The Happiest Medium » Troy Miller

Blind Date Project – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

The Happiest Medium — Wed, 09 May 2012 23:01:39 +0000

The Bad Date Project

Benefiting: Food Bank for New York City
Produced/Written by Stephen Stocking & Troy Miller
Directed by Troy Miller
Performed by Christopher Bonewitz, Rachel Christopher, Stephen Stocking, Bridget Ori, Tara Carrozza, Leigh Dunham, Michael Levi Harris, Matthew Stapleton

“Who hasn’t had a bad date? No one. Not even your grandma. The Bad Date Project takes two lonely singles on a rocky treasure hunt for love…or fun…or just some kind of connection. Created from true stories, it’s a sexy, hilarious and tragic look at dating in the new millennium.”

Show Times:

Sat 6/2/12 – 6:00pm
Thu 6/7/12 – 10:00pm
Sun 6/10/12 – 2:00pm
Wed 6/13/12 – 8:00pm
Mon 6/18/12 – 4:00pm
Wed 6/20/12 – 9:30pm
Thu 6/21/12 – 8:00pm
Sat 6/23/12 – 3:00pm

Answers by Troy Miller

(Co-Creator, Co-Producer, Director)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
Troy: As we started talking about writing and developing the play, we didn’t have a name, but the idea was a project of sorts, so as a working title we started calling it THE BAD DATE PROEJCT and it sort of stuck. But it’s also appropriate to what the show is about. It’s a study of dating. It takes work to date and to figure out how to do it well. So the word “project” seemed to have a lot of meaning to us.

Diánna Martin’s Question
If you were going to invite 5 people (from the past or present) to see your show – who would you invite … and why?
Troy: The woman who lives on the Upper East Side, the guy who lives in Brooklyn, the recent college grad from Columbia because our show is about them and their lives. We took their stories (and many others) and created a slice-of-life comedy that speaks about a universal truth, dating sucks!

If we were to invite industry professionals we would invite Moises Kaufman because his creation of THE LARAMIE PROJECT was inspiration to us in how to create our piece and tell our story. Elia Kazan because of his natural take on theater and his ability to balance multiple facets of creating art at once. Currently both of the co-creators are juggling three jobs (Writer/Producer/Director or Actor) and Mr. Kazan was able to do it flawlessly.

Antonio Minino’s Question
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your art and was it worth it?
Troy: Any sacrifice you make for your art is always worth it if you are following your heart and dream. The biggest sacrifice we have made for this project was time. Both Stephen Stocking and I have invested a few years of our lives in bringing this play through its stages, with all of the roller coaster events that come with bringing a show to life. And now as we are just at the tip of that big hill, we see all that was behind us and all that is in front of us, and I think it was completely worth it!

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson’s Question
Was there any unexpected discovery made during the development of this production and can you share it with us?
Troy: I won’t speak for Stephen on this, but I learned a lot about dating; the dos and don’ts and what was acceptable behavior and what wasn’t. However, I think the funniest thing I learned as we developed this piece was how to end a date quickly. If I spoke about the play and how we were getting our bad date stories, without fail the date would be over within 15 minutes after I started talking about it. It would seem none of my dates wanted to risk any more of their likeness making its way into the play!

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
Troy: I would hope that they walk away feeling like they are not the only one who has suffered from a bad date, that they feel a sense of connection and camaraderie with the cast and the people whose stories went into the script. Overall that they spent 90 minutes feeling good, laughing and thinking, “wow, my dates weren’t THAT bad.”

___

Planet Connections runs from May 30 – June 24 at The Bleecker Street Theater located at 45 Bleecker Street, New York, NY. To purchase tickets to this or any of the shows click here.

Spring EATFest 2011 – Something For Every Taste

Karen Tortora-Lee — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 01:06:28 +0000

I have to hand it to Emerging Artists Theatre Company‘s artistic director, Paul Adams – when putting together the program for the Spring EATFest he perfectly chose the one-acts that comprise the evening of theatre – they managed to tell three great stories and still have you out of the theatre in about an hour.

There are two series in this Spring’s offering; I attended Series A but can only imagine that Series B packs as big of a punch. If there could have been a theme for Series A it might have been called Behind the Platitudes – because each one-act was a beautifully crafted little gem of a story that, on the surface, could have been subtitled (respectively) “You Can’t Go Home Again” / “Out With The Old, In With The New” / “He Was Right There All Along”. But that’s the thing behind idioms and platitudes – really, they’re easily repeatable phrases that often boil down a much more difficult concept. Come to Series A of EATFest and you’ll get a trio of heartfelt stories that illustrate each of these ideas, some times with humor, some times with frustration, but always with heart.

In Staying Put written by Kathleen Warnock and directed by Vivian Meisner we find a woman, Ferro (Laura Fois) who has come home to deal with the death of her parent, and sort out what remains of the last few strands of her life back in the town she once called home. As she sits on the porch with Stuckey (Desmond Dutcher), the companionable conversation moves from “back then” to what could happen now, what should happen and what will happen. Ultimately while there’s something to be said for going back to what’s familiar it’s also obvious that once too much time has past even what was once familiar isn’t the same anymore. However, we’re not always looking to revisit something expecting it to be exactly the same.

In The Takeover written by Barbara Lindsay and directed by Kelly Johnston we come upon a secretary (yes, a secretary) who is retiring after giving her entire life to the company. Margaret (Blanche Choler) is noticeably perplexed at how young, casual about titles (“His name is “Mr. McChesney” she scolds) and distracted by cell phones her new replacement is. Margaret is the definition of “old school”, she knows where everything is because she’s the one who put it there. As Mr. McChesney (Richard Cottrell) chides “This place will fall apart after you leave!” but of course it’s all just for display; the new Administrative Assistant – correction – Executive Administrative Assistant – is just what the old boy needs. Heather (Caitlin Johnston) has already fit right in, bringing a new spark, a shot of energy and even a new system for bringing everything into this century. But the truth is – while change is always going to happen, it’s hardly ever easy. For anyone.

Lastly, Clean written by Audrey Cefaly and directed by Troy Miller is an almost Frankie and Johnny-like tale set in a diner after hours. Marisol (Glory Gallo) is a waitress at the diner; when we meet her she’s flat on her back after having fallen while cleaning up. Roberto (Matt Stapleton) the dishwasher comes upon her and at first tries to help but after being told to not bother calling anyone decides to sit and keep Marisol company till she feels ready to move. In order to pass the time the two coworkers who have known each other for years but have had hardly more than ten words with each other, begin to trade anecdotes about their past. What unfolds is a sweet, tender, lovely story that explains how what we need from another person may be just there, under the surface.

While each of these one-acts are strong on their own taken together they make for a powerful, touching night of theatre.

~~~

EATfest 2011 Series A

It’s Ladies Night! 3 New Plays by Women

TADA Theatre

15 W. 28th St. (2nd floor)

New York, NY

Series A

Monday and Thursday nights at 7pm,

Saturdays at 9pm

Tickets are $18

To purchase tickets online go to

www.emergingartiststheatre.org

or click here

Or call 800-838-3006