Andrew Weems' one-man show brings to life a "third-culture kid"

Consider it a matter of varying scale.

In New York, Intiman Theatre artistic director Bartlett Sher recently staged an elaborate, large-cast revival of "South Pacific," which has garnered 11 Tony Award nominations.

And soon Sher will travel to Austria to mount a full-scale version of Charles Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette" for the prestigious Salzburg Festival this summer.

Yet wedged between these elaborate projects is another Sher production, starring a cast of one: "Namaste Man," by actor and first-time playwright Andrew Weems.

A solo reflection on Weems' years as an American kid growing up in Nepal, "Namaste Man" came onto Sher's radar several years ago, when Weems was working at the Intiman as an actor. (He was in Shaw's "Arms and the Man" in 2002, and Chekhov's "The Three Sisters" in 2005.)

"Andy told me he was writing this piece and wanted me to hear it, so I asked, 'Couldn't you do it for everyone here?' " recalled Sher. "So he did the reading, and it was unbelievably great material. I love these stories of Americans in relation to other cultures, and this was very entertaining, full of mysteries and complexities. I couldn't get it out of my head."

For Weems, a veteran regional-theater actor based in New York, Sher's enthusiasm was a great boost. And the director's interest in developing the piece at Intiman helped secure Weems a Fox Fellowship from Theatre Communications Group, to underwrite Weems' trip to India and Nepal to study traditional Asian performing techniques and revisit his past.

The Nepal years, from fourth grade through seventh, were a resonant part of Weems' youth. During the 1970s, his diplomat father had a four-year stint there with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Weems looks back at himself and sees "a third-culture kid."

"Here I am, this American boy, obsessed with football and longing to live as normal a middle-class American life as my mother could create for us in Katmandu," explained the gregarious Weems. "But there's a leper colony down the road and a monkey temple. The street is lined with beggars. And my teachers are hippie Peace Corps volunteers."

While Weems discovered theater there -- he had his big acting debut in the Katmandu staging of the Broadway comedy "A Thousand Clowns" -- he longed for "a regular, square, American suburban life." He said he felt "neither American or Nepali -- just this third thing between the two."

The Weems clan later settled into a more conventional life in suburban Washington, D.C., where Weems attended high school. He later studied acting at Brown University and cobbled together a respected acting career that's taken him to theaters around the country.

But in 2000, during a professional dry spell, Weems began excavating and writing down memories from the Nepal chapter of his life.

"There is something incredible that gets inside you after living a long time in very foreign places," said Weems, who was born in South Korea and also spent a spell in Zambia.

"You never quite feel like where you are is your place or like you really belong anywhere. But I think someday you have to accept that all the travel, the memories, the places -- they're all part of you."

Weems' two months in Nepal and India as a Fox fellow jarred memories loose ("I went looking for my old school, my Dad's office"). And the trip, his first time in the region since 1979, added some colorful travel experiences to the "Namaste Man" script. The play's title refers to a salutation commonly used in India and Nepal, which like the Italian word "ciao" and the Hebrew word "shalom," can mean either hello or goodbye.

Now that the world debut run is underway, Weems-the-actor seems as happy about it as Weems-the-author is. "There are over 40 people who I give voice to in the show, so I get to do a lot of fun accents and voices. But the main thing is me telling my own story."

And Sher's main contribution? "Bart is very meticulous, and he has complete respect for the material. I'm more intuitive -- Bart can see the whole structure of a play in ways that are so valuable."

Said Sher, "I think a piece like Andy's helps us remember to open our minds to other cultures. It's also incredibly funny like he is, very imaginative and crazy and filled with surprises. It really should be able to have a future life in other regional theaters."

That prospect delights Weems, who says it "will be great to have something of my own to do, between other roles." But he's also looking forward to appearing in the Craig Lucas comedy "Reckless," later this summer at a theater back East.

"It's going to be a relief for a while not to be the playwright," Weems admitted. "It will be just, here's your costume, here's where you stand, learn your lines by Thursday. That should make for a nice change."

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com