Nick Thomas, Adam Belvo, & Azumi Tsutsui of “Anonymous”

Spit & Vigor presents ANONYMOUS by Nick Thomas at Tiny Baby BlackboxListen in as Anonymous playwright & director Nick Thomas, along with performers Adam Belvo (Michael) and Azumi Tsutsui (Diana), discuss sharing a character, letting the story pour out, the relief of the audience, “embedded” theatre, “rehearsal with a bunch of strangers,” going “full Australian business-bro,” finding a character that’s far from you, taking us back to the (awesome) 1990s, and the potential of anonymity.

“…it has a different feeling of freshness. Like, I can feel the people sitting beside me, and they don’t know what’s going on, but hearing the story for the first time…I can feel, people are feeling it…”

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Dan Kitrosser of “HOMOS! A Solo Disaster Musical, Bitch”

HOMOS! A Solo Disaster Musical, Bitch by Dan Kitrosser, directed by Kyle Metzger, at The Stonewall InnListen in as Dan Kitrosser, playwright and performer of HOMOS! A Solo Disaster Musical, Bitch, discusses eerie timing, controlling the audience, fun Tony Kushner references, integrating children’s theatre performing techniques, the need for clowns, finding where you fit in the world, and distilling down your large-scale musical to be done by yourself (because scheduling is hard).

“…for so many years, I was like, ‘okay, I do that kind of performance, then I have my plays,’ and those are two different things. And I realized that, that in and of itself creates an antagonistic structure…I’m interested in what happens if we redefine what theatre is…”

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Bernard Bosio, Elena Lozonschi, Camila Melgar, Claude Choukrane, Ted Thompson, & Phil Williams of “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot”

The Heights Players present THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis, directed by Bernard BosioListen in as The Last Days of Judas Iscariot director Bernard Bosio, along with performers Elena Lozonschi, Camila Melgar, Claude Choukrane, Ted Thompson, & Phil Williams, discuss the culture of Heights Players, the importance of understudies, the sound of real New York dialogue, despair and hope, vibe shifts, inspiring conversations, relying on your collaborators, and the brilliance of Stephen Adly Guirgis.

“…people do make mistakes, and some of them are catastrophic…but are all of them irredeemable?”

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Kallan Dana, Julia Greer, and Sarah Blush of “Racecar Racecar Racecar”

The Hearth presents RACECAR RACECAR RACECAR, written by Kallan Dana, directed by Sarah BlushListen in as Racecar Racecar Racecar playwright Kallan Dana, director Sarah Blush, and producer/performer Julia Greer, discuss the open road of a script, symmetry & palindromic structures, complicated father relationships, creating breaks, emergency relocations, and taking road trips with your collaborators.

“…I’m a person who tries to talk and talk until I can get to what I mean, and I’m always failing. The words are always failing you. And so I think that feels like a really emotionally true thing for me, and that was part of the fun for generating the language in this play…”

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Fareeda Pasha, Dylan Lesch, Hana Fatima Dehradunwala, Amani Meliyah, & Aliyah Curry, of The Science in Theatre Festival

Transforma Theatre presents The Science in Theatre Festival at Brooklyn Art HausListen in as performers Fareeda Pasha & Dylan Lesch, and Hana Fatima Dehradunwala, playwright of The Last Word, along with Amani Meliyah, director, and Aliyah Curry, playwright of Receptors, both plays in The Science in Theatre Festival, discuss responsibility, “doing the research” and having access to those who *did* the research, standing on the shoulders of giants, last words, making social media explode onstage, the insanity of being a human being, and the bleeding edge between theatre and science.

“There’s something wrong with the world…[we should be] treating this country we live in as a community, we’re all responsible for each other…”

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Rhys Luke, Sophia DiPaolo, Leah Davidowitz, Tits Morality, Chloe Drohan, & Eliana Coe of “Dave and Boris Kill the Cat”

Listen in as Dave and Boris Kill the Cat playwright Rhys Luke, director Sophia DiPaolo, costumer Leah Davidowitz, and performers Tits Morality, Chloe Drohan, and Eliana Coe, discuss falling down rabbit holes, working on a show that features real people, queer horror, grotesque and disgusting mannerisms, drag & film noir, intergenerational cat trauma, & making everything larger than life.

“…there’s something so special about sending such a strong message, under the guide of comedy…to have audience members tell you is, ‘it was so funny, I laughed so hard,’ and then you know that they go home, and think a little bit more about it, and they realize what the show is really about…it’s such a joyful process, to work on something so meaningful, something so inclusive, and have a laugh while doing it…”

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Clay McLeod Chapman, Pete Boisvert, Stephanie Cox-Connolly, & Morgan Zipf-Meister of “Feejee Mermaid”

Drops in the Vase presents FEEJEE MERMAID, written by Clay McLeod Chapman, directed by Pete Boisvert, at The Flea TheaterListen in as feejee mermaid playwright Clay McLeod Chapman, director Pete Boisvert, props & effects designer Stephanie Cox-Connolly, and actor Morgan Zipf-Meister, discuss finding a taxidermy consultant, love and hate, reconnecting with the scene, multiple hats, buying everyone the book, and making shit so you can make something live & breathe.

“…it’s about four people who are intersecting at a point in their lives where they love each other, hate each other…these are people who need each other to complete themselves, and achieve something greater than any one individual.”

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Laura Hooper & Jason Alan Carvell of “Tracks”

Pendragon Theatre and New Light Theater Project present TRACKS, written by Paula B. Stanic, co-directed by Tabatha Gayle and Sarah NorrisListen in as actors Laura Hooper and Jason Alan Carvell of Tracks discuss finding actors, complicated relationships, boots & chops, audience reactions, questioning assumptions, stumbling in on real life experiences, and not letting go.

“Everything in our lives conspires to sort of anchor us in a normalcy. And I think one of the powers of Paula’s art, and art more broadly, is that it offers this opportunity to just stray a little bit away from that anchor…”

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Denisse Estefany Mendoza & Peter Michael Marino of “Show Up, Kids!”

SHOW UP KIDS at QED Astoria, created by Peter Michael Marino, directed by Michole Biancosino, at QED Astoria, photo by MikiodoListen in as creator Peter Michael Marino & performer Denisse Estefany Mendoza of SHOW UP, KIDS! discuss awful auditions and why they often don’t matter, working out your show over time, building fairy tales from scratch, how to work with new & inexperienced (very young) improvisers, using what’s given to you by the audience, bringing them back into the show, funny chickens and evil farmers and bad penguin driving, and the sensibilities of New York City kids.

“You just have to say ‘yes, and,’ even to their ‘nos’…you just have to keep going…even the nos can be really funny!”

“It’s always a gift!”

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Sara Fellini, Adam Belvo, & Nicholas Thomas of “A Man Among Ye”

Spit & Vigor presents A MAN AMONG YE by Sara Fellini, directed by Sara Fellini and Nicholas Thomas, at The Players TheatreListen in as writer/director/performer Sara Fellini, along with fellow actors Nicholas Thomas (co-director) and Adam Belvo (fight choreographer), discuss adding more balloons, doing the research, breast reveals, rowing in the same direction with your crew, the light with all the knowledge, lambs with faces, interesting translations, Tarantino’ing it, earning your rail jump, leaning into the “mistakes,” awesome wigs, and, of course, lady pirates.

“There’s so much value to it…if you’ve made the set yourself, if you’ve sewn your costume, you’re gonna care about it, you’re gonna know it more. You’re gonna love it. There’s nothing better, as an actor, than saying, ‘I made this’…”

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