CHESLEA, MI–Jeff Daniels gets a lot inspiration for his writing from his kitchen table. With Diva Royale, it was a trip to New York his wife, Kathleen, took with her friends and the ensuing stories she told. With Pickleball, it was Kathleen’s near obsession with the game. With “Office Christmas Party Grinch In Fight With Rudolph. Polie Called,” about to open at The Purple Rose Theatre, the actor, director and playwright was reading Mlive.com and saw a headline that matches the title of the new play.

Daniels, a friend and student of the late playwright Lanford Wilson, says inspiration for his plays come from advice he received. “Wilson said if you are going to do this, you need to keep your eyes and ears open at all times, 24-7, whether it’s a conversation or just something you read or hear that sparks something.”

Daniels says he didn’t have any information about the story. The headline gave him his spark and jumping-off point.

“That’s a comedy. I have no idea what happened. But every time I repeated the headline to Luke [Daniels]and Rhiannon [Ragland](Associate Artistic Directors at PRT) would laugh. When people asked me what I was working on, people on the street, I’d say the headline and they’d laugh,” says Daniels.

Comedy is the hallmark of The Purple Rose Theatre these days and going forward, says the actor-director.

Daniels fears for the future of regional theatre and The Purple Rose.

“The Purple Rose is still trying to rebuild its audience since the end of the pandemic. How do we do it? By trying to write something that is hopefully that funny, while we also try and slip something in where we are saying something. That’s the magic trick.”

His last two plays set attendance records at the theatre. Pickleball’s message, he says, was about inclusion. People who don’t feel included in things in life or at work, finding the joy of being included through a game they obsess about with others. In Diva Royale, Daniels notes that half-way through the play, the story lands in a New York City drag club, and he wrote a story arc that leads audiences (even in conservative Chelsea MI) to laugh and root for the characters.

Daniels calls it “smart comedy,” and he says it’s the key for rebuilding audiences.

“Love conquers all is the message in Grinch. In today’s political climate, with hate and violence all around us, the Internet and the political stuff. It’s there in the play, but doesn’t get in the way of enjoying the story or the comedy.”

A few years ago, at the end of the pandemic when theatres were reopening, New York Times writer Christopher Durang, Daniels recalls, wrote a piece about the death of regional theatre. The actor dug into the comments. About half way through, he saw a comment from a reader that said “What ever happened to comedy.”

The PRT is one of the best capitalized regional theatres in Michigan (Ford Motor Co. family member and owner/President of the Detroit Lions Sheila Ford Hamp and husband Steve Hamp are both on the PRT’s board), and he has advice for other regional theatres.

“Write about the people who are coming to your theatre. We are writing about our people. Seattle theatres should be writing about Seattle. Stop looking at what Broadway did last year (and waiting for the license to come available).” We are all working in a world, he says, “Where Art is a guy who lives North of town.”

Daniels rightfully observes that people got used to doing without live theatre during the pandemic. It’s not like regional threaters were killing it before Covid. But people have abandoned movie theatres for streaming services at home and on their phones. Restaurants are closing left and right. People are still ordering at-home food delivery. Malls are closing. “Live Theatre could become Tower Records,” if theatres don’t figure out stories and experiences people want to pay for.

The PRT does not rely at all on season subscriptions. It’s pay-as-you-go with individual ticket sales. His business mission, he says, is to bring people back and bring new people in. He says 51% of Pickleball patrons were PRT first-timers. Thirty-percent of the patrons who came to see the summer show, What Springs Forth by Carey Crim, were first-timers.

“It’s about survival. End of story,” says Daniels. “If I don’t have audiences coming the way they were coming before covid hit us, we won’t be here in two years.”

Check back with EncoreMichigan when we put our conversation with Jeff Daniels into a podcast.