Pushkin. This is talk easy. I'm San by actor Oscar Isaac. You've likely seen him in films like A Most

Violent Year, Ex Machinah, The Card Counter, and Dune. Or maybe you've seen him on television in shows like Moon Night or

scenes from a marriage for which he was recently nominated for an Emmy.

But before this remarkable run, Isaac was a young hustling actor in New York City trying to make a name for himself.

As he joked during his recent SNL monologue, I'm half Guatemalan, half Cuban, or as casting directors

call that ethnically ambiguous.

So it's no surprise then that Isaac's first leading man opportunity came from a pair of filmmakers who've built a career

just outside the mainstream Hollywood system.

It was in 2013 that brothers Joel and Ethan Cohen hired Isaac to play the titular

character of Inside Lewin Davis. The film, set in Greenwich Village,

circa 1961, spans a week in the life of a talented but uncompromising

folk singer who can't seem to get out of his own way.

Isaac has recently returned to that same time and place, this time on stage, in a new production of the sign in Sydney Brustin's window, written by the late seminal playwright Lorraine Hansberry.

Set in the apartment of couple Iris and Sidney Brewstein, Isaac plays what Hansberry

once described as a nervous, ulcerated banjo-making young man in whom I see an

embodiment of a certain kind of Greenwich Village intellectual.

The show, which I happen to see while I was in New York, is really, really excellent.

It's currently being mounted at the James Earl Jones Theater, where it will run until July 2nd.

If you happen to be in the city before then,

you can find tickets at the sign on Broadway.com.

That's the sign on Broadway.com. We've also included more info about the play on our website at talk easy pod.com.

You can also click that link in the description of this episode on your phone.

...