John Lithgow And Patrick Wilson's Odd Theater Experience

The last time that John Lithgow and Patrick Wilson participated in the kind of theater exercises that they did to prepare for the current Broadway revival of "All My Sons" was in drama school.

Simon McBurney, the director, "had us take turns acting out a ball of cellophane slowly uncrumpling," said Mr. Lithgow, who plays Joe Keller, a likable machinery manufacturer. "That's the one we joked that we'd be embarrassed to have reported."

Mr. Wilson laughed in agreement. (Remember "A Chorus Line," when a dancer sings about being an ice cream cone in acting class and trying to melt?) Abashed or not, though, both award-winning actors readily admit that Mr. McBurney's unconventional process worked. The exercises helped build up "the trust we have in each other," said Mr. Wilson, who plays Joe's son Chris, the surviving one of two brothers who fought in World War II and who has come home to work with his dad.

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