Category Archives: Playwrights

Don Nguyen, Kim Wong, Nancy Sun, and Criena House of “Red Flamboyant”

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Firebone Theatre presents Red Flamboyant, written by Don NguyenFirebone Theatre wants to tell you a story.

Weaving the tale of the Trung Sisters, who led the first national uprising of the Vietnamese against the Chinese in 40 A.D., and the modern history of Pham Thi Hue, who started the first support group for people with HIV/AIDS in Vietnam, playwright Don Nguyen‘s Red Flamboyant is a play about struggle and defiance in the face of terrible circumstances, beautifully performed and produced.

Plus: they fly.

Listen in as Don, along with actors Kim Wong, Nancy Sun, and Criena House discuss epic stage directions, playing real people onstage, and working through the pain to look awesome while flying.

“…so Don has the most epic stage direction I have ever read in my life…it’s like this living room drama…you’re going along, realism, realism…then all of a sudden it says,
‘…the ceiling cracks open and the mountains of Vietnam appear. The Trung Sisters fly down the mountain. Enter. Yes, they fly…’
…I read that and I was just like, “ok, yeah, let’s do this.”

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Melody Bates & J. Stephen Brantley of “R & J & Z,” in conversation with Mariah MacCarthy

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Hard Sparks presents R & J & Z at The New Ohio, written by Melody Bates and directed by Joan JubettIf you stop and think about it, of all the classics being overrun by zombies these days, Romeo & Juliet is kind of the most logical to receive the undead treatment.

Playwright Melody Bates was struck with just such a notion after seeing the Met’s opera of Roméo et Juliette, and the result, R & J & Z, is now playing at The New Ohio. Picking up Shakespeare’s story in Act V, Bates keeps the action going long after the dagger through her heart has turned Juliet’s white dress to crimson—and you might be surprised who the villain of the story is…

GSAS! sat down to chat with Melody (who also plays Juliet) after a performance of the show, and thanks to the brilliant suggestion of Hard Sparks Artistic Director J. Stephen Brantley (Mercutio in this production, and past podcast guest), we were joined by playwright Mariah MacCarthy, who’s also adapted Romeo & Juliet with her musical Ampersand.

Listen in as Melody, J. Stephen, and Mariah discuss their respective adaptations of Shakespeare, gender-swapping & cross-dressing, low opinions of Paris, upending the power structure of the world, and how death changes everything.

“…so frequently you have scenes in Shakespeare where the women just stop talking, and the scene continues for several more pages and the men do the talking. And that’s an interesting challenge as an actress because you’re like, ‘well, I have to figure out why I’m not talking—”

“—right, and why I’m still here, not talking—”

“—exactly. So I pointedly wanted to write a scene where that happened to a man.”

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The Cast & Playwright/Director of “Live from the Surface of the Moon”

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Stable Cable Lab Co. presents Live from the Surface of the Moon, written and directed by Max BakerJuly 20, 1969 was a day that changed everything—the United States put a man on the moon.

Seen through the lens of playwright/director Max Baker’s play Live from the Surface of the Moon, the history made that day wasn’t just extra-terrestrial.

Listen in as Max, along with the entire cast (!) of Kevin Gilmartin, Ian Patrick Poake, Kate Garfield, Brian Edelman, Breanna Foister, and Lisa Anderson discuss nostalgia, perspective on the normalcy of the past, crushing optimism, and change.

“…the themes of that moment…it feels like it resonates now…”
“…that’s what’s scary about doing this whole play, and also being a woman in this play: the gender repression might be more blatant here, but we still have it, it’s just disguised in different ways…”

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Mim Granahan, Eric Chase, and Rob Brown of “Making History”

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Dysfunctional Theater Company presents Making History, written by Mim Granahan, directed by Eric ChaseWhen you see time travel portrayed in popular media, no matter how noble the reason for leaping through history, it almost always ends up making things worse.

That certainly seems to be the case in Mim Granahan‘s new play Making History, but, she adds in a little family drama for an interesting and unique take on the idea. Patrick Tyler seemingly gets stuck in the past, and after mourning the loss of his old life, tries to adjust to his new one—but things get complicated when he finds a way to travel back to his original time.

When you exist in two places, which is your life? And what happens when dividing your time also seems to be destroying you?

Actor Rob Brown and friend of the podcast Eric Chase, who directed the show, joined Mim on the mic to talk about Making History over a pint, and as you’ll hear, it got a little silly, which makes sense, because it’s always a fun time (see what I did there?) catching a Dysfunctional Theatre Company jam—check out their multiple past podcast appearances!.

…and, an emphasis on Dysfunctional Theatre Company, because I accidentally say Distilled Theatre Company at the top of the interview (they’re another company you should know!) because Eric & I were reminiscing about a fun radio play we did together for DTC Radio last year; you should check it out, after you listen to this episode!

Listen in as Mim, Eric, and Rob discuss creating characters, “the player’s great medium,” learning the lines of your own script, and doing the math.

“…make it simple, make it functional, make it about the performances…”
“…we can’t build a time machine…”
“…well maybe you can’t…this is actually our 3rd time doing this interview…”
“…it’s a loop!”

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Lisi DeHaas and Jay Stull of “Leave Me Green”

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Apt 10C Productions and Kindling Theater Company present LEAVE ME GREEN, written by Lisi DeHaas and directed by Jay StullWhat scares you the most? And would you do if those worst fears were realized?

It was starting from that question that playwright Lisi DeHaas wrote her beautiful new play Leave Me Green, currently playing at The Gym at Judson.

Listen in as Lisi & the show’s director, returning podcast guest Jay Stull, discuss plays that are of the moment, grief, relatable stakes, and how it’s a miracle we don’t all fall apart.

“…I wrote it sort of to remind myself, ‘you’re ok…you’re gonna be fine. We’re all gonna be fine…'”

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Jeremy Duncan Pape, Megan Lee, and Matthew Kreiner of No Win Productions’ “Woyzeck, FJF”

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No Win Productions presents Woyzeck, FJF at The New OhioEver come across a script that speaks to you so strongly, you just have to produce it?

I know that sort of thing has certainly happened to me (you’ll be among the first to know when I actually produce it, dear listeners), and it’s pretty-much what happened to director Jeremy Duncan Pape with Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck.

After a university production, Pape wanted to get his adaptation, Woyzeck, FJF, out to the world—so he formed a company with collaborators Megan Lee and Matthew Kreiner. The three of them are the beating heart of No Win Productions, and their premiere production is currently running at The New Ohio.

Listen in as Jeremy, Megan, and Matthew discuss moving chronologies, understanding a piece of art’s history, insanity, making the transition to producing, and why these cats founded a new company.

“Part of our mission statement is looking at people, and humanity in general, in circumstances that cannot be overcome…”

“I hope that our audience members are given the opportunity to look at these things and relate to an impossible situation…’what if I were in that kind of situation?’…and hopefully, dare I say it, we can all be a little more compassionate through that kind of understanding…”

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Jon Stancato & Kiran Rikhye of “Kill Me Like You Mean It”

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Stolen Chair Theatre Company presents Kill Me Like You Mean It, written by Kiran Rikhye and directed by Jon StancatoTough detectives. Tougher dames. Double-crosses. Cigarettes. Shadows. Fedoras. All the hallmarks of film noir.

With their show Kill Me Like You Mean It, playwright Kiran Rikhye and director Jon Stancato (no strangers to the podcast—definitely check out their interviews from past Stolen Chair shows The Man Who Laughs and Potion) transfer all those classic film noir elements to the stage.

Then, they add in a healthy dose of theatre of the absurd.

What comes out is an absurdly fun & tightly executed piece of drama.

Listen in as Jon & Kiran discuss re-mounting (and revamping) a show from their past, audience placement as camera angles, abandoning tetralogies, having your actors create their own vocal musical score, and honing the rhythmic and sonic nature of your show.

“There’s something really unsettling about it…even though it is fun, and even though it is a comedy, it sort of is a deeply unnerving world…”

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Matt Cox of “Kapow-i GoGo”

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The PIT presents Kapow-i GoGo, written by Matt CoxA theatre-artist’s day-job can be…well, it can be soul-sucking.

But, if you look at it right, it can instead be a source of material for your creative projects.

At his day-job in a certain New York City comic-book landmark, Matt Cox found the inspiration for Kapow-i GoGo, the most epic fun you can have in a manga-and-video-game-inspired episodic comedy series, now running over several weeks at The PIT.

Listen in as Matt, as the show’s creator and writer (and portrayer of Mr. Snuggles), discusses how he came up with his blue-haired heroine, playing in your own piece, costuming on a budget, and working on a deadline.

“…sometimes I find I make funnier things up in the moment than I did when I was staring at my computer for ten hours…”

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Karim Muasher, Carrie Brown, Becca Bernard, and Melinda Jean Ferraraccio of “Dog Show”

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Animal Engine presents Dog Show at FRIGID NEW YORKEveryone loves dogs.

And theatre-goers love a good farce.

So, why not do a show with dogs acting out a farce?

It may sound like a unique starting place—but you’d be surprised how many points of contact there are. Animal Engine is the company making those connections in their new, appropriately titled Dog Show, based on Sauce for the Goose by Georges Feydeau, and running as part of Frigid New York.

Come dressed as a dog, and your ticket’s just $10. Seriously.

Listen in as the team behind Animal Engine, director Karim Muasher & Carrie Brown, and their fabulous collaborators Becca Bernard and Melinda Jean Ferraraccio, discuss base instincts, refining a comedy, working from disparate source material, and, of course, dogs.

“The idea with farce is that the characters are all really led by their base instincts…sex, hunger, lust, all of those things…and that’s sort kind of like the dog brain, they don’t really stop to think, they just kinda go for it…that’s sort of the idea of using dogs…”

“We’re trying to find those meeting points…where do the dogs and the humans intersect in a way that’s funny and interesting…”

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Nat Cassidy, Matthew Trumbull, and Arthur Aulisi of “The Temple, or, Lebensraum”

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The Temple, or, Lebensraum, written and directed by Nat Cassidy, at The Brick TheaterIt surprised me to hear that Nat Cassidy‘s new work The Temple, or, Lebensraum, currently running at The Brick, was based on a story by godfather of horror H. P. Lovecraft, because in all my collections of the man’s writings, I hadn’t read it.

It’s an early piece of his, available for free online, so I breezed through it on my way to the theatre. But where the original is a small (and, truth be told, somewhat weak) tale from 1920 set on a German submarine in World War I, Cassidy’s adaptation moves that submarine to 1943 (and is anything but weak).

While it’s completely unnecessary to read the story in advance, if you’re familiar with it, you’ll see a lot that’s familiar (dolphins!); but you’ll also quickly realize this isn’t just a stage adaptation. This is full adaptation, pulling the undersea dread of Lovecraft’s short story from simply a fear of the unknown into a complex play simultaneously weaving in fear of a well-known terror that humanity constantly struggles with: the fight amongst ourselves for power, and self-preservation.

Now that’s horror.

Listen in as Nat, along with two of the show’s actors, Arthur Aulisi and Matthew Trumbull, discuss why this particular Lovecraft story and why it’s set in WWII, “terrible things,” finding authentic costumes for your show, I am Providence, and dealing with things that are way too huge for the human mind.

“I try to parse out what it is in our souls, or in our psyches…why it is that we find chaos so terrifying. What does it make us ask, what does it force us to confront about ourselves…to find the humanity in horror…”

“There’s a very strong…you can’t even call it an undercurrent, it’s the main current of the show, is joking, and humor…one of the many reasons for that is horror and humor are hand in hand, they’re so intricately related…”

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