Actor Andrew McCarthy has found success in other fields by going after what he wants. And simply asking.

Take his connection to playwright Neil LaBute, which will be on display when he directs staged readings Thursday through next Saturday of LaBute's new "second year senior" for Cape Cod Theatre Project at Falmouth Academy.

The two met in 2004 when McCarthy starred in LaBute's off-Broadway production of "Fat Pig." A few years ago, McCarthy already a play and TV director was interested in directing a one-act for an annual festival in New York City. He called LaBute to ask if he had any unproduced scripts. LaBute did.

So McCarthy directed his "Things We Said Today." Then, in 2008, it was "The Great War." Last year, it was "A Second of Pleasure" and, that same year, McCarthy moderated a talk-back session when LaBute made his Broadway debut with "reasons to be pretty." The two were going to collaborate for the one-act festival again this year until the Cape opportunity came up and, according to CCTP artistic director Andrew Polk, LaBute asked specifically for McCarthy to be his director.

So now the two will work more closely together than ever before, readying "second year senior" for a planned London run this fall.

McCarthy explained in a phone interview this week why the two get along.

"I listen to what he wants. ... I listen to what he's after, and we work very easily together. We trust each other."

McCarthy believes people have a preconception about LaBute because of the sometimes uncomfortable topics he writes about, but notes, "Neil is so easy to work with, he's one of the easiest writers I've ever worked with." McCarthy feels free and plans to continue the practice in Falmouth to make suggestions about cuts and changes, and says LaBute considers his ideas, especially once actors read the lines and audiences react.

But much of their past "conversations" about potential changes to plays have been by text or e-mail, and LaBute typically comes in only once or twice to watch a project in progress. McCarthy says with a laugh that next week in Falmouth working with actors Johanna Day and Frederick Weller on the story about a brother and sister opening old wounds could be "shocking." It means, he notes, more "hands-on time" with LaBute in person than he's had on all other projects combined.

At CCTP, playwrights, actors and directors work on a play in rehearsal, then changes can be made between the three performances based on audience reaction in talk-back sessions. McCarthy says that's an "ideal" opportunity for LaBute.

The playwright "is very open" to feedback, he says. "And he works very, very fast. ... He can work with the actors and do rewrites."

McCarthy was unable to talk specifically about the play because he and LaBute hadn't worked much on it beforehand: "We knew we would be kicking it around in the dirt, or in the sand, on Cape Cod."

McCarthy, 47, who made his film debut in 1983, still acts, and still enjoys acting. In the past decade, his credits have included guest appearances on various TV shows and roles in such series or miniseries as "Kingdom Hospital," "E-Ring," "Lipstick Jungle" ("I really enjoyed 'Lipstick Jungle.' I got to direct, too it was good fun") and "Royal Pains." He has movies yet to be released, including "Main Street" (with Orlando Bloom and Colin Firth), "Snatched" and "Camp Hell," and says he will soon start work on the feature film "The List."

But when asked what he thinks he's best known for, he laughs and says, "'Pretty in Pink'! It's always 'Pretty in Pink,' isn't it? It captured something for a couple of generations now."

Other fans of '80s movies might also cite his work in "St. Elmo's Fire," "Mannequin" or "Weekend at Bernie's" as cult choices, but when asked how he feels about the term "Brat Pack," coined back then for a certain set of young actors, there is a pause. "Oh, that's ancient history, isn't it?" McCarthy says more quietly.

His career now, he says, is probably pretty evenly divided between acting and directing, depending upon what projects come along. And, he acknowledges, he enjoys "the directing more and more all the time. It's a different career. It's like starting a whole new career."

After he leaves Cape Cod a place he regularly visited during childhood summers but hasn't been back to since he'll go to work directing an episode of the hit TV show "Gossip Girl," on which he also appeared as Rick Rhodes (Lily's father in a flashback).

Besides theater, movie and TV work, McCarthy has been working on a couple of deadlines for yet another job: travel writing. He recently returned from Ireland, where he has a home with his partner, a native of Ireland, on a trip that was partly for pleasure, partly for his writing job. He was working on a story for Golf magazine and one on Dublin pubs for another publication.

McCarthy had long loved traveling, and parlayed that into a paying gig when he met an editor of National Geographic Travel at a party a few years ago. Again, he simply asked.

McCarthy told the editor he should let him write travel stories. When the editor asked why, McCarthy answered, "I don't know if I can write, but I can tell a story." The editor liked the answer and gave him a try. McCarthy has since written several articles for that magazine, as well as for the magazines Travel & Leisure, Slate, The Atlantic, Islands and Afar, and has enjoyed the chance to travel all over the world and write about some amazing places. A misunderstanding in Ethiopia got him arrested earlier this year, but he has said he loved the country nonetheless.

McCarthy brings to that writing work an enthusiasm that has fueled his varied career. "It's a lot of fun to do the travel writing," he says. "I get jazzed about that like I do about acting and directing."