march30–april12, 2020 | newyork 75
Or Learn
Ja paneseand
Pl ay WithLEGOs
HowDarrenCriss,whois
supposedtobedoingDavidMamet’s
‘AmericanBuffalo,’is keeping
himselfoccupied.
i’mstayinginmyapartmentin
Manhattanwithmysonandmydog,Henry.
Wewere originallytoldwewouldbecoming
backwithBirthdayCandlesinApril,
butthenthingsgotmore dire. I wasvery
anxiousabouttheplaybeingcanceled.
NowI knowtheplay willhappenin
thefall,fingerscrossed.
1
I havebeenkeepingupwithmysinging
lessonsfromLizCaplan,theBroadway
vocalcoach,overFaceTime.Shehelpedme
whenI hada solotosingintheremakeof
DirtyDancing,andI’vealwayswantedto
continue.We’relookingat someElla
Fitzgeraldtoworkon,somestandardsand
classics.That hasbeenhelpingwithanxiety.
2
I waswalkingHenry inCentralParkevery
dayandhadnoproblemkeepingsixfeet
apart.Butwhenthetemperaturegotup,there
werea lotmore people,soI stoppeddoing
that.
3
MysonandI haveplayedlotsofboard
games.Luckily,hisschoolis settingup
hisclassesviaZoomstartingApril1, soit
willbejusta normalschoolday.
4
WewatchedSherlock,whichI’dnever
seenbefore. I hadtolookatLoveIsBlind
becauseI keptreadingaboutit.I just saw the
making-of-Companydocumentary—that’sa
great one.We watchedChernobyl,whichwas
extraordinarybutprobablynottheright
thingtowatchrightnow.
5
I wantedtobakemuffinsyesterday,but
mysonwasexcitedabouta recipefor
ediblechocolate-chipcookiedoughthat
doesn’t haveany eggsinit.We triedit,and
it didnotcomeoutthewayit didinthe
video.Butwewilltryagain.I thinkwe’re
gonnatrythemu
asto sonmchenry
40 41
as soon as we got the shutdown, I made my way
home to L.A. to be with my wife, Mia Swier. My whole
thing during this time has been “I have to be doing each
of these every day: learning stuff, making stuff,
or cleaning stuff.” And if I’m not doing any of those things,
I’ve got to be either playing or working out.
1
I’m also still rehearsing this play. Me, Sam Rockwell,
and Laurence Fishburne FaceTime regularly.
We do line-throughs, and we talk about the play with our
director. We’re still full steam ahead in case things
come back. There’s a lot of actual deadlines. I’m still in
postproduction for my show for Quibi.
2
I’ve been keeping up-to-date on my Japanese. I’ve
been doing about half an hour of Japanese every day.
3
I’ve ordered LEGO sets, and I’m building LEGOs
for the first time in—God knows—like over 20 years.
4
I stopped playing video games a long time ago,
but I ordered a Nintendo Switch. Which I only justified
with the social aspect of being able to play with old friends
of mine who wanted to play some Mario Kart.
5
I’ve been back on my drums because I haven’t
tried to get better at a lot of my instruments since
I was a teenager. Shout-out to Drum Beats Online.
6
The first few days of quarantine, we did a different
Mel Brooks movie every night. My wife had never seen
Spaceballs. Also, she’d never seen Raiders of the Lost Ark.
7
I’m knee-deep in Tiger King and Derry Girls. God bless
those girls. Love them. I’ve been needing to check it out
forever, but I never got to do it until now.
as told to madison malone kircher
Bake
and Watch
‘Love Is Blind’
What Debra Messing, star
of ‘Birthday Candles,’ which was
scheduled to start previews April 2,
is doing since she’s not onstage.
