A & E

Pittsburgh Public Theater audiences will know it as Caryl Churchill's play, "A Number," which begins previews tonight at the O'Reilly Theater, Downtown.

"Any opportunity to work on a play as endlessly fascinating as this is to be jumped at. She is one of the greatest playwrights," Berger says.

Written by the woman who created "Top Girls," "Cloud Nine," "Vinegar Tom" and "Mad Forest," Churchill's "A Number" explores big questions about cloning, individuality, family relationships and the conflicting influences of nature and nurture in a drama about a father and three of his sons.

Set in the near future, it follows the relationships and conflict between a father who chose to clone his young son. When his cloned son learns the truth about his and his brothers' creation, it sets off a series of disturbing confrontations that raise tempers and discussions of issues large and small.

"It is an enigma, a riddle. One can find one layer enough or dig deeper," says Berger, who has directed "The Laramie Project," "I Am My Own Wife" and last season's "Life X 3" at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. "This is like 'Hamlet.' It's about a million things."

Craig Baldwin, who plays multiple roles as the cloned sons, had been itching to work on this play since he read it, soon after it was published in 2003. A native of Australia with multiple New York acting credits, Baldwin is making his Pittsburgh Public Theater debut.

"Partly it was the challenge of playing three completely different people," he explains. "Normally, you focus on one character, his words, his needs. With this, the focus is on three people. That's the challenge and joy of it."

Sam Tsoutsouvas plays Salter, the father of these multiple, genetically identical sons. He has a number of explanations about how and when they came into being.

An actor with multiple credits in Pittsburgh as well as New York and Washington, D.C., Tsoutsouvas last appeared at Pittsburgh Public Theater as Lopakhin in Eddie Gilbert's valedictory production of "The Cherry Orchard."

More recently, he played Frank Lloyd Wright in "Work Song" for City Theatre, the title role in Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre's "Henry IV Parts I & II" and Captain Shotover in "Heartbreak House."

Tsoutsouvas finds it easier to define what the play isn't about.

"It's not principally a discussion of the ethics of cloning. You are perfectly free to go with that. But it uses cloning as a jumping-off place to discuss, 'Who are we?'" he explains.

Churchill reveals the drama's events and issues slowly as the play proceeds.

"It does have a mystery-thriller aspect to it as you try to find out what happened -- that peeling back of the onion to get to the truth," Berger says. "I think audiences want to be challenged. They are smart and want to use their ears. It does ask the audience to share in the creative act."

But not too much, Baldwin points out. The play will run between 65 and 70 minutes without intermission, he says. "But what she manages to pack into an hour, many three-hour plays don't," he says.

It's exhausting work for both actor and audience, he says.

"I don't think the audience could take more than an hour in the end."

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