Mike Inwood, lighting designer of “The Essential Straight & Narrow”

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The Mad Ones present The Essential Straight and NarrowSo this is one of those episodes that got recorded when the show was (first) presented, but I missed my window to get the podcast up before closing.

Thankfully, though, it was a show in development by The Mad Ones, and the full production is set to open this weekend at The New Ohio.

When lighting designer Mike Inwood & I first chatted during its workshop run in The Ice Factory last summer, it was called the Untitled Biopic Project, a show that crosses the genres of film, theatre, and music — in this interview, we talk a bit about the development process that went into the project, which is now called The Essential Straight & Narrow.

Listen in as Mike and I discuss how a lighting designer can inform the development of work with a group like The Mad Ones, writing & working in layers, and how to properly pronounce the word “biopic.” Continue reading →

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August Schulenburg, Kelly O’Donnell, Will Lowry, & the cast of “Jane the Plain”

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Flux Theatre Ensemble presents "Jane the Plain"The great folks of Flux Theatre Ensemble are no strangers to the podcast (see their three past episodes for more great stuff), with each unique production linked by the ensemble’s players and production team, and the high quality that marks a Flux show.

That said, I was a bit surprised when I heard the company’s latest offering would be set in high school, and feature characters with names like “Scotty the Hotty” and “Betty the Pretty” — but, of course, this isn’t your typical high school dramedy. It’s like John Hughes meets…well, you should listen to the interview. Gus tells that joke way better than I could.

Listen in as director Kelly O’Donnell, scenic designer Will Lowry, playwright August Schulenburg, and the cast discuss tightening your aesthetic vocabulary, transformation, and getting in touch with your teenage emotions, where moments of magnitude are ever-present.

“We didn’t quite know what the genre was completely, but in the rehearsal room we really worked as a team to develop it together, really devising a lot of the movement and a lot of the rules and the vocabulary of the stage…”

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Michael Sladek, director of “Below the Belt”

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Black Lodge Theater presents "Below the Belt"Sometimes, as a director, you run into those scripts that you know you just have to do.

For Michael Sladek, that script was Richard Dresser’s Below the Belt, an absurdist take on life and work in the corporate environment — and “absurdist,” in this case, means pretty dead-on, as both Michael and I attest to in this interview.

Listen in as Michael & I discuss putting up a show in the former boiler room of Bell Laboratories, avoiding curse words in verbal battles, wrangling in the corporate workplace, and finding the funny in the dark material.

“…it’s the whole world over, we are all apparently corporate beings now…it’s so funny how often we’re fighting for jobs that, once we have the jobs, we hate them…it’s a lot about that sort of wrangling to get up that ladder, even though you hate the ladder, but you do it anyway, because it’s what you do to survive, and it’s what you do to avoid the harder things in life…”

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DeLisa White, director, and Heather Cunningham, actor, of “An Appeal to the Woman of the House”

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Retro Productions presents "An Appeal to the Woman of the House"Retro Productions makes theatre about where we came from, and how far we’ve come — and it’s theatre that reminds us that sometimes, we’ve still got a ways to go.

For director DeLisa White and actress/Retro Artistic Director Heather Cunningham, the personal stories from the past that we tell, live, in the theater, can be the kinds of stories that have a real impact on the way we live in the world today. Christie Perfetti Williams’ An Appeal to the Woman of the House is that kind of story.

Listen in as DeLisa, Heather and I discuss how to make change in your community, vigilance through theatre and storytelling, and how complex even the smallest impacts can be.

“…it’s not just the big actions that impact change, it’s the people who are either invested in, or complicit with, the change that occurs. It’s not just the person on the bus, but all the reactions around them…”

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Nolan Kennedy, playwright/actor, and Welland H. Scripps, actor, of “Bully Me Down”

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Letter of Marque Theater Company presents Bully Me DownYo ho ho, and a bottle of rum…

…and a whistleblower, a high-school anti-bullying activist, an assassin, a Scottish sea captain, a U.S. president, Barbara Walters…

All these characters (and more) collide in various bars across the borough of Brooklyn as part of Letter of Marque Theater Company‘s traveling play Bully Me Down, written by Nolan Kennedy and performed by Welland H. Scripps, Jason Tottenham, Scarlet Rivera, and Kennedy himself.

Listen in as Nolan, Welland and I hang out on the street-corner outside Hank’s Saloon after a performance to discuss putting theatre in a bar, a play as your company’s “self-titled album,” bullying, and shooting for the stars.

“We kind of wanted to do a ‘self-titled-album’ kind of show, so it’s trying on these piratical, privateer stories and ideas, and it also is dealing with what’s happening around us…this idea of what’s private and what’s not private…”

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Boo Killebrew & Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell, playwrights/performers of “Family Play (1979 to present)”

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Collaboration Town presents Family Play (1979 to present)Over the past several decades, the fundamental definition of “family” has changed — and the collaborators of Collaboration Town have come of age through some 30-odd of those years.

In their new show Family Play (1979 to present), previously titled Help Me to Make It and part of their two-year participation in The Archive Alliance Residency, CTown co-artistic directors, actors, and playwrights on the project Boo Killebrew and Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell (fellow playwright Jordan Seavey spoke about the project on an earlier episode of the podcast, during the show’s workshop last summer) explore the changing nature of the family through a series of 116 moments — many of which will be familiar to…well, anyone who’s grown up.

Listen in as Boo and Geoffrey discuss what makes a family, “a lot of Google Docs,” the deconstruction of the traditional nuclear family in traditional American drama, and how you define a person based on moments.

“…if we’re going to explore how family is changing, then we need to explore traditional structure in plays…we wanted to just break everything down as much as possible…take away definitions of people…everyone is everyone is everyone…”

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Christopher Loar, adaptor/director of “The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill, Volume 2”

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The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill, Volume 2, directed/adapted by Christopher LoarA few years back, director, accidental Eugene O’Neill enthusiast, and TMLMTBGB actor Christopher Loar thought up a fun little sketch for that long-running, long-titled New York Neo-Futurists show (if you don’t know it from the acronym, click this link, then go see the show this weekend, or any weekend!) — strip away O’Neill’s dialogue, brilliant as it is, and just say and perform what was meant to be performed and not said: the stage directions.

If you’ve ever read an O’Neill, you probably know that such a drastic cut would still leave you with a whole lot of text. The exercise of turning that text into a staged event unto itself proved successful in TMLMTBGB, so Loar’s next step? Make an evening out of it with The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill, Volume 1: Early Plays/Lost Plays, which received a Drama Desk nomination for “Unique Theatrical Experience.”

Now Loar and the Neo-Futurists are back with The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill, Volume 2 — because why mess with a good thing, right?

Listen in as Christopher and I discuss the utility of stage directions, staying out of the way of your performers/collaborators/interpreters, and O’Neill’s moment vs. this 2014 moment in downtown theatre.

“I think in the stage directions there’s the intention of what the writer wants to happen onstage or happen with that character…but I guess that’s what I like so much about this…I too come from a background where I was trained to ignore all of the stage directions…”

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Sean Patrick Monahan, James Presson, Charlie Polinger, and Tom Sanchez of “Little Mac, Little Mac, You’re the Very Man!”

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Less Than Rent presents Little Mac, Little Mac, You're the Very Man!It’s been a good few seasons for Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, his adaptation of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera — Martha Clarke’s version is currently running at The Atlantic, Marvel Rep’s production of Feingold’s translation was up for a Drama Desk in 2012, Robert Wilson’s stylized take was at BAM not long ago…now, add to that a truly American adaptation — Less Than Rent’s Little Mac, Little Mac, You’re the Very Man!

In LTR’s freewheeling musical, the infamous Macheath chases the American dream through time and space, encountering everyone from Richard Nixon & Ronald Reagan, to Joe DiMaggio and Michael Jordan, to Bugs Bunny & Jessica Rabbit. It’s as wild as you think it is, and a lot of fun.

Listen in as playwrights Sean Patrick Monahan and James Presson, director Charlie Polinger, and Mac himself, Tom Sanchez, discuss free-association & post-it notes to write your play, how to make it in America, and what happens when your American History book throws up all over The Beggar’s Opera.

“They were sort of taking the audience on a ride and then kicking them out of the car…and so we started trying to find a way that we could do that…”

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TALKBACK: David Stallings & Heather Cohn of “Dark Water,” with Robin Madel & Kyle Rabin

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Manhattan Theatre Works presents "Dark Water" by David Stallings, directed by Heather CohnDavid Stallings‘s play Dark Water is the tale of a mother turtle as she and her son negotiate the sea along with a host of other animals — like a land-loving dolphin, a vain heron, and a gluttonous gull — to save her daughters, who have been trapped by the titular menace. Director Heather Cohn‘s production features a colorful (and largely recycled!) set, music, puppets, and inventive projections to tell the moving tale of these animals.

Don’t let that description fool you — this isn’t a kids show.

Rather, it’s a righteous statement about the damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon blowout, the largest off-shore oil spill in US history. And sadly, although it comes almost four years after the initial tragedy, it can still be considered timely, because the environment is still dealing with the fallout.

At the performance on March 20, Robin Madel and Kyle Rabin of Grace Communications Foundation were on hand to lead a talkback on the environmental issues of the show. It was a great way to follow up the performance, and GSAS! was there to record it — it’s presented here in its entirety.

Don’t worry if you don’t remember just what happened in the Gulf in April of 2010; a brave audience member sums it up nicely in the discussion, before Robin & Kyle discuss the effects of this and other oil spills, what prompted David to write the play, and Heather’s fear (and ultimate triumph) of directing this “impossible to direct” play.

“Don’t eat bluefin tuna…BLACKOUT.”

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Emily Schwend, Jay Stull, and Boo Killebrew of “Take Me Back”

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The Kindling Theatre Company presents Take Me BackWe all make terrible decisions at some point. With any luck, those terrible decisions only lead to some heartache, or maybe just some slight lingering shame, perhaps a small scar or two.

But for some terrible decisions, the consequences are a bit more dire — like a four-year stint in federal prison, which is what happens to the character of Bill in Emily Schwend‘s excellent new play directed by Jay Stull for The Kindling Theatre Company, Take Me Back. A short time after Bill’s release, he’s back living with his Mom, trying to help her take care of herself, trying to get his life back on track, trying to settle his relationship with old flame Julie (played by Boo Killebrew), and trying to get his truck running again. But opportunities don’t come easy for an ex-con in Muskogee, OK (yes, that Muskogee).

This play succeeds, as I point out in the interview, in marrying the political and personal — it’s one that kept me thinking after I left the room, which is one of the best compliments I can pay to a theatrical production. Go see this show.

Listen in as Emily, Jay, Boo, and I discuss writing close to home, systematic inequality vs. flawed character, paying for bad decisions, and why this very American play is important for New York City right now.

“Is it possible to be good as a person in places where there is no opportunity for improvement, or employment…?”

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