At 38, Sam Gold is one of the most celebrated theater directors in New York, a master at gently stripping both audience and actors of their expectations and creating a sense of collective interdependence. He does this by dispensing with theatrical conventions — showy sets and costumes, a clear separation between stage and audience, acting that titillates or entertains — so that the focus stays fixed on the bodies of the actors and their words. “I’m not very interested in pretend,” Gold told me. “I’m interested in putting people onstage. I want people. And I want a world that reflects the real world.” His pared-down worlds are, paradoxically, inviting: They corral everyone in the theater toward maximum receptivity. Once you learn the rules and submit to them, it’s as if you’ve been initiated into a family.
