Interview: After Decades on TV, Thomas Gibson Returns to His First Love, Theater

It’s been a long time since Thomas Gibson has trod the boards. At the very start of his acting career, Gibson was a regular on off-Broadway’s stages, working his way through the Shakespeare repertoire (Orsino, Proteus, Malcolm, and Prince Hal for the Public Theater) and originating roles in works by the likes of David Hare, Romulus Linney, and others in the 1980s. He went out to Hollywood in the ’90s, where he quickly found screen gigs: most notably, Beauchamp Day in Tales of the City, Daniel Nyland in Chicago Hope, Greg Montgomery in the long-running sitcom Dharma and Greg, and Aaron Hotcner in Criminal Minds, a role he played for 256 episodes across 12 seasons.

Now, Gibson is returning to his roots opposite a wild ensemble in Charles Busch’s latest play, Ibsen’s Ghost, a Primary Stages production at 59E59. Gibson plays Wolf, a handsome sailor with a mysterious past, who comes to attract Henrick Ibsen’s widow, played, in all her glory, by Busch himself. It’s not the first time they worked together — Gibson starred in the film version of Busch’s play Psycho Beach Party — but it’s their time sharing the stage. And Gibson is remembering exactly what it is that he loved about this medium, and is happy to be back.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Ibsen’s Ghost isn’t an Ibsen play. But is this your first encounter with the idea of Ibsen, in general?
I had done a Romulus Linney play in, gosh, the late 1980s at Ensemble Studio Theatre in the One-Act Marathon. It’s called Juliet, and it’s about a production of Ghosts. I played a director who is as famous for the wonderful performances he gets out of the women he directs as he is for all his suicide attempts. It’s a wonderful, very funny, weird play, and that’s as close to Ibsen as I’ve gotten. It’s interesting that I’ve done, now, a couple different Ibsen-adjacent works, but never actually any of his plays themselves, which I would like to do at some point.

How does it feel to be back doing theater after so long?
I’m happy to be here, and I was certainly happy to utilize the security of rehearsal. The first week, Jen Cody was Zooming in from another show that she was doing, so we kind of cobbled together rehearsals that first week. When we were all together, we commuted to and from New Jersey together, and it was nice to just hang out. I think everybody really does like each other.

How did Ibsen’s Ghost come into your orbit? I know you have a theater background from the beginning of your career.
I hadn’t done a play in a very, very long time, and yet, that was what constituted most of my experience up until I went to Los Angeles, where one series led to another. I wondered, maybe irrationally, if I still knew what to do if I were to do a play, and I wanted to put to rest any irrational fears about not knowing what to do. My manager said she had something that was maybe a little bit outside the box, and I asked her to give it to me so I could read it. I loved the play; I had a wonderful Zoom meeting with Carl Andress and Charles Busch. I knew Charles from Psycho Beach Party 25 years ago, which is so hard to believe.

What did you think of the play and your character when you first read it?
I love this play so much. I read it two or three times before I had my meeting with Charles and Carl and [casting director] Pat McCorkle. Not only is it hysterically funny, but it has real pathos. It has a lot of emotional weight to it. You can tell that Charles loves these plays, and I think only somebody who really loves something can take the piss out of it the way he does.

Tell me about your character, Wolf.
My role, Wolf, is sort of a refugee from an O’Neill play. Charles took the idea that Ibsen did have an illegitimate son — we don’t know whether they met, or if he ever showed up in Oslo, or if he was a sailor or not — but he had an illegitimate son from when he was very young. Charles wove this incredible tale out of bits and pieces of reality.

What is it like working with Charles in a theater show like this versus a film like Psycho Beach Party?
This is his element. I had a few scenes with him in Psycho Beach Party, but it was very quick. I was doing a couple other projects simultaneously and my first child was being born during that time, so I was busy and didn’t really get a chance [to get to know him]. We had a couple of lunches on set, stuff like that. When we were at George Street, a couple of the kids on our running crew hadn’t seen it before and we did a screening of it. I don’t think I’d seen it since it came out, but it was wonderful to enjoy it again.

I just like watching Charles through his process, both as a playwright and a leading lady. He’s more ruthless about his own work than anybody. He wants it to work, and if he feels like it’s not working, he will do anything to make it work. If he feels like it needs to be cut, he will just cut it. He doesn’t have any of the irrational ego tied to the work. He wants it to be effective and wants to get the laugh. If he doesn’t get the laugh, he’s gonna let it go.

Does Ibsen’s Ghost re-ignite your love of theater after so long?
Absolutely. It feeds you in ways that are very different than any other kind of work as an actor, or even as a director. I mean, I understand what I was doing and why I did what I did. But it makes me kick myself a little bit for not doing more theater.