Listen in as The Fire This Time Artistic Director & the plays’ director Cezar Williams, along with producer & performer Danielle Covington, discuss highlighting the small moments, finding compassion, developing playwrights, and what’s new this time with The Fire This Time.
“I always say that The Fire This Time Festival feels like a family reunion, and it feels like we just added a ton of new people to the family…”
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Listen in as Phoenix Theatre Ensemble Artistic Director Craig Smith, who directs & plays “Pontius Pilate” in the company’s new production of Robert Patrick’s Judas, along with fellow cast-member Elise Stone (“Mary”), discuss giving equal weight to both sides, the drama of philosophical arguments, the challenge of living a good life, “blasphemy,” libertarianism and faith, communication breakdowns between mothers and sons, what happens when we see our heroes as humans, and how to answer the big question: “what are we supposed to do?”
“…I think that’s a dilemma for anyone who’s trying to live some kind of ethical, humane life in a really messed up world. And the world is really messed up for Judas, and the world is really messed up for all of us right now. So when I listen to Judas’s struggle, I feel like it’s so human. There’s all these wonderful words, and all this wonderful language…and then there’s this real human-ness…”
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Listen in as the writer & performer of Outside Paducah: The Wars at Home, J. A. Moad II, discusses creating dialogue through story and art, how he got to the stage from the page, the seeds of the stories he tells in this show, how those stories have touched audience members, society’s role in taking care of its veterans, and how war affects not only those who serve on the front lines, but also those who serve without a uniform at home.
“…these stories live in me…everything comes down to story, right? It’s that basic human impulse, from the time we’re a little kid and the first thing we say to our dad is, ‘tell me a story.’ If we embrace that idea, of how we learn through story, how story changes the way we see the world and the way we imagine the possibilities, it invites us into all these other places that we cannot begin to see…”
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“Do your own work.”
As one of the guests on this episode notes, that’s a common suggestion to independent theatre practitioners—and the thought of it can exhaust even the most ambitious of artists.
But sometimes, you discover that the people immediately around you—classmates, coworkers, colleagues—can come together to make something awesome.
As you’ll hear in this episode, that impulse to make something brought together the collaborators of Barrier Islands, a brilliant play written by Lizzie Vieh, directed by Zi Alikhan, produced by Donny Repsher, and beautifully acted by Aleisha Force and Russell Jonas. Inspired by true crime, Barrier Islands appears at first to be a crime procedural or whodunnit, that as it unfolds actually becomes an exploration into various modes of violence against women.
Listen in as Lizzie, Aleisha, Russell, and Donny discuss the parts of ourselves that we’re hiding, dialogue that just rolls off the tongue, finding distinct characters, imposing deadlines, disovering collaborators at your day-job, and how having one more beer might make you a producer.
“…the style of restaurant in which we work has a style of service that makes us depend on one another quite frequently, so I knew that I could trust her as a person. And then I went to see her as a playwright, and you put those two things together, and you go, ‘oh!’…”
“She can write a play, and she will get that ketchup to my table.”
“She will! She won’t forget that ketchup, and she can write a play. Winner, winner.”
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This weekend, The Wild Project is home to a quick but mighty little festival from Poetic Theater Productions — Poetic License.
On a freezing night after tech earlier this week, Go See a Show! interviewed the company’s Artistic Directors, Alex Mallory and Jeremy Karafin, about creative communities, working with talented youth, and just what “poetic theater” means. And we get interrupted by an old friend of mine, showcasing the wonderfully random connections we make in this little off-off-Broadway world of ours.
…on a side note, this is Episode 17 of Go See a Show! That’s not a particularly important milestone or anything…but wow. 17? We’re on a roll here, folks, and the podcast ain’t giving up anytime soon.
Spread the word — introduce your friends to the podcast!