The two first names are common, but when heard together, “Roger and Gene” conjure up only one picture. Playwright Ashley Naftule thought the duo was iconic enough to warrant stage treatment. The result, titled simply Roger and Gene, opens this weekend at Space 55.
“It was this critical biography of the two men, called Opposable Thumbs by Matt Singer, that got me interested. I grew up watching and delighting in their reviews,” Naftule says. ” There’d be, like, a Benji movie, and that would spark this really intense debate. You could just sort of tell that these guys didn’t really like each other, but they stuck together because they knew that the two of them together was where the magic was.”
Naftule’s play makes no pretense, however, to being a realistic depiction of the two film critics or their relationship. “It started out as this workplace comedy, and it turned into this sci-fi thing,” Naftule explains, noting that the story shifts into an absurdist exploration of contemporary culture, and especially of AI.
“I do a lot of AI stuff in my day job; I do copywriting,” says the Valley-based dramatist. But like many of us, Naftule worries about the dangers of letting computers do even initial drafts of creative work.
“The first draft is the most fecund thing you can do,” Naftule insists. “In terms of writing, there’s a lot of value in wrestling with what you have to say.”
Naftule has won that wrestling match several times now; Roger and Gene is their seventh play.
“I took a playwrighting class around 2010 from Kim Porter, and that kind of gave me the bug,” Naftule recalls. “My first play was called Ear.” It also took inspiration from a famous real-life incident: Vincent Van Gogh cutting off his ear. “It takes off from the idea that he cuts off his ear and gives it to his lover. And I thought, how do you respond to that? It’s that moment when you give someone a too-extravagant present, or you say, ‘I love you’ too soon.”
The same off-the-wall sensibility permeates Roger and Gene. Naftule cites influences ranging from Samuel Beckett to Philip K. Dick, and even introduces a third character with a first name that resonates in the world of film criticism: Pauline.
Roger and Gene opens Friday, June 7 and plays through Sunday, June 16 at Metropolitan Arts Institute, 1700 N. Seventh Ave. Call 707-722-2354 for details.
