Just a Couple of Ibsen Lovers

Early in their relationship, Amy Herzog and Sam Gold decided never to work together. But neither could resist this adaptation.

- AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE ts in previews February 27. MARY JANE is in previews April 2.

AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE is in previews February 27. MARY JANE is in previews April 2.

AMY HERZOG, a playwright, and Sam Gold, a theater director, met in 2002, started dating in 2007, married in 2011, and only now, 22 years in, are discovering what the other is like in a rehearsal room. "What tickled me was how polite and articulate you are," says Gold, "holding your pen up and looking really smart. There's something funny about seeing you so professional." Herzog counters, "Sam does this man-of-the-people thing where he curses a lot." She playfully adopts a slouch. "He's like, 'We're going to get our fucking hot chocolate and some fucking Norwegian tobacco." "Doesn't that tickle you?" says Gold of his rough-and-tumble rehearsal self. "Yeah," Herzog says. "That does tickle me." The two of them are sitting across from me, sipping tea from ceramic mugs at the kitchen table in their Brooklyn apartment.

It's a gray Sunday morning, their only day off from rehearsals for their first collaboration, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People for Broadway. Through the window next to them, you can see out across Eastern Parkway, over Grand Army Plaza, and toward the metal knuckles of the Manhattan waterfront. Having shed their work personae, they're genial and a bit goofy, playing the roles of model high-achieving, highly intellectual Brooklyn parents. He's in jeans and a sweatshirt with blocky glasses and a shock of hair pushed back over his head.

She's wearing a blue turtleneck sweater, her hair cropped close, with a rigid posture that relaxes when she jokes with Gold.