Marielle DeLuna & Antonio Miniño in front of her photographs | photo by Decia Bodden

In she walks wearing one of New York based Dominican fashion designer Peter Hidalgo‘s latest creations for Spring/Summer 2012, a turqouise Mosquito dress that asserts her readiness to conquer the world and create all opportunities. She has a lot to celebrate, a dream come true to most artists and even bigger accomplishment for someone from the small pond of Dominican Republic to the mecca of Art and Design.

Marielle DeLuna is an emerging photographer who said yes to living her passion later in her life. From being an American Airlines employee to owning Marielle DeLuna Photography, she has broken molds with her unique personality and love for the obscure in a land where this practice is most unconventional.

She is not a stranger to adversity having received “shade” from purists for her radical views and tell-it-like-it-is personality. Sticks and stones that will never affect an outstanding mother raising a beautiful family, an anchor that reminds her of what is really important at the end of the day. Judging by their participation in one of the photographs being displayed at the Broadway Gallery in SoHo they support her passion wholeheartedly.

Marielle took some time to answer some questions for The Happiest Medium.

When did you fall in love with the lens? what inspires you?
Marielle: Since I was a child I love Art… My inspirations come from old and romantic paintings; the paintings are a dream to me, a secret or a mysterious kind of beauty.
Beauty can be created and represented by a dream, or fantasy, sometimes romantic and sometimes repugnant.

How did you get involved with Broadway Gallery and this exhibit?
MDL: Thanks to my dear friends Chloe Fernandez and Peter Hidalgo, both in fashion actually.

Marielle DeLuna

How has being a native of the Dominican Republic influence your Art? how does it add to it and how does it make it challenging?
MDL: In Dominican Republic traditional photographers and art buyers are mostly interested in folkloric Art and Destination Photography, which is why I think I’ve been mostly influenced by International artists, but there is a part of our history that really inspires me and makes me dream of the past and the people of yesteryear forcing me to look for other ways of expression…. Our Colonial Zone is full of history and very rich in untold stories that I try to catch with my eye and translate with my lens.

What is next for Marielle DeLuna?
MDL: A Fantasy Book.

~~~

Marielle DeLuna’s photos were on display through February 2nd at the Broadway Gallery in SoHo NYC.

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L-R: David Riley, Sebastian Galvez & Juan Carlos Lopez in "Wearing Lorca's Bowtie"; photo by Sion Fullana

AENY-The Bridge is a non-profit organization which was established in the fall of 2010 to promote inter-disciplinary artistic collaborations and build a cultural bridge between Spain and the United States.

Last December I was witness to one of their great creations and wanted to introduce this fairly new company to The Happiest Medium readers.

Helmed by Josh Hecht & Ignacio Garcia-Bustelo, the creation was Wearing Lorca’s Bowtie, an innovative multi-disciplinary piece inspired by internationally acclaimed Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca’s trip to New York. The riveting production, which incorporated dance as much as acting and bilingual text, received a short run at the Duke on 42nd Street.

Both Josh (JH) and Ignacio (IGB) graciously answered some questions for THM.

When did you know you wanted to be a director?

Ignacio Garcia-Bustelo

IGB: I’ve always known – ever since I discovered I had a different sensibility, an original perspective when  looking at things.  I really am an actor who directs; I’ve worked as an actor for the last 11 years, and in the course of my career I’ve worked with many different directors.  Only a few of them took the time to really explore what I had to add as an artist to the parts I was playing, what my personal voice was… Being a director allows me to directly express what my vision is, and put it into practice. The communication between director and the audience is really straight forward, not filtered by someone else’s vision or ideas. You are responsible for what the audience sees or experiences.

JH: I started directing when I was in college.  Before that, in high school, I had been an actor, but I was never very good at it.  I think most of us in the theater start as actors when young, because that’s what we see. Eventually, some of us realize we’re actually playwrights, designers, directors, producers, casting directors, etc.  At least, I hope we do!  Anyway, in college I started directing, and it instantly felt more right, more where my talent and my disposition and my unique skill set lay.  I went right away from being a mediocre actor to being at least a very promising director.  And I’ve never looked back.

IGB: AENY was founded in 2010 to promote collaboration amongst different artistic disciplines and build a cultural bridge between Spain and the US.

AENY is a collective of artists from different disciplines, and it is our desire to find a common language that expresses our needs, longings, etc. from different angles and perspectives. This is not a linear world we live in, we receive information and stimuli from very different sources and channels: TV, computers, graffiti, iPods, magazines, the Internet, cellphones, etc., all at the same time.  Different languages, different means of communication.  New York has a natural tendency to this; you just have to take the subway to know what I mean: you see a blues band on the station, hip hop dancers on the train, posters everywhere advertising the last thing, announcements from the train speakers, overheard music from somebody’s earphones, news from the morning newspapers…. Melding different artistic disciplines and languages is not as different from the world we are used to as we might at first think. This is our goal, to create a language of our own that reflects the world as we experience it.

The other major objective was to establish a cultural bridge between Spain and the US.  In NY you have quite a few institutions that are mainly directed to a Spanish speaking audience.  We didn’t want that, we didn’t want to make a differentiation between audiences based on the languages they speak.  NYC is one of the most eclectic places in the world and we wanted to see that reflected in our work.  For that reason, we decided to team up with American designers and creators.  Collaboration is not always easy but in the end it’s always positive. If you have the right people in the mix, you get exposed to different ways of thinking, and you learn from that.  This is the kind of spirit that we’d like to promote in AENY.

Josh Hecht

JH: A shockingly short amount of time!  Ignacio and I first started talking about it in the summer.  This October, we did a devising workshop to generate some material.  A section of the first scene came out of that.  Following this, Ignacio, Judith, Mar and I engaged in a series of meetings generating ideas for content and a structure, which Mar and I then compiled into a loose story  And in November we went into rehearsals, creating the piece as we went.  In 5 weeks we went from a story-board to a complete show.

IGB: AENY was born a little more than a year ago.  In the beginning it was just an idea, a dream some of us had.  Then some of us took it more seriously, and tried to really make something out of it.  When we had the very basic structure and organization to start functioning we said, ‘hey, maybe it’s time to start thinking about our first project together’.  This was back in June 2011, I think.Because of the kind of organization we wanted to become, it didn’t make sense to just make a straight theater play (even though most of the members were actors by then), and so I proposed to devise a piece based on Lorca’s collection of poems Poet in New York.  As artists living in NYC it seemed like a good starting point, while the open structure of the collection of poems also seemed to allow the integration of different disciplines.

When we presented the project to the Spanish General Consulate in NY, they thought it was a great idea. Iñigo, Agueda and Barbara at the Consulate and Cristina at the Spanish Embassy in Washington have played crucial roles in the developing of this initiative.  None of this would have happened without their help and support.  Then we started the conversations with the venue and with the creative team, and later a workshop in mid September / beginning of October to get to know each other better and find ways in which to collaborate.  The open and collaborative nature of the project had attracted many artists to AENY’s first production, but we were basically strangers back then…we got to know each other but we had never worked together before in most cases…So it’s been a very fast process. We went from individual artists to collaborators within weeks, and that’s not a simple task when you are trying to integrate dancers, visual artists, actors, musicians, writers…people with different interests, different sensibilities and a different language…

Proper rehearsals started November 5th, which left only 4 weeks to create content and structure, to write and assemble the piece.  If it sounds crazy it’s because it is…but that’s also the beauty of it, the spontaneity and energy that comes out of it is often inspiring, and it has set the grounds for future projects.

IGB: I think it’s interesting and surprising for the audience.  It’s not usual to see a production like this, committed not only to the text but also to other means of expression.  I don’t think there’s much of a difference when it comes to Spanish / non-Spanish speakers though, as the show features texts in both languages and there’s also an important visual component in our work.

JH: For me at least, it has always been important to me that the show be bilingual.  What a missed opportunity not to have plenty of Spanish and English on stage  The piece is in many ways about cultural boundary-crossing.  And Lorca himself struggled with communicating across the languages.  I think the Spanish is very accessible to non-Spanish speaking audiences.  I think we’ve found very theatrical ways of translating all of it without the audience realizing it’s being “translated.” I don’t think anything is lost here.  Ignacio and I have also been very interested in visual story-telling — using images and stage pictures to do as much work as the text at times.  The band is also a crucial part of this.  Incorporating the visual artists has been more challenging.  Ultimately, this is always a theater piece into which other disciplines must fit.  But the company is very multi-disciplinary and we both wanted to include as much of that as possible.

JH: Hard to say.  I will say this, as an American, I was really only familiar with Lorca’s later plays.  I was stunned by how embedded in the very fiber of every Spanish-language culture he is!  Every Hispanic person who has come to the show — not just Spanish, but also Argentinian, Cuban, Chilean — comes with a familiarity with Lorca that is like Shakespeare in the English-speaking world.  I was unaware of that.  It’s been fascinating to listen to how the audience listens.

IGB: Not really! Not that I know of anyways ;)  It was never our intention to do a straight adaptation of Lorca’s poems or writings and I believe people understand that.  What you have here is a work that’s inspired by Lorca. We are not trying to say ‘this is how Lorca should be done’. On the contrary, we’ve explored some aspects of Lorca that interested / moved us, that’s our intention – to explore with integrity.

IGB: We’d like to build a long term audience for AENY, people who come see the show and say, ‘OK, that was interesting, I look forward to seeing their next thing! ‘  The worst thing that could happen was if the audience left indifferent, but I think the show, and AENY as a company has a strong personality and a singular voice to prevent that from happening.  The show is very layered, and therefore I think people would get different things out of it depending on their background, their mood and their connection to the city.

JH: For me, Lorca is a lens through which we explore our own experience of living in this city.  I want them to think about loneliness and connection, about desire, about dislocation.  I want them to be moved.  And I want them to touch each other more.  Is that corny? ;)

~~~

Learn more about AENY by visiting their website www.aeny-elpuente.org
You can even pick if you want to read the site in Inglés o Español. Go on, take a risk,

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Director Joe Barros (green) and part of the cast of The Legend of Julie Taymor

The rise and fall of director Julie Taymor and the behind-the-scenes scandals of Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark is the premise behind the 2011 Fringe sensation The Legend of Julie Taymor, or The Musical That Killed Everybody! In the show Julie faces financial problems, actor injuries, technical malfunctions, opening delays, scathing reviews, all while battling her arch-nemesis, an unrelenting theatre columnist.

Behind every great show, especially a high energy rock musical like this one, there is a great director. In this case producing artistic director of New York Theatre Barn, Joe Barros, helms the direction and choreography of one of the hottest tickets at the Fringe this year. Read on and check out the show this Wednesday. But hurry! the show is selling like Book of Mormon only way cheaper.

First show you ever saw that made you want to be a director and a choreographer?

The film The Wizard of Oz and a subsequent community theatre production.

Biggest non-theatre related influence in your art?

I don’t have many non-theatre related influences.  This is a hard one!  Hmmm…this may sound a bit cheesy, but here goes: Oprah, Judy Garland, and Michael Jackson.  All three posses/possessed a great amount of talent, passion and purpose.

Biggest achievement as an artist?

Producing (and choreographing) I Married Wyatt Earp in New York.  This musical was a co-production between New York Theatre Barn and Prospect Theater Company.   It was an honor to work with Prospect to produce the musical at 59E59 Theaters and such an absolute dream to bring this glorious all-female musical to life.  I first saw the show when I was training at The Hartt School in 2003 and have been in love with the show ever since.

Biggest failure as an artist that lead to greatness?

I worked on two shows in New York that were not very good and they weren’t very successful because of extremely poor producing.  I am not particularly disappointed with the work that I did on those shows but they were huge failures.  And had I not had those experences to learn from, I would not be further along today.

How did New York Theatre Barn get started?

I founded New York Theatre Barn in 2007 with a friend and colleague.  It has since grown into a very exciting incubator for new musicals and plays, and is ultimately a place for writers to investigate their craft. We are currently developing a new musical that the company conceived called Speargrove Presents, about a conservative Texas high school’s planned production of the musical Rent (based on true events).

How did you get involved with The Legend of Julie Taymor, or The Musical That Killed Everybody!?

Scene from The Legend of Julie Taymor

The production had a posting under Playbill.com jobs searching for a director for a new rock musical in the 2011 NY International Fringe Festival.

I heard cast members of Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark made an appearance – did you get a chance to find out what they thought of the show?

From their reactions I could certainly tell that they were having a lot of fun.  I’ve heard from a few members of the production staff who said they not only had fun but were impressed with our production.

Any chance Bono, The Edge, or  Julie might show up?

They haven’t yet.  I think they’d have a blast.

If you could have anyone in the audience of your show who would it be?

Taymor herself, and my grandparents who are no longer with us.

What’s next for Joe Barros?

I am currently in rehearsals for Guys and Dolls for the Fire Island Pines Arts Project which I am choreographing.  I am also the choreographer for the new musical Odyssey which is being produced in the city by Araca, and am the director/choreographer for Gallery Players‘ upcoming production of Little Shop of Horrors.  I am so excited about Little Shop as I am collaborating with puppet designers on a totally new concept for the plant. And…The Legend of Julie Taymor has been invited into Fringe Encores.  So if things go as planned, the show will be making a return to NY next month!

~~~

Final performance Wednesday, August 24th at 7pm
Buy online at www.FringeNYC.org and by phone 866.468.7619

The Bleecker Theatre (45 Bleecker Street at Lafayette Street)  One block North of Houston Street and One block East of Broadway.

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by James Lantz

There is theater outside of NYC, my friends, and I recently discovered Burlington, VT to be a thriving arts community with fresh ideas, innovative expressions and fascinating creators. Karen and The Happiest Medium have always inspired and encouraged us to think outside of the NYC box and bring topics and people located outside of the concrete jungle to our faithful happiest readers.

A New York filmmaker – saved maybe by premonition – packed his bags a decade ago for Burlington, VT and is now ready to present his evocative and important play The Bus at 59E59 Theatres in Manhattan, premiering October 4th and playing through the 30th. James Lantz answered some questions about his work and Vermont life.

How long have you been in Burlington, VT?

We’ve been in Burlington almost 10 years to the day; I moved my family here from NYC just days before 9/11. We had planned on leaving the city for months but weeks before our move, my wife kept having dreams of burning cars and buildings so we had this feeling that we couldn’t get out of town fast enough. As a commercial filmmaker, I sometimes worked for American Express in a temporary office in the World Financial Center that was destroyed during the attacks. It was all very surreal. In so many ways, we felt lucky.

What’s the best thing about Vermont life?

Oh gosh, there are so many things: the lake, the mountains, the hiking trails, the air. A couple of weeks ago I saw a moose standing in the middle of a field. Plus Burlington’s a great town; I walk everywhere. The people are great — we’ve got a great group of friends here. There’s a vibe in Burlington that’s completely different from anyplace else that I’ve ever lived before — very engaged and open-minded and concerned about Things That Matter. And yet everybody’s pretty cool, too; nobody gets too uptight. It’s a great place to raise our kids.

How did you get into play-writing?

James Lantz

I left filmmaking when we moved to Vermont — I had been a commercial filmmaker for nearly a dozen years, wrote scripts on the side, and produced a number of shorts. It was very expensive and frustrating to spend so much time and effort and money and rarely see the fruits of your labor. Finally I said, that’s it — I’m outta here. I left New York with the idea that I’m never going back to film. Well fast forward a few years later and, even though I’d left filmmaking, the urge to tell stories never left me. Then one night I saw a play by a friend and it occurred to me (this might be heresy to some theater-makers and so I apologize) that a play was really like a live movie. And so that got my wheels turning and in a very short time I had written a stage play which turned into The Bus.

Who is your biggest influence as a writer?

Wow, I have so many influences that I draw upon that, I suspect, many playwrights draw from the same well. But I guess one of my influences that’s not so ordinary for a playwright would be Alfred Hitchcock — I adore his craft of telling stories. He was brilliant at playing an audience and moving emotion just where he wanted it — he was like a magician and I study him frequently. Rarely do you see a Hitchcock film and say, ‘I know where that’s going.’  Another unique influence is Carl Jung — I’m an armchair student of his and some of those who followed him. I’m fascinated by Jung’s writings on dream imagery and archetypes. When I write something, I want it to have some of the same qualities as a vivid dream (Paula Vogel speaks about this, too, how that a play should always be just a bit ‘off-kilter’ … just a little bit odd.) I have to be careful though not to get too deep with Jung — it’s easy to get lost in depth psychology — with Jung, I have to restrict myself to the shallows.

Tell us a bit about The Bus?

It’s hard for me to talk about my plays. I’d like to ask other playwrights if they have the same problem — for me, the worst is when it comes to writing a synopsis — oh vey! — I can never write those things.

Here’s why it’s hard for me to talk about The Bus: I wrote that play five years ago and spent several months writing it. We then worked many months to produce it at FlynnSpace in Burlington. Wow, that was my first experience in theater — I saw all the work that went into producing a play and I though, ‘Holy crap, what did I just get into!’. Afterward, I was exhausted. Then a couple of years later I wrote The Bus as a screenplay. I probably spent another couple of months writing it as a film. Then last year I spent many more weeks doing a re-write of the play and re-submitting it which is how we ended up being invited to play at 59E59 in October. Now I’m working on producing The Bus in NYC and fundraising — these days I’m probably spending 60 to 70 hours a week on this play. Add up all those years, months, weeks and hours and it adds up to a lot. My relationship to The Bus is similar to my relationship with my children — if you asked me about one of my kids, I’d smile, show you a picture and say, ‘He’s a great kid. You gotta meet him sometime.’ I feel the same way about The Bus.

Having said that, The Bus is the story of two boys who, late at night, regularly rendezvous in a parked church bus just to be close. When their secret meeting place is in danger of being discovered, the boys find themselves in the middle of a family conflict between a large church and a small-town gas station — and the clash proves explosive.

Okay, can you tell that I just cut and pasted the synopsis from the play’s website? Sorry. But if I had written something fresh, it would’ve taken too long. I’m talking hours.

Has the thought of doing a site-specific production – Say a park and an abandoned bus ever cross your mind?

Yes. However, I have to say that I’m not a big fan of site-specific work — I understand it and applaud those who are pushing the boundaries and doing some great stuff in some very cool places. However, for me, it always feels like site-specific places are lacking in a certain spirit that comes naturally to a physical theater. Since I was a little kid I’ve LOVED walking into theaters — just about any kind — they always felt holy to me and they just hummed with some sort of invisible spirit. And they do — to me, it’s archetypal — we’re wired to be ready to ‘receive’ a story in these sanctified places. As an artist, I can’t imagine achieving that same spirit in a site-specific production, it just wouldn’t feel complete.

To me site specific work feels like sex on the kitchen floor — spontaneous and thrilling, yet lacking something important.

Are you using the same cast and creative team as the Burlington production?

No. Unfortunately, because the show is playing for a month in NYC and then we’re taking it on the road, many (if not all) of our original production team would just not be able to devote the time necessary to take it to the city.

What’s after 59E59 for you?

Oh wow … just getting through November is where all of my energy is being focused now. After that I want to get back to writing – three or four projects are calling to me. I write best in the winter, so the timing is good.

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Tessa LaNeve

Tessa LaNeve is the Literary Manager and Director of The Primary Stages and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts. She was kind enough to answer some questions in the middle of auditions for their next semester and planning DETENTION, a new performance series she will speak more of.

What is ESPA? When was it formed and with what goal?

The Primary Stages Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) developed organically from a collection of in-house playwriting classes at Primary Stages to a formalized multidisciplinary institution with fully formed departments in acting, writing, and directing. Since its 2007 inception, the school has housed over 1100 students and boasted a faculty of award-winning professional artists. The school has refined actors who have been seen on and off-Broadway, developed writers whose work has won awards and received workshops and productions, and ultimately crafted emerging artists on their road to professional success. With the naming of the school in 2010, ESPA emerged as a leading educational institution, offering an extensive array of opportunities for students to collaborate and showcase themselves on the New York stage.

Are there classes for beginners as well as professional actors?

Indeed. ESPA’s curriculum offers a unique selection of classes designed for actors at any stage in their development – from scene study classes that focus on building an emerging actor’s foundation and confidence to weekend intensives that concentrate on specialty skills like mastering green screen acting or polishing a handful of new monologues. Acting is as much a sport as an art, and so we build our program a lot like a gym – drop in for a semester or for several semesters; take one class or take 10. You tell us what you want to accomplish, and we’ll help you find the right instructor.

This month you begin a series called DETENTION, talk to us about it?

Detention is a monthly performance series allowing students to collaborate and showcase their craft in front of a supportive audience. Each month a professional theater artist on the ESPA faculty will advise the students through specific dramatic structures, themes and communally-created restrictions, challenging participants to produce and perform completely innovative works in a collaborative environment. In cooperation with Jimmy’s No. 43 in the East Village, Detention aims to amplify the creative stakes while preserving ESPA’s constructive arts education. ESPA’s inaugural Detention on February 4^th is led by faculty member and guest director Lisa Rothe. Writing students were asked to submit ten-minute plays that adhered to the following constraints: the inclusion of a dream, an animal, a moment when the characters break into a song or dance number, the color red, and someone named Bob. Of the 26 submissions, five plays were chosen along with five student directors. All 14 actors involved were cast from the pool of Spring students. Each month’s guest director will create new constraints for the writers. We certainly look forward to what our upcoming directors (Michelle Bossy, Carl Forsman, Daniel Talbott, Jackson Gay, and Hal Brooks) have in store!

I’m sold! What are the other benefits of studying at ESPA?

Joining the ESPA family is as much about the structured classroom environment as it is about being a key player in the larger community. On the immediate level, our students benefit from safe, intimate class settings led by working professionals. Class time is only one element in the ESPA education experience, however. Students are frequently invited to performances both on and off-Broadway. They are encouraged to collaborate with one another in weekly Jam Sessions, bi-annual Playwriting Festivals, Detention, and Honor Society – our Sunday night salon for writers to hear their work aloud. ESPA is a place where everyone is on a first name basis, and students are known, celebrated, and supported in each of their projects.

How can The Happiest Medium readers become more involved with ESPA?

ESPA’s Spring semester begins on February 13. Whether new students register for one class or five, they are considered an equal opportunity member of the ESPA family and are enthusiastically encouraged to get involved in the multitude of collaborative opportunities.

Learn more at www.primarystages.org/espa

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Aaron Wigdor Levy is the writer of Monroe, Illinois: Over Here/Townie premiering this week at the  Flea Theater, produced by On The Square Productions.

Aaron Wigdor Levy

Tell us a bit about your body of work?

My work usually is pretty naturalistic. Some people have said my plays are political, but I don’t think they’re overtly political. I think most of my plays simply deal with people trying to figure out their place in the world. I know that kind of sounds general, but that’s what I’m trying to do so I don’t see why my characters should be any different.

Monroe, Illinois: Over Here/Townie are actually two separate one acts. What will the audience gain from seeing them produced together?

Rachel McPhee, Doug Roland & Cyrilla Baer | photo by Ghenet Pinderhughes

I wrote Townie and Over Here around the same time so they’re connected in that way. They both deal with loss. Over Here deals with a loss that has just taken place while Townie deals with the losses that happen over a person’s life. Over Here actually takes place in real time over fifty minutes while Townie takes place over forty years or so. I think it will be very interesting to see the brief amount of time that’s covered in Over Here compared to the life span that happens in Townie.

What is a recurring theme in your plays?

Theme is always tough. I try not to have an overt theme, but looking over my plays I really think a lot of them deal with where we find ourselves in America today. I’ve always been a bit obsessed about what the American Dream is so I find that creeping into most of my work.

When auditioning for Monroe, Illinois what qualities where you and the director looking for in your actors?

We knew all the actors going into it, so there wasn’t much of an auditioning process. Usually though, I just look for actors that understand what I’m trying to write, understand the material, and can really bring a part of themselves to it.

You are a member of the 2010 Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater, how has that experienced been for you? Has it already been opening doors for you as a playwright?

The Emerging Writers Group at the Public is truly an amazing experience. I can’t say enough good things about it. I really can’t. I could go on and on saying how lucky I am to be apart of it, but I fear it would get a bit obnoxious.

What is the one question you really hope experiencing Monroe, Illinois inspires?

I’m not sure what the question I’d like people to come away with after seeing Monroe, Illinois. I just really hope that people empathize with the characters. I’d like them just to observe people they may not observe otherwise.

——–

The Flea Theater | 41 White Street | Manhattan

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Peter Zinn

Peter Zinn is no stranger to Retro Productions, having helmed their incarnation of Holy Days and Women and War. He was kind enough to answer a couple of questions regarding his past, his upcoming plans and what it’s been like to be directing Michael Frayn’s Benefactors, which you can still catch tonight at the Spoon Theatre.

How do you use collaboration in your directing process?

Collaboration with the actors is key when developing the characters early in the process.  I rely heavily on them to give me as many choices and take as many suggestions as I can possibly give them.   The truth inside each actor is unique to that actor – my job is to pull out that specific truth inside them that is going to fuel that specific character.
You’ve worked with Steppenwolf Theatre Company as a performer in the past. What do you think differentiates them from New York theatre companies?

I think they embody what’s so great about Chicago theatre.  Companies can take larger risks in Chicago because there just aren’t the major financial hurdles one has to to deal with in New York.  Chicago has a large community of theatre artists who can afford to live in Chicago on a significantly lower cost of living.  Equity rules are far more lenient in Chicago than New York so producers don’t have to risk as much money; space, marketing, etc. is cheaper.  All of this enables a richer soil for new innovative work that can veer away from the commercial aspects.  Steppenwolf embraced this in their early days and now they are one of the most important theatre companies in the world bringing their stuff to Broadway and The West End on a regular basis.

Your one-act play Waiting to Land recently received a production. What was that like?

It was great!  It was the first play I ever had produced and it was a thrilling experience to see it on the wonderful HB Playwrights Foundation Theatre Stage.  The one act eventually led to a full length version called Rumspringa that ran off-Broadway at Bleecker Street Theatre.

Matthew Semler and Heather E. Cunningham in Benefactors | photo by Alisha Spielmann

What can you tell us about Benefactors?

It’s a play about two smart London couples who are emotionally stifled.  Their relationships are diseased and damaged from within and are almost in complete disrepair (which always makes for an interesting story).  They fight to heal themselves and find a natural order and an alpha leader in their dysfunctional modern tribe - it’s a fascinating struggle.

What’s next on your agenda?

I’m directing Bill Quigley and C.S. Drury’s play Found at HB Playwrights Foundation Theatre.  I’ve directed a few plays by this incredible writing team and I’m very excited to working with them again.  After that, I start directing a workshop production of The Third Miracle by Richard Vetere at The Gene Frankel Theatre.  Richard wrote the screenplay by the same title starring Ed Harris and Anne Heche and this will be the first stage version of the story.

~~~

Related Posts:

• Celebrating “Holy Days”
• Desk Set: Back Then, The Future Was Now
• Entrevista: Heather Cunningham Of Retro Productions

Never Norman Rockwell

We’ve reached our final installment of our Midtown International Theatre Festival‘s Q&A. Today we chat with Kyle Baxter, writer of Never Norman Rockwell, and co-artistic director of The Collective Objective.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve always been interested in telling stories, but my interest in writing really blossomed after High School. I wrote my first novel then and submitted it to Del Rey. It was also my first rejection!

Kyle Baxter

What is your show about?

If you had to single out a quality between dialogue, plot or character, which one is the strongest in your project, and why?

The dialogue is the strongest quality in Never Norman Rockwell. It shapes the plot and the characters. I really love dialogue, and love using somewhat archaic words.

What is the funniest thing that has happened, and what is the most frustrating thing that has happened so far during this experience?

Name one show in the festival you are planning on checking out, and why?

Not fair, as there are so many I want to see! If I have to name only one it would be The Starship Astrov, I love Duncan Pflaster’s work. He’s a gifted actor as well as a great playwright.

—–

Never Norman Rockwell
written by Kyle Baxter
directed by Anthony Gargano

Playing July 16th through July 31st at The Becket Theatre @Theatre Row (410 W. 42th St).
Tickets are $18 (Students $15) available at www.MidtownFestival.org

Related Posts:

• Entrevista: The Starship Astrov and Asian Belle (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010)
• The Starship Astrov: Best Of Both Worlds (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010)
• The Gospel According To Josh – Light On The Gospel, Heavy On The Josh (Midtown International Theatre Festival)
• Entrevista: Until We Find Each Other (Midtown International Theatre Festival)
• Entrevista: The Gospel According To Josh (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010)

Until We Find Each Other

We continue our Midtown International Theatre Festival Q&A and speak with not only the playwright of Until We Find Each Other (Brooke Berman), but we also asked the show’s director, David Winitsky some questions.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer / director?

Brooke Berman: Well, I’d always written stories, from the time I was a little girl. But I thought I wanted to be an actress.  And indeed, I came to New York at 18 — and then to Providence, following Anne Bogart to Trinity Rep, at 20 — pursuing an acting career. But when I started performing pieces of my own writing as monologue material, Anne pointed at me and said, “Do that.”  So then I was a writer/performer for about five years until writing really took over. I’d say, playwriting found me.  I resisted at first.  Then I gave in.

David Winitsky: In high school and college, I was a musician and a singer, even an occasional actor. I loved the energy and the artistry, but frankly I never had the concentration and individual focus necessary to be great performer. My attention always wandered, to the visual environment, to the rhythm of the show, most importantly to the audience.

After I appeared in a small show for a friend’s company, he asked me to direct Neil Simon’s The Good Doctor. As I sat in the director’s chair for the first time, it all became clear – this is where I belonged. This is where my roving eye, care for the audience and love of all the time-based arts came together. It’s a wonderful feeling, discovering your place in the world.

What is your show about?

BB: Family and faith.  And the paths we choose, that ultimately lead us home.

DW: It tells the story of three Jewish cousins who share a profound psychic gift. One of them has reached a crucial milestone in a painful journey, and calls the others home to help her take the last step.

If you had to single out a quality between dialogue, plot or character, which one is the strongest in your project, and why?

DW: The characters are the focus in this play, the ways that they feel and respond to each other, they way they intuit each other’s thoughts. Brooke also does a wonderful job of creating supporting characters around the cousins who do not share their mystical gifts, yet are integrally connected to the unfolding of events.

What is the funniest thing that has happened, and what is the most frustrating thing that has happened so far during this experience?

DW: Well, there was the simple physical gag of a table collapsing underneath me during rehearsal, but that’s probably not it. I also remember cracking up when we went to do a run through of the show, we moved into places, started the soaring sound cue, and then Mara went up on the first line of the play. Brought the entire business to a screeching halt.

Name one show in the festival you are planning on checking out, and why?

DW: Given the Jewish themes in my show, I’ve got to check out Can I Really Date a Guy Who Wears A Yamulke?

———

Until We Find Each Other
written by Brooke Berman
directed by David Winitsky

Playing July 20th through August 1st at the Main Stage Theater (312 W. 36th St., Fourth floor)
Tickets are $18 (Students $15) available at www.MidtownFestival.org

Related Posts:

• Entrevista: Island To Island – The Photography Of Marielle DeLuna
• Entrevista: From Vermont To NYC – Playwright James Lantz And The Bus
• The Starship Astrov: Best Of Both Worlds (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010)
• The Gospel According To Josh – Light On The Gospel, Heavy On The Josh (Midtown International Theatre Festival)
• Entrevista: Never Norman Rockwell (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010)

The Starship Astrov

We continue our Midtown International Theatre Festival Q&A with writers Duncan Pflaster of The Starship Astrov, and Michelle Glick, writer and performer of the solo show Asian Belle.

Let us start with Duncan.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Not until about 15 years ago- I thought for a long time I was going to be an actor.  There’s something really wonderful about making an audience laugh and react, which I loved as a performer… But as a writer, you get to play all the parts!  Now I only act if people specifically ask me, or if there’s an emergency casting.

What is your show about?

It’s a play written in the style of Anton Chekhov, set on a spaceship in the year 3047.  Captain January and the crew of the Starship Astrov are frustrated because they’re stuck on a boring diplomatic mission, ferrying Professor Cole to a lecture conference he’s giving on a space station; meanwhile, January’s daughter Ally is in love with Dr. Rosy, Professor Cole’s private doctor, and Rosy is in love with Cole’s beautiful green-skinned alien wife, Celaria.  It’s like an episode of Star Trek set on a ship that doesn’t have crazy adventures every week.

If you had to single out a quality between dialogue, plot or character, which one is the strongest in your project, and why?

Definitely character, in keeping with Chekhov’s style. I attempted to find the same sort of archetypes that Chekhov used so often- Pretentious Professors, Doctors who yearn for more . . .  The plot is in that epic stretched-out Chekhovian style, where everything and nothing happens at once.  As Chekhov said, “What happens on-stage should be just as complicated and just as simple as things are in real life. People are sitting at a table having dinner, that’s all, but at the same time their happiness is being created, or their lives are being torn apart.”  It’s all gorgeous character work, and the actors are really sinking their teeth into it.

Duncan Pflaster

What is the funniest thing that has happened, and what is the most frustrating thing that has happened so far during this experience?

The funniest has been dealing with how to present the character of Celaria, the alien.  Her perspective on humanity has us consistently giggling, and Elizabeth A. Davis‘ choices for the character have been hilarious.  Most frustrating has been finding this cast; Eric Parness, the brilliant director, went through tons of performers till he finally succeeded in finding the perfect group that would complement each others’ strengths.

Name one show in the festival you are planning on checking out, and why?

——

The Starship Astrov
written by Duncan Pflaster
directed by Eric Parness

Playing July 17th through July 31st at The Becket Theatre @Theatre Row (410 W. 42th St, 1st Floor)
Tickets are $18 (Students $15) available at www.MidtownFestival.org

* * *

Asian Belle

What about you Michelle…

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Gosh. I never really had that “ah-ha” moment, until I was already writing. For years I journaled — it was a way of expressing myself, you know venting, dreaming and all that — :) . I find it comforting. I never really thought of it as something I’d actually “do” as part of my career endeavors, it just sort of came out of needing to express myself. I have a pretty colorful family, so I started writing about them, and then when I copyrighted my first piece I looked at my husband and said “wow. I think I am a writer!” That was a pretty cool moment.

What is your show about?

My piece is about my experiences growing up 1/2 Asian in the South. I grew up in Alabama, which I love, and I am half Vietnamese. It made for an interesting childhood! It wasn’t until I got older and left the south that I realized some of the circumstances were pretty funny and endearing. The piece explores this. Its my love letter to my Asian roots – how I FINALLY came to embrace that side of myself, after years of attempting to hide it (not realizing I was doing this) and be a “typical Caucasian.” It also explores my mother’s take on this – her experiences of coming to the south and living there post Vietnam War, her experiences with my father, her hopes her dreams and whether or not they are realized. Its deeply personal, but hey, that’s the solo show for you…

If you had to single out a quality between dialogue, plot or character, which one is the strongest in your project, and why?

Its a tough call between character and plot – its been a lot of fun working on the different characters, and challenging too. And some of them are just hilarious – they make me giggle when I think of them.  And I think my show has a nice, strong message: embracing who you are — without banging you over the head with that. The character’s journey takes you through their evolution of coming to embrace this.

Michelle Glick

What is the funniest thing that has happened, and what is the most frustrating thing that has happened so far during this experience?

My rehearsal process has been the funniest thing. I have the most amazing director, Christine Renee Miller, and she’s really helped me to find the different characters in my piece and we just crack ourselves up working on them. She is also half Asian – so we both throw on our best (loving) imitations of our mothers and go nuts! The biggest challenge is definitely the juggling of all the “behind the scenes” with being a performer and the writer. It gets CRAZY sometimes!!! But that’s also part of the adrenaline rush too – and seeing just how much you can do when you are given a great opportunity. So you just have to remind yourself to breath, take your vitamins, etc……

Name one show in the festival you are planning on checking out, and why?

The Gospel According to Josh. I know Josh and I think he is hilarious and such a warm person. Super talented. And his story sounds really intriguing to me – exploring religion – which mine also touches upon – so I think I’ll really be able to relate.

——

Asian Belle
written and performed by Michelle Glick
directed by Christine Renee Miller

Playing July 15th through August 1st at The Abingdon Theatre (312 West 36th Street, Floor 2).
Tickets are $18 (Students $15) available at www.MidtownFestival.org

Related Posts:

• The Starship Astrov: Best Of Both Worlds (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010)
• Entrevista: Never Norman Rockwell (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010)
• Entrevista: The Gospel According To Josh (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010)
• The Gospel According To Josh – Light On The Gospel, Heavy On The Josh (Midtown International Theatre Festival)
• Clandestine: It’s A Secret {But Tell Your Friends} . . . (Planet Connections 2010)