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

Hamlet Isn't Dead presents William Shakespeare's Richard III, directed by Brian GillespieThe 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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Brian Gillespie, David Andrew Laws, Jane May, Robin Rightmyer, and Amanda Tudor of “Twelve Nights”

Pull Together Productions presents Twelve Nights, written by Sean Graney and directed by Brian GillespieIn case the title, coupled with the poster art to the left, doesn’t make it obvious enough, Twelve Nights is Sean Graney’s adaptation of Twelfth Night; or, What You Will, set in the 1980s.

Gimmick? If you’re cynical, I suppose. Awesome? Indisputably, hell yeah.

I say that, and personally, I kinda hate ’80s nostalgia. This show, and production, just makes it irresistibly fun.

All the essential ingredients are there: bright polo shirts, mix-tapes on cassettes, brilliant Peter Gabriel and Say Anything and Bill & Ted and Poison references, the whole nine. And the whole story is told by only four actors rollicking thru it at full-tilt. And, as if that weren’t enough, there’s the goofing on the twelve nights of Christmas, very apropos for a show running the first couple weeks of December.

If you want some fun theatrical holiday cheer, but without all the, y’know, holiday-malarky, check this show out. Pull Together Productions is killin’ this one, y’all.

Listen in as director & Pull Together Artistic Director Brian Gillespie, along with the full cast of David Andrew Laws, Jane May, Robin Rightmyer, and Amanda Tudor discuss the benefits of forgetting, putting ’80s pop culture onto Shakespeare, joke science, She’s the Man, and acknowledging where we are and what we’re doing—even when it goes a little askew.

“…to see the audience having fun with you…they’re just so on our side from the very beginning, it’s so good to see that…'”

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Brian Gillespie, director, and actors Gina LeMoine and Luke Wise, of “Virus Attacks Heart”

Pull Together Productions presents Virus Attacks Heart, directed by Brian GillespieSummer’s almost here, which means festival season is getting underway. This is a great time to catch brand-new OOB plays, and GSAS! got started at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity with the world premiere of Virus Attacks Heart, written by Shannon Murdoch and directed by Brian Gillespie.

In this two-hander, we see the complexities of a one-night-stand between the lonely, word-loving 18-year-old Jamie (Luke Wise) and the lonely, almost-twice-his-age “12-drink” Beatrice (Gina LeMoine), both of whom are “running away from things in their lives, and then they run into each other and, though meeting, have to face those things, whether they though that was going to happen or not.”

Listen in as Brian, Gina, and Luke discuss “drunken fever-dreams,” taking the time to search text through movement, and finding the right interesting, challenging play in a stack of open submissions.

“…it’s theatre, and the audience should be engaging their imaginations…[they have] to lean in, and do a little work of filling in the gaps…”

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