TV Guide: And you're working on a play?
Sean: John McCook and I have wanted to do a play together for a while. We have everything we need, the funding and the theater — we're going to do it under the auspices of the California Youth Theatre, a nonprofit group that gets kids off the streets with theater programs. But I couldn't get the rights for a play. A lot of playwrights anticipate their work becoming a film, and they don't want them being done because it reduces their chances of it being optioned for a film. So we came up with an original idea for a play, and my writing partner and I are going to write it over the next several months. It's a big farcical comedy like Dirty Rotten Scoundrel. John's got a tremendous theater background, and I haven't done stage since '95 — and I want to do comedy again. It's a funny premise and a little absurd. Hopefully, we'll do it around Thanksgiving.

“I was talking to Susan Flannery [Stephanie] today because we have some scenes coming up where she starts to get into my psyche. I said, ‘Your character has incredible strength and complexity to it that I would imagine Deacon would admire in a woman and would have hoped for in his own mother’. It would be interesting if these two people, from divergent backgrounds, would somehow form some bizarre, mutual respect”.

“I actually screen-tested against Steve Burton (Jason, GH) 10 years ago for a part on The Bold and the Beautiful, so I actually knew John McCook (Eric) in passing”.

“I really respect and adore Susan Flannery (Stephanie). I get so excited when I find out I have scenes with her. I think Deacon has developed this weird kind of misplaced mother thing that he feels for her. I certainly have a tremendous amount of respect for her as an actress and a director”.

“What I really enjoy doing is working with Susan Flannery (Stephanie), because for me, I always try to create the subtext that she represents this maternal ideal that Deacon wants. So even though she's the matriarch of the family that I'm bitter enemies with, there's sort of a bizarre respect and attraction, in a weird way. For me, finding those different colors are what it's all about. One of the difficult things about doing a soap is that you're doing repetitive material; that's just the nature of the beast. You gotta find ways to make the same information come across as interesting after you've said it for five shows. So, you know, that's the stuff I'm not crazy about. The stuff that I like… I like working with Susan a lot. I like playing the bad guy, because you can never be too bad”.

Q: “You mentioned Susan Flannery (Stephanie) specifically as someone you enjoy working with. Your scenes with her are gripping”.
Sean: “Well, she just elevates my performance, there's no doubt about it. I know going into it, first of all, that I need to know my shit. [Laughs] Those are the days that I do really try to know my lines. But I can almost guarantee – she's a very giving actress because I remember one time, she gave me a suggestion, and I took it, and it dramatically enhanced the scene. Actors can be competitive in scenes, and they're not always forthcoming with help so that they can win the scene. And she's a veteran actress and she imparts a lot of the wisdom and experience that she has. She's also a director. So I just know that when I work with her, it's going to be good, whether I want it to be or not. It's out of my hands; it's going to be good because I just follow her lead”.

Q: And Susan Flannery (Stephanie) also took home the Emmy.
Kanan: Did you see the scenes where she slapped me? She is a force to be reckoned with, that woman! I love working with her because every time I do, I know my scenes are going to be as good as they possibly can be. She really elevates my performance. As an actor, I look forward to the challenge, and she brings it.

Q: What is it like working with Susan when she is directing?
Kanan: It's really wonderful. Being an actress, [when she directs] she's very giving and she is oftentimes able to see something in the scene that one of us is missing and pass along that advice to us. She can pass along that advice in the scene. She's an actor's director.