Playwright Williams Chats ‘Derby Day,’ Hot Springs and Oaklawn Park

"Derby Day" (above) focuses on a family's response to their father's death, set at Oaklawn Park on Arkansas Derby day. (Photos courtesy of samuelbrettwilliams.com)
It's “Derby Day” and the Ballard brothers have a luxury box at the Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. Their father just died, and Frank, the oldest, has flown down from Chicago to see the angry newlywed Ned and the ex-con Johnny. Over the course of one long day, the Ballard boys destroy everything and everyone in their way – drinking, cursing, and revealing family secrets that might just tear them apart forever.
Playwright Samuel Brett Williams’ play “Derby Day” currently is playing in New York City as part of the East to Edinburgh festival before it heads to Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Williams, an award-winning playwright and director, lives in New York but is originally from Hot Springs, Ark., where “Derby Day” is set. The play recently had a successful run in Hot Springs at Low Key Arts, which was Williams first time staging his work in his hometown. I had an opportunity to speak with him about the experience. 
I've read that the play is about your own family. Are the events in the play things that really happened?
I grew up watching my father and his two brothers at the racetrack. It was the only time I really saw them together as a family. My parents were divorced, so when my dad came into town, that's where we went. I've always found the track to be a great mixture of characters. The play also deals a lot with addiction and past abuse. Oh, yeah, and it's a comedy!
I know that your father loved to go to the track and that you spent some time going there as well, but is there any other reason you chose to set the play at Oaklawn? Is there something about the sport itself (or the culture) that is important to what you're trying to convey?
I see the racetrack as a very American experience. We're always looking to the next race. Horse racing is very rarely about winning — it is much more about the possibility of winning and the excitement that comes from that. Our country was founded on that possibility … on the idea that just over that mountain there might be a better life waiting for us.
SCENE FROM DERBY DAY

Do you continue to go to the races, in New York or elsewhere?
I try to make it back to Arkansas for the Arkansas Derby every year. I have been to Belmont [Park] a few times, but racing in the south is more exciting to me. It seems like a bigger event when it's in a small town that isn't as close to a large metropolis. You see everyone you know there — at their best and worst.
You recently had a run in Hot Springs, which was your first time putting anything up in your hometown. How was the play received by locals, who knew Oaklawn well? How was it received by your family, who knew the characters well? What was it like for you, personally, to see the play in Hot Springs?
I had an incredible time doing the show in Arkansas. I worked with all local talent and I was extremely proud of how the production turned out. At the end of the day, I didn't think the play lacked anything it had in previous New York City and Los Angeles productions. Everyone worked so hard to put on a good show, and the community really supported us. It was one of the more personally rewarding experiences of my career. And to answer your second question — I think it was a bittersweet experience watching the play for some of my family members; two of the brothers the play is based on (my father and uncle) have passed away recently. And they both have their ashes at Oaklawn! My Uncle Ted wanted his ashes a link before the finish line, because he said that's always where his horses died. And my father just wanted to make certain that his ashes were ahead of his brother's. They never stopped fightin' and cussin' and lovin' until the very end!
How has Hot Springs changed since you lived there? Do you think there is a chance that the city will support more theater like “Derby Day”?
I was completely shocked at the difference in the city. There is no way this play could have been produced there 10 years ago. Bill Solleder at Low Key Arts and the guys at Red Door Studios are making great, challenging art that it was a thrill to be a part of. I told Bill that if Low Key Arts existed when I was in high school, I would be cleaning their bathrooms just to be a part of what they are doing.
What are your plans for the play? What would you like to see happen with it?
We had our first New York City performance of this current production [on July 21] at 59e59. We have two more previews in New York and then we head to Scotland for a month, where the show will play every day at the Gilded Balloon as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Do you think you'll continue to write stories that are in or about Arkansas?
I feel like everything I write has a part of Arkansas in it. In fact, I have two feature films in preproduction right now, preparing to shoot in Hot Springs. One is about beauty pageants in the south; I co-wrote it with the fiercely talented Jennifer Gerber, who will direct as well. And the other film is based on my play “The Revival,” which ran off Broadway in New York in 2011. Jennifer Gerber will be directing that one as well. It's funny Jennifer and I both grew up in Hot Springs together; I even went to junior high school and college with her brother, but we never met until we were both in New York. She was directing her thesis (set in Hot Springs) for Columbia Film School and an actor auditioning for her said she needed to meet this playwright who was writing about Arkansas. That introduction led to the best artistic collaboration of my career, and it all his its roots in Hot Springs, Ark.
If you’d like to see “Derby Day” at 59e59 in New York, go here for tickets.
For more on Samuel Brett Williams, visit his website here.