Veteran actress Kathleen Chalfant (“The Affair”) chatted about starring in the Off-Broadway show “Pen Pals,” where she plays Mags opposite Ellen McLaughlin as Bernie.
The play, written by Michael Griffo and directed by SuzAnne Barabas, is a celebration of the endearing power of friendship and connection through handwritten letters that span almost five decades.
McLaughlin and Chalfant will be in this play until Sunday, October 12th. It is being performed at the DR2 Theatre in Manhattan.
‘Pen Pals’ experience
On being a part of “Pen Pals,” Chalfant exclaimed, “It has been great! We are trading parts on Tuesday, so I will be playing Bernie and Ellen will be Mags.”
“We are keeping our options open,” she admitted. “We had a wonderful show on Sunday, where it felt like we were saying goodbye to our characters and preparing for the new ones.”
Chalfant is drawn to “Pen Pals” for several reasons. “The thing that is most wonderful about ‘Pen Pals’ and surprising is how moving it is,” she expressed.
“Also, I like how it expresses and allows people to feel how precious friendship is,” she added.
Working with Ellen McLaughlin
On working with Ellen McLaughlin, she shared, “I love Ellen! I have been working with her for almost 40 years.”
“It is always a joy and it has always been a joy from the first day I met her in one of the early developmental readings of ‘Angels in America’ in Los Angeles,” she recalled.
“This play reminded me how precious my friend Ellen is, and how deep our bond is.It made me investigate my, in an odd way, all my family connections just now,” she added.
Lessons learned from ‘Pen Pals’ show
On the lessons learned from “Pen Pals,” she reflected, “It reminds us that friendship is central to all our lives, even though there aren’t very many plays about it.”
“There are lots of plays about passion succeeding and not succeeding and all those things, but the complexity of friendship and the long timeline of it is seldom investigated in the theater,” she explained.
“That’s the wonderful thing here,” she admitted.
‘The Affair’
On being a part of the hit show “The Affair,” Chalfant said, “I loved ‘The Affair.” It was great. The wonderful thing about my character, Margaret, is that she said all the things nobody else would dare to say. I loved playing her. It was a real joy.”
“I worked a lot with Dominic West, and he was lots of fun to act with. He was very present and at least with me, very generous as an actor. Dominic was amazing and we had a good time,” she said.
Chalfant also complimented “The Affair” leading lady, Golden Globe winner Ruth Wilson.
“Ruth is one of the best actors in the world, so it was a great honor to be able to work with her,” Chalfant said. “While we didn’t have much to do with each other because our lines were parallel, I really enjoyed watching her.”
“Maura Tierney and I became fast friends during the making of the show,” she said. “Maura and I did a lot of work together. Then, of course, John Doman was great who played my husband.”
“The writing on ‘The Affair’ was really, really good and the whole cast was amazing,” she added.
Stage of her life
On the title of the current chapter of her life, Chalfant revealed, “I’m Still Here.”
If Chalfant were to have any superpower, it would be “kindness.”
Success
On her definition of the word success, Chalfant said, “Success means having enough. I think I have enough; I don’t need more.”
Closing thoughts about ‘Pen Pals’
For fans and viewers, Chalfant stated about “Pen Pals,” “I think they’re getting what I hope they get out of ‘Pen Pals.’ As I said before, I hope they recognize the importance of friendship and the possibilities of it.”
To learn more about Kathleen Chalfant, visit her IMDb page.
Read More: “Pen Pals” review (starring Ellen McLaughlin and Kathleen Chalfant)
