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Photo by Johnny Wagner

What: Fairbanks Drama Association presents “A Thousand Clowns”

When: Weekends, March 21-April 6. 8:15 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays

Where: Riverfront Theatre, 1852 Second Ave.

Tickets: $18 adults, $16 seniors, full-time students and military. Advance tickets 1-5 p.m. weekdays at 456-PLAY

Crossing the threshold of adulthood comes later in life for some folks, like unemployed television writer Murray Burns, the protagonist in “A Thousand Clowns.”

“He has a Peter Pan personality, and lives in a sort of Neverland,” said T.J. Rogers, director of the Fairbanks Drama Association’s production of the Herb Gardner play. “He learns that he has to make some sacrifices if he wants to keep the things that are important to him.”

Rogers said the lesson — in the production and in his own life — is finding a balance between having a good time and taking care of responsibilities.

“You have to grow up, but you don’t have to lose your personality,” he said.

Burns, played by Brandon Michael, lives in a cluttered New York City one-bedroom apartment with his 12-year-old nephew, Nick, played by Tyler Young. Confronted by investigators for the child welfare bureau, Murray is given the option of finding a job or losing custody. Along the way, Murray charms and seduces Sandra, played by Holly Carroll, the young psychologist assigned to Nick’s case.

“The humor comes through with larger-than-life, off-center characters,” he said. “They’ve got some quirks, and if we can play those and move the play along, then we’ve got a very entertaining, enjoyable and thought-provoking piece.”

In any production, especially one where character oddities add humor and flavor, finding the right actors is key.

“I don’t care what play you’re doing, you have to have people that can do it,” Rogers said. “(Famed television writer) Paddy Chayefsky always said stage is an actor’s medium. In movies, the director can tell you what to do and make you do it over and over again until it’s right. That’s not true on stage. When those lights come up, the actors are all on their own.”

Actors weren’t pounding down the door during auditions, so Rogers cobbled together a group of familiar Fairbanks actors as well as newcomers.

“The lead girl, Holly Carroll, we both performed in ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ and Nathan Jones, he’s really, really solid,” Rogers said. “And Brandon Michael is fairly new to town, but he’s done a professional acting program in New York, and he’s very good.”

Danny Dominick, who Fairbanks music fans know from the band JunkShow, makes his stage debut in the production.

“He’s never been on stage, but he’s so solid,” Rogers said. “He’s got the character nailed and is presence and pronunciation are great.”

“A Thousand Clowns” was written in the early ‘60s, but the themes remain relevant.

“It’s very universal. It’s the human comedy, so it’s pretty timeless,” Rogers said. “There’s some beautiful language in the play, even though it’s a comedy.”

Gardner also penned the rambunctiously funny “I’m Not Rappaport,” which Rogers directed for Fairbanks Drama Association and Fairbanks Children’s Theatre in 2007. The plays both highlight the battle against conformity. “Clowns” focuses on Burns at a stage in life where he must swallow his dignity and acknowledge his greater responsibilities. “Rappaport” pits people against society’s expectations, as two octogenarians fight off all attempts to put them out to pasture.

Rogers said he never planned to direct two plays by the same author.

“For ‘I’m Not Rappaport,’ somebody just handed me the script and said, ‘This is a terrifically written play,’ and it was such a joy to work on,” Rogers said.

“A Thousand Clowns” was Gardner’s early effort as a playwright, and, though not crafted quite as finely as “I’m Not Rappaport,” was successful on stage and later turned into an Academy Award-nominated film. That’s where Rogers first saw the story, and it stuck with him for 40 years.

“I’m one of those guys that loves when a comedy has a little something to say,” Rogers said. “It’s not a sitcom. It’s not a comedy with a lot of jokes. It’s a comedy in the classic sense, and it has the protagonist overcoming the obstacles, and it has a quote, unquote happy ending.”