As one curtain goes down

Nicholas Martin reflects on his Huntington tenure before moving to the next stage

In his final weeks as the Huntington Theatre Company's artistic director, Nicholas Martin rests easily in his old office chair, a satisfied smile draped across his face. Posters from his celebrated shows grace the walls, and photos of such actor-pals as Kate Burton and Victor Garber surround his desk. (A big bottle of Advil sits near one corner, too.) When his cell phone goes off, he gestures helplessly: "Do you know how to make it stop?"

During his eight years at the helm, Martin brought such stars as Burton, Garber, and Nathan Lane to Boston, and helped to oversee the creation of a second space in the South End where new and more adventurous plays found a home. Still, for his final show while artistic director, he's chosen to direct a personal favorite, the old-fashioned musical romance "She Loves Me" at the Huntington's Boston University mainstage.

At 69, however, Martin isn't about to retire; instead, he'll take over this summer as artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, bringing along "She Loves Me," with directing gigs in Los Angeles and New York on his agenda, too. At one moment in a wide-ranging interview with Globe writers and editors, he points to his desk calendar, a gift from a fellow director. "This is my horoscope for today," he says, grinning: "Avoid letting loose words on the tip of your tongue. Isn't that good?"

The warning didn't stop the irrepressible Martin - a former actor - from sharing his thoughts about the Boston theater scene and its challenges. An edited version of that conversation follows.

Q. Coming here you knew what it was like to collaborate as a director. You didn't know, necessarily, what collaboration as an artistic director would be like. What have you learned about the person who sits in this kind of seat?

A. Well, I came here at a time when in general, theater audiences were dropping off, so there was that challenge to meet. And . . . I confess to a kind of "If you build it, they will come" kind of mentality. And by and large, with my own shows at least, that has been true. But it's not always true, and it's infrequently true of new plays. And not just in Boston, but everywhere. And that's been frustrating.

Q. Can you talk about which plays you're proud of having brought and developed here and what did disappoint you in terms of audiences -

A.Oh, it was never audiences, if I may be so bold. It was never audiences. In fact, a play like Noah Haidle's "Persephone" [produced in 2007], a risky, out-there-on-the-line play . . . was extremely well-received by audiences and, I have to say, the famous young audiences that every theater in America is courting. . . . [Melinda Lopez's] "Sonia Flew" [produced in 2004], if I have any prides, that's one of them. Because all of the elements unite in that play, a Boston playwright who's really a first-rate playwright, and Boston actors. And some important out-of-town actors, but mostly the play . . .

Q. What have you learned about Boston audiences - what their tastes are, how you were able to bring them along a little bit, and where they didn't want to go?

A. I came here because of Boston audiences, because when I was an actor here I was astonished at the fact . . . that people come here to see and enjoy a play. Which is not always the case in New York, where there's a trend element and where the critics are taken, perhaps, more seriously, for better and for worse. . . . But Boston audiences are there to have the experience.

Q. What does that mean, specifically?

A. That they love a narrative, that they followed the story, that they're great laughers. By and large, even at a Wednesday matinee, occasionally somebody titters. . . . They're not as starchy as Boston is rumored to be, by a long shot. You know, when we did [Christopher Durang's black comedy] "Betty's Summer Vacation" [in 2001], which was only my second year, we were ready for anything, because even in the New York previews, people were walking out. And the audiences here were great from the word go. In fact, it seemed almost as though it was time in Boston to throw out the old Gilbert and Sullivan, which I certainly did - that's just personal preference. And I thought that really was a metaphor for -

Q. And yet Gilbert and Sullivan is coming back. [New artistic director Peter DuBois has a Caribbean-themed "Pirates of Penzance" in the 2008-09 season]

A. Apparently, but I am not in charge of that. Not exactly a surprise to me.

Q. Because of the audience or because -

A. No, because I think that represents to certain subscribers, and to people in charge of the Huntington now, what the audience wants. I think that's just a small part of the audience.

Q. So was there kind of a tug-of-war within the theater about how adventurous the audience was willing to be?

A.No, from the minute I got here [managing director] Michael [Maso] was very, very open, and everyone here was very open to doing whatever we wanted. No one has ever prevented me from doing a play. I have tried to prevent certain plays from being done and failed - sometimes sadly and sometimes triumphantly.

Q. Are there examples where people really wanted to play to the conservative audience and you felt there was no need to?

A.That schism never occurred here, honestly. I was given an enormous amount of freedom and I have exercised it. . . . When I first got here, there were certain strong suggestions that I do an occasional - that I do certain things. And occasionally, if you can do "The Rivals" [in 2005] . . . a Restoration play in a vivid and energetic and youthful way, I think that's as important as doing any new play. And that from the beginning has been my idea here, that I would do classics in a vivid way - but do them, not distort them.

Q. So you are drawing a distinction there with another theater in town, perhaps?

A.Perhaps. And I've seen some great stuff at other theaters, a "Mother Courage" [at the American Repertory Theatre] in particular, that was as good as anything I've ever seen and revelatory. You know . . . I did my post-apocalyptic "Titus Andronicus." It was 25 years ago, and now they're still bringing motorcycles on stage and they're saying, "Isn't this crazy and edgy?" There's a word I'd like to never hear again. . . .

What I'm getting to here is what [the Huntington] used to do is schedule a season, an August Wilson and a classic Shakespeare and a Restoration play and an American classic and you know, fairly programmatic. But I don't think enough attention was paid to the actors, and particularly to the Boston community, which was never let in here as far as I know. That's another thing I'm proud of, having used [BU] students in big parts frequently and opening this theater to the Boston acting community, which was substantial but not complete by any means.

Q. What do you mean when you say it's better but not complete?

A.The really, really good young people - you can have them when they're just in college and just after. They're quite right, they go to New York. I don't blame them, they have to make a living. A really hot theater town - which Boston wants to be so badly and may be someday but really isn't yet, if I may say so - in a really hot theater town, a good actor can earn his living doing theater. And when [celebrated local actor] Nancy Carroll has to work a day job, that's just wrong.

Q. Have budget changes over the years affected your vision?

A.Until now, the production budgets have never been cut in any way. On the other hand, a lot of staff has necessarily been cut, which makes existing staff work very, very hard. . . . I don't mean we're hurting badly, either, but the single ticket has become the event. [The purchase of a] subscription by and large is over.

Q. What do you think of the health of regional theater as an entity?

A.I think it will make it. [Laughter] But I think the struggle is very real. . . . The Web is being invoked in a big way, but I'm not sure it's the entire answer. I think lower ticket prices and, uh, you just can't know. If Nathan Lane [who starred in "Butley" in 2003] is going to appear in something here, we're going to sell out in a second. It's a fact, there's nothing wrong with it, you know. What's wrong is when people expect him to be singing songs from "The Lion King" instead of acting a really serious part.

Q. A large group of your friends came to work here. Do you think they'll continue to come?

A. I don't know.

Q. Will they come to Williamstown instead?

A. They will come to Williamstown. They are coming to Williamstown.

Q. Will you urge them to keep coming? To work at the Huntington?

A. I wouldn't urge them. We're very self-interested people [Laughter]. I would, you know, want them to do plays with me in other places. My point earlier was that they had a wonderful time here. . . . I have a huge extended family of friends and they're talented, not to say powerful, many of them - and they loved working here, and they certainly enhanced the Boston theater scene.

Q. There's a lot of melancholy in the stuff you ended up bringing to Boston, and I was wondering why that is and what's important about that kind of sensibility.

A. I don't know how to answer it without sounding Hallmark-y or sappy. I've had a very complicated life, and if I told you the real story, it really would sound like a kind of gay soap opera involving lots of things - booze and, you know. My way, my MO, has always been with humor . . . [even] when I encounter a play that has, like you say, a melancholy base, like any Chekhov and other plays I've done here - "Persephone" and certainly "Observe the Sons of Ulster" [in 2002], which for me is another high point. . . . The other thing that attracts me in these plays . . . is a sense of hope, however dim, at the end of the play.

Q. Why as your last show are you doing a musical, "She Loves Me"?

A. It's my first love, the musical. And I would have gone into musical theater one way or another if it hadn't been for hearing Shakespeare for the first time. That was like love at first sight. And gin, really.

Q. But you haven't done many musicals.

A. As far as the Huntington goes, it's expensive to do them. . . . But I thought that "She Loves Me" is the way to say goodbye. I didn't realize at the time that I would also be saying hello in Williamstown.

Q. And you get the chance to work with Brooks Ashmanskas. [Martin had cast the actor in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" but dropped it from last year's schedule when Ashmanskas got a plum Broadway role.]

A. Brooks is like my child. I taught him at Bennington, and even then, he was 17 going on 50. . . . Even when all his friends were becoming famous, Ethan Hawke and all those guys, he was still fighting to get any kind of job, and he never complained. . . . He just bided his time. . . . I believe in him, and I know that Brooks can deliver a leading man and sings beautifully and can dance and is certainly funny. So I'm looking forward to his breakthrough here, and so is everyone else.

Q. What are your plans for Williamstown?

A. I'm not fixing what isn't broken. . . . I'm just gonna concentrate a little bit more on new playwrights. And restore the famous Williamstown Cabaret to its suitable venue, because it was in the theater, and you can't watch Williamstown Cabaret without a drink, or any cabaret if you ask me.

Q. Will we be seeing you in the cabaret?

A. I don't get out there anymore. I don't even like addressing board meetings anymore! I don't know how I did it. I don't know why I wanted - well, I do know why I wanted it, I wanted everyone to look at me and listen to me, and now I don't want anybody to do that, except the actors. And the press.

Globe staff members Scott Heller, Louise Kennedy, and Rebecca Ostriker contributed to this report.