Chris Tyler performing in an earlier workshop at Little Theatre in February (photo credit: Knud Adams)

THIS IS A PLAY ABOUT BEING GAY

Written and Directed by Teddy Nicholas
Presented by the 2013 Fresh Fruit Festival
www.freshfruitfestival.com
All performances at The Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street New York, NY 10009
www.thewildproject.com
Ticket available for purchase by: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/924653

“A three-act experimental gay identity politics play”

Show Times:

• Tues 7/16/13 @ 7:00pm
• Wed 7/17/13 @ 7:00pm
• Sun 7/21/13 @ 12:00pm

Answers by Teddy Nicholas (playwright/director/producer)

[1] How did you come up with the title for your show?
Teddy Nicholas: I was getting to a point in my play-writing career where I realized I hadn’t written a play that addressed what it meant, for me, to identify as a gay male in our current American society.

I had also been seeing plays which painted really depressing worlds featuring this really ugly side of gay men and it pained me. It pained me because I felt I had more evidence, from these plays and from these message in media and culture, of why gay men are evil and wrong, and not enough evidence, not enough stories, not enough heroes who are gay men, even if they are fictional, to look up to.

There was a span of two weeks where I’d seen plays that featured a gay man abusing crystal meth, and featured a destructive relationship that ended in death or emotional ruin. And I’m not saying that these things don’t exist in the world because they do, and that’s obviously a problem, and I think yes, art does hold a mirror up to the audience showing the society we live in.

But I also believe that art can influence and shape and guide the way, and more often than not, work that features characters who are gay males are either victims or perpetrators of destruction, whether to themselves to the people they love; and I guess I’m getting sick of seeing that narrative played over and over again.

There’s a quote by Bertolt Brecht I love: “Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.”

And so one night, I began typing furiously away at my computer and after about 10 pages, I titled it: THIS IS A PLAY ABOUT BEING GAY.

[2] Was there an unexpected discovery made during the development of this production that you’d like to share with us?
Teddy Nicholas: I began writing the play two years ago, and at first, it was sort of a one-act musical with all these songs in it and I imagined there being musicians on stage. But then I felt that the play was striving to get at something stranger, and so I took out the music and replaced them with dances, and added two more acts. Each of the three acts of the play are completely different in terms of tone, narrative and characters, but yet they are all thematically linked towards the same universe of this idea of what it is to be a gay male as I see it today.

[3] What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing your show?
Teddy Nicholas: I hope the audience takes away a new and different perspective of gay males, or at least questions their own ideas of what gay males are or how they relate to them in society. I also hope the experience is entertaining as well!

[4] How much of your show was inspired by true events?
Teddy Nicholas: A lot of the writing in the play is deeply personal and mixes in a lot of truth with slight distortions; there are stories from my childhood (including the first movie I ever saw in a movie theatre: Pet Sematary), my awkward/angsty high school experience, and even a breakup that happened to me in college that was particularly painful and raw but I felt needed to be shown. But there’s also a gay marriage proposal which is basically how I imagined my dream boyfriend proposing to me someday.

As a playwright, I don’t feel particularly comfortable with the writing unless I believe it to be honest and truthful, and so the things I write about in the play are either from my own experiences, or from experiences of those who are close to me.

[5] An anonymous donor funds your show. The one caveat is that you must use the money for a lavish set piece that’s outrageous, dazzling, fun and/or showstopping. What do you build for your show?
Teddy Nicholas: I would build a giant glass cube that surrounds the stage so that the actors looks like specimens and the audience is observing them as if they were scientists or something and the stage floor would illuminate like the music video to Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean.

~~~

Thanks Teddy!

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Why would anyone want a job at The Hobby Lobby? A Parts-R-Us for those who can’t stop themselves from scapbooking, and otherwise decorating what is probably already an over-decorated house . . . The Hobby Lobby is a buzzing little hub of activity filled with the quaintest of characters. But again . . . why would anyone want a job there?

Specifically, why would Will (Andrew Garman) want a job there? He looks like he can do more than just handle a register – and goodness knows he’s certainly past the age where this job holds any challenge for him.

So . . . why?

Pauline (Danielle Slavick) interviews Will (Andrew Garman) (Photo Credit: Stephen Taylor)

As the lights rise on A Bright New Boise (written by Samuel D. Hunter and directed by Davis McCallum) we meet Pauline – tough, fast talking, get-the-job-done-and-ask-questions-later Pauline (Danielle Slavick) who manages The Hobby Lobby with an Iron Fist nestled in a Garden Glove. She’s interviewing Will, but the interview tells the audience more about Pauline than it does about Will.  Namely that she’s here to work, to keep her ducks in a row, and to make sure that no one screws up. She’s got a heart, of course, but it’s hard to find it under that gruff exterior. She conducts the interview in a  fast and furious way – the way she seems to do everything, only holding on to a thought, or a word or deed for as long as it serves its purpose before she’s off to the next thing.

When Will is told he’s gotten the job he’s “welcomed” by another worker, young Alex (Matt Farabee) who is withdrawn, sullen, prone to anxiety disorder, and fancies himself songwriter. In other words, Alex is a typical teenager. Only this teen has something else going for him – he’s the son Will left long ago, and he’s also the reason Will took this job. In essence – Alex is the “why”.

Will (Andrew Garman) helps his son Alex (Matt Farabee) (Photo Credit: Stephen Taylor)

Leroy – a Fuck-The-Establishment artist who likes to make people uncomfortable by saying strange things, licking the containers in the refrigerator and wearing “message’ tees is another co-worker who is also – we learn – Alex’s older stepbrother. As in-your-face as he purports to be, when it comes to his younger brother, Leroy (John Patrick Doherty) has a soft spot that’s accessible at any moment should he find his brother threatened. Which, when you’re a kid with a panic disorder who just found out that his father is back in town, is quite frequent.

Wedged into this gang is Anna (Sarah Nina Hayon), a sweet gal who stays back every night after lights out in order to hide out in the break room of The Hobby Lobby so she can read. How convenient – Will (who is writing an Internet serial about The Rapture — yes, he’s THAT kind of religious)  needing a place to write, is doing  pretty much the same thing.  They meet cute when Will happens upon Anna (surprise!) in the dark of the break room.

Anna (Sarah Nina Hayon) and Will (Andrew Garman) share the breakroom after hours (Photo Credit: Stephen Taylor)

The reader and the writer strike up an sweet, touching, and altogether palpably awkward friendship that teeters on romance but never quite reaches it. They vow to stay out of each other’s way, but each is draw to the other’s story. Anna brings out Will’s lovely side, but at odd moments (like when an “oh my God” slips from her lips, prompting Will to beseech her to watch the cursing) she also brings out his not-all-there side.

And there’s a lot not-all-there when it comes to Will . . . he’s not the mild mannered do-gooder he seems (or even believes himself) to be. He’s not just at The Hobby Lobby to meet his son, he’s also running away from a scandal that happened at the hands of some religious zealots – specifically the pastor of the church where he was living. So, yes, there may be a little something going on in the still waters that runs deeper than anyone is prepared to swim in. There’s a tinge of madness to this man – as much as he is carved from kindness. And it’s that complexity that makes this whole story so fascinating.

We’re pulling for Will, we want him to find something with Anna – romantically or platonically, and moreover we want Will to be a savior to his son – a boy who slipped between the cracks of the system too many times with bad foster parents who have neglected him horrifically, and never saw the abuse put on him by many respected teachers and role models.   Alex  has been damaged and craves something beyond the lesson of meaninglessness offered to him by his well meaning but screwed up foster brother.

Humorous at times there’s more to this play than a few laughs and broad character studies. By juxtaposing these deeply flawed people playwright Samuel D. Hunter has created a masterful microcosm of a spinning world where everyone is just trying to hold on in their own way. At some point, each character has their moment to explain who they are – or who they think they are – or who they wish they were. These beautifully written moments are layers that present the audience with each character’s complete life – the joys the pains the past regrets the future hopes.  Each actor brings a nuanced performance that moves quickly from likable to disdainful and all the points in between with stunning realism.  These are people you feel you know well, and can imagine befriending should you ever find yourself working at The Hobby Lobby for whatever reason.

Davis McCallum directs this play and somehow manages to make it bigger yet smaller at the same time. It’s both very intimate and personal, yet supremely universal. A Bright New Boise puts a human face behind many stereotypes and shows how everyone has a story that can touch you and resonate with you, despite your apparent differences.

Samuel D. Hunter has delivered a gem that does what great theatre should always do – starts you off laughing, and leaves you with a furrowed brow, wondering what happens to all the characters after the lights go out.

~~~~

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• What’s The Word I’m Looking For? – “The Realm” Will Leave You Speechless

I think it’s happened to all of us; there’s that one great memory – a perfectly time phrase at just the right moment, or a they’ll-never-believe-this experience you shared with someone, or a you-had-to-be-there anecdote that left the two of you shaking with laughter.  Years later you bring up the treasure to your partner in crime with a face-splitting grin: “Hey, remember the time we . . .” only to be greeted with a blank stare.  They shake their head, look confused, eyes are vacant . . . no, no . . . they can’t remember.   Are you SURE it was them?   You start retelling the whole thing in earnest, hoping something will spark their memory but suddenly even though it’s just like yesterday for you, for your friend the moment is gone and might as well have never happened.  It leaves you with almost the opposite of deja vu, not a “this happened before” moment, but a “did it really happen?” moment.  Now imagine a world where  everyone is losing their language; words they said to you just moments ago suddenly become meaningless to them.  And if the word becomes meaningless so does the concept.   And therefore, so does the conversation.  And soon, possibly the whole delicate framework of your relationship begins to lose its meaning.  And you can’t do a thing to make them remember  . . . so you might as well have experienced it all alone.  For all intents and purposes, the whole history of your existence  is lost.

Click Here To Read My Interview With Playwright Sarah Myers

Stepping foot into The Realm (written by Sarah Myers and directed by Jessica Fisch) is a little like that experience, and a little like no experience you’ve ever had.

Kansas (Emily Olson) is a girl who lives in The Realm and is somehow immune to (but very much aware of) the thing that exists in the air and robs people of their desires and of their words and eventually of their lives.  In the society that Myers has created everyone lives underground, sure that the sunlight will kill them.  They talk of inconsequential things, parrot phrases such as “The Future Is Yours!” “Only You are Accountable” and “If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, You’ll never Know When You Get There”,  and take measured bites of counted out food and sip water from vials as small as eye droppers. Their lives are plastic and so are their faces; an eerie representation of the fact that no one really needs to be different.  No one except Kansas, whose need to be different is so fierce that she hurls herself at the sky and bruises herself over and over again – and gladly so – in an attempt to fly away from what she knows can’t be the only way to exist.

As everyone else starts to age their language begins to leave them; their need for water markedly diminishes, and they all live out cookie-cutter lives where population is controlled in an almost Logan’s Run type fashion with people “retiring” once they hit a certain age and being killed by their children – which is considered an honor and falls to the child who deserves to do it the most.  No one questions the odd behavior they all carry out without discussion, they don’t question the semantic double-talk being fed to them constantly in idiomatic soundbites, nor do they question the rules that are in place for their own “good”.   No one questions it, because no one quite has the language to do so anymore.

Kansas is confronting this metamorphosis first hand as she watches her friend, James (Aaron Simon Gross) lose his language, and consequently his desire, right before her very eyes.  She desperately wants to pretend that he’s like her – immune – but as the days go on, and he begins to forget words he only just spoke, she knows she’s losing him.  Still, his transformation isn’t going as well as his parents, Mr. Father (Timur Kocak) and Mrs. Mother (Amy Temple) had hoped; to them he seems slow to progress and in need of Mind Review; a quasi talk-show/reality mind bender ministered by Ms. Analyst (Jessica Pohly), a snippy human soundbite herself who has more up her sleeve than she’s letting on.

Kansas has a counterpart that she’s not even aware of, except for the way she’s somehow spiritually connected, and that’s a woman named Laura (Amy Bodnar), a woman who was once part of The Realm and existed there long enough to lose parts of her language, but was also immune enough to realize that something was being stolen from her.  Laura speaks in lovely bits of shards and poetic rifts, almost like a siren call that beckons to Kansas – they twin each other with a fountain of words that become a beautiful duet, joining the two worlds as well as the two women in a hopeful burst.

Sarah Myers has done an amazing job of creating a world that is different enough from ours as to be fantastical, and yet contains enough touchstones so as to be completely identifiable with our own lives.  Ultimately, by putting Kansas in a situation where she is in danger of becoming isolated, Ms. Myers has layered in a fear that dwells in all of us – the fear of being misunderstood by those around us; the fear of having to live alone among others who don’t know what we’re talking about.  Failure to communicate leads to failure to thrive and flourish.  For Kansas she would rather chance the unknown in a land of unfamiliar elements than deal with what she knows will ultimately kill her spirit.

The entire ensemble of The Realm does a masterful job under Jessica Fisch’s direction to bring this alternate reality to life; at no point do they confuse “plastic” with”wooden” or “fake” with “false”.  Sarah Myers’ world is delivered to the audience in a complete and seamless package that is at once believable and real.  This is also due to Amanda Stephens smart scenic design, Nicole V. Moody’s innovative costume ideas and Paul Toben’s lighting design.  Also, acting as almost an additional character is the sound design created by Daniel Kluger and Charles Coes which must help transition James as he goes through his transformation from Kansas-level speaker to adult-level automaton.

The Realm is a place you won’t soon forget – and will leave you grateful for having the words to express how it made you feel.

(You can read my review with Ms. Myers by clicking the picture above or by following the link here.)

~~~

The Wild Project (195 East 3rd Street between Avenues A & B)

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