A new play finally captures who Joan Rivers was

Larry Amoros first met Joan Rivers in 2008 to write material for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony. “We want to make it as authentically Joan as possible so that the people who see this will feel like they recognize her and that they’re in the room with her,” said Daniel Goldstein, who was approached about writing the play in 2019 by the comedian’s daughter, Melissa Rivers, and live-experience production company Mills Entertainment. “When we realized that this story is so much about mother-daughter relationships, and how legacies are handed down and interpreted between generations, we thought that, rather than having one person try to play Joan from 18 to 80 years old, we’d make that actor switch of the mother-daughter dynamic become part of our storytelling method.” Both Auberjonois and Gunn participated in the play’s first readings two years ago, and have since worked with a dialect coach and studied archival footage to adopt Rivers’ signature mannerisms and vocal qualities — to an extent. Melissa has been so encouraging and given me some real gems that have helped me with certain scenes of the show.” Elinor Gunn as Melissa Rivers in “Joan” at South Coast Repertory. “Life’s funny that way sometimes.” Tessa Auberjonois as Joan Rivers and Zachary Prince as Jimmy Fallon in “Joan” at South Coast Repertory.