Dramaturg Kate Farrington cornered Jim Sullivan in the midst of his busy summer schedule to ask him a few questions about the past season, the future one, and that all important subject, baseball!

J.R. Sullivan before a performance of THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD. Photo by Gregory Costanzo

Kate Farrington: First of all, congratulations on your first season at The Pearl! I hope you had some fun . . . ?

Jim Sullivan: Oh yes. It was fun because everything was new, both for me and for us as a company. We had the fun of getting to know a new performance venue and getting to know the great people at City Center, and of moving to the new offices and rehearsal space at 38^th Street. It was always an adventure and always interesting—so if interesting is fun than yes, definitely a fun season!

KF: What are some of your favorite moments from the past year?

JS: I guess that I have more of a collection of favorite moments—getting to know everyone. Meeting The Pearl’s incredible audience and having the opportunity to have a relationship with them in a number of different roles: as director of the particular show, as an incoming artistic director, and (at the beginning of the season when we were new to the space) as part-time tour guide. And then getting to know the staff through working with them on a daily basis was great. It’s been an ongoing “getting acquainted” period and I’ve really enjoyed that.

KF: And now we’re all looking ahead to next year.

JS: Yep—we’re deep in the planning phase. Which, for the moment, means we’re exploring the best visual ways to tell the stories in these plays; we’re having a lot of discussions with designers, particularly for The Sneeze, the first show of the year. And we’re looking at casting. The audience is going to see all the familiar faces from the resident company, but also a number of new actors—which I think is going to make for a good mix—as it did this year.

KF: Is there anything you’re particularly excited about the audience seeing? Any surprises in store?

JS: I’m really looking forward to sharing Wittenberg with them in the spring. There’s a real delight in this grouping of characters and I think it’s going to be a really fascinating, comically surprising experience for all.

KF: I hope you have a little time to enjoy the break. Do you have any summer plans?

JS: Well, I’m planning to be in Chicago a couple of times. But mostly, I’m going to here gearing up for next season and meeting with various Pearl supporters to talk about the company’s future. And there’s actually a fair amount of unpacking still to do in the office, so that needs to get done.

KF: Are you reading anything fun?

JS: I have a little stack of novels that have piled up that I’d like to get to—right now I’m in the middle of a biography of Charles Lindbergh.

KF: Tell us one of your favorite summer memories.

JS: Playing baseball as a kid—which I did right up until high school. Actually there’s one in particular. The summer I was 10 or 11, our team was in South Bend, Indiana. We were playing a city championship game and I was involved in a fluke defensive play that was pretty amazing. The bases were loaded, I was the second baseman.  Our infield was playing in and the hitter popped the ball over the head of the first baseman. Skinny, gangly me went leaping for the ball, caught it on the fly, fell over first base and thereby doubling up that runner, and before the dust settled – with our catcher screaming at me for the ball – I three-bounced a throw down the first base line that caught the third base runner who had tagged up at third and was running for the score out at home. A triple play. We won the game by one run becoming city park league champions.

Doing summer stock theatre in college is another irreplaceable memory. It was a professional equity company and I was one of the acting apprentices. The shows were huge! Shakespeare, Shaw, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams.  It was one week stock – a new show every Tuesday night – and we apprentices were playing small parts, but also doing props, scenery, sound—and never sleeping, which I could still do at that age. It’s a great memory.

And there are a few other fond memories from drive-in movies but for other reasons . . .

KF: Alright baseball guy, who do you like for the World Series this year?

JS: Tampa Bay looks good to me. But I would never count out the Red Sox or the—ahem—local American League team from the Bronx. My sad White Sox from Chicago are destined to stumble about in the nether regions of the standings I’m afraid.

KF: When we get a little closer to fall, you and I will chat a little more specifically about The Sneeze, which you’re directing.

JS: Yes. Lively times are in store with that one!

Angela Lansbury and J.R. Sullivan at the Theatre Hall of Fame Luncheon. Photo by Aubrey Reuben.