The Happiest Medium » Interview

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

The Happiest Medium — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:20:45 +0000

Trafficked

Benefiting: GEMS
Created by Members of Project Girl Performance Collective
Directed by Ashley Marinaccio

Show Times:

Mon 6/4/12 – 4:00pm
Fri 6/8/12 – 6:00pm
Sun 6/10/12 – 5:30pm
Sat 6/16/12 – 4:30pm
Thu 6/21/12 – 5:00pm
Sat 6/23/12 – 1:30pm

Answers by various cast/staff members of TRAFFICKED including

Mildred Jones-Hamm (Performer), Monica Furman (Performer/Creator), Chioneso Bakr (Performer), Ashley Marinaccio (Director)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?

Ashley Marinaccio: Trafficked tells the story of sex slavery and child exploitation through the eyes of fifteen young women. In an ensemble devised performance constructed by interviews, research and media, the cast puts a name and face to the thousands of undocumented girls and boys who are trafficked into the billion dollar sex industry each year. We chose to call our show Trafficked because it summarizes what our show is about.

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?

Somaly Mam – She is an activist who has dedicated her life to ending human trafficking. Her work has motivated this production. We hope that through our show we can help to raise awareness of people like Somaly Mam who are changing lives each day.

Gloria Steinem – As young feminists we deeply admire Gloria and feel that she has blazed the trail to let us be who we are today. It would be an honor for her to join us.

Eve Ensler – Eve has created a movement to end violence against women. She is our biggest influence. We would love for Eve to lead a workshop and talk back with our girls.

Michele Obama – We love the work that our first lady has done to empower women and girls in the United States and around the world. We have had the privilege of performing at The White House once and would love for Mrs. Obama to see
Trafficked.

Oprah – We want Oprah to see our work! She has changed so many lives and inspires us beyond words. We hope that our work will inspire Oprah the way that she has inspired us.

Antonio Minino’s Question
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your art and was it worth it?
Mildred Jones-Hamm (Age 21): The biggest sacrifice I made for my art is moving away from suburban Michigan, away from the security of family, my university, and friends to create a life in New York City. To develop my art in a place which I knew nothing about. Not only have I grown more independent but I also seek the importance of art and the decisions in my life. I’ve learned there is security in nothing so in order to excel I have to be fearless and make bold decisions in my life and ART. Through this experience I have become aware of my self worth as a individual, I truly believe that everything happens for a reason with this I have broaden my horizons as a thinker, artist and achiever it was totally 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?
- Monica Furman (Age 16): I’m from Ukraine. I had no idea that Ukraine was a place of such immense sexual exploitation! I had never heard any family members talk about it, so I was very surprised when I came upon the information during my research for my character.
- Chioneso Bakr (Age 17): During production I learned that sex trafficking not only happens outside the US, but right inside my own city. To know that this issue is happening in my backyard, it makes the situation much more frightening.

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
- Chioneso Bakr: The show should be the type of experience where audience would want to tell others about it. I would hope they would enjoy it, feel the acting, become emotional, and understand how serious sex trafficking is.

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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.

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.”

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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.

The American Play – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

The Happiest Medium — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:01:58 +0000

The American Play

Benefiting: Sanctuary for Families
Produced by The Dirty Blondes
Written by Ashley J. Jacobson

“A sinister tale of a burgeoning friendship in an increasingly sociopathic society hell-bent on making monsters of its men and objects of its women. What would Partick Bateman do?”

Show Times:

Mon 6/4/12 – 6:00pm
Thur 6/7/12 – 10:30pm
Thur 6/14/12 – 4:00pm
Wed 6/20/12 – 8:30pm
Fri 6/22/12 – 6:00pm
Sat 6/23/12 – 6:30pm

Answers by Alexandra Siladi (Director),

Ashley Jacobson (Playwright),

Elizabeth Sarkady (Manager)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
Alexandra Siladi: Our show was inspired by American Psycho – playwright Ashley Jacobson decided on this specific title because we also realized this story was a capsule of modern American life. It is about white men, a demographic who not only who founded the country we live in, but continue to decide on the laws & regulations that govern its citizens. We see this play as a comment on American society and how in 20 years since American Psycho was written, not only has the story of Patrick Bateman been embraced by a large majority of those who know it, but it has become an iconic vision of the American male’s greatest concerns: image, sex, power, and money.

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?
AS: Bret Easton Ellis, because he wrote the book that is our inspiration in addition to being one of the most prolific writers of our generation, Christian Bale because he’s the inspiration for the film and our play’s image, Marilyn French the author of The War Against Women written years before the hashtag was part of our lexicon, Donald Trump Jr. because he would make a great Bateman and might be inspired to support the arts, and…

Ashley Jacobson: Quentin Tarantino, because I think he’d really like it.

Antonio Minino’s Question
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your art and was it worth it?
AS: The biggest sacrifice I’ve made for my art was my life – I’ve given myself up not only for this play, but for theater. It’s great exploring the mysteries of the human condition through the performing arts, I don’t see any other way.

AJ: As a writer, the artistic process is solitary, confining, alienating. You can’t do it with friends, of for me, a crowded room. I sit alone and stare at a computer screen and let the voices in my head guide me. Especially with this play, I think the sacrifice has been a bit of a social life, and a lot of my sanity. I dream about these people and hear their voices. It’s rewarding to hand it over to the production team and let them inhabit that world for a while.

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson’s Question
Was there any unexpected discovery made during the development of this production and can you share it with us?
AS: In the beginning, my goal was to bring American Psycho to life as essentially a one-person play told by multiple actors. From this seed, it has become a play about two fully formed characters that are able to exist as a comment on the same darkness that exists in the book. Also, we’ve discovered that live actresses make a better chorus than mannequins.

Elizabeth Sarkady: The original idea of the play came about before our company, The Dirty Blondes. After our company formed and we came back to this project, we noticed that the fact that this was a script about men penned and developed by women gave it a subversive feminist agenda.

AJ: After the first round of auditions, the entire production team was really depressed and freaked out by the show. It was a turning point in the writing process because we realized that we had created such a dark world, but we weren’t offering an alternative. We were just painting a picture of a cartoonish cruel world as if it was exact and inescapable. We had a little bit of an email therapy session, and I went back to the drawing board. From there, we added scenes and words that became the heart of the play; that made it more human; more touching and much more powerful.

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
AS: We hope the audience experiences not only the Brechtian ideal of “alienation” (which we’re going for with breaking down the fourth wall) but that they are moved to look at how their behavior in even the most subtle forms of expression or language can impact the series of events that leads to violence. Violence begets violence, and we hope that the audience might not just turn their head to this fact, but try to stop it and show some kindness, which is not an easy feat.

AJ: Alex puts this perfectly. I just hope people are touched. The play points to so many elements of our daily lives – sexism, bullying, capitalism, etc. The takeaway message, though, is that it is all about how we treat each other, the damage we do to each other for the sake of “survival.” Kindness, and live-and-let-live can be a form of survival as well.

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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.

The Taint Of Equality, Or I Want Your Sex – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

The Happiest Medium — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:48:42 +0000

The Taint of Equality, ~or~ I Want Your Sex

Benefiting: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
Produced by Cross-Eyed Bear Productions
Written/Directed by Duncan Pflaster

“Adrian and Javier are a gay couple who don’t believe in marriage- but everyone assumes they’re married. When they realize they’ve never actually opened up their “open relationship”, they decide to each go out and get laid, with hilarious and erotic results. Featuring an all-male cast of 13 in an epic satire of modern gay society. Warning: Nudity.”

Show Times:

Fri 6/8/12 – 6:30pm
Wed 6/13/12 – 10:00pm
Sat 6/16/12 – 10:00pm
Mon 6/18/12 – 7:30pm
Thu 6/21/12 – 10:00pm
Sat 6/23/12 – 6:30pm

Answers by Duncan Pflaster
(Writer, Director)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
Duncan: It actually took a long time and I went through several titles- It began life called Fidelity, was called Sex and Sensibilities for a while, then went through a number of options that weren’t quite right: One Touch of Penis, The Salad of the Bad Young Men, I Am Into Champagne, Wang the Drum Slowly, and then I tentatively settled on the somewhat bland Equality for the first draft and private reading with my playwright group… but then I read an interview with Paul Rudd in US Weekly where he mentioned the awkwardness of doing nude scenes and pitied the poor soundman who had to look at his hairy taint- and BAM, “The Taint of Equality” it was. The pun sounds vaguely dirty and makes people giggle, but the other meaning resonates with the Gay Marriage themes of the play. And the subtitle of course is from the 80s George Michael song- since he’s struggled in his personal life with some of the same fidelity/monogamy issues as my characters (and is mentioned in the play), that just seemed to be appropriate.

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?
Duncan: (Singer) George Michael, (Playwright) Noel Coward, (Composer) Stephen Sondheim, (Columnist) Dan Savage, and (Gay-for-Pay Porn Star) Paul Carrigan- each of them inspired parts of the play, and I think they’d get a kick out of it.

Antonio Minino’s Question
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your art and was it worth it?
Duncan: Oh man, it seems like I’m always sacrificing something to make my shows happen. I’ve been averaging two full-length shows per year the last few years, and it’s been more and more of a difficult battle. Frankly, though I’m extremely proud of all the plays I’ve done and have been very lucky to work with such great people through the years, it’s been feeling less and less worth it as I go on. I’m considering giving up producing my own work and just doing something else for a while.

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson’s Question
Was there any unexpected discovery made during the development of this production and can you share it with us?
Duncan: Well, I wrote the first draft of this play in 2 months, which is the shortest amount of time in which I’ve ever written a full-length play (I usually average about a year), so that was unexpected; I didn’t know I could write so quickly. I’m still working on more drafts of Nothing Human, the other (more dramatic) play which I took a hiatus from to write Taint.

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
Duncan: I hope they are entertained, but also leave thinking about the issues; they’re presented in a hilarious way, but deep down it’s a serious show that presents philosophical questions about relationships and what they could look like.

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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.

The Count Of Monte Cristo – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

The Happiest Medium — Sat, 05 May 2012 20:14:22 +0000

The Count of Monte Cristo

Benefiting: UJA of New York
Produced by Provident Productions
Book, Music & Lyrics by James Behr
Composed & Arranged & Musically Directed by James Behr

“The Count of Monte Cristo, a musical based upon the famed Alexandre Dumas novel, now comes to the Broadway stage! Come see the beloved and thrilling story of love, revenge and redemption in this prize-winning and critically acclaimed new musical.”

Show Times:

Tue 6/12/12 – 6:30pm
Sat 6/16/12 – 8:30pm
Sun 6/17/12 – 4:00pm
Mon 6/18/12 – 7:00pm
Thu 6/21/12 – 9:00pm
Sat 6/23/12 – 3:30pm

Answers by James Behr

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
James: The title is based upon the book, “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas, which the musical is adapted from.

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?
James: Richard Rodgers – because I admire his music so much

Franklin Delano Roosevelt – Because I admire what he accomplished as President

Winston Churchill – because I admire his determination and contributions to history.

Moses – Because he is such huge factor in religion and morality.

Philip J. Smith, Chairman, Co-CEO, The Shubert Organization – because I would like to have my musical produced.

Antonio Minino’s Question
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your art and was it worth it?
James: I gave up a very lucrative profession to do what I am doing, and have put thousands of hours of my time and talent into what I’m trying to accomplish as an artist. What it worth it? I like creating, but I am still awaiting the opportunity to be taken seriously and given a fair chance to be seen.

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson’s Question
Was there any unexpected discovery made during the development of this production and can you share it with us?
James: Well, I knew it was going to be very difficult to get the attention of the entertainment industry, but even so, I did not expect it to be as challenging as it has been to get producers to communicate and be open-minded to a new work based upon such a famous story.

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
James: A sense that there are new musical, like The Count of Monte Cristo that respect the great traditions of Broadway and deserve to get attention and help from those in the industry capable of making things happen. There is a sad tendency now to support the rich and famous and ignore new talent simply because they are unknown.

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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.

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

The Happiest Medium — Sat, 05 May 2012 01:22:40 +0000

Safe

Benefiting: National Eating Disorders Association
Produced by Ego Actus
Written by Penny Jackson
Directed by Joan Kane

“SAFE is a drama set in Manhattan about two unhappy teenagers, one anorexic and the other overweight, who find themselves in danger when they encounter charming Phillip, an older teacher with a dangerous secret.”

Show Times:

Fri 6/1/12 – 7:00pm
Sat 6/2/12 – 3:00pm
Mon 6/4/12 – 10:00pm
Wed 6/6/12 – 4:00pm
Sat 6/9/12 – 8:00pm
Thu 6/14/12 – 6:00pm

Answers by Penny Jackson
(Playwright)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
Penny: As a teacher and parent, I would always hear the term “safe” when discussing children and adolescents. I decided to write about two teenage girls who, although they may be protected by money, find themselves in real danger by their parents’ selfishness and the pressure of today’s world for women to be physically perfect.

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?
Penny: I would invite Sylvia Plath because she understood the pressures of being a too smart woman and of course because she wrote “The Bell Jar”, which is a book that one of my main characters, Liz, reads in the treatment center for her anorexia. I would invite Queen Elizabeth I because she was not only one of the most powerful women in history, but also supported playwrights. I would invite Virginia Woolf, who convinced me, as well as so many other female writers, to find a room of my own. In the present I would invite Sarah Ruhl, a playwright I so admire, and Toni Morrison, the Novel prize winning novelist, whose “Bluest Eye” is such a lovely and powerful book about identity.

Antonio Minino’s Question
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your art and was it worth it?
Penny: Sleep. When I’m writing, I can’t sleep because my mind is still composing dialogue and scenes. I’m also a real nervous wreck every time I see my work performed. But even tired and jittery, it’s still 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?
Penny: As a novelist who spends way too much time alone in front of my computer, I really appreciate the collaborative effort it takes to create a play. I have learned so much from my director, my producer, my actors, and all the other wonderfully talented people involved in my production team. My play , like a child, truly needs a village to mature. What started as an observation about bullying in a high school class is now a fully realized dramatic work.

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
Penny: I hope that my adults in my audience will remember that when you are an adolescent, you cannot see the future, and that every day to a young person can feel like the last day. I hope that my young members of the audience will be able to see beyond their present and that the future is indeed within their grasp. I also hope that my play shows that if we believe that advertising and the media dictates the way we must look and behave, then we are not safe.

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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.

Baby Plays The Banjo – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

The Happiest Medium — Fri, 04 May 2012 22:11:09 +0000

This is your brain on Kimberly Pau. Any Questions?

Baby Plays The Banjo

Benefiting: Brooklyn Public Library
Produced/Written by Kimberly Pau
Directed by Eric Mercado

“I’m having Justin Beiber’s baby. Really. I am. BABY PLAYS THE BANJO explores our love of the mainstream media and how it comforts us.”

Show Times:

Wed 5/30/12 – 6:00pm
Sun 6/3/12 – 10:00pm
Tues 6/5/12 – 9:00pm
Sun 6/10/12 – 8:00pm
Sat 6/16/12 – 6:30pm

Answers by Kimberly Pau
(Writer, Producer)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
Kimberly: It’s about a girl who believes her baby was fathered by Justin Beiber and is thus a musical genius.

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?
Kimberly: Gandhi, one of the greatest men who ever lived and it would be nice to share a laugh, Caryl Churchill, Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman for notes and Justin Beiber?… not really… I’d rather talk about music with Obama.

Antonio Minino’s Question
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your art and was it worth it?
Kimberly: Giving up the idea of being financially stable or having free time or vacation. I don’t really think it’s worth it, no. And also living in debt forever is pretty bad too, so no definitely a bad decision, would live like normal people if I could help myself.

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson’s Question
Was there any unexpected discovery made during the development of this production and can you share it with us?
Kimberly: Well Eric Mercado (director) and I were developing this project last summer after I had written most of the script and was shooting in Estonia and he started emailing and texting me like mad with links to a story about a woman claiming to be carrying a baby Beiber so it was in the collective unconscious I guess. We thought it was pretty funny.

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
Kimberly: I recently heard Adam Curtis lecture and he said something that really moved me and summed up what I’m going for thematically with Banjo, “because all we think about is ourselves we are imprisoned by our own feelings.” So to be more specific, I hope the audience is influenced by the show’s depiction of our dependence on the American media and also on celebrities to provide an emotional and social construct for our collective behavior and the consequences of finding comfort there.

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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.

Larry Kunofsky Take 2 … Still Imaginative – Nowhere Near Imaginary

Karen Tortora-Lee — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:08:01 +0000

You’ve read part one. You clamored for another round! What could be more fun that sitting in on a conversation between me and brilliant playwright Larry Kunofsky as we discuss the road that led to his upcoming production of Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary?

Last time Larry explained how everyone has an imaginary component (in a way) … and he explained how his main character, Marci, spends a Saturday evening running from party to party in New York City looking for the man she’s dating — only to discover she possibly didn’t know him as well as she thought she did. We also got into what lies at the heart of Larry’s writing. Good stuff!

Today we’re talking about how Larry and The Management came to partner up for Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary, Larry references Tolstoy AND Voltaire (in the same answer!) and gives us a little taste of what your dinner conversation will be like after you see his play. So, grab your drink, settle in, and enjoy … Larry Kunofsky, Part 2:

Let’s talk for a minute about finding the right company to produce your work. Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary is being produced by The Management. What are some of the great things about having another company produce your work as opposed to doing it through your own company, Purple Rep?

Well don’t get me wrong, I am committed to Purple Rep and have grown to love producing, even though I know that I’m not anywhere near the kind of producer that I want to become just yet. But having someone else produce my play – which is something that hasn’t happened in a while on my own home turf here in NYC – that ROCKS!

I feels so decadent! I can be Just The Playwright! I feel like a Roman Emperor! Where are the slave girls to dangle grapes over my gaping mouth?!

And if you knew The Management’s budget, you’d be laughing at me here, not with me (which you might have been doing already). This is not a decadent company. They are workers, and they have a guerrilla approach to doing more with less (in terms of budget, at least), and this is inspiring to me. When Purple Rep grows up, I want it to be just like The Management. But also different.

I have been Just The Playwright in the room at other times in my career and have felt a weird compulsion to get up and apologize for being there. But not with The Management. They were excited about me and by my work from the beginning, and their sincerity and warmth in making me feel welcome in their “home” has never wavered – just as the rigor of their talents has never seemed to diminish.

Purple Rep is still evolving (and is designed to have an ever-floating repertory of theatre artists on board), and everyone who takes part in a Purple Rep project is in our home because I opened the door and asked them to come in. With The Management, there was already a family in this home, and I’m the guest. But I love this family. I’m very familiar with Josh’s work as a playwright and with Megan Hill’s work as an actor. And to have them involved in the production of my play is deeply meaningful to me.

Working with The Management has allowed me to collaborate with director Meg Sturiano and to get to know her as an artist and human being. This has been among the very most satisfying aspects of this experience for me. Meg is an amazing director. Her process is so active, kinetic, muscular, and her approach and her spirit and her enthusiasm has been so nurturing and empowering.

But the whole family thing means more to me than the relief of not having to produce my play myself. Nicole & Josh Beerman just had a baby boy. And we looked at pictures during rehearsal the other day, and we were kvelling! Maybe I’ve been the curmudgeon-in-residence at other times in my life, but it has been so lovely to get to know this family and to be a guest in their home.

It seems that every off off Broadway production company I know of has some sort of mission statement that goes beyond “we do great plays” and fine tunes it down to: “We do plays centered on promoting XYZ” or “We produce plays that take place in a certain part of the world” or “a certain time in history” or “come from the perspective of X” As both a playwright – who looks to work with other companies – as well as someone who started his own production company, what are your thoughts about that? And did it make finding a company for Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary easier or more difficult?

Well the second part of this question is easier to answer, so I’ll start there:

The Management was actively looking for new plays by other playwrights. The first show of The Management that I saw was MilkMilk Lemonade by company member Josh Conkel (of whom I’ve already proclaimed my love), but starting last year with Crystal Skillman (if I say I love her, too, does this make me seem like I love everybody? [a little bit ... yes] Because I don’t, but when I do love somebody, and/or their work, I shout it from the rooftops, and I really do love Crystal) [Well then that's just necessary, I would say ...], and her play CUT, The Management was clearly looking beyond Josh and his work.

But I didn’t approach them, they approached me. Actually, they approached me after they approached Adam Szymkowicz.

Well, that’s quite an honor! Like being the one Brad Pitt chose after he chose Jennifer Aniston … That makes you Angelina.

Adam Szymkowicz is one of the finest playwrights I know, whose work is always elegant, funny, inventive, and heartbreaking. He also has a blog on which he interviews playwrights – and this blog has become an amazing resource, and a way to validate lots of lesser-known playwrights, as well as a way of informing the public about the inner workings of some better-known playwrights, too.

He also happens to be among my very favorite people in the world. I was the Best Man at his wedding, a fact that I never tire of informing people about.

I think originally, The Management asked Adam if he’d send them one of his own plays, but somehow that didn’t work out (I think the dude has, like, FIVE off-Off Broadway plays lined up, which has got to be a record!), and then I think he suggested his wife, Kristen Palmer’s play The Heart In Your Chest, which I think The Management is strongly interested in, but it might have been too daunting for this season. And so then Adam suggested that they read Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary.

I don’t think that The Management knew back then what a close friend I am to Adam, and so they figured, wow, this dude Adam’s interviewed hundreds of playwrights, and then he just throws the name Larry Kunofsky out there, so this dude Kunofsky must be the fanciest playwright in town.

I know that’s what I would think!

Which, of course, is hilarious, because I am so not fancy.

Well, a little bit. Some times you’re a little bit fancy. But I’m sorry … go on …

And so then, Meg Sturiano, Management company member and director-in-residence emailed me, asking for the script.

Now, I have a personal ethic about rapid response to all communications, both personal and professional. If you contact me, whoever you are, I will get back to you within a day, or I will commit Seppuku or something.

Damn, Larry. That’s hardcore.

There must be something Calvinist hidden within my Modern Orthodox Jewish upbringing.

Oh, wait … you said “seppuku”. I thought you said … ah … never-mind. Keep going …

However, when Meg first wrote to me, I was in rehearsals for The Un-Marrying Project during the first season of Purple Rep. And I was trying to wear all these hats on my one head: playwright, Artistic Director, “Producer,” money-borrower, favor-caller-in-er, plumber, etc., that I actually took a couple days to get back to Meg, whom I hadn’t even met, and, really, this goes against the very core of my belief system, but Meg didn’t know that, so she must have figured, wow, this dude is so fancy that he doesn’t even want me to read his work, which is hilarious because I used to spend way too much time BEGGING for directors and producers to read my work.

So Meg wrote back in this really humble way, apologizing for asking to read my script again, but if the very notion wasn’t too offensive to me, it would be an honor for her just to hear back from me, or something like that. And then I was just too embarrassed about the whole thing to even acknowledge how I violated my own ethics in my rapid-responsibilities. So I just emailed her the play with, I think, no comment. Which probably made me seem even more aloof and remote.

I’m on the edge of my seat … I can’t wait to hear what happens next!

But then Meg and the company read the script, and they actually liked it, and then they met me in person, and we hung out, and they realized that I wasn’t really a jerk, it just seemed that way via email. And then we started working together.

All of that is not to suggest that one should act like a jerk on purpose, because chances are, you will be successful at coming across as a jerk that way. I was just illustrating how, despite so many conflicting factors at play, it was the right place and the right time for me to collaborate with The Management.

Wow. That was just the answer to the second part. I haven’t even gotten to the first part. I may not be fancy, but I am verbose.

And, a bit hypnotic because at this point I’m not sure I remember my question. I think it was about how every company has a fine-tuned mission statement and how does that affect you submitting your work to other companies. But that was just a jumping off point. Get around to it when it makes sense to.

I’m actually very bad at submitting my work to other companies, because I’ve been writing plays for a long time and it seems that the only way to get your work seen by the right people is when they come looking for you.

The problem with this philosophy is that this particular instance is the ONLY time this has ever worked out for me.

So I’ve got to get better at submitting my work to other companies. Both as an individual playwright with a bunch of unproduced plays, and as the Artistic Director of a (VERY!) small theatre company with a tiny budget (picture me walking around clothed only in a barrel held up by suspenders, because that’s my new look for next year) that is eager to co-produce with other individual artists and producing entities, my need to collaborate more with as many other theatre companies and theatre artists as possible is essential for me to remain even a blip near the radar screen.

The Off-Off Broadway scene is really, really happening right now. There are a lot of companies doing really, really fine work. I love Flux Theatre Ensemble and The Amoralists, and Nosedive, and Packawallop, and Boomerang, and Blue Coyote, and Rising Phoenix Rep, and whatever’s happening at The Brick is always exciting, to name just the companies I didn’t have to spend even one second thinking about.

When I look back at the last sentence I just wrote, I don’t really think about the “sensibility” or the “aesthetics” of these companies, I think about how I love the plays that these people produce, the playwrights, actors, directors, designers who tend to work with these companies, and basically, I like the people who work at these companies. I dig them as people. I grok them, if you will. (I use that word in a lot of my plays. Look it up. Seriously.)

I’ll do you one better:

I think that’s really what it’s about. And yet, these companies do have a very specific sensibility and aesthetic, and my own company, Purple Rep, most emphatically does, too!

But it’s important to remember that when I become interested in a theatre company (and I think this is true for most people), it’s rare that I care first and foremost about their mission statement. If I like the plays that the company produces (and they have to produce, not just develop! Because institutionalized Play Development is the NINTH CIRCLE OF HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and I like the people involved, then I’m interested. But it’s good when a company has a very clear mission. It makes them look like they know what they’re talking about.

There’s another lovely tension between the idea that everyone working consistently Off-Off Broadway is part of (in a sense) one company, and the fact that, as it appears on the surface, different companies do different things. Another way of saying this is: the Off-Off Broadway community (in which I am deeply honored and proud to participate) is often just a bunch of tiny communities. And other times, it really is one community. And that tension gives us balance; it’s a good thing that both things are true. Sometimes the tiny company- or project-based communities are like ghettos, but their separate-ness brings diversity and richness to what we do. So sometimes I’ll work in my little Purple Rep shtetl or visit the ‘hood around the corner. As an Artistic Director, I aim towards a fidelity to the ideals on which my company was founded, but as a playwright, I have a more promiscuous attitude – I want to crawl into bed with all kinds of companies. Please Note: This last bit is a metaphor. I don’t want theatre companies considering my work to think that sleeping with me is a requirement.

Noted.

Karen, do you think anyone is still reading this at this point?

Well, I am. You are. Presumably Adam Szymkowicz stuck around.

I mean, it was a great question, but the answer makes War And Peace look like a novella. But to paraphrase Voltaire, I didn’t have time to give you a short answer, so I only gave you a long answer.

Look at me.

It’s come to this now.

I’m the guy who goes around paraphrasing Voltaire.

Sometimes I worry about myself.

Back to your play. I’m going to give you a scenario. A group of friends go to see your play and then go out to dinner afterwards. What do you think they will find the most interesting part of the play to chew on over dinner? What will be that one point that they all either have varying opinions on, or the one part that (hopefully) gives them the most to think about?

Well I like to personally attend all the performances (or as many as possible) of my plays in production, so since I’ll be there, I think that this group will no doubt speak, to some degree, about my play, at least at first, but then they will no doubt spend the rest of their evening remarking upon how strikingly handsome I am. Sure, the guy’s talented, I can hear them saying, but damn, he’s SO GOOD LOOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can we see that picture again?

Oh wait, does this imaginary scenario take place in something similar to reality? Well, I wasn’t specific, but let’s go with “yes”. If so, I feel that I should revise my answer. Not necessary, but I won’t be the one to stop you.

Honestly, I think that this is the PERFECT question for this play in particular. Thank you.

There’s no intermission in this play, so it’s technically a full-length one-act, but there are two very separate parts of the play, both with distinct energies. It starts out pretty manic and antic and frenzied and kooky and almost dreamlike and surreal, and surreal in a way that feels almost hyper-real, and then it gets MORE manic and MORE antic and MORE frenzied and MORE kooky (or kookier) and MORE dreamlike and surreal and hyper-real, but then… after all of that… it shifts gears.

As the play winds down (after it gets to a point where you think it might run off the rails), as the play begins to prepare you to usher yourselves out into the night, the play becomes quieter and slower and softer of tone and spirit and more wistful and more somber, but also still funny, but funny in a whole different way.

And this new and different energy that the play finds in itself becomes almost like a whole second act, or perhaps even a whole other play entirely.

And I think that’s what people will be talking about later that evening. That transformation. And how… transformative…. It was. I really do!

How the play was one thing, and how it reached a fever pitch of that one thing, and how it then became another thing altogether. And how those energies affected them, these imaginary friends of yours, and, one hopes, the actual audience, as well.

Maybe some people won’t dig it, that shift. But I bet some people will. And perhaps some people will greatly prefer one of these two energies to the other. But I bet some people might connect deeply to the way that the energy went one way and then went another way. Maybe this evening of theatre and its shifting energy will remind people of the day they just had. Because some days are like that. And personally, any day when I see a play that has its own distinct energy, it changes the rhythm of my whole day. I know that theatre – really great theatre – can change your life. My simple hope is that my play will just change your day. In a good way, of course. And I want to say one more time that, yes, this is what I truly expect people to be talking about after they’ve seen my play.

But all my plays are about intimacy and tenderness and the need to connect, and how DIFFICULT all these things can be, and so if all I do with my life is to help generate the conversation of strangers towards these themes, then, despite what my teachers predicted, I won’t have been a complete and total screw-up.

Bonus Question! (but mandatory). You can answer this last one any way you want – it’s free form! Leave me with some last thoughts about the play, tell me a joke, give me a recipe, create a haiku, promote your favorite cause … tell me the best purchase you ever made. Really, the sky is the LIMIT! Anything that you feel like sharing - GO!

I’ll just say one more thing:

The last time I saw you, you told me that I was your favorite playwright.

I stopped you, and said, REALLY?! (Because I had to double-check. We had both been drinking.)

And you said, yes, you, Larry Kunofsky, are my favorite playwright.

And I responded to that by saying, I bet you say that to all the playwrights! But I think that was my way of being un-ready to handle the compliment you were giving me.

So I have a follow-up question that I will both ask of you and then answer for you:

Question: Do you know what that means to me?!

Answer: Everything. It means everything to me.

_______________

Well, the conversation doesn’t end there, but the interview does, my lovelies! So — now that this 2 part interview has stimulated your brain and given you all sorts of breadcrumbs about Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary don’t forget to mark your calendars and buy your tickets now. And be sure to stop back and read the review!

~~~

Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary

by Larry Kunofsky

directed by Meg Sturiano

Starring: Darcy Fowler,Debargo Sanyal, Danielle Slavick, Maya Lawson, Risa Sarachan, Jordan Mahome, Quinlan Corbett, Kirsten Hopkins, Kunal Prasad, Geoffrey Hillback, and Penny Middleton.

Lighting design by Grant Wilcoxen.

Set design by Kyle Dixon. Stage Managed by Kelly Ruth Cole.

Running: 4/5-4/28, Thurs-Sat @ 8:00 @ UNDER St. Marks

Tickets are on sale now!

Cost:$18; $15 students/seniors

Click HERE to Buy Tickets Online or Call: SmartTix at 212-868-4444

________________________________________________________________

Larry Kunofsky – Unimaginably Imaginative. But NOT Imaginary – Take 1

Karen Tortora-Lee — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:14:19 +0000

You may think my life is all about going to shows, sitting in the dark, absorbing — going back home … writing reviews. It is NOT. My life is about highlighting, showcasing and celebrating the talented people of the independent entertainment world that I am lucky enough to experience. I only know how to do that one way: by knowing their work first, and then – if it works out – by meeting them for interviews, then seeing them socially … then interviewing them again. It helps when I can know the artist from the inside out – Know Them: Know Their Work. In turn: Know Their Work … Understand How To Distill It To An Audience. Voila - suddenly it’s all second nature.

Larry Kunofsky and I started out like any playwright/reviewer. But we soon learned that we had a lot to say to each other. A LOT. Larry is many things: a playwright, a thinker, a brilliant man. He’s as much an interviewer as an interviewee, and that’s what makes for a good give and take. In a few weeks The Management Theater Company will be doing his play Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary. I had a lot to ask him. He had a lot to tell me. As a result I ended up with a two parter – and so did you, lucky reader. So, grab a drink and get ready to find out why New York City on a Saturday Night can be like falling down the rabbit hole, read why every relationship has an imaginary component to it, and, if Feist gets mentioned, play some of her music as you read. That’s what the link is for.

Love the title: Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary.

Larry Kunofsky: Thanks, Karen. I won’t deny it, some of my titles are pretty nifty. I’ll let people like you speak to the merits of the plays themselves, but I hope that you and your readers will indulge me my little self-back-patting when it comes to Title-Pride.

If a play is sex, then a good title is foreplay. And if giving good foreplay is my legacy, I’ll accept my lot in life.

And we’re off!

Truthfully, Larry – How many imaginary boyfriends do you think are floating around out there? I bet in New York alone there are THOUSANDS. What’s your ballpark figure?

LK: I’ve never met any adult who has admitted to having an imaginary boyfriend or girlfriend. I think there are probably scores of undocumented cases of such things, but how would we quantify this? It’s kind of like trying to find out how many people cheat on their taxes.

Wait. Just got an idea for a play. An Internal Emotional Revenue Service that documents the love that we feel for others. A society in which intimacy is taxed. And your imaginary boyfriends need to be declared. That could be the next play… written by somebody else. That’s a terrible idea!

Frankly, I’ve heard worse.

LK: Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary is not really about imaginary people. And in general, I’m much more interested in how we imagine our actual partners to be. Y’know what I mean?

No. Tell me more.

LK: Whenever friends talk to me about their partners, it always feels so intimate, since I will never see their partners the way that they do. And perhaps we never really know how our significant others talk about us, so we ourselves are always alien to the imaginary versions of us. And then – not that I’m conducting any kind of social experiment here, but it is something that I notice a lot – I find myself comparing my firsthand knowledge of the boyfriend or girlfriend or Otherfriend in question to the version of this same person as described to me by their partners. This can often create a fascinating disconnect.

I think that even the most aware and truthful and pragmatic of lovers can’t help but impose their own meaning of their partners onto their actual partners. So, in essence, all our boyfriends and girlfriends and friends in general are imaginary, because we sometimes see the idealized version of them, and sometimes (maybe when we’re cranky and having arguments in the middle of the street; although I’ve never been party to such base behavior) we see our partners in the most hypercritical and uncomplimentary ways.

But the key to any adult relationship is getting to know the other person beyond our own perspective. It’s a yin-and-yang thing. You need to split the difference between how you see the one you love and how the one you love sees her-/himself. To love and to be loved in any meaningful way involves factoring in all these versions of one another and striving towards our most truthful selves.

I think I was putting something together there, but it all fell apart like Jenga. My brain just slapped me in the face.

No no … it stuck. Not every Jenga brick fell to the ground. Okay. So, theoretically, everyone is imaginary when they’re being thought of more highly than they are, or demonized somehow … the real person is somewhere in the middle of the huge pendulum swing. I got it.

So then, what’s going on here then? What makes everyone suspicious that this boyfriend may be imaginary? Tell me a little bit about this play and what made you write it.

LK: Ah, now I can just plug the bejeebus out of this play!

Great!

You’re Welcome, The Management!

Thanks, Karen – you’re good.

Okay.

“It’s a busy, happening Saturday night in the Big City, and everyone we know is having a party in their apartment. Apartments! Parties! People! Music! Dancing! Cell Phones! Flashbulbs! Making Out! Longing.”

Those are the opening stage directions for the script of Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary.

We’re following Marci, a woman of good character but of low standing in the society and mini-societies within this play, as she goes from party after party looking for her missing boyfriend, or at the very least, some information that would lead her to find her boyfriend.

It’s kind of like Alice in Wonderland, if Alice were an adult, had a boyfriend, couldn’t find him, and jumped into the Rabbit Hole that is all the parties that people are having in the Big City on a happening Saturday night.

I love that.

LK: Everyone Marci encounters apologizes to her for being so busy and so out of touch. At first it seems that Marci has failed to connect with the other people in her life, but along her search, we see that everyone around her is failing and failing again to connect with anyone and everyone.

And the more Marci enquires into the whereabouts of this boyfriend that no one has ever met, the more people suspect that Marci doesn’t really have a boyfriend.

And so not only does Marci need to find her boyfriend, she has to find someone who believes her, or believes in her. And the more “clues” that she discovers about her missing boyfriend, the more Marci realizes that she’s not only looking for where her boyfriend is, but also, and even more importantly, who her boyfriend is. And these questions make her wonder who she, herself is, and where she is right now, within her own life.

It’s funny.

It’s sad.

It has mysteries and discoveries.

It has love between boyfriends and girlfriends, and it also has love within relationships that we don’t even have names for yet.

That’s Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary.

Thank you for asking.

Really.

I’m so proud of The Management and the phenomenal ensemble for this production.

When I hear “your boyfriend may be imaginary” to me, that’s a very different subtext than “You’re lying! You don’t have a boyfriend!” It’s actually very gentle, cautious … like you’re approaching the person with a comfy blanket and some cocoa, hoping not to disturb the fantasy. Am I wrong? Are the people in this play warm, fuzzy blanket people trying to help, or are they those buzz kills just trying to be balloon poppers?

LK: This question speaks so much to my philosophy on how to be a real friend.

My mother always used to say, whenever anyone screwed up or said or did something stupid: “They mean well.” And the older I get, the more I do appreciate good intentions, and I really do see her point as deeply compassionate and forgiving.

But I also can’t deny that I find the well intentioned among us to be somewhat oppressive when they try to help us in the way they think we need to be helped (or loved, or treated in general), rather than in the way that we want them or need them to. It’s like asking someone for the time, and they give you instructions on how to build a watch.

Ha!

LK: So this is a play about someone who needs something very specific from people, but who is mostly given the other person’s version of what they think she needs, rather than what she’s asking for.

And Marci, our heroine, seems to have a long history of not getting what she really needs from people. But since she needs to find her boyfriend, she forces herself to ask others for help. The fact that most people in Marci’s life don’t help her is (I think) among the funniest and most poignant aspects of the play, but the ultimate challenge for Marci is to allow others to help her in their way until she can find someone who can help her in her way. And I think that’s a challenge for all of us. Often what people give us is not really what we need from them, but it helps if you accept what people give you, just the same. At least some of the time. Because, like my mom says, “they mean well.”

There’s a song on Feist’s latest album that goes “When you comfort me / It doesn’t bring me comfort, actually.”

And I suspect that the subtext of this song is that the First Person Narrator is missing out on something profound.

My theory is that this person (and I somehow cannot accept that Feist is singing about herself here. I’m not entirely sure why, but I have a lot of strong feelings about Feist in general, so bear with me) refuses to face the challenge of being comforted.

Perhaps how we expect or want to be comforted is too complacent, and we have to get past an outmoded comfort zone in order to find true comfort.

Isn’t that a fascinating paradox? (It is.) Do you have Feist’s email address? (I don’t.) She needs to know about this right away! (Maybe she’s reading this …? Possibly? We have a lot of readers !)

The main characters in my plays are usually so put-upon in their struggles for basic kindness, intimacy, understanding, that this struggle (which I admit, seems on the surface to be common and ordinary) is, in itself, heroic.

It’s my way of turning the mundane into an Epic Quest. Because I always find the struggles of someone as seemingly ordinary as Marci in her search for her boyfriend to be far more compelling than someone like Sir Galahad searching for the Holy Grail. That’s just how I’m wired.

By the end of the play (Spoiler Alert: This is NOT a Spoiler!) Marci finds someone she can help and from whom she learns to accept help and comfort and intimacy and companionship in return.

Wow, that sounds really nice!

I was going to say that Larry. So I will: That sounds really nice!

LK: Not all of my plays have happy endings.

This play has a lot of happiness in it. But I think people will cry at the end.

Maybe that makes me sound like I think I’m All-That-and-a-bag-of-chips (as if! Wait, who am I right now? I don’t really talk like this!), (You don’t. But you’re on a roll. ) but when I see the lovely actors in this powerful ensemble really BRINGING IT in rehearsals, I get a little verklempt myself.

So bring a hankie to Under St. Marks.

But the good thing is, it’s a Happy Cry.

And sometimes we all need a good Happy Cry.

Sometimes? I need a good Happy Cry every other Thursday. So, looks like I can put away my Barry Manilow Somewhere Down The Road 45 the week I’m going to see your show.

Okay. Moving on.

I’ve seen 2 of your plays so far: The Myths We Need – or – How To Begin and The Un-Marrying Project. On the surface both those plays were acres away from each other in terms of theme, but at the heart of it the pulse that drew the audience in was the 1:1 relationship between two people be it man and woman, man and man or woman and woman. So, would you say that Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary is similar?

Meaning – probably looks and feels different from your other works but has the same heart?

LK: This question makes me reflect deeply on the past year, Karen.

I haven’t known you all that long (even though we’ve become fast friends; a phenomenon that should happen more often between playwrights and reviewers! I mean, it’s one thing to give your friend’s work a good review, but it’s another to become good friends with someone whose work you respect and admire. And on the other end of that equation, it’s easy for me to let you in on my creative process, because I actually like talking to you and hanging out with you), but Boyfriend will be the third play of mine produced in NYC within a single year.

That’s very rare. I’m not sure I’ll be so privileged again anytime soon.

This fills me with both pride and humility.

I have some anxiety about the future of Purple Rep, my theatre company, and I also have some anxiety about finding more opportunities for myself as a playwright beyond my own company (and beyond New York City, for that matter).

But ultimately, when you’ve collaborated with the kind of talented people I’ve worked with this past year, you get really hungry for that kind of work and for those kinds of working relationships.

It freaks me out a little (not knowing where my next creative “meal” is coming from), but it also helps me focus on working for what I know will feed me, creatively – keeps my head in the game.

Maybe that was a bit of a tangent, but it was worth reflecting upon.

These three plays are a good cross-section of the kind of work that I do as a playwright.

The Un-Marrying Project plays with form (is it a film or a play or a film-within-a-play?) and is among the most politically engaged of my plays (it deals with the fight for Marriage Equality. And now it’s a “period piece,” at least in New York, but I feel that this play continues to be relevant in the questions it asks about political activism itself (particularly now, in the age of the Occupy movement), as well as the questions that the play asks of us beyond politics, as in: What does it mean to be together with someone? What does it mean to separate from someone you’ve been with for a long time? When the obstacles against connection with others are external, how does this change our internal harmony with others? And what happens when we do get what we want, politically, artistically, romantically?

The Myths We Need – or – How To Begin plays with language. It’s written in something I like to call Ole Timey Talk. And it’s part of my cycle of biblical plays, The Genesis Tapestries, which dramatizes, reinterprets, and sometimes challenges themes from the Old Testament. The plays in this cycle might seem, on the surface, to be my least personal, since they take place in different times and places than where I am in my own life, but in many ways this long-term, ongoing project comprises my most personal work, in that I’m stretching the canvas, painting in broad strokes, and seeing how these ancient stories and themes reflect my own life, and vice versa.

Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary might seem to be the most conventional of these three plays. It has some social satire in it, but it’s basically a character-driven comedy. It’s probably most similar to my play What To Do When You Hate All Your Friends – an anti-social comedy then any of my other work. (Both plays have a bunch of parties in them, and both plays deal with the weird hierarchies we place on our friendships, relationships, and social circles), but it does play with form (more on that later), and may not be political in any way, but does ask questions about how we as individuals interact within our community, and it does play with language, in that everyone speaks in this play in what I call Bi-Polar Speak, all run-on speech, and breathless syntactical (il)logic, but ultimately, all these plays are about how we love.

We all love. And we all love differently. And in many ways we all love badly. Or, at best, we don’t love enough, or we don’t love well enough. But there is hope that we can love better. That is, in essence, what I am always, always, always writing about.

That was the long answer to your question.

Here is the short answer:

Yes.

~~~

Can’t get enough of Larry Kunofsky? Neither can I. That was part 1. Part 2 is coming up soon. It’s just as funny, thoughtful, moving and minxy as this was. So … grab another drink, stay tuned, and get ready for more of the same (but completely different)!

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LOL: The End. : 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

The Happiest Medium — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:04:42 +0000

Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?

LOL: The End.

Keep It Movin’ Productions

Come to a place where tragedy meets comedy meets stupid. A funny and physical look at natural and human-made disasters through the eyes of three clowns. Award-winning writer/performer Una Aya Osato is joined by her family, Michi Osato and Yoshimasa Osato.

Show Times:

Fri 2/24 @ 10:30pm
Sat 2/25 @ 2:30pm
Tue 2/28 @ 10:30pm
Fri 3/2 @ 7:00pm
Sun 3/4 @ 7:00pm

Answers by

Una Aya Osato (co-playwright/co-performer)

and Michi Ilona Osato (co-playwright/co-performer)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
The Osatos: LOL: The End is a funny and physical look at natural and human-made disasters seen through the eyes of three clowns. Overwhelmed by the magnitude of destruction we all live with, our family looked to clowns with the hope that by allowing the “idiot” to interpret for us, that we would be better able to understand disaster and find the ways that still remain to come out hopeful and laughing. LOL: The End as a title came about through a back and forth juggling of the ideas of the show between us sisters. Natural disaster, apocalypse, human created unjust catastrophes, the media, the future, hope…ultimately LOL: The End made the most sense.

Diánna Martin’s Question
If you were going to invite five people, anyone from past and present, to see your FRIGID show – who would you invite and why?
The Osatos: We’d put on the VIP list:

Our Obachan (grandmother), she lives in Japan, and is the most graceful, loving, thoughtful person we know. We want her to see this show because she inspires us in all we do, including creating and performing this show. Also our grandmother on our mother’s side, we never met her, but this would probably be a great way to meet and get to know each other.

Paul Robeson, a true renaissance person, a brilliant artist, activist, and athlete (among many other things), and always found a way to bring all of these elements of his life together. A quote we love of his: “The artist must elect to fight for slavery or freedom. I have made my choice.”

Charlie Chaplin, his work has kept us laughing and inspired for some time now, I mean duh he’s a genius. And his grandson James Thiérrée, who we’ve had the privilege of witnessing his wonder and has pushed us to imagine beyond all we can see to create the worlds we want.

Naomi Klein, her work The Shock Doctrine has really informed and inspired our work, oh we’d be so honored to have her at the show.

All of these people we’d be so excited to be there, can you all invite them??? :)

Antonio Minino’s Questiona
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve ever made for your Art and was it worth it?
The Osatos: The biggest sacrifice I and we have made for our art has been working on this show, and making the choice to work so intensely together as a family. There are many people who would never try to create and perform a show with their family while also living all together for the first time in years. Like a family vacation, spending all of this time and having these experiences together has had it’s challenges but has ultimately been incredible. Individually and as a group, we have continued to learn and grow every moment we have been working on this show. Though we have made this show a priority and have sacrificed the rest of our lives and time to work on this project, it’s been worth every second.

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson’s Question
Was there any unexpected discovery made during the development of this production and, if so, can you share it?
The Osatos: Something that has been unexpected is how the project has just grown and grown and gathered more and more of our family. It has been our closest friends and family who have been helping with every aspect of the show. It seems like there is a place and need for everyone’s talents and we are SO grateful to everyone’s kindness and generosity! This show is being made through a collaboration of love by a huge family that spans continents and we are so extremely excited to begin sharing it with audiences at the FRIGID NY Festival.

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
The Osatos: Joy! Love! Laughter! Hope! Thought! Thinking! Anything/Everything!

Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH

THM Bonus Question – We’re serious this year!
In the THM virtual Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH which FRIGID Show do you take on? And what do you throw?

The Osatos: Rabbit Island is the play we’d play, and we’d throw paper.

Very smart choice, Una and Michi! Because while your opponent, Rabbit Island threw SCISSORS and struck you down in the Tournament of Deaaaaath you still have two more rounds to go …

Round two is Love in the time of Chlamydia who challenged everyone and threw ROCK. That’s a WIN!

Round three is Initium/Finis who also challenged everyone and threw ROCK … another WIN!

Ding Ding Ding! Do a victory lap Una and Michi because you got 2 victories out of 3 rounds!

Thanks LOL: The End for participating in The Happiest Medium’s FRIGID New York Festival 2012 Q&A. And for playing our game! Here’s the part where I usually say”You’re officially PAPER in any and all challenges. You may win, you may not – who knows! This is how it works in the crazy world of the Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH!” but I don’t have to say that anymore becuase YOU were the LAST of the FRIGID Q&As!!! SO– FROM EVERYONE HERE AT THE ROCK PAPER SCISSORS TOURNAMENT OF DEAAAAATH: LOL: THE END!

~~~

LOL: The End.

Company: Keep it Movin’ Productions

Directed by: Moises Belizario & Una Aya Osato

Feb 24, 7:00PM

Feb 25, 2:30PM

Feb 28, 10:30PM

Mar 02, 7:00PM

Mar 04, 7:00PM

$15.00

The Kraine Theater

~~~

The 2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL will run February 22-March 4 at The Kraine Theater & The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A). Tickets to all shows may be purchased online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444.

The Happiest Medium » Interview

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

Trafficked

Answers by various cast/staff members of TRAFFICKED including

Mildred Jones-Hamm (Performer), Monica Furman (Performer/Creator), Chioneso Bakr (Performer), Ashley Marinaccio (Director)

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LOL: The End.

Answers by

Una Aya Osato (co-playwright/co-performer)

and Michi Ilona Osato (co-playwright/co-performer)

Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH

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Answers by Duncan Pflaster
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Answers by Penny Jackson
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