At the moment of his daughter’s birth, actor Rich Topol searches for a father to replace the one he lost at the age of 12. He finds two – his famous father-in-law, composer Lukas Foss and, eventually, himself. Rich’s funny and poignant journey to fatherhood is told in the new one-man show, “Searching for Mr. Moon,” and it is scored by Foss’s emotional music, underlining the echoes and loops that emerge from anyone’s examined life.

I spoke with Topol and Holtzman over video feed soon after they arrived in Portland to begin rehearsals for the premiere.

I was struck by the contrast of presence and absence with your father figures, Rich. We all have parents and no matter our relationship to them, even if there is no relationship, their mere existence significantly shapes our lives.

Rich Topol: Oh yeah. You’re mad at them and forgive them and need more from them or different from them, no matter what they are able and willing to do. And when you become a parent, you know all the ways you will be different, but not the ways you will mess it up. Sharing this thing that made me feel so alone made me realize everybody has that sense about their parents and that fear of themselves as parents.

Willy Holtzman: Jazz musicians say the music is also about the notes you don’t play. Rich’s dad had a short life, he didn’t get a chance to play all the notes. And then for Lukas, the notes he did not play as a father were maybe better than the notes that he did play as a composer.

For both of you, is this your first time back in a fully occupied theater?

Rich: Yes, it is. This is the longest I have not been on stage. Sharing stories is central to the purpose of my life, so theater is a beautiful communal activity that I feel honored to participate in. All being in a room, people in the audience see a world unfolding in front of them, not through a screen, breathing together with the performers, who are living the story as it is being told. Walking out of the theater is a different feeling than walking out of a movie. I feel more full, hopeful, energized.

Willy: The pause has been helpful because we have been able to watch other media. The boundary pushing with streaming TV, getting audiences more accustomed to non-linear storytelling, the use of sound in storytelling. I’m sure you saw the Queen’s Gambit! Using visuals to tell key moments to develop character is part of this story too. And we knew that we wanted sound design to help tell this story. It’s about Rich trying to recover his dad’s voice, bring him into the presence of his life, and it’s Lukas—magic, mischief and sound. We are so grateful to be working with David Van Tieghem, brilliant sound designer, and Michael Commendatore, the projection designer.

And is this the first play you wrote, Rich?

Rich: Yes. Willy forced me to do it. We have known each other for almost my entire acting career. He has invited me to participate in developmental readings of a lot of his plays… but I never get cast in them!

Willy: A running joke in “Searching for Mr. Moon” is that when the play goes into production, Rich will be replaced by Ralph Fiennes, as his mother-in-law suggested. We talk a lot about the cutthroat side of theater, but the truly helpful side is important to talk about too. Overall, this will be my sixth show at Portland Stage, fourth with Anita Stewart [Portland Stage Artistic & Executive Director and the Scenic & Costume designer for this show.] It should be required that designers run theaters. They are collaborative in nature. They want to find out what your story is and help you tell it.

What was your process writing together?

Rich: We interviewed a lot of people, I told Willy a bunch of stories, I wrote down some stories. My wife Eliza and mother-in-law told stories. And Willy did the magic of finding the structure. Willy can plant seeds that bear fruit.

Willy: Eliza told me that opening story [where she is giving birth and Lukas forces his way into the room] almost word for word. My mentor taught me there are writing writers and talking writers. An advantage that actor-writers have over writer-writers is that they are laser focused on character. Writers who do not come from an acting background manipulate people more. This is Rich’s life. His deepest stories. It’s good to be reminded of that.

There are familiar literary themes here—mortality, family, the price of pursuing passion, yet I still laughed and cried while watching. Maybe it’s because these are the great mysteries of life, but they just never get old to me!

Willy: To go back to the jazz quotes, Miles Davis said, “It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note – it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.” I knew this play was going to work because of my play “Hearts.” My dad… one side was jovial, but he had World War II experiences that he would allude to and never elaborate on. He had what is now known as PTSD. He never opened up about it until I became a playwright. He asked me first if I was going to write about him. It was good for his soul. Sometimes theaters would fly him out for talkbacks, and that would be a whole second performance.

Rich: When I talk to people whose parents have just died, like in their 90s, I always tell them that they are lucky they had that time. They often say, “Okay, but I still didn’t do it all.” So if this play makes one extra conversation happen that wasn’t going to before—“I should go to brunch with my grandmother” or “I should ask my mom about what happened before the divorce”—then it’s a success. The people you love are all right there. Just ask them.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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