If I said to you I was an old time fan of Heather and Retro Productions I would be lying … and why start off with a lie? Who would I be! Despicable me … so lets start with the truth and nothing but! I first became acquainted with their work about a year ago as a matter of … chance.  I reviewed their production of Mill Fire for The Fab Marquee and was taken in by their attention to detail, something that made me think they had been around for  – oh, I don’t know – 10 years. To my surprise they are only a couple of years old, but seasoned in talent and determined to bring back quality pieces – and as I learned after interviewing their Artistic Director Heather Cunningham – new works as well.

Heather Cunningham Artistic Director Retro Productions

Their mission is to present works of “retro theatre”, and they so wisely include the American Heritage Dictionary definition of Retro (since everyone has different ideas of what that is), as “involving, relating to, or reminiscent of things past“; in their case with extra emphasis on the 20th Century.

They were nominated for 6 New York Innovative Theatre Awards last year (2 leading actress, costume, lighting, set and sound nominations for Mill Fire), meaning they left a lasting impression on more than this theatergoer.

Premiering this Friday, November 6th at The Spoon Theater, is their production of Holy Days, a play set in the Great Depression written by Sally Nemeth and directed by Peter Zinn.

I did say this was an interview right? enough blabbing about, lets ask Heather some questions…

AM: How did Retro come about? do you consider yourself a retro girl – stuck in the fashion and art trends of the 50′s and 60′s?
HC: I’ve been told I’m “retro”, certainly I have my share of vintage inspired fashions, but I’m really a jeans and sneakers kind of girl. Musically I’m a big fan of the swing and big band sounds of the 30′s through the 60′s, my favorite artist is Bobby Darin!  I don’t claim to know much about contemporary music.  I also happen to love old things, from 30′s kitchen gadgets to 50′s children books, to 70′s advertising.

As to contemporary theater, I like quite a bit of it, both as an actress and as an audience member.  I started producing out of frustration as an actress for the quality of work I was getting, and part of that had to do with the fact that everything was either new works that were simply not ready for production or Shakespeare.  There was no happy medium!  And I love the plays of the middle of the 20th century!  They are the plays I grew up with.

AM: In your quest to bring back these plays … do you ever produce (or will you ever produce) new work?

Heather in Still Life ©Kristen Vaughan

HC: I would love to produce new work if it was “Retro”.  The plays we’ve done have not always been written in the time period they take place in, for example, Holy Days was written in the late 1980′s but it takes place in 1936.  A play doesn’t have to be old to be retro, it just needs to take place in another time period.

AM: You come from a theatrical family – your parents (Jack and Rebecca Cunningham) are a dynamic set design duo.  What’s it like working with them?  And do you always see eye to eye when those sketches are presented?
HC: I could not do what I do without my parents’ support, first and foremost.  Sometimes they think I’m nuts (Dad might still be in denial that we are doing The Desk Set in May!), and sometimes when I say “let’s do this bare bones” I get this incredible set!  I usually make my requests before the design is conceived, but on those rare occasions when I ask for something afterwards, they are great about incorporating my requests.  But above all, I am a huge fan of their work.  I think it is stunning.

AM: Six IT Award nominations for the same production is a great accomplishment!  What has it meant for the company? Have you sensed any  “drama” with colleagues because of it?
HC: It was absolutely thrilling.  I didn’t sense any jealousy at all.   In fact there seem to be a greater number of people from the Off Off Broadway community interested in Retro Productions now than before our nominations.

AM: What has been your most challenging work as an actress in or outside of Retro?
HC: There is no question… Still Life was the most challenging thing I have ever done as an actress.  The memorization alone was mind numbing.  I don’t think I have ever done a play before or since where the adrenaline of going on stage was as high from just fear of going up.  And the subject matter was not easy either … it was a play about a Vietnam vet and it was quite graphic and included pictures. And my character, the vet’s wife, was someone who was actually really far away from who I am, so playing her simply was an added challenge.

AM: What can we expect from your upcoming production of Holy Days?
HC: Holy Days is a beautiful play, and on surface quite simple.  But like some of Pinter’s best writing, people aren’t always saying what they are thinking.  These are stoic people and they don’t (or can’t) always express their feelings.  It makes for a lot of palpable tension between the characters.

The play takes place during the Great Depression in the Dust Bowl.  Our characters are farmers and their wives and they are struggling with the devastation around them.  There is dirt and dust piled up, there is loss everywhere they look; out in the fields, in their homes, in each other.

AM: It seems the Great Depression is a recurring theme in these recession times, a true testament that artists need to express what is going on in their surroundings. What connects you to your fellow cast members?

Heather in Mill Fire ©Kristen Vaughan

HC: Sure, we can all relate to the fear of losing our jobs, our homes, our livelihoods.  That it is reflective of the times we are in just makes it closer to the surface and therefore easier to tap in to.

AM: Is this your first time working with director Peter Zinn?
Peter and I go way back … more years than either of us probably wants to admit!  But seriously, we went to undergrad together (at Denison University) and I was in the first play he ever directed there.  The play was Betrayal by Harold Pinter and it was quite honestly one of the highlights of my University theater experience.  I hold that project close to my heart to this day.  Pete and I lost touch, but were reunited last year.  I told him how I felt about Betrayal and he admitted to me he felt the same way.  It’s been a joy to work with him again.  Not just because it has been wonderful to reconnect with my old friend, but also because he is such a passionate director and so perceptive.

AM: I enjoy the Spoon Theater, but if you could take over any existent theater space in New York City, which one would that be and why?
HC: Oh, I couldn’t possibly answer that!  There are so many wonderful spaces in New York … I will admit to playing a game whenever I’m in a theater, it’s called the “if this was my theater” game!  But I don’t see that happening any time soon, unless I start playing the lottery and actually manage to win!

—

You can catch Heather Cunningham in Holy Days from November 6-21 at The Spoon Theater. Be on the look out for our lovely managing director Karen Tortora-Lee‘s review of this production.

Ticket are only $18, available at www.retroproductions.org.

Related Posts:

• Celebrating “Holy Days”
• Desk Set: Back Then, The Future Was Now
• Scene/Unseen – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The Stranger To Kindness: City Of Strangers (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• The Stranger To Kindness: 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

Keith Chow

Paolo Javier chats with Keith Chow about the inaugural Asian American Comicon in post-convention glow.

Asian Americans have been vital contributors to the American comic book since, well, its birth, a fact rarely acknowledged by an industry that continues to uphold a homogeneously white and hetero imaginary on the covers and in the panels of its mainstream and independent titles. With this in mind, I cannot thank the BSG gods enough for the editors of Secret Identities, the first-ever anthology of Asian American comics published earlier this year, who followed-up their historic publication with an equally groundbreaking event on July 11th at the Museum of the Chinese in America: the inaugural Asian American Comics Convention. The AACC felt more like a day-long celebration; I got to participate in the morning as a reader on the panel ‘Every Comic is Asian American’, then geek out in the afternoon and evening as a reader and fan. (During my panel, I shared excerpts from obb, my on-going poetry comic collaboration with artist Ernest Concepcion that’s partially inspired by our lifelong interest in underground comic art and artists.) And I loved AACC for all the reasons that Keith Chow, co-organizer of the event and co-editor of Secret Identities, gives in our post-convention interview below.

PAOLO: How did you feel about the inaugural AACC? Any particular highlights?

KEITH: Well, from my POV, everything was a chaotic blur of escorting journalists, nagging moderators, directing volunteers and making sure the show was chugging along.

But I heard from other folks that it was a great show. The word that got used over and over was intimate. And I understand that. You don’t really get to hang out with artists at typical conventions. Especially not with the heavy hitters that we had at AACC. Folks like Bernard Chang, Greg Pak, Larry Hama, Cliff Chiang, Christine Norrie. You name it. But that wasn’t the case here. Fans and artists alike were on a level field. And these artists felt the same. It was cool to really mingle with fans and check out the other artists and panels without all the hubbub. I think it struck the perfect balance, a convention that featured comic superstars but still retained the vibe of a smaller, more intimate, show.

Of course the highlight was seeing Larry accept the Kiyama Award. His speech was really touching. He crystallized the mission of the whole day in his speech when he talked about the importance of community. Because, ultimately, that’s what the AACC set out to celebrate: the richness of our community. Be it a community of Asian Americans, a community of comic book fans, a community of artists, etc. Without your community, you’re nothing.

PAOLO: Yeah, my wife and I were coming down from the high on Sunday night. We definitely haven’t experienced that intimate sense of community at comic conventions before. In a weird way, it reminded be a bit of what Larry told you during your Q & A about how in the 80s everyone working in comics knew one another, and quite well. On Saturday, the love and respect for community and achievement were palpable. You typically don’t expect this when you think of the competitive field of comics publishing these days, more so now that D.C. and Marvel have become such corporate Hollywood giants.

But in addition to celebrating the contributions of an industry legend such as Larry Hama, you also chose to recognize a young talent such as Derek Kirk Kim, who continues to operate largely within the small comics press sphere. Would you comment on this inclusive decision?

KEITH: Anyway, we were thrilled to have Derek as a featured guest! Not only is he a tremendous talent in the business, but we’re all huge fans of his. Part of the goal of AACC (and Secret Identities for that matter) was to showcase just how diverse the Asian American comics community really. Not only are we industry legends, we’re also indie artists and everything in between.

Secret Identities editors. L to R: Jerry Ma, Parry Shen, Keith Chow, Jeff Yang

PAOLO: The involvement of the Asian American Writers Workshop offered something unique to the convention, I thought, in the Reading Comics panels. You won’t typically find such programming in most comics conventions. What made you guys decide to include the AAWW in the event?

KEITH: One of the things we discussed in our initial planning of the AACC was that we wanted the “con” in Comic-Con to stand for more than “convention.” We thought it could stand for “conference”, or “conversation”, so we incorporated each of those elements into the programming. So while we had an Artists’ Alley and Writing/Art panels–typical of comics conventions–we wanted to add aspects that were more reflective of an Asian American Studies conference, hence the Reading track. As for the “conversation” part, we included special one-on-one “creator spotlights” on the likes of William Wu, Derek Kirk Kim and Larry Hama.

We’d been wanting to do an event at the AAWW for a long time. One of the special things about our book is that in addition to your typical comic fanboy/girl, our audience is also made up of readers of Asian American literature. An anthology of Asian American writers might be unique to the graphic novel market, but we literary-minded Asian Americans aren’t unfamiliar with the likes of Charlie Chan is Dead or The Big Aiiieeeee!, you know? With that said, we’d been trying to figure out how to do a big NYC Secret Identities event, and the Workshop was one of the places we had in mind. (This was before it evolved into the Asian American ComiCon). I met Ken at the CAPA fest back in the beginning of May and told him briefly about our ideas. Eventually, the idea of celebrating SI morphed into what transpired on Saturday, a celebration of Asian Americans in the comics community. But beyond that, I loved that we included authors and poets in the AACC because it shows that we are all part of a broader artistic community.

PAOLO: Awesome. What’s next for the Secret Identities crew, and the AACC?

KEITH: What’s next for SI and AACC is a lot of talking and meeting and planning. Everyone involved with the book wants there to be another volume. It’s just a matter of defining what that will entail. While we didn’t put any nomenclature on the book to presume it was a “volume one” of any sort, we deliberately called the AACC the “First Annual” because we want this to continue in some fashion for a long time. Whether or not we’re the ones spearheading it is irrelevant. We feel it’s important that there is a venue to honor and celebrate our contributions to the industry and community. Besides, it can only get better, right?

PAOLO: Tell us about the San Diego Comic Con and your participation?

KEITH: We’ve got a jam-packed schedule in San Diego. It’ll probably be the last time in a long time that all four editors–myself, Jeff Yang, Parry Shen and Jerry Ma–will be in one room together. And we have a ton of celebrity signings. Kelly Hu from X-Men 2 will be at our booth on Saturday signing a SDCC-exclusive lithograph by Cliff Chiang (who will also be signing with her). We also have Keiko Agena from Gilmore Girls signing with artist Ming Doyle on Friday. Gene Yang and Sonny Liew kick off the signings by comic book superstars on Thursday, while Dustin “Detective Comics” Nguyen and Bernard “Wonder Woman” Chang wrap up the signing festivities on Sunday. Also on Friday night, Jeff Yang will be moderating a panel called “Four Color Reality: Making Comics Relevant Across Cultures” with panelists such as Dwayne McDuffie, Gail Simone, and Stuart Moore. Really crazy busy, actually!

PAOLO: That sounds terrific, Keith. I wish you the SI crew a memorable weekend at SDCC! And thank you again for making the AACC happen.

KEITH: (Already off and running to the SDCC.)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Find out more about the Asian American Comicon on their website. Or become a fan on Facebook.

* * * * * * *

PAOLO JAVIER is the author of LMFAO (OMG Press), Goldfish Kisses (Sona Books), 60 lv bo(e)mbs (O Books), and the time at the end of this writing (Ahadada), which received a Small Press Traffic Book of the Year Award. He publishes 2nd Ave Poetry, and lives in New York.

Related Posts:

• 2nd Ave Poetry – Volume 3 Launch
• Last Looks At The Happiest Medium In 3-D – Pull Your Glasses Out
• Entrevista: Heather Cunningham Of Retro Productions
• Maptote’s Rachel Rheingold & Michael Berick
• Angel Eaters Trilogy – A Three Course Meal

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.

Related Posts:

• Catching Up With Artem Yatsunov – One Catches Light Festival
• A Creation Story: An Interview With Eric Sanders And Dave Nuss – The Team Behind “Original Innocence”
• Entrevista: Jody Christopherson – Trying
• Entrevista: Heather Cunningham Of Retro Productions
• I Like You, Maude: A Night of Comedic Storytelling & Music

My husband’s home town in Michigan is so small that, to them, the word “theatre” is 1) spelled “theater” and 2) always preceded by the word “movie”. And if you want to get to that “movie theater” you’ll need a car — because the closest one is 13 miles away in the next town over. Growing up, if he wanted a theatre experience of ANY kind he needed to head to Chicago.

Meanwhile, New York is so rife with theatre space that you can’t go to a Starbuck’s without being within a stone’s throw of one. Heck … there’s one in the building where I work. There was even a theatre connected to the restaurant I had dinner in last night. If you climb on any mailbox and squint, you can see independent theatre going on everywhere in New York.

I’m particularly fond of theatre companies who put on well crafted plays written by up and coming writers. Johnna Adam’s Angel Eater’s Trilogy is just such a work, and FLUX Theatre Ensemble is just such a company.

I went to see the first installment of the trilogy, Angel Eaters (directed by Jessi D. Hill) this past Saturday, and am looking forward to seeing the second, Rattlers (directed by Jerry Ruiz) later this week. The trilogy wraps up, both for me, as well as for its run, on November 22nd with 8 Little Antichrists. For those who are interested it’s not too late — you can catch any one of the shows before then or, if you’re really up for a full-day theatre experience, you can see the whole trilogy play out before your eyes in one jam-packed day this Saturday. (For more information go to the Flux site).

Angel Eaters, the first play of the trilogy, concerns itself with a poor, depression-era Oklahoma family and their particular take on the circle of life. On one end there’s Death (patriarch Herbert has been “stinking up the living room for three days now”) and on the other end, Life — in the form of an unwanted pregnancy (nothing a little swallow of turpentine couldn’t cure.).

In between these two guideposts lies everything else from faith, to regret, to good ole fashioned hoodwinking. Each character has a different swagger on their walk through life, be it Joann’s (Marnie Schulenburg) religious devotion that swings from babbling innocence to full blow transformation, her sister Nola’s (Tiffany Clementi) caustic cynicism (she’s raised her skirt once too often and hasn’t found salvation in it yet) … or their mother Myrtle (Catherine Michele Porter) who is so blindly bent on resurrecting her husband that she allows herself to believe two sweet-talking carnies (“Resurrection Boy” and his “uncle” Fortune Clay played by Isaiah Tanenbaum and Gregory Waller respectively).

When they claim they can bring back the dead … for the unheard of sum of 50 depression-era dollars … she’s quick to hand over the money, though she holds them to their claim in a rather unorthodox way. Weaving through the story is Doc O’Malley (Ken Glickfeld) whose education of Joann runs the gamut from teaching her to identify and imitate bird calls … right up to teaching her about such bird-related “games” as “A Bird in the Hand” … or its cousin, the one in the bush. Doc is kind enough to reward Joann with some chocolate every time she “wins”.

In between all these characters are links which begin to reveal themselves, and secrets which come to light in the most unusual ways. Let’s just say, it ain’t called Angel Eaters for nuthin’. Overall, it’s a spellbinding piece, full of strange humor, and thoughtful, heartbreaking moments of desperation. The final tableau of the play is both haunting as well as disturbing.

I sat down with Kelly O’Donnell of the Flux Theatre Ensemble who is also the director of the 3rd show in the series, 8 Little Antichrists, to talk about the Trilogy.

KTL: Right now your company is doing the Angel Eater’s Trilogy. What attracted you to this project?
KO’D: We were initially attracted to the project the first time we met Johnna Adams. She brought the first 2 scenes of Angel Eaters to our weekly workshop, which we call “Flux Sunday” and I remember saying “Wow, this seems like the type of play that Flux is drawn to.” It was unique, theatrical and magical. From there, we invited Johnna to our annual retreat where the ensemble worked together with her on the play. After some intense discussions on whether or not we should take on such a massively ambitious project, we decided to just go for it.

KTL: Is this the first trilogy your company has ever taken on? Were there any unexpected challenges?
KO’D: Yes, this is the first trilogy we have ever produced and there were a lot of challenges. The #1 challenge for us was finding a way to maintain our high standards in production value for three separate shows but within the budget of what is normally one show. This was tricky and we had to be creative. There were lots of logistical challenges as well. For example, we often needed three separate rehearsal spaces for each show because they would be rehearsing at the same time.

KTL: You’re director of the 3rd play in this Angel Eater’s Trilogy – 8 Little Antichrists. It’s the longest, as well as the last of the series. While each play can stand on it’s own, is there any added pressure knowing yours is the one that wraps up the whole theme?
KO’D: Not really any added pressure. Each director has had their own challenges with this project and I’m amazed at their work. Jessi Hill and Jerry Ruiz have done a remarkable job with Angel Eaters and Rattlers, respectively. For me personally, the big challenges were “How do we create a gelatenous sustaining foam birthing vat with such a small budget?” and “What is the best way to turn someone into bubble wrap with a nanossaulter?”. When you see 8 Little Antichrists, you’ll know what I mean!

KTL: I’ve enjoyed the first play, Angel Eaters, and look forward to seeing the rest of the arc. Without giving away too much of the plot, what can I expect from these next two plays?
KO’D: Well, you can expect 2 very different plays. Rattlers takes place about 40 years after Angel Eaters and it is a much more intimate and personal play that explores how several people are dealing with the mysterious and brutal death of one woman. 8 Little Antichrists is a futuristic film-noir thriller about the apocalypse that often borders on the absurd. However, both plays follow the same family that you saw in Angel Eaters but in different generations.

Related Posts:

• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Emily Owens
• Dog Act – All This World’s A Traveling Stage
• Every Dog (Act) Has Its Day – An Interview With Playwright Liz Duffy Adams
• 4 Cents Review: Blessings Abound At Jacob’s House
• American Buffalo