Barack Obama is president. Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin is the first openly gay person elected to Senate. Maryland and Maine approve Same-Sex Marriage. Missouri's Todd Akin and Indiana's Richard E. Mourdock, both of whom made heinous comments about rape and abortion, are out! All is right with world ... well, almost. As human beings and citizens, we can't only be charitable at Christmas. We can't only be appreciative at Thanksgiving. We can't only be civic-minded on Election Day. "The role of citizens in our Democracy does not end with your vote. America's never been about what can be done for us. It's about what can be done by us together through the hard and frustrating, but necessary work of self-government. That's the principle we were founded on." ~~ President Barack Obama dog and pony dc exemplifies this day-to-day call to action in their work. They're an ensemble of artists who come together to devise theatrical performances. Their work is stimulating, original, and relevant. As audience members, we're not only considered, we're encouraged to participate, to think, and to make choices. And I dare say, we're all the better for it on the other side! From November 8 – November 11, 2012, Arena Stage's Cradle Series will feature performances from dog & pony dc's A Killing Game in rep with banished? Productions' Into the Dollhouse. It's going to be a great weekend of theatre! Have you bought your tickets yet? Here's more about dog & pony dc's A Killing Game and my interview with collaborators Rachel Grossman, Jessica Lefkow, and J. Argyl Plath: About the Play In a not-so-distant time, in a city strikingly similar to this one, a deadly plague begins killing the citizenry—inexplicably, indiscriminately, and fast! What’s going on? Who will die next? Can the disease be contained? Where can you turn? Only you—your cunning and skills—can keep you alive ‘til the end of the show. Do you have what it takes to survive? We can't all die, can we? RACHEL GROSSMAN is DC-based performing artist, administrator, and producer. She is the co-founder and Ring Leader for dog & pony dc. Rachel has produced all 7 of dog & pony dc's shows, directed COURAGE and Beertown, and performed in Cymbeline, Bare Breasted Women Sword Fighting, Separated at Birth, and Beertown. Rachel spent two years at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company launching their “connectivity” innovation and serving as the first connectivity director. Prior to that she was the director of education & outreach at Round House Theatre, and managed education and community programming at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Arena Stage, and Centerstage. Rachel was one of fifty professionals featured in TCG’s I AM THEATRE video campaign. Jacqueline Lawton: If you only had three words to describe dog and pony dc, what would they be? Rachel Grossman: Inquisitive Mustachioed Clowns JL: What is your role in dog and pony dc? Rachel Grossman: I am one of three founders of d&pdc--with Lorraine Ressegger-Slone and Wyckham Avery--and am currently one of two Ring Leaders (with Lorraine). We refer to ourselves as an "ensemble-based" company because it has always been important that we operate as collectively as possible in both the artistic and administrative areas. Some ensemble companies work more at the consensus end of the collaboration continuum. We vacillate up and down that continuum but tend to find ourselves most often (and work best) on the consensus side of democracy. JL: What inspired you to create A Killing Game? Rachel Grossman: As with most of our shows, the inspiration was really a confluence of ideas, sources, and people over time. Director Colin K. BIlls had been interested the Ionseco play, JEU DE MASSACRE (translated: KILLING GAME) and had me read it for a whole other project about 5 years ago. It kept popping into my enough over the years that I shared it with Wyckham and Lorraine. Then one day in 2011 on my way to BEERTOWN rehearsal I was listening to the Radiolab episode "War of the Worlds" and the descriptions of the mass hysteria that resulted from Welles' broadcast entered into this fascinating conversation with Ionesco's play in my brain. At the same time, there were all these reports coming out of Egypt about people tweeting and retweeting "first hand accounts" of the riots that were anything but, making it impossible to tell fact from opinion to interpretation to fiction. These three sources, when combined with the ensemble's personal experiences living in this time of hyperbolic media and in a city of bombarded with alerts and warnings, built the foundation for A KILLING GAME. JL: Why should audiences come see A Killing Game? Rachel Grossman: To have fun? Seems like a huge reduction, but A KILLING GAME is designed to transform a night at the theatre--going to see a play--into a party game. d&pdc is becoming known for creating entertaining, unexpected shows that provide audiences new perspectives into the possibilities of life theatre. So if you're a theatre enthusiast -- you should come. If you don't tend to care for theatre as you've seen it in the past -- you should come. Either way, come open to the play. JL: Why was it important for the production of A Killing Game to be a part of Arena Stage’s Cradle Series? How has this experience benefited the growth and development of the piece? Rachel Grossman: d&pdc's work is guided by the principle of "audience integration" - the intentional focus in the development and performance of theatre on the audiences' role in the production / live experience. We believe the audience completes our ensemble, at some point making it impossible to move forward with the development of a show without bringing "audience" into the rehearsal room. With this show in particular we've host a number of "testing sessions" along the way but they tend to be with 6 - 12 people. It was integral in the final weeks of devising the show, before its premiere at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop on November 28, that we test with a larger group of people... and ones that were not necessarily hip to the inner-workings of the show. When the invitation came from Arena Stage to participate in the Cradle Series, it seemed the stars were aligned. We don't yet know how the piece will benefit specifically, but we have set up a schedule of showing material in order to maximize our learning and growth from night to night. So if someone comes to the Cradle on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night, and then returns for the only full-run we'll do there on Sunday they might see significant adjustments made to the material based on their participation and feedback from just a few days prior. We want audiences to take ownership in A KILLING GAME's development--you truly complete our ensemble. JESSICA LEFKOW is a director and performer based in DC. With dog & pony dc she has appeared in Courage, Beertown, and A Killing Game, and served as a clown director for Separated at Birth. Jessica directed the World Premiere of the Helen Hayes Award-winning Honey Brown Eyes (2009 Best New Play, Theater J). Other Washington-area directing credits: Hercules In Russia; TETHER, (Doorway Arts Ensemble); Red Herring, Mousetrap (1st Stage); Dear Sara Jane, (The Hub Theater); House of Blue Leaves, (Montgomery College, Rockville); BENCHED (independently produced). Jessica has appeared in Bootleg Shakespeare and Riot Grrrl productions with Taffety Punk Theatre Company. She appeared as Eunice in A Streetcar Named Desire, (Gulfshore Playhouse) and as Queen Margaret in Richard III, (Brave Spirits Theatre Company). Jessica is a Teaching Artist with Young Playwrights Theater and Washington Area coordinator for the Gary Austin Workshops. She’s a working mom and a proud member of AFTRA. Jacqueline Lawton: If you only had three words to describe dog and pony dc, what would they be? Jessica Lefkow: Original. Entertaining. Thought-provoking. JL: What is your role in dog and pony dc? Jessica Lefkow: Conspirator, (Company Member). In A Killing Game, I devise & perform. JL: What inspired you to create A Killing Game? Jessica Lefkow: Conspirator Colin K. Bills emerged over the course of making BEERTOWN as someone who we all thought it would be fun to have in a directing role for a piece. He'd long been intrigued by Ionesco's 'The Killing Game', and the ideas/hypothesis just sort of flowed from there. Working as an ensemble allows our discussions to have a long life, with ideas for projects floating up over time. The moment to dive into this exploration arrived, and we were off! JL: Why should audiences come see A Killing Game? Jessica Lefkow: Have you ever wondered about how you might respond during a deadly emergency? Are you interested in a theater experience that's inclusive & compelling at the same time? Are you ready to be part of a game in which everybody wins, (or loses…) with laughter along the way? Do you want to influence how d&pdc plays this game? Then this show is for you. JL: Why was it important for the production of A Killing Game to be a part of Arena Stage’s Cradle Series? How has this experience benefited the growth and development of the piece? Jessica Lefkow: Our performances have come to lean so heavily towards partnership with everyone in the room as to be impossible to fully rehearse/gauge for effectiveness without an audience. The Cradle Series offers us an opportunity to bring people in to play with us, an opportunity commensurate with the wide net cast by Arena Stage. The Series comes altogether felicitously at an ideal moment in the rehearsal/development of this new piece for our Nov-Dec 2012 run. I write before the Arena run, but I know from experience that the opportunity to workshop our pieces in performance conditions never fails to yield specific and concrete lessons for us as we work towards the *best* possible embodiment of the work. Audiences are just that smart. J. ARGYL PLATH is the Director of Interactive for a PR/Creative firm in downtown Washington, DC. With dog & pony dc he has participated in the development and performance of A Killing Game, Beertown, Separated at Birth, and Courage. In addition he is the Creator and Managing Director of an established literary magazine. He is proficient in a variety of musical instruments including voice. He is a writer and artisan needle-worker. He has been a member of a variety of creative groups that have generated everything from original printed works to plays and musicals. He has taught High School. He is teaching himself 日本語. He appreciates Bridge and other parlor games. He prefers cheese. His bio typically reads: "J. Argyl Plath grew up watching the Golden Girls and Designing Women." He is telling the truth about that. Jacqueline Lawton: If you only had three words to describe dog and pony dc, what would they be?
J. Argyl Plath: No fourth wall. JL: What is your role in dog and pony dc? J. Argyl Plath: Conspirator. That means I'm a company member. I tend to be extensively involved in the writing/shaping process and then have some smaller role in the actual productions. JL: What inspired you to create A Killing Game? J. Argyl Plath: I remember the moment it was pitched to me. It has grown/evolved a lot since then but I remember being told that we wanted to explore fear and mass hysteria and I instantly had all these ideas of how to elicit visceral reactions from the audience. Then I read the Ionesco play of an indefinite articleless same name and was further inspired by its political/social commentary through absurdism. JL: Why should audiences come see A Killing Game? J. Argyl Plath: Because are so many things I could do with their $5-40. But seriously: we've tried to create a show that is unique to each performance and that has many distinct elements that ensure it will be different each night (most of which are completely up to the audience). All the while maintaining that sense of safety and opt-in inclusiveness that I hope we are beginning to be known for. JL: Why was it important for the production of A Killing Game to be a part of Arena Stage’s Cradle Series? How has this experience benefited the growth and development of the piece? J. Argyl Plath: We need blood in the room. By that I mean: we need people to interact with. Virtually the entire show rests on our interactions with and the decisions of the audience. We've done small experiments with a handful of invited friends, but this will be our first opportunity to really get some realistic feedback on a lot of the show's elements. And then we'll use the last two weeks before we open to make adjustments. But let's be honest, we'll keep tweaking and adjusting the show throughout the run. That's just what we do. We're perfectionists who are never satisfied with the phrase "this is the best this will ever get." These shows at Arena are giving us the opportunity to start that process of endless improvements even earlier.
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It's Election Day in the Unites States and since I voted, I've earned the right to complain for the next four more years. Growing up in East Texas, I used to hear the old folks say that a lot. Here's the thing, anyone can complain. It's easy to do. It's much harder to take action, to push through challenges and disappointment, and to work for change to improve a situation and the circumstances of your community. So, if you don't vote, march, stand up, or stay informed then you haven't earned to right to complain. In fact, you may well be making the situation worse. Each Election Day, I think about this and I think the men and women who fought for the rights of women and people of color to vote. Many of these warriors did not live to see the change for which they fought. When I think about their efforts, I think about others who have made huge strides against all odds to accomplish something truly great and beneficial for their communities. As a theatre artist of color living in D.C., I think about the pioneering and courageous efforts of Zelda Fichandler, Tom Fichandler and Edward Mangum, who founded Arena Stage in the 1950s and made it the first D.C. area theatre to allow an integrated audience. I think about the revolutionary work of Molly Smith, David Dower, Polly Carl, Jamie Gahlon and Vijay Matthews who gave us the American Voices New Play Institute, which launched #NewPlay TV, the blog Howlround, and the New Play Map, now housed at ArtsEmerson in Boston, Massachusetts. Of course, I still hope to one day be a part of the Resident Playwrights, what an extraordinary gift and opportunity that allows playwright time and financial support to write and develop plays. Needless to say, Arena Stage holds a special place in heart, because they want to make a difference in the American Theatre and working to empower local theatre artists and organizations. They understand that change doesn't happen overnight and that they need strong leadership to carryout their vision. I was overjoyed when I learned that David Snider was named the Director of Artistic Programming! Having worked with him at Young Playwright's Theater, I knew the bold, powerful and sincere impact that his vision and efforts would make at Arena Stage and on the D.C. Theatre Community. DAVID SNIDER is an award-winning arts administrator and artist, with over 20 years of experience as a director, educator, producer, administrator and actor. He is currently the Director of Artistic Programming for Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Prior to Arena Stage, he received the Meyer Foundation’s $100,000 Exponent Award for visionary leadership of a nonprofit, the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and the Hands On Greater DC Cares’ Essence of Leadership Award, as “a nonprofit executive who has integrated innovative and strategic leadership to make a lasting impact on their organization and the community at large.” Mr. Snider received his MFA from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. He is a Directing Fellow of the Drama League of New York, a past President of the League of Washington Theatres and a member of the National Arts Strategies’ Chief Executive Program, a collaborative think tank of 100 CEO’s from around the world dedicated to tackling issues of competition, finance and relevance on a global scale. True to form, David is spearheading two exciting initiatives: The Cradle Series and Playwrights' Arena. Recently, he took time out of his schedule to discuss how his passion for theatre, his belief in arts education, his vision for Arena Stage and much more, including how Zelda Fichandler inspired him to be the artist and leader he is today. I have it here for you now, please enjoy:
Jacqueline Lawton: Why did you decide to get into theatre? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you? David Snider: My father is a United Methodist minister and would often draw from our family life for his sermons when I was a kid. At the same time I was an altar boy, sang in the choirs and even did short plays on stage in the church. So I grew up in some ways in the theater, with a sense of being onstage and having my personal (often embarrassing) childhood stories become story narratives for an audience. Then when I was sixteen we moved once again (Methodist ministers are typically moved every 5-6 years), I decided to stop going to church and fell into a student theater group as a replacement in some ways. We had a fantastic drama teacher and it was my first experience of theater as a company and as a community. Since then I’ve gravitated towards theater that builds and inspires community and a sense of company in some way. JL: From 2005-2012, you served as Producing Artistic Director and CEO of Young Playwrights’ Theatre (YPT). During your tenure, you led the organization through tremendous financial growth, raised the company's local and national profile and implemented extraordinary programming. What is the most valuable lesson you learned while working at YPT? Also, what skills and traits do you feel a successful artistic director should have to support the health and growth of an organization? DS: I learned so much during my time at YPT. I was so extraordinarily lucky to lead that organization and to inherit it from an amazingly supportive founder, Karen Zacarias. One very valuable lesson I learned there was that your company culture should reflect and support your mission and vision. If you’re trying to inspire and support students to clearly and creatively express themselves, you need to inspire and support your team in the same way. Also, in order to accomplish a mission, a staff needs to be involved in its articulation. Even if they inherit one that already exists, they need to have the chance to articulate for themselves in their own words, to own why they’re there, working so hard and probably sacrificing other opportunities (and more money elsewhere) to do it. They need to be inspired as a team, rather than just as a set of employees following others’ decisions. I think an artistic director of course needs a strong vision for the work of the organization. What’s its purpose in the world? Why should we care? At the same time I think really good artistic directors have a strong sense of how the artistic and financial concerns of a theater interconnect –and how the financial and artistic strength of the organization feed and rely on each other. JL: Prior to joining YPT, you ran the award-winning Text Alive! and Camp Shakespeare at the Shakespeare Theatre. With it being such a constant struggle to obtain, sustain, and grow financial support for the arts, why must artists and educators continue to advocate for arts integration? What role or impact do the arts, particularly theatre, have on childhood development? DS: I think we need to think about what kind of world we want to live in – and how students will compete in our global community if they can’t express themselves clearly and creatively. We know we’ve entered an age in which we all need to be creative, to think outside the box and drive the world with new ideas. The arts of course spark and inspire our creativity and without them I think we’d have a tough time making our way in today’s world. Look at Steve Jobs – a combination of creative genius, a love for design and a certain business savvy created a model that has changed the way we live. JL: Additionally, you were president of the League of Washington Theatres from 2007-2010, which must have given you great insight on the DC theatre community. So, tell us about this community your thoughts on:
JL: Since August of 2012, you have served as Director of Artistic Programming at Arena Stage. It must be very exciting and quite a whirlwind! Tell us:
JL: Tell us about the American Voices New Play Institute. What is your vision for its future programming? What impact do you hope it will make on the American Theatre? DS: We want the AVNPI to continue to support playwrights who are at a certain tipping point in their work, who with a bit more support can bring forth work they otherwise might not be able to achieve. We know the work of the AVNPI is reverberating throughout the American Theatre already, resulting in new plays across the country from our resident playwrights. We believe the results of these residencies will continue to unfold over the next several years, as the work being gestated right now is written and produced across the country. We also see the model being replicated, as more theaters begin to build residency programs that support playwrights over the long term with less demand for results. It’s important for the playwrights to decide what they need to do with the time. JL: Tell us about Arena Stage’s Cradle Series. What is your vision for its future programming? How will it serve DC theatre community? DS: We want the Kogod Cradle Series to support creative risk-taking, of companies, playwrights, directors, designers and actors. That’ll take many forms in the coming years and will allow us to support more local artists, as well as artists from around the country. We hope it’ll be another way of supporting and nurturing our extraordinary local talent pool as well. JL: From November 8th - 11th, Arena Stage Cradle Series will feature the work of Banished? Productions, dog and pony dc, and African Continuum Theatre Company. What drew you to these companies? What excites most about the days ahead? DS: They all had work they were ready to actively explore in this series, with specific questions they wanted to ask about their own work, like: How does this game work with an audience? How can we adapt an installation piece to tour in a different space? These are important artistic and organizational questions and I was excited to help them ask them. I’m excited to see how it all plays out – it’s an experiment and I’m sure we’ll all learn a lot. I hope a lot of people come, because it’s a real opportunity to participate in the growth of two exciting pieces. JL: You’ve had quite an exciting and diverse career as an actor, director, educator, producer, and administrator. What advice do you have for an up and coming theatre artists and practitioners? DS: When I was training with Zelda Fichandler back at NYU, we were encouraged to think of ourselves as having a mission as an artist. And because my parents, one a minister and the other an educator, exemplified leading lives of purpose and service, I’ve always thought of my career as serving a greater purpose beyond myself. So my advice would be: Figure out what your mission is and pursue it. Take risks, try new things and generate your own work. Create your own opportunities. Think strategically about your career and where you want to be long-term - and then take the steps to make it happen. Be ready when the door opens and step through it. This past Thursday, I early voted, which took me all of 20 minutes, and then transferred my Texas Driver's License to a D.C. Driver's License, which took an hour an half. The half hour was spent standing outside in the cold owing to a fire drill ... but I digress. Ignoring the fact that I've actually lived and worked in D.C. for six going on seven years, let's celebrate the fact that I am officially a D.C. resident! WooHoo!! Many things excite me about living in D.C., but none more than the brilliant, vibrant, diverse and enthusiastic theatre community. In addition to Theater J's Locally Grown Festival to which I owe the upcoming world premiere production of The Hampton Years, the award winning, critically acclaimed Arena Stage has launched two major programs--The Cradle Series and Playwrights' Arena--geared towards supporting the works of local artists and organizations. As a playwright and avid theatre devotee, this excites me to no end! This coming weekend, from November 8 – November 11, 2012, Arena Stage's Cradle Series will feature performances from banished? Productions and dog & pony dc. Both productions will be presented together in one evening of creative development. Additionally, on Saturday, November 10, 2012, African Continuum Theatre will present readings of two exciting new works as part of their Fresh Flavas Festival: Without Trace by Eric Lockley at 2:00pm and Kind of Blue by Ozzie Jones at 4:00pm. Click here to learn more and purchase tickets. I'll be attending the performances on Friday with a few friends and can hardly wait! Over the few days, I'm going to feature each company and share their recent interviews. For now, here's a bit of info about the work being presented. banished? ProductionsInto the Dollhouse is an original hybrid performance that uses devised dance and collaged text to tell a story about looking back in order to walk forward. The piece takes inspiration by Meredith Monk's Education of the Girl Child, Anna Halprin's Parades & Changes and fuses song lyrics to snippets of Charles Mee's Salome, and Judy Blume's Forever. Into the Dollhouse is an exploration of nostalgia as a means of time travel as much as it is about navigating a society that dictates what constitutes femininity, asking along the way: Who did we think we would become? Will we ever get there? What rituals have left an imprint on our journey? Dog & Pony DCIn a not-so-distant time, in a city strikingly similar to this one, a deadly plague begins killing the citizenry—inexplicably, indiscriminately, and fast! What’s going on? Who will die next? Can the disease be contained? Where can you turn? Only you—your cunning and skills—can keep you alive ‘til the end of the show. Do you have what it takes to survive? We can't all die, can we? African Continuum Theatre CompanyWithout Trace: The country finds itself in a race-war and the future seems bleak. A lost son's return may signal a new beginning...or the beginning of the end. Without Trace uses one family's chilling experience to explore the black male psyche and the American Dream. Eric Lockley is a performer, playwright, and producer with The Movement Theatre Company and the producing collective, Harlem 9. He is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Kind of Blue: An allegory about the relationship between a man and woman, inspired by the music of Miles Davis. Ozzie Jones is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Rhythm One Company, whose focus is training and artistic development of new artists. He is also the Artistic Director and Co-founder of The Well Productions and has directed or performed with Patti Labelle, Ruby Dee, Jill Scott, Guy Davis, The Roots, Wu Tang Clan, Schoolly D, and Poor Righteous Teachers. About the Cradle Series
The Cradle Series supports the exploration and development of new and emerging work in the Kogod Cradle with visiting companies, artists and ensembles. Focusing on the development of new plays and devised work by artists from throughout Greater Washington and around the country, this series of readings and workshops invites artists and audiences to explore the development process and allows artists and audiences to participate who otherwise might not be able to easily access Arena Stage. This series also supports the development of local artists and seeks to further develop our local talent pool of playwrights, actors and directors here in Greater Washington. This past Monday and Tuesday, Theater J hosted a fruitful and productive new play development workshop of The Hampton Years. We had ten glorious hours to read, investigate and ponder the script. The "we" being director, Shirley Serotsky; dramaturg, Otis Ramsey-Zoe and cast, Edward Christian, Crashonda Edwards, Lolita-Marie, Julian Elijah Martinez, Sasha Olinick, Colin Smith, Emily Townley and David Lamont Wilson. Suffice it say, I am blessed with a brilliant, generous, and thoughtful artistic team and cast. You can read more about my director and dramaturg here, and my cast here. On Wednesday and Thursday, I took the riches given to me in our time together and worked on rewrites. It isn't easy work, but I really enjoy the rewriting process. I love asking the great "what if ..." and seeing the impact such a question can make on the lives and desires of the characters and on the overall dynamics of the play. With each new draft, the characters grow richer and more complex and the plot becomes increasingly clearer and more cohesive. It's interesting to see how the play takes shape. As one character comes center and more into focus, sometimes complete scenes are deleted and another character's storyline may fade into the background. This can be challenging to balance. It's a real luxury and privilege to have this time to write, question, explore and work through it. Our work culminated in a public staged reading on Friday followed by a post show discussion. The reading went extremely well. In truth, it's during the reading, when I'm able to observe the verbal and nonverbal response of audience, that I learn so much about what works and doesn't work about the script. The post show discussion offered the audience an opportunity to reflect critically on all they just experience. Post show discussions are a beast. I've led a great many of them as a dramaturg and participated in quite a number as a playwright. No matter what your role, it is challenging to guide, elicit, and negotiate the questions, opinions and suggestions of a newly formed community. I come from the Liz Lerman school of the Critical Response Process. I've shifted her suggested structure to suit my own style and the needs of the playwrights, but always I ask the audience to hold their prescriptive feedback, their well-intentioned and often insightful "you should do this" and "you should do that." I mean, they may want to write their own play one day, so they should really keep all of those delicious gems to themselves, right?! Also, I frame my questions to the audience in this way:
In doing so, I learn three valuable points of audience feedback:
When all is said and done, post show discussions require practice, preparation and patience along with sophistication, finesse, a healthy dose of objectivity and a thick armor of skin. My advice: don't be wooed by the love or wilted by the hate. Focus only on what's productive, what will move the script forward and never lose sight of the heartbeat of your play. At this point in new play development process, I eagerly await the notes from my brilliant creative team and look forward to digging into more rewrites. At the same time, I'm leaving the world of The Hampton Years to work on my new play, Our Man Beverly Snow, ahead of its upcoming reading on Sunday, December 9th. Also, I'm working on two 10-minutes plays, one for Round House Theatre's Heyday Players and the other to be announced tomorrow! For now, please enjoy these pictures of The Hampton Years team from our time together this week. Ahead of the 44 Plays for 44 Presidents event on Monday, October 29th, I had a chance to connect with Kathleen Akerley, Artistic Director of Longacre Lea Theatre. Here's our conversation:
Jacqueline Lawton: How did your company form and how long have you been presenting work in D.C.? Kathleen Akerley: In 1998 I formed the company as a sole proprietorship just in order to rent the Arena Stage Old Vat Room and direct a production of Macbeth – I thought it would be a one-time thing and then I would move to another city and build an acting career (my degree is in acting). Obviously that’s not how it went down . . . JL: What impact do you hope to make in the D.C. theatre community? KA: I have no particular hopes or agenda with respect to any impact I may have. JL: Is political theatre important to you? KA: Not as such. JL: Why did you decide to participate in 44 Plays for 44 Presidents? KA: I think the three dog&pony conspirators are bad ass. JL: Which president are you featuring? What’s his political affiliation and campaign slogan? KA: Benjamin Harrison - Republican; ‘Rejuvenated Republicanism.’ JL: What’s something interesting we should know about him? KA: His first wife was dying during his reelection bid and he spent more time with her than on his campaign (and lost). JL: Did he support the arts while in office? If so, how? KA: Not notably, as far as I can tell. JL: If he was running for office this year, would you vote for him? Why or why not? KA: I’d probably go all weepy about the wife thing and give him a sympathy vote for putting spousal loyalty over political victory. JL: In addition to 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, what’s next for your company? KA: Our 2013 summer show! TBA: www.longacrelea.org Ahead of the 44 Plays for 44 Presidents event on Monday, October 29th, I had a chance to connect with Patricia Kalil, Co. Artistic Director of Pointless Theatre Co. Here's our conversation:
Jacqueline Lawton: How did your company form and how long have you been presenting work in D.C.? Patricia Kalil: Pointless Theatre was originally founded in the summer of 2009 by Patti Kalil and Matt Reckeweg as a group dedicated to performing innovative and exuberant puppet theatre. Formed mostly of University of Maryland-College Park theatre alumni, the company consists of less than twenty actors, designers and craftsmen, musicians and dancers who, together hope to redefine our own definitions of puppetry and theatre, while providing people with an eccentric yet charming night of entertainment. JL: What impact do you hope to make in the D.C. theatre community? PK: Every one of our productions to date has the end goal of successfully merging ensemble work among the actors with puppets and the vivid imagery of the stage design. Our company members strive to have no artistic boundaries or limitations. An ensemble approach to creating theatre through play and improvisation informs our work, and our performers’ boundless energy and intense commitment to their performances stems in part from this method of creating the piece. There is an overwhelming passion for the work we do within the Pointless family; it is intensely personal to all of us. We hope to charge our audiences with that passion and in doing so bring a new theatrical experience into the DC community. JL: Is political theatre important to you? PK: Pointless’ place in the art community is to provide its audiences with spectacular puppet shows, which can wow patrons of all ages and backgrounds. With that said, we cannot completely ignore politics in our shows and artwork when they do arise in conversation or concept. We may mock any sort of political controversy when presenting politicians’ often debauching attitude toward economic and social issues in the world. However, even with the occasional said mockery and political conviction on particularly topics, we tend to prioritize the richness in our storytelling and visual experimentation within productions. We hope to achieve a more enlightened theatre-going audience, convince people to make art not war and not take each other too seriously. At the end of the day we hope to unify people through our shows, and not further the divide among the various political ideologies we as individuals affiliate with. JL: Why did you decide to participate in 44 Plays for 44 Presidents? PK: We choose to participate in this production because of its ensemble and cooperative nature in performance style. Every Pointless show is created by the entire company, as we allow for directors, designers, actors, musicians and so on all get involved as writers. Structurally the creative team is always multi-layered, and cast members tend to add their own flare to the script as they see fit. We rarely choose to explore a show that has strong lead roles and instead opt for ensemble work to be the primary performative focus. We bring that philosophy to staff meeting as well as artistic discussions. The opportunity to work with other local DC theatre companies for a night of erratic political humor and sass seemed like the perfect combination of ensemble work and patriotic storytelling us Pointless kids could not resist. JL: Which president are you featuring? What’s his political affiliation and campaign slogan? PK: We will be presenting three presidents, including:
JL: What’s something interesting we should know about him? PK: In regards to:
JL: Did he support the arts while in office? If so, how? PK: They each did in different ways:
JL: If he was running for office this year, would you vote for him? Why or why not? PK: Yes for John Quincy Adams. He is known for being one of the most prominent abolitionists in American history, and he fought long and hard to promote anti-slavery sentiments and policies in the government. The preservation of the union was his priority, and he apparently was thrilled at the notion that southerners would indignantly call him an enemy of southern slavery as though this would offend him. No for Nixon, not only because of his shaky foreign policies that led to countless unnecessary deaths, but also because underneath that charming and attractive environmental policy record, we could never fully trust him. Besides his inexcusable behavior in political scandals such as Watergate, his disliking of modern art is quite frankly a deal breaker. Yes for Teddy Roosevelt, even if he didn’t approve of great modern. Unlike Nixon, we blame his poor taste in art on his old age and time period. The teddy bear was named after him supposedly because on a hunting trip, Roosevelt was given a bear cub to shoot by his crew and refused to kill the animal. When a toy maker Morris Michtom heard about the incident after various political cartoons spread the president’s new nickname regarding the incident, he developed the iconic children’s toy. We would vote for him because it is hard to resist the original, real-life teddy bear. JL: In addition to 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, what’s next for your company? PK: Our next production is an original puppet adaptation of the Canterbury Tales. Told through the eyes of a handful of drunkards in Middle English, this production of Geoffrey Chaucer’s stories emphasizes the inherently absurd and comic elements of these classic stories. Taking the aesthetic inspiration from old public houses and medieval taverns, the characters will be played by a mixture of puppets and actors. The combination of puppets, promiscuity, alcoholism and the Middle Ages becomes the perfect balance of drunken humor and storytelling. It will be presented as part of the 2012-2013 Mead Theatre Lab Program from CulturalDC, and performances run February 15th -March 9th. Check out www.PointlessTheatre.com for more information! Ahead of the 44 Plays for 44 Presidents event on Monday, October 29th, I had a chance to connect with Founding Artistic Director, Shannon Listol Wilson of Red Eye Gravy Theatre Company. Here's our conversation:
Jacqueline Lawton: How did your company form and how long have you been presenting work in D.C.? Shannon Wilson: I formed Red Eye Gravy Theatre Company officially on November 25, 2011. I knew I wanted to merge my passion for social concerns with theatre. That Summer/Fall my first cause became clear. A dear friend of the DC Theatre Community, Guarav Gopalan was murdered. In addition, many young gay teens were committing suicide at that time because they were being bullied for who they loved. There was a need for action. I had to do something! I formed the company and brought together some incredibly talented DC artists to produce our first show, Romeo & Juliet, a Benefit for The Trevor Project. The show featured the title roles as a lesbian couple and all profits went to The Trevor Project. JL: What impact do you hope to make in the D.C. theatre community? SW: I hope to continue to raise awareness for The Trevor Project and other social concerns that are dear to me through theatre. JL: Is political theatre important to you? SW: Yes. Political theatre is important to us because it often has a direct correspondence to the social concerns we wish to support. JL: Why did you decide to participate in 44 Plays for 44 Presidents? SW: My dear friend and the director of our R & J, Ty Hallmark, contacted me about this exciting production for a good cause. JL: Which president are you featuring? What’s his political affiliation and campaign slogan? SW: Our president is Woodrow Wilson. He was a democrat and ran under the slogans, "New Freedom," "He kept us out of the war," and "Peace without Victory." JL: What’s something interesting we should know about him? SW: He started Daylight Savings to save fuel. JL: Did he support the arts while in office? If so, how? SW: He supported the Arts. In fact, there is a Post Doctoral Fellowship in Humanities in his name. JL: If he was running for office this year, would you vote for him? Why or why not? SW: I would vote for him because of his work for Women's Suffrage, Child Labor Laws, and peace. JL: In addition to 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, what’s next for your company? SW: We are currently accepting proposals for 2013. If interested, contact me at Redeyegravytheatrecompany@gmail.com Ahead of the 44 Plays for 44 Presidents event on Monday, October 29th, I had a chance to connect with Karen Lange, Co-Artistic Director of Pinky Swear Productions. Here's our conversation:
Jacqueline Lawton: How did your company form and how long have you been presenting work in D.C.? Karen Lange: Back in July 2008, when Allyson Harkey and Karen Lange made the promise that started the company, we never dreamed that we would be where we are in October 2012. In 2008, after seeing a play with terrible roles for women at the Capital Fringe Festival, Allyson Harkey and Karen Lange made a promise: to produce a play for the 2009 Fringe Festival. That play was Freakshow, which ended up being a surprise hit. We created something we were incredibly proud of and had such a rewarding experience that we decided to do it again the next year. 2010’s Be Here Now reunited us with Freakshow director Lise Bruneau to create a touching modernization of Chekhov's Three Sisters. By the end of that run, we were hooked. Pinky Swear has grown a lot in the past year. We were in constant production mode between May 2011 and August 2012, producing our two biggest hits — Cabaret XXX: Les Femmes Fatales and Cabaret XXX: Love the One You're With, and doubling down by producing our first two full-length plays outside of the Fringe Festival. We've received a ton of press and an award and launched a Kickstarter campaign that, thanks to our friends, family, and fans, paid for the theater rental for Carol's Christmas. This fall, we invited 12 new people into our newly launched Associates Program. These talented actors, playwrights, designers, directors, and dramaturgs have pledged a year to help us produce two more full-length plays and create our next big splash at the 2013 Capital Fringe Festival. The promise we made over four years ago changed our lives for the better. We took control of our own artistic destinies and made a space for the kind of theatre we wanted to make. We've shared that with our permanent company members, Toni Rae Brotons-Salmi and Christina Frank, as well as our originating members, Rachel Poole Jerez, Tori Miller Liu, and Lauren Uberman. We've delivered plays that we are proud of and performances that rocked audiences. There's a lot for us to celebrate. JL: What impact do you hope to make in the D.C. theatre community? KL: We’re part of a vibrant group of young companies who are the next big generation for DC theatre. The face of theatre is changing — instead of big, regional theaters with huge houses and grant/NEA funding, we’re trying to keep things small and lean. We’d love to be a part of a venue for many artists, with a never-be-dark philosophy — audiences could find entertainment of many kinds all in one location. It is our hope that, together, our companies can create a new enthusiasm for live performing arts. We also want to highlight the talent and skill of DC’s most underutilized artistic resource: women. Whether onstage, backstage, at the writing desk, or in the admin office, the women of DC’s theatre community have too few opportunities to work. In its simplest form, Pinky Swear began as a way to give some of them jobs; we plan to continue doing just that whenever possible. Also: we want to make great art. JL: Is political theatre important to you? KL: We haven’t typically looked at political theater for our productions. I don’t consider us a political company, unless you count being focused on strong roles for women as political. Sadly, some folks probably do see championing women’s roles as a statement of politics instead of art as usual. JL: Why did you decide to participate in 44 Plays for 44 Presidents? KL: We were really excited to work with dog & pony, plus we’re all big fans of the Neofuturists. We love the idea that we can contribute to the political season by looking back. So much of the time during election seasons, all of history is thrown away to simply look at the preceding four years. With this project, we’re able to dig a little deeper, 2 minutes at a time, with humor, music, and the incredibly smart writing of the Neofuturists. JL: Which president are you featuring? What’s his political affiliation and campaign slogan? KL: We have several presidents in our mix, but we hit the jackpot by getting Abraham Lincoln. He was a republican when it stood for something far different than it does now. His campaign slogans were kind of lame: Vote Yourself a Farm (free land grants to western homesteaders) and Don’t Change Horses in the Middle of the Stream, which, of course, is for re-election. JL: What’s something interesting we should know about him? KL: He didn’t run on being a staunch abolitionist, at least in his first campaign. In fact, he made statements about having no intention to outlaw it, in the hopes that the secession of the Confederate states wouldn’t happen. He started off with the position that he would use whatever means were necessary to reunite the states, whether abolishing slavery or keeping it. Clearly, he had a change of heart and went for the right path. JL: Did he support the arts while in office? If so, how? KL: Well, we know he did see one specific play… JL: If he was running for office this year, would you vote for him? Why or why not? KL: For the Emancipation proclamation alone, yes. He ended a deep and horrible wrong and refused to accept people treating human beings like livestock and property. JL: In addition to 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, what’s next for your company? KL: We are hosting our first, major fundraiser, the Pinky Swear Promise Gala, on November 17, 2012. We’re going to introduce our 12 new company associates, announce our next production, and hopefully raise some funds for our next year of programming. This party is taking up the same kind of time it would to mount a major production, so here’s hoping it is well attended and people are in a giving mood to support a woman-owned theater company! Ahead of the 44 Plays for 44 Presidents event on Monday, October 29th, I had a chance to connect with Mark Chalfant, Artistic and Executive Director of Washington Improv Theater. Here's our conversation:
Jacqueline Lawton: How did your company form and how long have you been presenting work in D.C.? Mark Chalfant: Washington Improv Theater was reformed in 1997 by a group of passionate improv students and performers. We’ve been presenting and teaching since. JL: What impact do you hope to make in the D.C. theatre community? MC: WIT promotes improvisation as performance craft and shares improv training with students from throughout DC’s theatre environment. JL: Is political theatre important to you? MC: Yes and no. Improv by design stays away from pre-planned agendas. We try to work in a collaborative creative space where everyone can feel welcome, and to give integrity and authenticity to any characters we portray, even if we might not like them much if we met them ITRW. That said, the choices you make while improvising happen before you can think about them, so sometimes they will reflect your beliefs. JL: Why did you decide to participate in 44 Plays for 44 Presidents? MC: We’re currently in performance at Source with POTUS Among Us, an improvised election satire, so this collaboration just seemed like a no-brainer. Plus WIT is a scrappy, unconventional company with artistic curiosities similar to Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind and dogandponydc. JL: Which presidents are you featuring? What are their political affiliations and campaign slogans? MC: We're playing with five presidents, but the one who resonates the most for me is President Kennedy, the Democrat of Democrats. His slogans were “Leadership for the 60’s,” and the less dated “Time for Greatness.” JL: He's one of my favorites too! What’s something interesting we should know about him? MC: He had massive health problems, including chronic back pain, that were kept hidden from public knowledge. He saw three doctors regularly but one of them was kept secret from the other two because his treatments were so unconventional. JL: Did he support the arts while in office? If so, how? MC: His White House invited artists, writers and intellectuals to rounds of White House dinners. His legacy for the arts is enormous – his successor President Johnson created the National Endowment for the Arts, and the presidential memorial for Kennedy is the Kennedy Center. JL: If he was running for office this year, would you vote for him? Why or why not? MC: Certainly. But in today’s media environment his extramarital affairs would probably have undone him. JL: In addition to 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, what’s next for your company? MC: WIT performs POTUS Among Us through Nov. 5 (a special election-eve show), and then in December we’ll present Seasonal Disorder, a cornucopia of improv shows extolling, exploiting, and maybe even exterminating the unavoidable chaos that the holidays deliver each year. Ahead of the 44 Plays for 44 Presidents event on Monday, October 29th, I had a chance to connect with Carl Brandt Long of Grain of Sand Theatre. Here's our conversation:
Jacqueline Lawton: How did your company form and how long have you been presenting work in D.C.? Carl Long: Two actors and a director were discussing Hamlet over drinks and the second story in it – the political story behind the revenge tragedy. The conversation turned into Hamlet: Reframed at the 2011 Capital Fringe Festival, and we’ve been growing ever since. JL: What impact do you hope to make in the D.C. theatre community? CL: Our goal is to make high quality, engaging, and thought-provoking work that highlights use of language and storytelling, with a modest budget. JL: Is political theatre important to you? CL: We feel that political theatre is valuable for the community, especially in DC. Though politics informs many of the stories Grain of Sand tells, we don't consider ourselves political theatre company, since we don't have a political or social agenda. JL: Why did you decide to participate in 44 Plays for 44 Presidents? CL: We like collaborating with other people and other theatre companies, and the resulting energy in the room when a bunch of creative people play together. New faces and new ideas are very inspiring. We also like discovering new perspectives on familiar stories – in this case, the way the script features different storytelling methods for each president. JL: Which presidents are you featuring? What’s their political affiliation and campaign slogan? CL: We’re featuring:
JL: What’s something interesting we should know about them? CL: Here are a few things:
JL: Did any of them support the arts while in office? If so, how? CL: I’m not sure about Pierce and Eisenhower’s public support while in office.
JL: If he was running for office this year, would you vote for him? Why or why not? CL: No to all three. Pierce was willing to say whatever would please the crowd, and I’m not a fan of Eisenhower’s or Ford’s foreign policy. JL: In addition to 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, what’s next for your company? CL: Grain of Sand’s production of You Can’t Get a Decent Margarita at the North Pole begins on November 29 and runs through December 23 at The Shop at Fort Fringe. See our website for more information! |
My BlogI'm a playwright, dramaturg, and teaching artist. It is here where you'll find my queries and musings on life, theater and the world. My posts advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equity in the American Theatre and updates on my own work. Please enjoy!
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