The Interview: Factory Theatre’s artistic directors Nina Lee Aquino and Nigel Shawn Williams

The hiring of Aquino and Williams, both highly respected actor-writer-directors who have been active with the Factory for more than a decade, quelled some of the storm, though not all of it— a comment about their decision to accept the job, written by the author and ­playwright Allan Stratton, appeared on the company’s Facebook page: “I suppose that’s one way to ascend the throne.” (Theatre people are nothing if not dramatic.)

Aquino and Williams have opted to ignore the sniping and focus on saving the season, and maybe even the company itself. “The danger of this institution—which belongs to all of us—closing or being damaged was ­paramount,” Williams says. “I’m not asking people, ‘Were you on that boycott list? Do you still think I’m an asshole?’ That’s counterproductive.” They were fully prepared to have to rebuild the theatre’s subscriber base, but they claim subscription levels hardly dropped at all.

More pressing was the issue of the lost productions, which they had exactly two weeks to replace. It helped that there was at least one show they didn’t need to worry about losing: Every Letter Counts, the new season opener, is about the exiled Filipino politician and activist Benigno Aquino (to whom Nina is closely related), who was assassinated in 1983. The play was written by Nina and is directed by Nigel. The run was planned before the Gass firing, though both ­playwright and director see the timing as serendipitous. “Let it be us,” Aquino says of the possibility that the first post-Gass production will be the target of slings and arrows from still-disgruntled corners of the city’s theatre world. “We can take it.”

THEATRE Every Letter Counts By Nina Lee Aquino Directed by Nigel Shawn Williams The Factory Theatre Jan. 26 to Feb. 24