RadioTheatre’s 6th Annual “H. P. Lovecraft Festival” — Part I

RadioTheatre presents the 6th Annual H. P. Lovecraft FestivalRadioTheatre was last on the podcast with their H. P. Lovecraft festival in 2012—and being a fan of the master’s fiction, the producer of GSAS! just had to get back to The Kraine to hear more of Dan Bianchi & Company’s adaptations of his classic stories.

After the first night of the festival, featuring The Moon Bog and The Shadow Over Innsmouth, I sat down with Bianchi again, as well as the three actors giving voice to the terror that evening—Frank Zilinyi, R.Patrick Alberty, and Joshua Nicholson.

Listen in as Dan, Frank, Patrick, Joshua & I discuss “Lovecraft” vs. “love craft” in the minds of unsuspecting patrons, performing at the new Lovecraft-themed bar (seriously, this is a thing), not looking at who you’re playing to, and how live radio drama differs from more “traditional” theatre.

…and yep, that “Part I” in the title means that there’ll be more aural cosmic horror discussed on the podcast soon!

“It’s more like a band, I always say…it’s kind of like doing sets in a band.”

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Barry Rowell, Ralph Lewis, Catherine Porter, Donald Warfield, and Ben Nemser of “3Christs”

Peculiar Works presents 3 Christs, photo © 2014 Jim R Moore / VaudevisualsStudents of the sordid history of psychological treatment might be aware of social psychologist Milton Rokeach’s experiment, chronicled in his book The Three Christs of Ypsilanti, to lessen the delusions of three paranoid schizophrenic patients who all believed themselves to be Jesus Christ—by putting them in close contact and encouraging them to confront their conflicting statuses as the Christ.

Ethically questionable, to say the least, but it proves fascinating source material for Peculiar Works Project to mine for their new site-specific show 3Christs, presented, appropriately, at Judson Memorial Church.

Listen in as co-creators Barry Rowell & Ralph Lewis, actors Catherine Porter & Donald Warfield, and magic consultant Ben Nemser, discuss belief, site-specificity, the messy history of treating mental illness, magic tricks, and how to play crazy without stepping on everyone else’s crazy.

“…this is not a play about religion at all, it’s a play about belief, and what we believe in…”

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Lizzy Beth Elkins, Kathy Huynh-Phan, Peter J. Wallace, and Drew Nungesser of “The Anger in Ernest & Ernestine”

"The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine"What do you do when you’re graduating from a respected, traditional acting program, and you make your own theatre company?

If you’re actors Peter J. Wallace and Kathy Huynh-Phan and sound designer Drew Nungesser, you do a clown show in The Fringe. And you get the awesome Lizzy Beth Elkins to direct it.

Listen in as Lizzy, Peter, Kathy and Drew discuss directors auditioning for actors, clowning, Al Gore & the internet, and welcoming your sound designer into the rehearsal room. Plus, suspenders are snapped, live, on-air.

“…part of what I’m attracted to for theatre is, let’s see if we can be truthful and tell great stories, but then also kind of make it a party…”

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Sylvia Milo, playwright & performer, & Nathan Davis, composer, of “The Other Mozart”

The Other Mozart by Sylvia MiloHistory, as we know, is always changing—it’s written by those in power, but power shifts. So as some of the bullshit of European patriarchy is shoveled away, it’s amazing what can be learned; for example, did you know that none of Mozart’s music survived?

…no, not Wolfgang Amadeus, we’ve got tons of his music, catalogued with it’s own fancy system. Here, we’re talking of The Other Mozart, his sister, Nannerl, who by all accounts played & composed as brilliantly as her brother, though most people don’t know her story.

As a regular listener to Go See a Show! however, you may remember this story, because performer Sylvia Milo (now the show’s playwright as well) was first on the podcast way back on episode #10 with the first iteration of this project, then called Mozart’s Sister. This new piece presents the story in a brilliant new way (though that fabulous dress remains), and features more incredible music from composers Phyllis Chen and Nathan Davis, the later of whom joins Sylvia on the mic for this episode.

Plus, the new title feels like it puts Nannerl on equal footing with Wolfie. Where she rightfully belongs.

Listen in as Sylvia & Nathan discuss finding the right teacups, why it’s likely Nannerl called Wolfgang a “shit-eater,” and creating the music inside a 18th-century composer’s head. Continue reading

Mike Inwood, lighting designer of “The Essential Straight & Narrow”

The Mad Ones present The Essential Straight and NarrowSo this is one of those episodes that got recorded when the show was (first) presented, but I missed my window to get the podcast up before closing.

Thankfully, though, it was a show in development by The Mad Ones, and the full production is set to open this weekend at The New Ohio.

When lighting designer Mike Inwood & I first chatted during its workshop run in The Ice Factory last summer, it was called the Untitled Biopic Project, a show that crosses the genres of film, theatre, and music — in this interview, we talk a bit about the development process that went into the project, which is now called The Essential Straight & Narrow.

Listen in as Mike and I discuss how a lighting designer can inform the development of work with a group like The Mad Ones, writing & working in layers, and how to properly pronounce the word “biopic.” Continue reading

Boo Killebrew & Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell, playwrights/performers of “Family Play (1979 to present)”

Collaboration Town presents Family Play (1979 to present)Over the past several decades, the fundamental definition of “family” has changed — and the collaborators of Collaboration Town have come of age through some 30-odd of those years.

In their new show Family Play (1979 to present), previously titled Help Me to Make It and part of their two-year participation in The Archive Alliance Residency, CTown co-artistic directors, actors, and playwrights on the project Boo Killebrew and Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell (fellow playwright Jordan Seavey spoke about the project on an earlier episode of the podcast, during the show’s workshop last summer) explore the changing nature of the family through a series of 116 moments — many of which will be familiar to…well, anyone who’s grown up.

Listen in as Boo and Geoffrey discuss what makes a family, “a lot of Google Docs,” the deconstruction of the traditional nuclear family in traditional American drama, and how you define a person based on moments.

“…if we’re going to explore how family is changing, then we need to explore traditional structure in plays…we wanted to just break everything down as much as possible…take away definitions of people…everyone is everyone is everyone…”

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Clay Edmonds, Janet Jenness, and Aurora Heimbach of “OCD: or, The Trouble with Mrs. Henderson”

Gobsmacked Productions presents "OCD: The Trouble with Mrs. Henderson"I think of Hedda Gabler as one of those Mount Everest sort of shows; “exciting and daunting,” as one of the guests on today’s episode puts it.

The ideas and challenges of Ibsen’s classic are brought smack-dab between the play’s original 1890 setting and the modern day, in Gobsmacked! Productions’ 1950s-set re-telling entitled OCD: or, The Trouble with Mrs. Henderson. Gobsmacked producers Clay Edmonds and Janet Jenness share directing duties with Clay’s original script, and the (fabulous) actress Aurora Heimbach takes on the tragic heroine, known here as Henrietta Henderson; that’s her with the rifle in the photos below.

Listen in as Clay, Janet, Aurora and I discuss setting Clay’s favorite play in the 1950s, their personal relationships with that archetypical era in their choice of location (the American South), and what it’s like to take on the challenge of one of theatre’s most iconic roles.

“…I thought translating this piece into the ’50s was totally genius…that veneer of the ’50s, that painted on, plastic, ‘everything’s great’ was this even more concrete obstacle that I think helped with the claustrophobia of this woman who is trying to reconcile her own aspirations with the reality of the hand that she’s dealt…”

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Tara Gadomski, playwright, Illana Stein, director, and Robert A. K. Gonyo, actor, of “The Offering”

Tara Gadomski, Illana Stein, and Robert A. K. Gonyo of The Offering

I make this podcast because I love sound, and I love theatre; Go See a Show! is a great way to unite the two.

And I’m an amateur sound-designer, and make radio dramas, for much the same reason.

For this episode of the podcast, those two worlds—sound about theatre, and sound in the theatre—collide. My guests are playwright Tara Gadomski and director Illana Stein, with whom I have a conversation about our production of The Offering.

For a bit of context: the play was originally written & recorded for Radio COTE, the radio-play festival I produce with my company Co-Op Theatre East—you can check out the original performance on iTunes. We all loved the play so much that Tara adapted it into a stage version, which is currently running in The Network One-Act Festival (with your humble GSAS! narrator doing live foley onstage). And in this shameless-self-promotion episode, we talk about this great little one-act, which to me is about the power of art, that we’d all love for you to come see.

Listen in as Tara, Illana, and I discuss making a radio play into a stage play, the beauty of language, “the question,” and getting (and keeping) power.

“…you just got compared to Shakespeare…”
“…let’s not go so far…”

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Liz Muller, Collin Simon, and the cast of “Columbia: The Life and Death of Rospo D. Oro”

Pipe Dream Theatre presents "Columbia: The Life & Death of Rospo D. Oro"I’ll admit, I’m not much of a musical guy.

But if anyone’s going to convince me otherwise, Pipe Dream Theatre has got a great shot at it.

After two new Christmas musicals based on classic tales — The Nutcracker in 2012, and 3 Ghosts in 2011 (listen to the company’s first GSAS! appearance here) — the steam-punk geniuses behind Pipe Dream, Liz Muller (lyrics & direction) and Collin Simon (book and music) return with a new musical based on Kenneth Grahame’s classic The Wind in the Willows called Columbia: The Life and Death of Rospo D. Oro.

Listen in as Liz, Colin, and the cast discuss playing in a dentist’s chair, in a driveway, in 40-degree weather; drawing inspiration from Pink Floyd’s The Wall; and what it’s like putting together an original musical on such a large scale.

“…what she created was so much better than what I had in my brain…I love when they come with ideas…”

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