Jake Lipman & Jessica Ammirati of “Relentlessly Pleasant”

Posted on October 19, 2018 by robby

GSAS! podcast correspondent Tara Gadomski attended the first performance of Tongue in Cheek Theater Productions‘ world premiere Relentlessly Pleasant, and hosted an interview/talkback with the audience, featuring writer/director Jake Lipman and dramaturg Jessica Ammirati. Listen in as they discuss “what it’s like to work in corporate America as a woman,” #MeToo, how sexuality is always at play, writing from real scenarios, working with a dramaturg to shape a script, hearing your script through different voices, and digging deeper below the surface.

“…nothing is black and white in this. It really is all these shades of gray…”

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Michelle Kholos Brooks, Sarah Norris, Hallie Griffin, MaryKathryn Kopp, Kaitlin Paige Longoria, & Hannah Sturges of “Hitler’s Tasters”

Posted on October 12, 2018 by robby

Listen in as the playwright of Hitler’s Tasters, Michelle Kholos Brooks, along with director Sarah Norris and actors Hallie Griffin, MaryKathryn Kopp, Kaitlin Paige Longoria, & Hannah Sturges, discuss the timeliness and relevance of this story in October 2018, relatability to “bad people” (who may be “good people in a bad situation”), social media, feeling valued, the difference between the women who served the Reich and the women who currently serve Trump, the role of theatre in this dangerous political moment, “feeling things” in the intimacy of the theater, and why it’s important to put young women’s stories on the stage.

“…it’s just so very real. And I think it’s just so relatable, and that’s what’s kind of scary about it, because these are girls we see in our lives every day…”

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Sarah Shear, Aaron Mauck, Adrian Abel Amador, & Jay Cobian of “Scum”

Posted on August 15, 2018 by robby

Listen in as playwright & performer of Scum, Sarah Shear, along with fellow cast members Aaron Mauck, Adrian Abel Amador, & Jay Cobian, discuss nuclear overlay maps, Bartle’s Taxonomy of Players, playing against type and finding commonality with your character, emotional vs. physical labor, personal playwriting challenges, doomsday prep, healthy compromise, and just what scum is, both externally and internally.

“…the reason why I think Scum is a little bit more universal […] is because it’s really about personal politics, more than anything else. It’s about how do we operate, and how do we, essentially, love each other…”

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Vince Gatton, Jordana Williams, & Tyler M. Perry of “Alexandria”

Posted on August 8, 2018 by robby

Listen in as Alexandria playwright Vince Gatton, along with director Jordana Williams and set/lighting designer Tyler M. Perry, discuss grabbing the audience with words, curating our modern campfire stories, how to keep your play’s young character off his phone, “eavesdropping on the internal arguments happening in Christian America,” the struggle between the analog and the digital, trying to give gifts of love between characters, and hooking audiences with the immediacy of indie theatre.

“…I feel like this play asks a really timely question, in a very compassionate, sensitive way […]. At a certain point what you’re tolerating is sort of what you’re permitting, and where do you draw the line and what’s ok and what stand should you take, and when should you shut somebody down? And I don’t know the answer, and it’s something that I struggle with, and I love how honestly the play grapples with that…”

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Daniel McCoy, Heidi Handelsman, & David Hilder of “Perfect Teeth” and “Dick Pix”

Posted on August 1, 2018 by robby

Listen in as playwright Daniel McCoy, and the directors of his plays Perfect Teeth, David Hilder, and Dick Pix, Heidi Handelsman, discuss running in rep two shows that are completely stylistically different, why these plays are right for the current moment, longtime collaborations, “gender spaghetti,” love for your design team, working in oddly perfect spaces, and solving issues with your creative collaborators.

“…there’s just a lot that isn’t talked about as readily or as publicly as it should be, and so that’s one of the things that I hope the play sort of cracks open a little bit…”

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Alex Randrup, Samantha Clark, & Bonita Jackson of “Corey and Vanessa Present an All-Female Educational Touring Production of Of Mice and Men”

Posted on July 11, 2018 by robby

Listen in as performers Bonita Jackson and Samantha Clark, along with director Alex Randrup, of Corey and Vanessa Present an All-Female Educational Touring Production of Of Mice and Men, discuss how they devised the show (“putting wonderful, badass, creative ladies in a room together”), making your collaborators laugh, getting out of the way or your collaborative process, and “power, performance, learning to trust your scene partner, and learning to trust yourself.”

“…is there a way that we could dig into the fields of feminism, and womanhood, and humanity today, and the things that we know best—which is creating a production—and dealing with it. Could we dig up some kind of tool, or weapon, that an audience member could take out with them to smash the patriarchy, or to fix the democracy, or to do something really active…”

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Jenn Haltman, Becca Schneider, & Charise Greene of “Cannibal Galaxy: a love story”

Posted on June 13, 2018 by robby

Listen in as Cannibal Galaxy: a love story playwright Charise Greene, along with the duo behind the producing company Between Two Boroughs—the show’s director, Jenn Haltman, and Becca Schneider, who plays “Claire”—discuss impossibility in the theater, finding communal experiences in the wake of trauma, “the relationship between violence, science, and spirituality in our country,” embracing the structural elements of a space, galactic cannibalism, magical realism, irrevocable change, and where creativity and violence collide.

“…I always ask the question, ‘why does this have to be a play?’…for me, impossible plays are an opportunity to welcome collaboration…Becca’s ‘Claire’ coughing up peach pits, or ash, is going to be very different than another actress, and I want Becca’s version of that, and Jenn’s version of the larger picture…to me, it’s a leap of exciting theatricality that is the reason why I go to the theater.”

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Adam Kraar & Mark Plesent of “Alternating Currents”

Posted on May 2, 2018 by robby

Listen in as Mark Plesent, Producing Artistic Director of Working Theater, and Adam Kraar, the playwright of Alternating Currents, the company’s new show in their “Five Boroughs/One City Initiative,” discuss inspiration from the unique place of Electchester, Queens, discovering your main characters, putting an audience’s own story onstage, “wonderment,” advice for new indie theatre artists, and what it takes to live in a community.

“…what quickly gripped me…was the multiplicity of voices that seemed to contradict each other, about everything from the politics of the street fair, to how nice it is to live here, to what race relationships are like. And everybody was very heartfelt and sincere, but there were a lot of contradictions, some disturbing things, some really inspiring things. So the initial impulse for the piece was really to write a play for a multiplicity of voices…”

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Rob Neill, Ayun Halliday, Eevin Hartsough, & Daniel Mirsky of “Wind-Up Variations”

Posted on April 26, 2018 by robby

Listen in as Wind-Up Variations creator/writer/director Rob Neill, along with performer Ayun Halliday, Eevin Hartsough, and Daniel Mirsky, discuss the Neo-Futurist aesthetic, following a monkey across a waste-land, dialogue-mining, finding your mechanical avatar, inviting the audience, and having a plan through the chaos of live performance.

“…that’s an opportunity, and not everybody will take it. And that’s part of the magic; ‘let’s see what happens next…'”

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Nick Benacerraf, Jess Chayes, Stephen Aubrey, and Jax Jackson of “SEAGULLMACHINE”

Posted on April 20, 2018 by robby

Listen in as collaborators on The Assembly’s SEAGULLMACHINE—conceiver/co-director Nick Benacerraf, co-director Jess Chayes, dramaturg Steven Aubrey, and performer Jax Jackson—discuss layering multiple theatrical sources, permission to find points of resonance, turning on a dime, the company’s development process, finding new roles through that process, bringing an audience into a world “oozing word-slime,” different versions of ourselves, and the question of whether or not theatre can produce change.

“…every night, by a certain time in the play, it feels like we’re also just people, human beings in a room with our audience. And that has been one of the most special experiences of it, to me…”

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Tag Archives: Playwrights

Jake Lipman & Jessica Ammirati of “Relentlessly Pleasant”

Michelle Kholos Brooks, Sarah Norris, Hallie Griffin, MaryKathryn Kopp, Kaitlin Paige Longoria, & Hannah Sturges of “Hitler’s Tasters”

Sarah Shear, Aaron Mauck, Adrian Abel Amador, & Jay Cobian of “Scum”

Vince Gatton, Jordana Williams, & Tyler M. Perry of “Alexandria”

Daniel McCoy, Heidi Handelsman, & David Hilder of “Perfect Teeth” and “Dick Pix”

Alex Randrup, Samantha Clark, & Bonita Jackson of “Corey and Vanessa Present an All-Female Educational Touring Production of Of Mice and Men”

Jenn Haltman, Becca Schneider, & Charise Greene of “Cannibal Galaxy: a love story”

Adam Kraar & Mark Plesent of “Alternating Currents”

Rob Neill, Ayun Halliday, Eevin Hartsough, & Daniel Mirsky of “Wind-Up Variations”

Nick Benacerraf, Jess Chayes, Stephen Aubrey, and Jax Jackson of “SEAGULLMACHINE”