The Old Globe wanted to find out more about the creative process that the authors of Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show, Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, used to create their new play, Crime and Punishment, A Comedy. We thought it might be fun to ask them to interview each other about it.

This is what happened.

Steve Rosen: Good morning!
Gordon Greenberg: Hiya.
SR: You must be Gordon Greenberg.
GG: Uh, yes.
SR: I see on your website you claim to be a director and a writer. What kind of experience do you have?
GG: Steve, we’ve been writing shows together that I’ve directed for like 10 years, what is this?
SR: The Old Globe asked us to interview each other, and I’ve never conducted one before, so I found some sample questions online. Next question: Are you looking for full-time or part-time employment, and can you start immediately?
GG: First, I think these are questions for a job interview. Second, I think the Globe wanted us to talk to each other about writing Crime and Punishment, A Comedy. They want to know about our process. Like, how did we write this play?
SR: On a computer. Easy. Next question.
GG: I thought you were conducting the interview.
SR: I was, but you didn’t like my questions.
GG: They were for a… never mind. Why don’t I take the lead here for a second? People might appreciate some context.
SR: Well, you do claim to be a “director.”
GG: We’ve both always loved telling big, adventurous stories that run on imagination, theatricality, and small groups of supremely talented actors creating magic right before our eyes!
SR: Stop yelling. For the past several years, our play Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show has played to sold-out houses here during the holiday season. It’s a five-actor adaptation of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol told through a humorous lens. And our take on Bram Stoker—Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors, which has played all over North America—opens this fall Off Broadway in New York City.
GG: Nice plug. And now we’re doing it to Dostoevsky. Do you remember how we got started on this?
SR: Yes. So right before the pandemic, Barry Edelstein called with a thought about creating a new play expressly for the Globe. When he calls, we listen! Plus, who wouldn’t want to spend as much time as possible in San Diego working with the best collaborators imaginable? Not us.
GG: I think that’s a double negative.
SR: I don’t not.
GG: Shhhh. The assignment was to create a brand-new play riffing on a classic novel. And because we wanted to write a comedy, we naturally looked for the most serious source material we could find. We read a lot of books.
SR: It was hard! Those books were long and had barely any pictures!
GG: Not only do we aim to make these pieces amusing, but we want people to truly be moved by the messages and themes inherent in the original work. That’s why they’re classics in the first place. So we use the underlying ideas and themes and adapt them loosely for a contemporary audience.
SR: What does “loosely adapt” mean?
GG: It means we change the story and the characters to serve our purposes.
SR: So in other words, if you were supposed to read Crime and Punishment but saw this play instead, you’d fail the test.
GG: Miserably.
SR: So what’s different?
GG: We’ve combined existing characters, created new ones, changed the specifics and motives, etc. But Rodya Raskolnikov’s journey from an honest, optimistic, and philosophical young man to a morally bankrupt criminal capable of murder is intact and extremely timely. We see stories like it on the news every day: people who believe they are doing the right thing when they make moral compromises and subvert the law by taking matters into their own hands. Their intentions may be good and they might feel justified at the time, but in committing the act they end up destroying not only their lives but those of many innocent people, including those for whom they are bending the law to try and protect.
SR: Can I be honest? It doesn’t sound very funny.
GG: The story of Crime and Punishment isn’t, but we hope the way we tell it is. We want audiences to be genuinely engaged by Dostoevsky’s themes of moral relativity, guilt, and social inequity—but also have a great time.
SR: What if they don’t? Can we change stuff around?
GG: Of course, and we will! This is the first time the play has ever been performed, so we will be writing and rewriting throughout the entire rehearsal and preview process.
SR: World premiere, baby! At the end of the show can we make them all live happily ever after?
GG: We can do anything we want!
SR: Woohoo! You’ve got the job! When can you start?
GG: You’re an idiot.