Escola gives former first lady Mary Todd Lincoln a wild second act in the Tony-nominated play Oh, Mary! "This play is about a woman with a dream that no one around her understands," Escola says. The actor spoke with Ann Marie Baldonado about growing up in rural Oregon, the inspiration for the play, and making sense of its surprise success. Maureen Corrigan reviews Ocean Vuong's new novel, The Emperor of Gladness.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
What is the story behind 'Oh, Mary!'?
You know, the grieving mother stuff, I mostly – I didn't want to have to, like, cast children or figure out children. So I just sort of decided, oh, she hates her kids. And that solved that. They both do. They both do. Yeah. They both hate their kids. And then, you know, funny enough, I read something not long ago about how the Lincolns were, you know, neglectful parents, like –
Abraham would just let them run rampant in his work study when he was a lawyer. This is literally based on like reading three sentences of an article.
It's true then.
And so it's true. And I'm saying it on NPR.
Yes. Well, you've said that this play is very personal.
And I'll say it again. It's very personal.
Well, you you've said Mary is me.
Yeah.
How is this play about you?
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