David Lawson, creator/performer of “Insomnia in Space”

Posted on April 7, 2015 by robby

What do you do when you can’t fall asleep?

Performer David Lawson is an insomniac. He’s also a solo performer.

So it only makes sense that in his new show, Insomnia in Space, David shares with the audience his musings and discoveries from wakefulness in the wee small hours, reading, thinking, and fantasizing about outer space.

Listen in as David discusses the two-suit, amazing stories from the audience, Mike Daisey, “neutral-face,” and shared experiences.

(then, go and listen to David and I talk about Go See a Show!, the MTA, the League of Independent Theater, podcasts, and more on his podcast with Taylor Miller, Stipend)

“…I so much believe in one person onstage talking to many people…that medium elevates everyone’s life experience in the room…”

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Mim Granahan, Eric Chase, and Rob Brown of “Making History”

Posted on April 1, 2015 by robby

When you see time travel portrayed in popular media, no matter how noble the reason for leaping through history, it almost always ends up making things worse.

That certainly seems to be the case in Mim Granahan‘s new play Making History, but, she adds in a little family drama for an interesting and unique take on the idea. Patrick Tyler seemingly gets stuck in the past, and after mourning the loss of his old life, tries to adjust to his new one—but things get complicated when he finds a way to travel back to his original time.

When you exist in two places, which is your life? And what happens when dividing your time also seems to be destroying you?

Actor Rob Brown and friend of the podcast Eric Chase, who directed the show, joined Mim on the mic to talk about Making History over a pint, and as you’ll hear, it got a little silly, which makes sense, because it’s always a fun time (see what I did there?) catching a Dysfunctional Theatre Company jam—check out their multiple past podcast appearances!.

…and, an emphasis on Dysfunctional Theatre Company, because I accidentally say Distilled Theatre Company at the top of the interview (they’re another company you should know!) because Eric & I were reminiscing about a fun radio play we did together for DTC Radio last year; you should check it out, after you listen to this episode!

Listen in as Mim, Eric, and Rob discuss creating characters, “the player’s great medium,” learning the lines of your own script, and doing the math.

“…make it simple, make it functional, make it about the performances…”
“…we can’t build a time machine…”
“…well maybe you can’t…this is actually our 3rd time doing this interview…”
“…it’s a loop!”

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David Andrew Laws, Laura Iris Hill, Jarret Kerr, Morgan Hooper, Travis Klemm, and Brian Gillespie of “Richard III”

Posted on April 1, 2015 by robby

The company Hamlet Isn’t Dead is on quite a mission—to produce all of Shakespeare’s plays, in the order in which they were written.

They’re up to Richard III, and as director Brian Gillespie (with the GSAS! hat trick!) points out at the top of the interview, it’s a pretty fortuitous time to be putting up what some might call the Bard’s first “hit,” what with the real, historical Richard’s body re-buried just last week. This production takes the idea of the infamous English monarch as “master manipulator,” and “explodes that metaphor—through puppetry.” Which is really cool to watch.

Listen in as Brian and five of the nine cast members—Jarret Kerr (Richard), Laura Iris Hill (Margaret and more, and also a returning podcast guest), David Andrew Laws (Buckingham, last on GSAS! with Brian for Twelve Nights), Morgan Hooper (Richmond and more), and Travis Klemm (Hastings and more)—discuss puppet workshops, working within your constraints, playing characters you’ve always loved, and the “magic trick” that comes from streamlining your cast.

“The more that I researched the play, the more I was like, ‘which characters don’t have any agency that might be controlled by others, that could be puppets?’…or, ‘there’s a lot of references to shadows, could we explore some of these nightmares with shadow puppets?’…”

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Lisi DeHaas and Jay Stull of “Leave Me Green”

Posted on March 31, 2015 by robby

What scares you the most? And would you do if those worst fears were realized?

It was starting from that question that playwright Lisi DeHaas wrote her beautiful new play Leave Me Green, currently playing at The Gym at Judson.

Listen in as Lisi & the show’s director, returning podcast guest Jay Stull, discuss plays that are of the moment, grief, relatable stakes, and how it’s a miracle we don’t all fall apart.

“…I wrote it sort of to remind myself, ‘you’re ok…you’re gonna be fine. We’re all gonna be fine…'”

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Edward Einhorn, Patrice Miller, and Gyda Arber of “Money Lab”

Posted on March 26, 2015 by robby

If you’re listening to this podcast, then it’s very likely you’re all-too-familiar with the sometimes-insurmountable-seeming economic barriers to creating independent theatre in New York (for info on some of the groups that are working to make it better, go back and listen to GSAS! Episode 150, on the Crisis to Creation Town Hall event).

But what about actively exploring economic realities on stage, as part of your theatre? How would you do that?

Economists said it wouldn’t be possible, but Untitled Theater Company #61‘s Edward Einhorn has proven them wrong with Money Lab. Billed as “an economic vaudeville,” you’re in for a night of scenes, music, dance, and performance around economic themes, running in a repertory style with different bills each night, all while two economies are created for (and by) the audience, and tracked in real-time.

Listen in as Edward, along with choreographer & assistant producer Patrice Miller and co-creator of the economic game performance Gyda Arber, discuss how you find an economist to perform in your independent theatre piece, finding the meaning of abstract economic terms through dance, determining the value of an artist’s time, and bailouts after bad bets by audience-members. Continue reading →

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Jonathan Warman, Rosemary Howard, and Rob Skolits of “Quit the Road, Jack”

Posted on March 19, 2015 by robby

Ah, the angst of the angry young man. “His fist in the air, and his head in the sand,” as a Long Island poet once said.

The titular character of Jerry Polner’s Quit the Road, Jack is just such a young man, but instead of staying at home with his back to the wall, he’s on the lam across the continent, with his hapless, divorced, bickering parents two steps behind.

GSAS! spoke with the show’s director Jonathan Warman, as well as actors Rosemary Howard and Rob Skolits—listen in as they discuss quirkiness and outsiders, balancing truth & comedy, surreal vs. more than real, drawing inspiration from political cartoons & Mexican street art, and inspiring conversations outside the theater.

“The more truthful and real it is…it actually is more funny.”

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Tara Ahmadinejad and Elliot B. Quick of Piehole’s “Old Paper Houses”

Posted on March 13, 2015 by robby

I’m not particularly stoic, but having grown up in the Northeast, I start to get a little annoyed when all the usual complaints about snow and cold start piling up during the winter—it’s winter, it’s supposed to be snowy and cold.

But, with this winter season having felt particularly rough on New York (at least, if you can believe all those Facebook posts and Gothamist articles…hey, at least we didn’t have it as bad as Boston, right?), it was likely the perfect season for Piehole‘s Old Paper Houses, which grew from the ensemble’s frustration with winter a couple years back, then passed through poetry about New England, transcendentalist communes, Nathaniel Hawthorne, nostalgia…and more.

Sound wild? It is, in the best of ways.

Listen in as director Tara Ahmadinejad and dramaturg (and returning podcast guest) Elliot B. Quick discuss collective creation in Piehole, dioramas, starting a book club to figure out what you want to do next, shifting perspectives, and physical research to get the appropriate action of shoveling show onstage.

(and seriously, there’s more entertainment awaiting you after the show, so be sure to budget some time to stick around and hang!)

“The piece is a meditation on New England, and utopian longing, and the weather, and it cycles through these different perspectives…”

“…it started from us being artists in New York in a winter two years ago, and feeling a lot of utopian longing…”

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TOWN HALL: Crisis to Creation

Posted on March 13, 2015 by robby

To celebrate this 150th Episode of the podcast—something a little different for Go See a Show!

Instead of interviewing theatre-makers about their work, the mic is in front of the advocates who are behind various independent theatre community initiatives to make the process of making things in this city a little bit easier.

The episode was recorded at Crisis to Creation, a Town Hall hosted by the Martin E. Segal Theater Center and co-curated by Brad Burgess in collaboration with Frank Hentschker. The event brought together representatives from some of the city’s most active & innovative arts advocacy organizations, as well as the Department of Cultural Affairs Chairman Tom Finkelpearl, and the City Council Majority Leader (and this podcaster’s local councilman!), arts-champion Jimmy Van Bramer, who was presented with a special award for Civic Engagement in the Arts.

I was able to catch Councilmember Van Bramer on the mic to talk about just what civic engagement in the arts means to him, as well as several others advocating on behalf of artists in New York; he closes the podcast, but in addition to his comments, listen in to hear from:

—Chris Harcum, past podcast guest, the inspiration for this episode of GSAS!, former Managing Director of the League of Independent Theater, and fierce arts advocate

—August Schulenburg, Vice President of the Network of Ensemble Theaters, an organization for companies that work and create as an ensemble (and, another multiple past podcast guest!)

—Laura Caparrotti, head of the League of Independent Theater’s Foreign Language Working Group, working to enhance the visibility and overcome the unique challenges of producing foreign-language theatre in New York

—Heather Woodfield, Executive Director of One Percent for Culture, who are advocating the city to make city funding for culture 1% of the city’s municipal expense budget (currently, it’s .21%)

—Monica Valenzuela, Deputy Director of Staten Island Arts, the organization supporting the island’s independent artists

—Tamara Greenfield, Executive Director of Fourth Arts Block, the organization advancing the East 4th Street Cultural District (where a lot of shows covered on this podcast take place!)

Listen in to all these great folks discuss the incredible work they’re doing on behalf of New York’s independent arts community; and, I would encourage you (as Chris does there at the start of the episode) to join the League of Independent Theater, our community’s political advocacy organization. Membership is free, and you’ll be adding your voice to a chorus of artists advocating for the interests of independent theatre; those would be your interests, too. Come join us—we are the 99 seats (or less!).

“I love this work, I love these people…the truth is, it’s a little bit of self-interest, in the sense that politics is a difficult business to be in, and it can wear you down…but I get a lot of energy when I am around people in the arts community, and I love the vibe and I love the energy…I get stronger every time I come to something like this…” —New York City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer

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Jeremy Duncan Pape, Megan Lee, and Matthew Kreiner of No Win Productions’ “Woyzeck, FJF”

Posted on March 10, 2015 by robby

Ever come across a script that speaks to you so strongly, you just have to produce it?

I know that sort of thing has certainly happened to me (you’ll be among the first to know when I actually produce it, dear listeners), and it’s pretty-much what happened to director Jeremy Duncan Pape with Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck.

After a university production, Pape wanted to get his adaptation, Woyzeck, FJF, out to the world—so he formed a company with collaborators Megan Lee and Matthew Kreiner. The three of them are the beating heart of No Win Productions, and their premiere production is currently running at The New Ohio.

Listen in as Jeremy, Megan, and Matthew discuss moving chronologies, understanding a piece of art’s history, insanity, making the transition to producing, and why these cats founded a new company.

“Part of our mission statement is looking at people, and humanity in general, in circumstances that cannot be overcome…”

“I hope that our audience members are given the opportunity to look at these things and relate to an impossible situation…’what if I were in that kind of situation?’…and hopefully, dare I say it, we can all be a little more compassionate through that kind of understanding…”

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Jon Stancato & Kiran Rikhye of “Kill Me Like You Mean It”

Posted on March 6, 2015 by robby

Tough detectives. Tougher dames. Double-crosses. Cigarettes. Shadows. Fedoras. All the hallmarks of film noir.

With their show Kill Me Like You Mean It, playwright Kiran Rikhye and director Jon Stancato (no strangers to the podcast—definitely check out their interviews from past Stolen Chair shows The Man Who Laughs and Potion) transfer all those classic film noir elements to the stage.

Then, they add in a healthy dose of theatre of the absurd.

What comes out is an absurdly fun & tightly executed piece of drama.

Listen in as Jon & Kiran discuss re-mounting (and revamping) a show from their past, audience placement as camera angles, abandoning tetralogies, having your actors create their own vocal musical score, and honing the rhythmic and sonic nature of your show.

“There’s something really unsettling about it…even though it is fun, and even though it is a comedy, it sort of is a deeply unnerving world…”

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Go See a Show!

The off-off-Broadway podcast

Author Archives: robby

David Lawson, creator/performer of “Insomnia in Space”

Mim Granahan, Eric Chase, and Rob Brown of “Making History”

David Andrew Laws, Laura Iris Hill, Jarret Kerr, Morgan Hooper, Travis Klemm, and Brian Gillespie of “Richard III”

Lisi DeHaas and Jay Stull of “Leave Me Green”

Edward Einhorn, Patrice Miller, and Gyda Arber of “Money Lab”

Jonathan Warman, Rosemary Howard, and Rob Skolits of “Quit the Road, Jack”

Tara Ahmadinejad and Elliot B. Quick of Piehole’s “Old Paper Houses”

TOWN HALL: Crisis to Creation

Jeremy Duncan Pape, Megan Lee, and Matthew Kreiner of No Win Productions’ “Woyzeck, FJF”

Jon Stancato & Kiran Rikhye of “Kill Me Like You Mean It”