HBO
Tell us about the schedule you're keeping. It must be pretty intense with shooting "Law & Order" at the same time.

S. EPATHA MERKERSEN
So far it's actually worked out. It's a little odd because I haven't quite had a day off, but [CHUCKLES] but I'm weathering the storm, I'm having a great time.

It's interesting because Nanny and Van Buren (Merkenson's character on "Law & Order") have a lot of the same qualities. They're both women in charge. They're both women who have nurturing spirit. They're both women who don't suffer fools. So there are quite a few similarities in the women. I think the difference is in sophistication. Van Buren has had a little more education. She's of the world a little bit more. She's city click, whereas Nanny is sort of country slick. But fundamentally, I think they are very similar women.

HBO
Tell us a little about Lackawanna Blues.

S. EPATHA MERKERSEN
Well, it takes place in the 50's and 60's, and there's a young man who has come into the life of this woman, who runs this household. This rooming house is misfits and wounded people that she brings in.

And it's also about a time period where, before integration when black folks took care of their own. And so Nanny has taken on this child from one of her roomers, and he has become the light of her life. And it's just about how all of these different stories evolve around these two people, Nanny and Junior.

HBO
I see it as a little love story between Nanny and Marcus.

S. EPATHA MERKERSEN
I totally agree with it being a love story. I remember when I saw the play I thought, wow, Ruben really, really loved this woman, because it truly was that. It was like this love poem to this woman who had raised him and the things that he learned from her and the people that lived in the rooming houses. So yeah, I would agree. I think that it is absolutely the story of this young boy who's come into this woman's life.

HBO
Who is she? What drives her? She's compassionate and she's loving...

S. EPATHA MERKERSEN
Well I think those are things that drive her. Her compassion and her caring for people. It really is about a time period in communities where there was always someone everyone went to.

I remember that as a young girl, my mother was one of those people. Our family, our house was always filled with all kinds of people. And I think that Nanny was that person. You know, there's always someone who's smart, who can look ahead and see things, whether they have the education or not. They have mother wit. They have common sense. And I think that's where Nanny comes from, that strong common sense, that mother wit that makes you see a situation, assess it, and, and act on it.

And back then there was such huge migration because the jobs were north. And my parents came, my parents came from the south as well, from Louisiana and, and Alabama, moving north to look for work. And there were people who would go back down, take money, bring people back, because there was work here. And that's what Nanny does. The difference is she takes people that maybe others wouldn't.

People that are just a little wounded, that need just a little more care. And it's a great person and it's a great character, because this house is just inhabited by all of this sort of misfits is the word that comes to my mind, you know? But they all love her because she's made a place for them. She has made them feel like people, whole. She even says she's doing this because she enjoys helping people.

HBO
It sounds like you have a lot in your own personal life that you can draw on to bring Nanny out.

S. EPATHA MERKERSEN
Yeah. I think I'm a little older than Ruben, but we come from a similar period. I mean it was great just listening to the music because those are the songs I grew up with. And because my family migrated as well.

They were looking for a better life. And as I was saying, our house was always inhabited with all kinds of characters. So yeah, I think there is a similarity, and most certainly Nanny was there to love Ruben, to make him have self worth. And, and I certainly know that my mother passed that on to us as well.

HBO
Now these characters who are in the house, the characters and the people playing them. For instance, Old Lamb and Lucius.

S. EPATHA MERKERSEN
I think they're of a whole, in terms of this household. They'll tell you, she came and rescued them in some sort of way. I think individually, she knows who they are, but as a whole, she takes care of all of them. You know there are all these different stories that make these people. And I don't know if she could separate them, because they're all there for some reason or another.

HBO
George Wolfe. You've worked with him before?

S. EPATHA MERKERSEN
You know it's funny, my relationship with George has been totally through friendship. I've never worked with him before, although I've seen most of his work. I know a lot of his work. Maybe our working relationship was saved for this moment. [CHUCKLES] I can honestly say that. I feel entirely safe with George. Conceptually he's come in with this very clear idea of where we are, what these people are about and the way he expresses it is so clear that you can't help but follow through with his concept.

One of the big things that he spoke about was this time period and how it was so rich because in the communities prior to integration, everyone lived there. The doctors, the teachers, the drug addicts. But there was a sense of social rightness, where those people who were the professionals allowed the other people to survive and be human. The merchants were there.

It was a check and balance in a sense that the community stayed whole because everyone participated in it. And so this household is sort of a remnant of that period.

And if you look at it that way and you have memories of it, because I was born in the early 50's, so I grew up in the period that he's talking about. I can remember very clearly our community and how that community split after integration, how it became very wounded and frightening. So this house is sort of right before that happened. And it makes you inhabit it differently having that knowledge.

I think Nanny was probably pretty much a spitfire when she was a little younger and then she sort of gave that up to do something really strong and positive in her life. But I think she probably turned back a couple [CHUCKLES], you know, men.

And that's why I think she pulled Bill in the first time. But something's gotta be hot between those two, because he wears her out. He's always going some place and being with other women, and he really tests her consistently. But there is some kind of strong respect and love because they stayed together until he died.

HBO
Which may speak again to the era, to the time when people just stuck things out.

S. EPATHA MERKERSEN
Stuck together, yeah. I think that it does speak of the time, but, that when you make that commitment, you stay within that commitment. And also he loves Junior, and I think that that is a peek into the heart of the man, and Nanny has to see that. That her love for Junior is as strong as Uncle Bill's is for Junior. And anyone that can show a soft heart to a child, you know there's a soft heart in there. So I think that's probably one of the reasons they've stayed together. But it must be hot up in that bed [LAUGHS]... for him to stay.