[NoHo Arts District, CA] – Miray Beşli Çapa takes the stage in HardLove, a fierce dark comedy exploring intimacy, power, and connection. In this Q&A, she talks about the demands of the role and what makes this volatile two-character play so compelling.
We spoke with Miray Beşli Çapa about stepping into the role and bringing this intense two-character story to life.
How did you find this play and what made you want to adapt it into an English version?
I watched HardLove (the Turkish version) in Istanbul. It is a dark, sexy, comedy play written by the brilliant Turkish playwright, Anıl Can Beydilli. When I watched it, it hooked me from start to finish. I was fully present and engaged in the story the whole time. I was laughing so hard and I could relate to the whole story. It was a unique, different night out between a man and a woman. I loved it. I am a graduate of the MFA Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University, and I am working as an actress in both Istanbul and New York City. I thought Americans would love this play and would laugh a lot! I also believed they would easily relate to the depth and layers of the story. I went to the play with my friend, Seyhan Musaoğlu, who is our talented graphic designer now. She was also our line producer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I told her that I would adapt this for American audiences, and I’d find a way to make it happen. I told my idea to Jee Duman, the chair of Actors Studio Drama School. He is an amazing director. He said, “Let’s do it!” Esin Ileri translated it and Esin and I have adapted it. The brilliant producers, Aylin Çobanoğlu, Ayça Demirağ, Rue de Pera Film, and Sonder Project agreed to produce it abroad. My intuition was right. American audiences loved the play. We performed HardLove at two different times at Soho Playhouse in New York City Soho, and then performed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Here we are now at the Broadwater Blackbox in Los Angeles. This is incredible! We are so excited. When the brilliant producer David Fickas saw us perform at Edinburgh Fringe, he loved the show and invited us to Los Angeles. We are very happy to do this with him and his team at Drama ¾ Productions.
You produced HardLove in New York as well as at the Edinburgh Fringe. How did those two experiences differ? Were your expectations different? How did the audience reactions compare? Did it cause you to change the play at all from venue to venue or even for the L.A. run?
We’ve loved our experience everywhere. We’ve done a total of 33 performances so far. We began performing HardLove at Soho Playhouse Huron Club in May 2025. The NYC audience fell in love with the show. Then, we went to Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the reaction was similar. The people from all around the world who gather every year at Edinburgh also loved the show. We had great reviews both from the audience and the critics. Then, we did our third run at Soho Playhouse in November and December 2025. We had amazing reactions from the audience and NYC theatre critics. The road has now led us to LA. We are so grateful for our HardLove journey.
You play the female lead. How did you cast Chandler Stephenson?
I am the lead actress and Chandler is my co-star and professional partner on stage. I did not cast him. Our visionary director, Jee Duman, did. Jee was thinking about Chandler as he read the play. He arranged an audition reading for us together. Chandler was actually the only person that I’ve done reading with. After the reading, Jee said, “This is it.” He did not do lots of auditions. He knew what he wanted. I am honored to be Chandler’s partner on stage. It is very easy to connect with him and he is respectful, smart, and talented. We are so comfortable with each other. Everybody talks about our amazing chemistry on stage.
This was originally a Turkish play. Did it surprise you how much alike we all are from culture to culture and language to language?
No, it did not surprise me. I think at the core, all great stories are universal, and all human beings can relate to them despite all of our different labels, cultures and languages. People are people. When you make it more specific, it becomes more personal and then it becomes more universal. I had the right intuition. For me, the human soul has no boundaries, is not limited by culture, language and different labels.
I’m a different generation than you, but I can understand this romantic collision story very well. Things haven’t changed that much over the decades. Have you had similar feedback across generations and genders, straight, gay, bi?
I think everybody can understand the heart and core of this story. It is about desire, love, sex – human existential issues. None of these topics will ever go out of style. The age range of our audience is very wide. We see college students and we see senior adults. We see that they are equally enjoying the show and we love this. An older woman came to me in New York and said, “Those were the days! I went back to my younger ages with you. Wow. Loved this.” It is also the same with gender. This is in a way a form of ‘love story.’ And it will be natural to feel and relate it between two men or two women instead of a man and a woman or between a straight and a bi, etc. The variety is endless. We are all human beings. Love is love. In the end, only how we feel in our hearts about each other matters. We believe that love has no gender and that anybody can relate to this story. It all comes down to being human no matter what the age, culture, religion, race, or gender. We all have HardLove within us to explore and experience.
Where:
The Broadwater Theatre
6322 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038
Dates & Times:
April 8-18
Friday and Saturday at 8PM, Sunday at 7PM
Miray Beşli Çapa