Bock

Trinity Rep opens its latest offering tomorrow night, a dark comedy with a twist called The Receptionist. And author Adam Bock knows of what he writes when it comes to this subject.

Bock, 47, was for a while a receptionist at Trinity in the early 1990s, when he would answer phones for the full-time receptionist while she was on break. That was after he got his master’s degree in playwriting from Brown, where he studied with Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel.

Bock, in fact, worked for years answering phones in San Francisco and New York until about seven years ago, when he was able to make a living from playwriting, proofreading and a bit of teaching.

So when it came time to write about his former profession, he looked to his experiences at Trinity and elsewhere. A couple of things fascinated him about receptionists, he said on the phone from the O’Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. For one thing, there’s a certain language receptionists must master, to be able to converse with a stranger one moment, then cater to the CEO the next.

But Bock, who is openly gay, was also interested in who has the power in a company and how they come by it. Receptionists know a lot, especially gossip about the boss. But they have no power.

“It’s a little like me,” said Bock. “As a white guy I have all the power in the world, but as a gay guy I have no power.”

Bock said he was also interested in focusing on an underling for a change, not going with the more obvious treatment of people with clout.

But the Trinity connection goes deeper than that. Bock wrote The Receptionist with Trinity veteran Janice Duclos in mind. He remembers her from The Miser and loved her in that production. He also wanted to write for middle-aged actors who have the chops but are often not cast in leading roles.

So he was more than pleased to find that Duclos was picked for the lead in the Trinity production. Joining her will be another Trinity veteran, Tim Crowe, who is just back from a yearlong sabbatical.

The Receptionist, which is being directed by Curt Columbus, adds up to just 70 minutes of office banter, or more like a half-hour of office banter and then the surprise twist that makes the play so compelling.

Beverly, the receptionist, is busy answering phones in an office of indeterminate purpose. She transfers calls to two superiors, Mr. Raymond, her boss, and Lorraine Taylor, his subordinate. But the mundane goings-on turn macabre with the arrival of Mr. Dart from the central office. This is a man with a dark purpose. It’s like the hit TV series The Office meets The Twilight Zone.

Bock, who is a native of Canada, has written about 10 full-length plays, The Receptionist being among his most popular. Its premiere was well received last year in New York, where the run was extended.

His other popular script, Swimming in the Shallows, about a gay man who falls in love with a shark, takes place in Rhode Island, in the fictional town of Twig, which Bock envisions as being somewhere between Bristol and Barrington.

There are two main characters in the play, Barb and Bob, names that sound alike when said with a Rhode Island drawl, said Bock.

Bock has been commissioned by Yale to write a musical based on Shirley Jackson’s 1962 novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and he has been asked to produce a screenplay for producer Scott Rudin of No Country for Old Men fame. He and Rudin have yet to settle on a subject.

Bock tried his hand at writing a novel. He got down 60,000 words but found the process exhausting, putting in all the descriptions of place and the emotional makeup of the characters.

In the theater, it’s more a group effort. The playwright sort of lays out the architecture of the story, then turns it over to the director and actors to fill in the gaps, to come up with a setting and dramatization.

Bock has visited Trinity a couple of times during rehearsals of The Receptionist to talk with the cast. But he is not nearly so involved with the production as he was when the show played New York.

“At some point,” said Bock, “you have to let it go.”

The Receptionist opens tomorrow in previews at Trinity Rep, 201 Washington St., Providence. It runs until Jan. 11. Tickets are $20-$60. Call (401) 351-4242 or log on to www.trinityrep.com.

cgray@projo.com