do their version which brings a new and beautiful energy to the piece and something I look forward to. 

I want to return for a moment to late summer, 2021. You are reopening the first Broadway play after the pandemic. When you think back and reflect on that time, what comes to mind when you look at where you are today?

I mean, Pass Over is, I think to date, the most important piece that I've ever been able to work on for me as a human being. I think it's one of the greatest texts ever written. The artists that I was working with on it are so important to me. It was a gift for that to be my Broadway debut. It was a very special play to reopen Broadway and it also led me to this opportunity. Adam Rapp saw that play and it was because of that play that I was asked to consider The Outsiders. The first preview when Antoinette and I walked in and the audience was… I don't even know what is the proper word to describe the emotions because there were so many people grateful to be in a space together, grateful to be watching a play together, doing the simple thing that. I think that's part of what moves me so much about doing The Outsiders, because young people are coming. More young people have come to this piece than any other piece I've ever done. It's a story that touches people across ideology, race, gender, age, and class, and for all those people to be in one place watching something they love feels really rare right now.

Now that you have a little bit more free time on your hands, are you excited to go see all the other offerings on Broadway and some of your neighbors on 45th Street?

I know I'll be seeing Stereophonic soon, I can't wait to catch it again after seeing it Off Broadway. I love that play so much. I saw The Notebook. I got to see Water For Elephants out of town, but I'll be really curious to see it now — yeah I hope to get to see everything. It's an honor to be in this season. I was joking the other day, only historic Broadway seasons for me. You know, like to be in a season where there's more female directors than any other feels so good. To be up there with so many other women, at the helm is wonderful.. One of the things I'm most excited about with The Outsiders is that kids are still reading it so our matinees have like 600 or 700 teenagers at them every week. The Wednesday matinees of The Outsiders are going to be, as my cast would say, going to be lit.