Actor Nauffts Brings 'Next Fall' to Boston

You’ll probably recognize Arlington, MA-native Geoffrey Nauffts from any number of primetime television shows and films: Oz, Mississippi Burning, The Commish, A Few Good Men, Murphy Brown, The Citizen, and all three varieties of Law & Order (insert creepy, electronic gavel noise).

But as is the case with many TV and film personalities, Nauffts has a big passion for stage acting, production, and writing as well. What sets him apart is how good he is at it: his first play, Next Fall, was a 2010 Tony nominee for Best Play and Best Direction of a Play (ala Sheryl Kaller).

Now, after successful runs both on and off Broadway (during most of which Nauffts was in Los Angeles writing for ABC’s Brothers & Sisters), Next Fall is being presented in Boston by the SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Roberts Studio Theater, inside the Calderwood Pavilion. The show debuted last Friday and runs through mid-October, directed by Scott Edmiston.

Next Fall revolves around the spiritual differences between a gay couple and the way those differences come into sharper focus when life throws them a huge curveball. Nauffts says he believes part of his play’s success and appeal comes from the universal truths beneath the plot’s surface.

“As someone who grew up without any, religion has always fascinated me,” Nauffts said over the phone earlier this week. “And despite the particulars of these characters, these are issues we’re all dealing with in one form or another. From the beginning, I felt that something about this story was big—the issues are much bigger than the play, and in that sense I had always thought it could move on to a larger, more mainstream audience.”

Despite that correct suspicion, Nauffts was still very much surprised and humbled to receive a Tony nod for the first play he ever wrote, and he says the initial production’s success was particularly a boon for him as the new kid on the block writing for Brothers & Sisters.

“When I got to L.A., I’d never written for television,” he said. “And while there’s overlap between the two, writing for television is a much more collaborative process, which is directly opposed to playwriting wherein you essentially have just the one voice."

"Writing for TV, you basically do what you’re told," he added "So, having my play go up off-Broadway and become a success at the same time helped me hold my head up working in a new, sort of strange environment. “

Next Fall also helped resuscitate New York’s Naked Angels Theatre Company, which presented both the off- and on-Broadway runs in 2009 and 2010; Nauffts was Artistic Director of the group at that time but has since handed off the torch to Andy MacDonald. Meanwhile, he’s collaborating with Elton John on a score for the screenplay of Showstopper and is finishing a project for HBO based on a segment of NPR’s “This American Life.”

“Being Artistic Director of Naked Angels was something I always wanted to do,” he said, noting he’d been involved with the group for many years prior. “During my four years we really experienced a resurgence and were put back in the forefront of the New York theater scene. Andy is much younger than me and I’m completely confident in his abilities. I’m still a board member there and Naked Angels will always be my creative home.”

Next Fall, presented by the SpeakEasy Stage Company, runs Sept. 16 – Oct. 15 at the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street. Show times are: Wed. & Thurs. at 7:30pm; Fri at 8pm; Sat. at 4pm & 8pm; Sun. at 3pm. Tickets are $45-$55; the less expensive options are reserved for seniors. Tickets are $25 for anyone under 25 and students pay $14. Call (617) 933-8600 for more information or visit www.bostontheatrescene.com.