All About Asuncion

Jesse Eisenberg and Camille Mana discuss the new Off-Broadway play about a trio of unlikely roommates.

Jesse Eisenberg has become one of the film world’s hottest actors, thanks to his work in such films as The Squid and the Whale, Zombieland, and The Social Network, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. However, Eisenberg is not only an actor, he’s a playwright — and he is currently co-starring with Justin Bartha and Camille Mana in his new play, Asuncion, being presented by the Rattlestick Theatre Company at the Cherry Lane. TheaterMania recently spoke to Eisenberg and Mana about this project.

THEATERMANIA: What are you looking forward to as far as audiences seeing Asuncion?
JESSE EISENBERG: The play is funny and I hope people find it funny. When I became an adult, I became interested in politics, and so the issues in the play were on my mind. The characters are lonely and turn into these nuts. These are real feelings of loneliness and alienation.

TM: I know you have been working on this play for quite some time. Do you think it was easier to get the play developed after the success of The Social Network?
JE: Actually, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater offered me this slot two years ago before the success I had with any movie. And then it was difficult to make my schedule free after The Social Network, since I have been offered other things to do. But I decided I really needed to keep a clear schedule for this.

TM: You say the characters are nuts. But are Edgar and Vinny, who are already roommates, happy when Asuncion first moves in?
JE: Yes, in the first act, we show Asuncion coming in and brightening up their day. Things become sour because the characters are irresponsible. It’s fun to watch how the two characters interact with Asuncion.

TM: How did you come into contact with Camille Mana?
JE: Someone sent me Camille’s reel and there was something so remarkable about her. She has a good comic sensibility, and she had things on her reel that were difficult to be funny in, but which she pulled off. I am so lucky to have someone like her be a part of this. Camille taught me things about this role that I didn’t know. I based this role on a girl that I had a casual relationship with and Camille helped me alter the script.

TM: You have known Justin Bartha for a while. Why did you cast him?
JE: Justin and I met at a screen test for a movie we didn’t get into. We sat in a waiting room for six hours. He has the exact same perspective that I have about things being very unstable in this industry. He is also so superbly talented, and his voice sounds like the voice I write.

Source

Camille Mana interview