tioned again? (from the play
Relativity, which is starting a tour
this summer) Why would Thomas Edison and Henry Ford invite
Warren Harding to their annual
camping trip? (Camping With
Henry and Tom)” were examples
he provided. “Once there’s a
conception to work with then it’s
a matter if you feel comfortable
speaking through their ‘voice’ as
you imagine it.”
St. Germain says he probably
has always been a fan of historical fiction. He mentions the
work of Gore Vidal and William
Luce’s plays like Belle of Amherst
and Barrymore as favorites of
his. Usually an idea for a subject reaches out to him, but “for
ten that reach out, after a little
thought or investigation, you’re
lucky you continue with one idea.
But as Shaw once said, ‘There is
nothing funnier than the truth!”
A fan of both The Beatles and
John Lennon’s solo work, St. GerSUBSCRIBE
main was drawn to Jon Weiner’s
book. During the play’s initial
New York City run at the DR2
Theatre, Weiner was one of several weekly speakers. Others
included Daniel Berrigan, May
Pang, and Leon Wildes — Lennon
and Ono’s attorney when the
United States was trying to throw
them out of the country.
Fans across the world had
heard the rumors about the FBI
and Lennon, but seeing the actual transcripts still surprised
many. Count St. Germain among
those who was not surprised by
what he saw. “The paranoia level
was very high,” he recalled. “To
trail a Beatle? Yes, it’s definitely
J. Edgar Style. Researching the
Einstein play I just finished, I read
how the FBI, suspecting him as a
spy in World War II, used to pick
through his garbage.”
St. Germain points out the absurdity of “trailing a Beatle”
yet one of the most famous
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