Category Archives: Producers

Jaclyn Backhaus, playwright, Andrew Neisler, director, and Ben Otto, actor, of “Shoot the Freak”

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not just 3 new playsJaclyn Backhaus‘s new play, Shoot the Freak, is currently playing at Tom Noonan’s Paradise Factory on East 4th Street, as part of a unique theatrical event taking place through the month of September.

A triple-threat of playwrights including Backhaus,  Kevin Armento and Jerry Lieblich have joined forces & shared resources to turn the Paradise Factory into a curated artistic laboratory for a month, with full productions of new plays by each of them as the centerpiece(s). It’s called (not just) 3 New Plays, and it’s their attempt to build “an artistic ecosystem” — an exciting proposition.

And as you’ll hear in the interview, it’s a model that I (and Jaclyn) invite you to steal.

Listen in as Jaclyn, along with Shoot the Freak director Andrew Neisler and actor Ben Otto, discuss the freaks of New York, figuring out what a new play is actually about, peeling away layers of characters and Coney Island, what is lost to the ether, and how this pop-up theatre event is like calling Captain Planet.

“…recapture the magic…”

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Kristin McCarthy Parker, director of “kumrads won’t”

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"kumrads won't," part of the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival, directed by Kristin McCarthy ParkerOn this episode, the fabulous director Kristin McCarthy Parker returns to the podcast — and this time, I’m posting our interview in time for you to hear it and then see her show (unlike when I covered her show Bears).

Kristen, along with producer Nick Abeel, playwright Christina Michelle Watkins, & other committed artists, knew they wanted to see kumrads won’t in a real production — so they decided to produce it themselves, submitting it to the New York International Fringe Festival. Self-producing is something I’m all in favor of, but I also know it’s a daunting proposition. So of course one of my biggest questions for the interview were, “why would you do this to yourself?” And in a festival, nonetheless!

Must be a really special show to them. As you’ll hear in the interview, indeed it is.

Listen in as Kristin discusses how she came to fall in love with this play, the stuggles of being vulnerable, and what it means to be successful within your means.

“I found it really intriguing, and funny, and heartbreaking, and sad, but also just a really poignant look at a relationship between two people who are very different, and who we don’t normally envision having any sort of connection, but who are struggling to connect with each other nonetheless.”

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Mac Rogers, Rebecca Comtois, and Sean Williams of “Ligature Marks”

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"Game Play" festival at The Brick TheaterMac Rogers is a playwright I seemed to keep missing — for example, I got back into town just late enough to miss the last performance of Advance Man, for which I had a ticket, and I was completely out of town for the entire run of Frankenstein Upstairs. And yet, I kept hearing great things about his work.

Turns out those things were dead on. Now I’m even more disappointed I missed those previous two shows.

His latest play, which he also stars in, is Ligature Marks, a noir story embedded in a domestic drama with an MMORPG backdrop. It’s not as confusing as I just made it sound. And it’s well-worth your 75 minutes in the theater.

Mac and his co-star Rebecca Comtois, along with Gideon Productions producer Sean Williams, sat down with me after a performance last weekend over a beer in the Alligator Lounge for a long conversation that covered a whole lot of super-interesting ground — and, included a beautifully-worded segment about why and how one can become an effective producer. Essential listening for those of you who want to make your own work.

Listen in as Mac, Rebecca, and Sean discuss playing damaged people onstage, stage names vs. who we actually are, why one shouldn’t hate on what other people like (even if it’s the Twilight series), how to talk down playwrights & directors when they’re freaking out, and creating theatre (and podcasts) as part of the long-term cultural conversation.

“…as a producer…your whole life is storytelling. Your whole life is inventing narratives, your whole life is acting, your whole life is playing characters, so I think for people who don’t like producing, but do like to act and do like to write, I think it’s possible that they’re looking at producing the wrong way…”

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