Brooklyn Gypsies is proud to present the first annual One Catches Light Festival, celebrating the new work of extraordinary NYC-based solo performers. For three nights — starting tonight — three solo artists in the Brooklyn Gypsies family will share a bill: Colie McClellan with Arethusa Speaks, Bay Bryan with Growing Into My Beard and Nick E Finn with Last Hipster in Brooklyn.

I got a chance to chat with Artem Yatsunov who is the Director and Producer of Growing Into My Beard. He’s also the General Manager of the Brooklyn Gypsies, so it’s great to be able to talk with him about this festival!

I first saw Artem’s work at UNDER St. Marks when he directed The Virology back in 2012. I was immediately drawn to his directing style and impressed with his talents. A few years later in 2014 I reviewed Basic Help which wowed me again. Artem is a Ukrainian-born, Brooklyn-based theatre director and storyteller who has been directing non-stop since graduating from Montclair State University in 2008. For Growing Into My Beard he’s collaborating with writer, performer and composer Bay Bryan. Bay is a Colorado-born, Scotland-trained, and Manhattan-based storyteller and singer-songwriter. Currently Bay is splitting his time between touring, Growing into My Beard, and recording his debut album, “Varied Shapes and Sharp Angles.”

Growing Into My Beard is the coming out and coming of age story of a ginger kid from Colorado, growing into his own and falling in love – real love – for the first time. A hilarious and partially improvised evening, the show is told through stories, live music, and Beyoncé dance. Throughout the evening Bay addresses his long distance, long-time committed relationship. He isn’t married, yet but in light of the new Marriage Equality Bill, marriage is now some actual, real shit that Bay will possibly have to consider. Growing Into My Beard is a timely celebration of all things queer.

Sounds great!  Let’s get this interview going!!

Hi Artem! Tonight the  One Catches Light Festival will be kicking off for 3 days in Brooklyn. What’s this festival all about?
Artem: Hi Karen! One Catches Light Festival is a celebration of NYC solo works! This is the first annual festival for the Brooklyn Gypsies who are about to start touring around the country. So this is a very home-based homage to the voices of NY and to the local artists who inspire the company. The three featured solo-works showcase a wide variety of topics: gentrification and hipsters, domestic violence against women, and then of course we have our coming-out story celebrating all things queer. (With explicit ginger content! Leave Nana at home!)

Growing Into My Beard  is “written, performed and lived by my dear pal and collaborator Bay Bryan”. Tell me about the experience of actually directing someone performing a recreation of their own life.
Artem: Ha! It’s very very amusing, and Bay and I have been working on this since last April – from inception, through the writing, and now through five different productions of this show. So we have a very deep commitment to the story. But it never fails to be really funny, and weird, for me to have to say things like, “Oh, that thing that really happened to you, that moment in your life you just described – yeah, that’s not really all that interesting. Let’s skip it!” Bay is a trooper, bless him.

Growing Into MyBeard has been making the rounds – Queerly Fest at Horse Trade, Minnesota Fringe, FringeArts in Philly. Are you getting different reactions in different cities?
Artem: It’s been awesome to bring Growing Into My Beard to so many different crowds. In NYC there is always a lot of friends and fans in the audience who instantly get the inside jokes and the snarky asides. So we were curious how people would react on tour, we wanted to know if it could earn that sense of kinship with strangers. It’s been a humbling response! In Minneapolis people just wanted to keep talking and talking about the show after, and they wept and got really into the performance! Philly was just like a party, every day. I cannot say enough great things about the LGBTQ scene is in Philadelphia – TABU Bar and Philly AIDS Thrift Store were our fave venues to play! It felt like in Philly people really wanted to witness queer stories and to share them.

Has the show changed much as it travels along? Or has the script been pretty much set since day one?
Artem: Yes – a ton. I feel like it changes a little every night. However, in Philly we had this like audience story-telling concept in the show where Bay would turn to the spectators at certain points to ask about their stories of love and coming out. And those were true “WOAH” moments! Because people wanted to share. I think that the coming-out narratives are so incredible and are such a unique part of queer identity and culture. I can’t think of a better way to put it than I feel privileged to be doing this show and to be witness to how it sparks a dialogue about queer acceptance.

You’ve directed some great ensemble work, you’re very good at rhythm and pacing. What’s the difference between directing a cast vs. directing a solo-show?
Artem: A solo show really is always an act of ultimate exposure – the entire time the audience is asking themselves the question, “Do I like being in the same room with this person for an hour?” That’s a strange pressure for a performer. It forces an artist to reconsider what kind of a story teller they are at the core. It’s like in clowning they teach you to discover your essence – are you a sarcastic clown that splats pies in people’s faces, or are you the sad clown who gets pie-faced? Solo shows are like that, too: there’s no hiding your authentic self. With this show, I felt that sense of exposure immediately because this is Bay’s real life and we’re creating a fantasy around real events of his life. This play is equal parts a vibrant live experience and an intimate search for closure.

Where do you hope to take this show next? Do you see it going on and on?
Artem: I’ve got some plans to take it to a cabaret space, but I’m not sure where, yet. We’re thinking of taking it to Bay’s home town of Golden, Colorado at some point. I’d love to do it in the back room of a bar: some joint with a whiskey stained creaky old piano that Bay could play, and then do a pirouette on top of.

There are solo shows aplenty in this community. What makes the solo shows of the One Catches Light Festival different, special, worth seeing?
Artem: Each show in the line-up is spectacular and totally different. Brooklyn Gypsies have curated this festival specifically to speak to some of this community’ issues: gentrification is terrible real and present and happening right now all over Brooklyn; domestic violence and sexual attacks on women are right now on the forefront of every American individual; and queer acceptance and the Marriage Equality bill are perhaps the most revolutionary American cultural milestones of this century – and gosh darn in, I think we ought to celebrate it!

Bonus question! Tell me something unrelated to this show. The mic is yours!
Artem: Do this at a party, or – wherever: pretend you’re chewing gum, make eye contact with a total stranger across the room, and without taking your eyes off that person, just start twerking. HARD. See where that takes your night. If you need a crash-course on how to execute that maneuver correctly come see Growing Into My Beard at Brooklyn Gypsies’ One Catches Light Festival! Let the ginger-swan Bay Bryan school ya!

Ahh, Artem, as always – such a joy to be able to chat with you.  The festival sounds amazing and I know you’ll have butts in all the seats!

For the rest of you – get yourself down to the One Catches Light Festival — starting TONIGHT FOLKS!!!

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Artem Yatsunov is currently working on a solo show about Americanized immigrants dealing with conflicts in their native lands. If you’re interested in collaborating, Artem is always looking for new artists, actors and playwrights to work with – contact Artem at artem.yatsunov@gmail.com

Bay Bryan is very excited to share Growing into My Beard with you, after having toured it at the Queerly, Minnesota Fringe, and Philly Fringe Festivals! For more info check out Bay’s website www.baybryan.com

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In early February I did a mini-interview with Eric Sanders knowing that I’d soon have the opportunity to have a much longer conversation with him and his collaborator, Dave Nuss.  Together they have created Original Innocence – The Rock Opera and I’m already fascinated by what I’ve seen.   This Friday, March 25th I’ll be heading over to ISSUE PROJECT ROOM (At the Old American Can Factory) 232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor Brooklyn, NY 11215 [Telephone: 718-330-0313] to see a workshopped production.  There are two shows that night – one at eight and one at ten.  I think you should come too.

I always love chatting with Eric Sanders, he’s my favorite combination of brilliant and humble.  Not to mention amazingly talented.  Now, meeting Dave for the first time I was equally excited; together these guys are an interviewer’s dream.  Read on to find out the random thing that brought these two talented men together, find out why they think it’s so important that our culture has a creation myth they can finally get behind, and let them explain why they cast Satan as a woman.

So, let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first thing. A religious rock opera. Before we even get to what sparked the idea – your goals, the plot – I have to say. These days religion in New York is a hard sell. Without saying “the plot is good, the actors are amazing” . . . just from a thematic point of view – what made you both think this was such a great idea that you were willing to take this leap?

Eric Sanders

ERIC SANDERS: The question answers itself. Why are we afraid to have conversations about the most important topic in the world – our own relationship to the universe? We’ll talk about sports, fashion, and art – why not religion? If you redefine religion and strip it of the perversions of some of the organized sects and just think of it as person’s relationship to his universe, then we all have a religion. So then it becomes a question of if it’s working for you, how is it working for you, if it’s productive and helping you to coexist with people. So in my opinion to not talk about it is much scarier than bringing up the topic.

DAVE NUSS: I was brought up in Corpus Cristi, Texas, a very religious town with a particularly religious upbringing, so I wanted to confront aspects of the story I was raised with. The creation myth from Genesis has many beautiful and mysterious aspects that were simplified and presented to me as ‘Truth’; but now I understand that this truth really just refers to a network of forces and ideas that, especially when we encounter them as children, shape us on a fundamental level. So for Eric and I religion simply refers to the meta-lifeview that we encountered through the stories of our youth. Everyone can relate to that- even if the story is, say, Star Wars. In the case of this play our reference point is the Genesis story, and that connects with a wide audience because everyone has an experience with it. We don’t want people to leave the theatre saying “hmmm, well that was bizzare” or “I don’t get it.” We are offering “a new creation myth for our time”, and it’s for everyone, right now. We want the meaning to be felt on a visceral level. Genesis 3 is a story that fit the needs and circumstances of a particular group of people at the time when it was told, and has been interpreted over the years by myriad communities with myriad agendas. Original Innocence is a new myth that Eric and I are offering in NYC 2011. But please note, like the Genesis story, it may no longer be relevant in 4000 years, haha.

Tell me about the very first seed that started “Original Innocence”. Was it a conversation in a bar at 2:00am? An off the cuff remark over coffee? Set the scene for how this all started.

ERIC: The seed came from Dave – when I was doing The Wendigo a couple of years ago we had a mutual friend who thought that it would be great if we met since Dave and I both liked the supernatural. So he came to The Wendigo and we went out afterwards. We had similar interests but different backgrounds. He comes from the experimental musical world. And he said “I have this secret – I’ve been working on this religious rock opera, totally different than anything I’ve ever done before.” I was intrigued.

Dave Nuss

DAVE: By the time I met Eric I had shared the concept with my usual music biz people and they all said basically the same thing: “we have no idea why you’re doing this.” The music of Original Innocence really alienated my usual contacts because of the musical theater trappings; it also has strong emotional content and that is not something that is necessarily part of the avant garde world. So I was just allowing these recordings to percolate until a mutual friend of Eric and mine, Jodi Willie of Process Media, said to me, “Give the music to Eric, he may be interested.” My intuition was that the theater world was where this piece belonged, and Eric’s reaction confirmed this.

ERIC: Dave trusted me enough to share it with me. It was kinda like fate – or we were making our own fate. He had a rough blue print and a general idea. I just wanted to hear it. I listened and was just stunned; I felt like I’d found some sort of ancient manuscript – it was like finding the Dead Sea Scrolls … I felt like I’d unearthed this treasure. I was overwhelmed because it was out of my hands, really, but I just knew that this was something I had to be involved with for a long time.

So we started collaborating a little more than 2 years ago. I knew from that first night of talking that there was a great deal of creative chemistry between us.

I was going to initially ask how, once you knew you wanted to make this story, what about it said “musical” – specifically “rock opera”, but now I see that the music came first. So let me ask the question a little bit differently. What made you decide to make it a completely sung-through piece rather than a musical with dialogue?

DAVE: We kept trying to write dialogue and just kept saying “this isn’t working”. Then we realized, “let’s do it all with gesture.” I’ve always thought of Original Innocence as more of a parable, a story which perhaps has a “moral” but this moral has a lot of breathing room. Every time we were started writing dialogue for a scene we also felt it simplified the story into something too apparent, and we realized we couldn’t preserve the sense of mystery that we both were feeling regarding the subjects we were grappling with.

Like the question of the chicken and the egg, which came first? Well the chicken came first this time . . . the music piece was already done by the time we started “writing” the story. So Eric and I just needed to approach the music and allow the ideas to germinate. The most interesting part of the development of the piece is that Eric and I had to grow ourselves to receive the story the music is telling. In the beginning of the process we were a bit too concerned with autobiography and portraying our own beliefs. We had all these ideas like, “should we set a church on fire?” I feel like initially I had a little score to settle with the Church.

Now some time later we’re both in different places than when we began, and we’re each cultivating practices that are helping us approach this gesture from a less egoistic place. I think that’s why our collaboration is so successful – neither of us has a particular agenda. When we’d meet we’d have these long periods of quiet, almost like a Quaker meeting. There was no leader. We just waited and let the music tell us the next move.

I was fortunate enough to attend The Symposium on Creation Mythology last month. I not only was able to hear some very well spoken scholars discuss the creation myth of different cultures, but I also was able to hear four of the songs from Original Innocence. One thing I notice immediately is that, in the course of setting up the songs, the story itself made some very bold choices . . . for instance Satan is a woman. There were other plot points that challenge (at least what I’ve come to know as) the accepted biblical stories. Tell me about some of those changes.

DAVE: We tried to look at the characters archetypally; whether someone is a man or a woman doesn’t matter, the characteristics are what matter, they’re what’s universal. Eva, the Christ figure, is a woman as she’s embodying the concept of sacrificial love. Having Satan as female is not meant to imply women are evil – it’s actually completely the opposite – we want to break down that stereotype that Satan is a bad guy waiting to torture us. Satan in our play is fun, a kind of Loki character, but ultimately undercuts her own will to power by the recalcitrance she inspires.

So many images we have in our contemporary culture have nothing to do with their origin – in our minds today Lucifer equals Satan, but they are actually two completely different characters. Even Black Sabbath and the Stones didn’t really parse out the historical characteristics of Lucifer, haha. So in Original Innocence we’re trying to be more historical than stereotypical. There are no white hats and black hats. That’s the way the Genesis myth has been brought down to us – an evil snake in a tree, humans are fucked up and God is pissed at the entire human race. Women are the bad ones who make men sin, and now for the rest of history man has to feel guilty for acting on impulse. When you contemplate it, it’s a total disaster how this myth has effected us as a society.

ERIC: So the question here becomes – what kind of Christianity are we talking about? We were using the typical Adam and Eve story as an entry point for a new creation myth. This came out through very intricate conversations – what kind of creation myth would we find more helpful in this day and age so that we don’t feel like we’re “evil,” like we’re “fallen”?  Some will disagree and we welcome that, but we recognize that people collapse under the weight of this “original sin,” so this is a new way to view the story. The essence is about liberation from suffering and sin, as opposed to wallowing in it.

DAVE: Our story gives us a little more space to put aside some of those stereotypical ways of viewing ethics, and approach them with an open heart and an acceptance of ourselves. When we’re not judging people to determine where they fit in the ethical spectrum, we can view the world with much more compassion. What a relief.

Is there anything you came across while doing research – a story, a concept – even an object maybe? – that is fascinating and you’d like to share it with us?

ERIC: The biggest revelation for me during this process was learning much more about Eastern religions – especially Buddhism which I find stunning. We’re finally being introduced after thousands of years to Eastern Religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism and yoga, and I’m seeing a really interesting shared dialogue between that and the Judeo-Christian perspective – they’re not mutually exclusive. That’s the sad thing – some people think religion isn’t worth looking into because “Oh, now we have physics.” Physics explains matter . . . it doesn’t explain how we should relate to matter. That isn’t a religion. It’s very dangerous and non-productive to think that we’ve transcended the need for religion.

Eastern religions – the lack of a God and the lack of original sin, the lack of one Creator, the idea that the universe is a continuum without beginning and without end is much in line with modern physics. Our most exciting journey has been taking the Judeo-Christian root – the Fall from Grace – using that original myth and telling a more Eastern myth about not necessarily going to heaven but about freedom from suffering. It’s more about compassion and wisdom. So the play starts with Christianity but it ends much more in Buddhism.

You each must have a favorite part of the show. What’s your favorite part – - and why?

ERIC: My favorite is the song “Only You” – it’s the second to last song of the show. It’s heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. It’s about liberation, but it’s also about reflecting back on what you’re leaving behind – which is a beautiful dichotomy. (To me at least) it’s the essence of the show: you have to move away from something in order to get to something else. You do have to leave your old self behind in order to transform. Religion is something you experience, not something you read.

DAVE: I probably like the part I shouldn’t like – the beginning which is set in the Jehovah era. There’s unification among people; it’s an age before ‘dissent’ had arisen, pre-individuation. The implication is that the song being sung, “You Are the Light” was been written by God Itself, and it’s been sung since the dawn of creation. There’s still part of me that idealizes what people can do when they have a unified intention toward a succinct goal. Of course life doesn’t work out that way because there’s so rarely a collective sacrifice for a particular intention. I see it sometimes in meditation groups – everybody’s seeking peace. An important aspect of this play is examining that part of our psyche that does not wish to participate in community.

You’re work shopping Original Innocence on the 25th. What can people expect from that evening?

ERIC: It’s off-book, there’s staging (by our director Pat Diamond), there’s a choreographer, Deborah Lohse who will work with us. We will block as much as we need. In some ways it will be like a staged concert presentation. It’s definitely a rock opera. Since there’s no dialogue so much of the story is conveyed in movement and intention. There’ll be some props and costumes. I’m hoping people who come can experience the essence of the show. We want to give a preview, not present the show in it’s ultimate incarnation. But it will all be there in a form that people can connect with.

And once again – to buy tickets for that night click the link here.

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Thanks, Dave and Eric for telling all about Original Innocence.  I can’t wait to see the workshop on Friday – and again, for all of you who are interested  to find out more:

Related Posts:

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Jody Christopherson appearing in TRYING

If you don’t believe read-heads have more fun, just ask Jody Christopherson about her experience working on Erin Browne’s new play TRYING, premiering at The Bushwick Starr, on April 15th.

Ok, I admit  the “red-head” line is not the most original way to start an interview, but I’m not fishing for a bloggie award and Jody is not fishing for a Tony… yet. She is a New York  based actress and also a writer for New York Theatre Review (an annually published collection of plays and essays launched in 2005, that recently launched their own theatre blog), in her interview she talks about lesbian pulp novels, shark tattoos and why producing your own work is a good thing.

How did you end up involved in TRYING?

JC- I started working with Erin Browne a few years ago at Sticky (put on by Blue Box Productions) at the Bowery Poetry Club. Erin writes these surprisingly dimensional roles for women in their 20′s and has over (I think) 20 plays. Erin’s work makes me laugh and then totally annihilates me. I like that it can do both. We did a reading of Trying in my living room 2 years ago to keep working together and developing our own sensibilities as artists. Then last year  when it won the BBC World Service Award for Radio plays we thought, ok, here’s a story that seems to be resonating with people, it needs a production, let’s just produce it ourselves. Erin’s had some productions in London and workshops in the US but Trying will be her first full production here. So we found a space (The Bushwick Starr) and some incredible people to come along for the ride.

Director Lou Moreno

Does your character fall in love with that of Lena?

JC- Absolutely, hopelessly, even when it hurts like fucking hell.

If you could change anything about this experience, what would it be?

JC- We would have more time to run the show. Right now we have a limited run with 5 performances at the Starr and 2 upstate with Pulse Performing Arts Center through Salt Box Theater, which we are so lucky to be able to do, don’t get me wrong. I’d love to be able to go to high schools with this play all over the country. I think it could really speak to young women.

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Related Posts:

• Catching Up With Artem Yatsunov – One Catches Light Festival
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• Maptote’s Rachel Rheingold & Michael Berick

Rachel Rheingold & Michael Berick

Maptote’s tote bags are the perfect neighborhood bling. How else can you proudly and properly pimp out your ‘hood? My own Queens tote has been to all five boroughs and back as well as various ‘hoods on many continents. I’ve used it to tote groceries, picnic wares and beach going gear. Plus, they’re local (Brooklyn-based) and indie!

Pay attention to Rachel Rheingold and Michael Berick favorite Park Slope spots since they know a thing or two about quality goods and esoteric neighborhood facts.

Name: Rachel Rheingold & Michael Berick
Occupation: Designers and owners of Maptote
Borough/Neighborhood: Park Slope, Brooklyn

Tell us a little about maptote and how you got started: We were inspired after a trip to Europe a few years ago. We collected cotton tote bags in grocery stores from every city we visited. They were reusable grocery bags that made great inexpensive gifts. When we got back we decided we wanted a Brooklyn tote and it all snowballed from there.

Your bags are basic, functional, old world. Tell us about your process (design or otherwise): Michael is a cartographer by trade. Rachel has a background in art and fashion design. Michael usually scours the internet for interesting details as well as esoteric information on the city we’re working on. The best sources for our designs are usually friends or friends of friends who live in the city that we’re working on. They share their local knowledge and help breathe life into our designs. Rachel interjects and plays the role of art director.

What inspired your current project with J.Crew? They asked us! It was a great experience working with their Men’s design team on the Tribeca map for their new Men’s Liquor Store. We like to take a lighthearted, typically tongue-in-cheek perspective on our designs and we were pleasantly surprised that J.Crew also wanted to go that route.

Any upcoming bags or items we should be looking forward to? We will be coming out with lots more products in early Fall – new kinds of totes and other non-tote creations. And denim!

What designers inspire you? Paul Smith, Massimo Vignelli, Paula Scher, Simon Patterson

Favorite music to listen to when creating a bag: Right now… Franco, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, NPR, East Village radio

Favorite place to eat in the neighborhood: Pita Pan

Little known fact about your neighborhood: A plane crashed into Park Slope in the 1960′s and some of the older restaurants and shops in the neighborhood have pictures of the plane smashed into brownstones.

Favorite watering hole: Grotto

Favorite place(s) to shop (clothing, shoes, food, etc.): any flea market and Chinatown (Brooklyn)

Best pizza in your hood: Pino’s

Best coffee in your hood: Bar Toto cappuccinos are amazing

If there was a movie of your life, what neighborhood would grace the opening scene? Rachel – Boca Town Center mall… Michael – suburban San Diego

Boca Town Center Mall

suburban San Diego

What is your all time favorite monster and/or horror movie? Michael likes The Shining and Rachel is too scared to watch horror movies.

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