We asked the actors of Port Authority to discuss how their characters’ experiences in the play resonate with their own lives. Here’s what actor Patrick Clear shared with us…                                                                              

Patrick Clear Large Headshot“Having been raised as one of five boys in a very Irish Catholic family back in the 1950s, the curious blend of black humor, religious conviction, superstition and self-deprecating fatalism that permeates Port Authority was immediately familiar to me. I think the play raises the profound question, “How much are we entitled to ask of life?” I saw in my own parents their skittish relationship to the whole notion of happiness.

When I was growing up, the priests, and particularly the nuns, were a constant fixture. They instilled in me from a very early age the belief that God was constantly watching me and judging me, not only for my actions but for my thoughts and secret desires. It was drilled into me that “coveting” was a sin and that self-denial was a cardinal virtue. What was never discussed, however, was the human cost of trying to disown your desires.”

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