Abby McEnany on Vision for Work in Progress Season 2: This Show is Really About How People Get Through Life – Hollywood Reporter

Season two of Showtimes Work in Progress the critically acclaimed, slice-of-life comedy starring co-creator and executive producer Abby McEnany debuted Sunday night. It picks up with its lead (McEnany playing a version of herself) still reeling from a bad break-up, still searching for the perfect therapist, and still supporting best friend Campbell (Celeste Pechous) as she mourns the tragic death of her dog.

While Abbys relationship with Chris (Theo Germaine) proved to be a central storyline for the first season, dont expect her love life to get equal airtime in forthcoming episodes. That is by design.

This show was never about a love story, explained McEnany on Saturday evening while seated on stage inside the Directors Guild of Americas Theater 2 during an Outfest special preview event presented by Showtime in partnership with The Hollywood Reporter. Im somebody whos usually single and Im very happy about it. We live in a world where people, especially women, are often seen as valuable or worthwhile if theyre loved by somebody. It drives me to the fucking brink add it to the list. Its just a trope that really pisses me off. So, no, this show is really about how people get through life. How do people come together as a family? I survived because of my friends and my family.

McEnany had many friends in the theater listening to her speak on a panel alongside her Work in Progresscollaborators: executive producer and co-star Julia Sweeney, co-star Armand Fields, and writer and co-star Brendan Dowling. She gave a special shout-out to Chicago improv peers, some of whom attended the screening and represented a city that not only provides the backdrop for the series but fuels it with talent.

But about that survival she mentioned, the rest of this season will continue to follow her character as she navigates a mental health journey in the shadow of wanting to commit suicide. In season one, Abby really is in crisis basically the whole time, McEnany explained. This season, we wanted to show that Abby shows up for other people, but then privately, shes still a mess, but its exhausting. Its exhausting just being mentally ill, right? Its exhausting to always be a burden and its valid and I own it.

McEnany joked on stage about the challenge of speaking about herself and then speaking about her character, Abby, since they share many similarities. Dowling was then asked where Abby the character begins and where Abby the real-life person ends. Dowling came to work on the series after having known McEnany from Chicagos improv scene and helping her shape her one-woman show as its director.

Thats something we talked a lot about in the [writers] room and about how Abby, the character, is a different person and we would always be very careful to talk about Abby the character versus Abby the person, Dowling noted. But in terms of where they began, I think both Abby, the real Abby, and the character Abby, are super loyal to their friends. They show up for them time and time again. Their friends mean everything to them. But [the show] is a heightened version of Abby. We take all the things that we love about Abby in real life and then heighten them.

Dowling also spoke to McEnanys talents off-screen as well as her loyalty. She drafted many Chicago peers to work on Work in Progress, and in many cases, gave people opportunities to staff on a major Showtime show they might not have had otherwise. Abby is a force of nature, he said. When you meet her, you just get drawn into her orbit and are soon a part of her life.

That is true for Fields, too, who met McEnany years ago, out and about on the Chicago scene. When Work in Progress went to series, Fields was able to audition. We got to see each other, Fields recalled. And it was, like, this huge love fest. When I got [the part], it was amazing. And here we are its wild.

Wild is similar to how Sweeney describes her path to working on the series. McEnany and her co-creator Tim Mason met the Saturday Night Live alum at Second City after her own one-woman show. I remember it just exactly, Sweeney recalled from the stage. I was charmed by Abby immediately.

Sweeney continued that she was charmed, in a way, by the idea that the pair pitched. They wanted her to play herself as she is confronted by Abby in a restaurant about how Pat, Sweeneys androgynous SNL character, negatively impacted Abbys life. It mightve seemed like a tough sell, but Sweeney said she was instantly sold.

I loved the idea of it, and it was right up the alley of what I had been thinking about in terms of the Pat character and androgyny in general, she continued. It really was like a dream come true because it was just like, wow, this is just perfect, and then, of course, I just loved Abby. It was so special.

Her thoughts about Pat are not as easily distilled into a quick soundbite. I cant say everything I want to say about it because its so complex and Im still actually thinking it through myself, Sweeney said. I feel both apologetic and defensive about Pat, and I feel like both are actually worthy of being felt by me. Its not like I just think, oh, that was terrible. I actually thought, in my mind, I was advancing the cause of androgyny. I mean, it wasnt just about making fun of this character. It was about bringing up some issues We felt like we were putting forth something provocative, and from a lot of the responses I got from people, including a huge positive response in the gay community, I felt I was doing that.

Joining Work in Progress allowed Sweeney to more fully process the character and reckon with the impact it may have had, while also poking fun at herself. It was really fun to play a heightened version of myself being a bumbling idiot about having played Pat. I love the idea of taking something thats partly real and exaggerating it, just like the whole show does. But particularly with me, my feelings of ambivalence about the character itself, was fun to play with because thats partly real, even though it was completely absurd, this character that I play; Julia Sweeney is an idiot.

Another key figure in telling the story of Work in Progress is Lilly Wachowski. Though the acclaimed filmmaker and transgender activist was not in attendance, that didnt stop the panelists from professing their love and praising the work that shes done for the series. She came out of retirement to do this, McEnany said of her friend whom she met in Chicago. Shes just changed my life. To have somebody who, first of all, gives zero fucks about what people think of her how do you do that? and then to trust me and give me a voice? Shes amazing and she defends me.

Wachowski also changed the makeup of the show. McEnany credited her with enforcing the mission statement that they would have 70 percent of crew jobs filled by women, people of color and LGBTQ professionals. Shes awesome.

Sweeney agreed. Shes my favorite person Ive had direct me. Shes so relaxed but shes ahead of schedule. Its really unbelievable. Ive never been with a showrunner like that, whos also directing, has so much on their plate, but seems relaxed, gives you the right note, gets what they need to get, and is like two pages ahead. Shes really amazing.

McEnany had the last word on the subject: When people meet her, theyre like, Oh my God. Oh my God. Rightly so. Shes changed cinema and shes amazing. But she works very hard to make everybody feel like they have a voice, and she works very hard at [putting] people at ease when theyre with her.

This panel was sponsored by Showtime.

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Abby McEnany on Vision for Work in Progress Season 2: This Show is Really About How People Get Through Life - Hollywood Reporter