If you're ever lucky enough to have acclaimed actor Jeff Daniels give you a tour of the Purple Rose Theater, you should know that nothing's off limits.
Daniels founded the Purple Rose in Chelsea, Michigan in 1991. On a sunny September morning, a few of us from Michigan Public visited the theater to talk with Daniels about his new play, a comedy he wrote and is directing.
Shortly after he began showing us the lobby, Daniels had a question.
"Would you like to see the restrooms?"
We politely declined.
"Okay. They're really good," Daniels said with a comic, it's-your-loss shrug. "I mean, they're worth the price of admission."
A home away from Hollywood
Daniels has lived in Chelsea since the mid-1980s when his career in film and television was taking off. He also grew up nearby. The theater was once a used car and bus garage that his grandfather owned.
But if you're thinking this spot was a sentimental choice for Daniels, think again.
"I just needed a building. It was more about the fact that it was right next to a parking lot. That helped," he said. "It did have one big room. It's kind of the room that we have now."
That room provides an intimate theater experience. There are just 168 seats. When we went inside, the crew was assembling the set.
"The audience is, at times, four feet away from the actors," Daniels said. "That's a little bit what film can do, when they cut in and go into the close-up. Suddenly you're in close. And I wanted that feeling."
A consummate tour guide, Daniels also showed us the sound and lighting booth — where he has his own reserved seat; his office decorated with memorabilia from the theater's history and his Hollywood career; the green room for actors; the woodshop; and even the business offices. Then we sat down to talk about the play, which opens Friday and runs through December 22. (ETA: The show has now been extended to December 29)
Ripped from the headlines, sort of
The title is "Office Christmas Party, Grinch in Fight with Rudolph, Police Called." It's based on a real news headline in Northern Michigan.
"I didn't even have to read the article. I said, 'That's a comedy. I don't know what happens. Let's find out.' So I read the article, which was brief, so I made everything up. I created the Middletown Fudge factory. Of the six fudge factories in Michigan, it's number six. If they don't have a good December, they won't see the end of January. The family business that's a hundred years old is on the line," Daniels said.
The man running the fudge factory is Wally Wilkins Jr. He begrudgingly throws a company Christmas party to try to boost morale, but that backfires quickly. Daniels set the opening scene for us.
"The lights come up and we're in Wally's office. He's standing there in a department-store Santa Claus suit. You got Jerry over there dressed in a homemade Grinch outfit. You got Lamar over there dressed with a red nose and antlers as Rudolph."
Daniels isn't acting in this production, but he gave us his full-volume rendition of Wally's opening scream.
"'Let me get this straight!' And it goes from there. And then it gets worse," Daniels said with a laugh.
Over the course of the next 30 minutes, Daniels discussed the play, his creative process, the state of theater in the U.S., and some advice he got from actor Jim Carrey. These are highlights from that conversation.
Doug Tribou: For many people, the holiday season is poignant. It's a moving time of reflection and spirituality. But it also generates great comedy on film and elsewhere. What is it about Christmas and comedy for you?
Jeff Daniels: One of the things that I deal with, and I think it's an open question is: You're religious. It's Jesus' birthday. That should be enough. But it's not. We buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, give, give, give. The presents, all that stuff. It's consumerism, but it's Jesus' birthday.
So I just kind of hold up both of those things at the same time and kind of write them both all the way through. But the one thing that brings them all together, which is what the play ends with, is love.
DT: You're best known for your long, successful, award-winning acting career. And you also have several albums of your own music out. You've written more than 20 plays. You write and direct what you're doing here. How does that fit into your creative flow? Where does the writing and the directing for the theater fit into all the other things that you work on?
JD: There's an equality to it as far as the effort and the focus and commitment. The difference with the acting is that the people I'm around are famous. But it comes from the same place.
When we were doing "Dumb and Dumber To," Jim Carrey and I were doing some promotion in Europe, and I just leaned over and I said, 'I don't know, man. I think this is it. I think I'm done. I don't know.'
He goes [imitates Carrey's voice], 'You can't finish. You can't be done, you know? We're like sharks. We got to keep moving! We got to keep creating! If it's not acting, then what do you do? You'd have that theater, right? And you got your guitar? Just keep it going. It's what we do.'
DT: Along the lines of what you're saying about the equality, it does come through that you're not the person who's saying, 'I'm doing this so I can do that.' You're not the lawyer who says, 'I practice law so I can pursue my love of woodworking.' It seems like you're equally invested in all of those things.
JD: Yeah, I am. You know, the the other thing, too, is that [with] the acting, I have to wait for the phone to ring for someone to want me to do something as an actor.
DT: It seems like it rings a lot, though.
JD: Well, it does. I mean, less so now — mainly because I keep saying no. But in 2025, there's something [booked]. I don't know when it starts. It may start in August. Well, what am I going to do from January to August? I will either get that guitar [out] or I will start the next play.
"We're trying to make a theater that's not just for people that used to go, but for people who've never been."Jeff Daniels
DT: Did moving back to Michigan in the '80s to get away from New York and from L.A. help you be able to do all those things and find that time to focus?
JD: Yeah, yeah. It made me an outlaw. That was me going, 'I don't necessarily want the stardom out of it. So I'm willing to shoot myself in the foot, even cost myself some money by not trying to be that guy who lives in Beverly Hills and throws parties for famous people.' Or as I used to say, I just can't imagine my kids going to an Easter egg hunt at Sly Stallone's house. I just couldn't wrap my mind around that.
DT: To bring it back to the play 'Office Christmas Party, Grinch in Fight with Rudolph, Police Called,' some members of our audience might be wondering — we've got the Grinch and Rudolph in a fight — is this a family-friendly show?
JD: It is. There might be one F-bomb at the very end, but it's funny and it's strategically placed. [laughs]
DT: It really seems like you've enjoyed this production, too. Does this feel like a special one to you?
JD: It does. This is my call to arms to the American Theater. The American theater is not entitled to an audience. We are like any other business. We have to find out what they want and then lure them in. And after COVID, they have stayed away from theaters all over the country in droves. I think partly because the American theater — whether it's because of movies decades ago and then television in the 60s — decided, 'We're the serious and important art form.'
Well, whatever happened to comedy? Why is that dismissed as a lesser art form? Those of us who do it, we take it seriously. I take it seriously. Funny sells. It sells to all ages. And that's what we're trying to do at the Purple Rose. We're trying to make a theater that's not just for people that used to go, but for people who've never been.
Editor's notes: Quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full interview near the top of this page.
The Purple Rose Theater is a occasional sponsor of Michigan Public.
