FRIGID New York Interview - Rob Matsushita of "Boogie of the Apes"

By Byrne Harrison

Show: Boogie Of The Apes

Website: facebook.com/BoogieWorld

Photo credit: Dan Myers

Rob Matsushita is a playwright, author, actor, filmmaker and now, a podcaster, with a new show called "10 Minutes About Your Favorite Movie," which is available on iTunes. He can also be seen in the web series "Chad Vader," as the often-abused Lloyd. He has written and produced over ten full-length shows, and his short plays have been performed in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. You can also check out his work on his official page, IverPictures.com. 

Tell me a little about your show.

"Boogie Of The Apes" is a lightning-fast parody/summary of the first four Planet Of The Apes movies, using read-along comic books from the 1970's. Also, like any good '70s comedy/variety show, we have dance numbers.

What inspired you to create it?

This is actually one in a series of plays! Our first of was "Superhero Boogie," and our next one is (possibly) going to be called "Christmas Boogie." (Or "Holiday Boogie," depending on what material we find.)

Ever since I was a kid, and I used to listen to these records all the time, I've wanted to do a show like this, lip-syncing them. Of course, then, I didn't want to do it ironically. "Superhero Boogie" was so much fun to do, I just need to do another one. The Planet Of The Apes series all kind of fit together like one long, insane story, and so it was a natural to do next.

Who else is helping you bring the show to FRIGID?

Heather Renken and Broom Street Theater, here in Madison, Wisconsin, has been instrumental in getting us off the ground, and Dan Myers, an actor in the show, was nice enough to let us rehearse at Broom Street and use the building while his own playwriting debut, "Chat" has been rehearsing. (It's running in Madison at the same time we're running in New York.) Also, Rick Vorndran has been our eyes and ears in New York City as our Venue Liaison, and my mother, Geraldine Matsushita, has also provided some much needed help at the right time.

Who would be your dream audience for this show?

There's a lot of little specific references to the Planet Of The Apes series throughout the show, as well as little references to other sci-fi movies and shows. If you were a kid in the '70s, you'll probably get a lot out of this show. But we've had plenty of audience members who were younger or older, or who never saw the original movies, and all of them have laughed a lot.

As a theatre artist, who are your biggest influences?

For this show, I was influence by the original Pee Wee Herman Show--not the Saturday morning show from the '80s, but the original stage show. Also, there's a hilarious play called "Bullshot Crummond" that I drew from a lot.

What other shows are you planning to see at FRIGID?

As many as I can! I was at the first annual FRIGID New York, and saw 22 shows in five days! Of course, I'm going to go and see "I Shall Forget You Presently," because I'm friends with The Dysfunctional Theatre Company. They did my play "Orange Murder Suit" at that first festival.

What's else does 2014 hold for you?

I'm writing and directing another show for Broom Street in May, called "Civil," which will be my first sci-fi show. It's a futuristic courtroom drama. I've never written a serious sci-fi show before, and wanted to try one.

Lightning round

Favorite playwright?  Currently, it's Martin McDonagh, although he says he doesn't write plays anymore.

Show you would love to be involved with?  Always wanted to do the aforementioned "Bullshot Crummond."

Favorite venue?  Gotta stay with home court: Broom Street.

Favorite actor?  Paul Giamatti.

Best theatre experience?  Playing Detective Tupolski in "The Pillowman." Also "Superhero Boogie" was a great time.

Worst theatre experience?  I once directed a show where an actor felt that closing night was optional if you drink and play kickball just before the show. She'd just had a kidney removed. I am not making any of this up.

Person you’d most like to thank?  In general, my cast deserves all the thanks I have.

For more about "Boogie of the Apes," visit the FRIGID New York website.

FRIGID New York Interview - Gregg Barrios of "I-DJ"

By Byrne Harrison

Show: I-DJ

Website: https://www.facebook.com/IDJFrigidFestival

Photo credit: Warren Peace

Gregg Barrios is a playwright, poet and journalist. He is a 2013 USC Annenberg Getty Fellow, and serves on the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle. He has received a CTG-Mark Taper Fellowship, a Ford Foundation Grant, and a 2013 Artist Foundation Grant for his theater work. His play, I-DJ, premieres at the 2014 NYC Frigid Fringe Festival. He is collaborating with actor and filmmaker James Franco on a book of his experimental work in poetry and film.

Tell me a little about your show.

I-DJ centers on a gay Mexican-American DJ / actor who spins the soundtrack of his life on the dance floor by night and by day performs in a send-up of Shakesqueer's Ham-a-lot set to a dub-step beat of ecstasy, tainted love, Rollerena and Herb Alpert. When a younger DJ challenges him to a musical standoff, their stories and music collide. Only one will survive.

What inspired you to create it?

I wanted to write about the DJ music scene and also about the rich theatrical works that emerged in the late 1970s, early 1980s. I was an arts journalist at that time in Los Angeles. So I covered those beats. I was also interested in how the LGBT community of artists faced the plague years – how bravely and fiercely they confronted it. And how this virus decimated many of our finest artists in the midst of a creative period of their lives and who would never be able to finish their life’s work.

Who else is helping you bring the show to FRIGID?

We have a lively theater scene in San Antonio, TX. I am part of The Overtime Theater Company. We premiered the work there. For the FRIGID, the Woodlawn Theatre across town provided facilities and loaned us their AD Greg Hinojosa to direct this version of I-DJ. I call it the bare bonez remix.

Who would be your dream audience for this show?

Gosh, I’d love all those wonderful folks that lived through that era covered in the play – a testament to their humor and courage in the face of outrageous fortune.

As a theatre artist, who are your biggest influences?

Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, August Wilson, Michael Bennett, Beck/Malina, Luis Valdez, Maria Irene Fornes, Shelagh Delaney, Charles Ludlam, Terrence McNally, Tony Kushner – etc.

What other shows are you planning to see at FRIGID?

Chicken-Fried Ciccone.

What's else does 2014 hold for you?

The premiere of Hard Candy, my new play about legendary Texas stripper Candy Barr. I’m also finishing a new play (Tennessee, Mon Amour) commissioned by the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival. It’ll be my second show for them.

Lightning round

Favorite playwright?  In 2014, Annie Baker and Dan O’Brien

Show you would love to be involved with?  Baker’s The Flick.

Favorite venue? St. Ann’s Warehouse

Favorite actor?  (on stage) Brando, Anthony Quinn.

Best theatre experience? My Mark Taper Fellowship in LA.

Worst theatre experience?  I prefer to forget them.

Person you’d most like to thank?  Rollerena, the legendary New York City street performer. I saw her once in her full regalia. I dedicate I-DJ to her. I hope she comes to see the show.

For more information about I-DJ, visit the FRIGID New York website.

FRIGID New York Interview - Alycya Miller of "Brownie and Lolli Go To Hollywood"

By Byrne Harrison

Show: Brownie and Lolli Go To Hollywood

Website: www.facebook.com/brownieandlolli

Photo credit: Darlyne Cain (on her iPad)

Born and raised in South Carolina, Alycya Miller came to New York via Princeton University, where she studied the work of Katherine Dunham, classical Japanese theater and served as music director for the R&B vocal group, Culturally Yours. After a stint on Wall Street, Miller studied comedy writing at City University London and improvisational theater at the People's Improv Theater in New York. A lifelong hip hop dancer, Miller studied samba and salsa with the Djoniba Dance Center in New York. A classical violist since the age of 9, her string arrangements can be heard in the song “Sweet Danger.” Miller's directing credits include Backstage At Da Fonky B - A Musical, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide and Top Girls. Acting credits include The Women Of Brewster Place (Theresa) and Macbeth (Lady Macbeth). Miller's comedy writing influences are Jennifer Saunders, John Cleese, Bud Abbott and Norman Lear. Her music influences include Rick James and Deborah Harry.

Tell me a little about your show.

I wrote this piece, but every time I read it, I find something more literary about it than I consciously intended. I thought I was just writing a goof comedy piece around four original R&B songs I produced back in 2005, but it could actually be used as a study piece for 7th graders. It's a musical comedy about this Abbott and Costello-like pair of girls who work at a hat shop in New Orleans. They've been wanting to get their sexy clown act on a popular TV show called "Live at Da Fonky Burlesk," but the show hasn't had auditions in years. After a series of unfortunate events, the girls finally have a chance to audition for the show. The only problem is that they have to be in Hollywood by tomorrow. They're broke with no cars, so the rest of the show has this song and dance duo doing all kinds of unsavory and illegal things to raise the money. People who like Abbott and Costello, The Monty Python and Absolutely Fabulous will appreciate the comedy. People who like jazz, R&B and nudity-free burlesque will, too.

What inspired you to create it?

The idea came to me for a female comedy double act who sang and dance back in 2003 at the real peak of the burlesque revival. I was fronting a funk/R&B band in North Carolina at the time and gradually turned our gigs into a variety show/talent showcase called "Da Fonky Burlesk." We had singers, belly dancers - anybody interesting and talented - all set to "fonky" music. One of the regular performers was very ditzy, always late and frazzled. I called her "Lolli" because she was always lollygagging. My stage name was Brownie Glendale because that was the name of my first pet paired with the name of the first street I lived on. We were so different - she the clown, me the straight band manager - the idea just evolved from there. With my song, dance and comedy writing background, well - the piece just developed from there.

Who else is helping you bring the show to FRIGID?

JIM BEAM (the whiskey, not the company, though sponsors are more than welcome).

Who would be your dream audience for this show?

A bunch of narcoleptics - they'd fall asleep during the acting bits and then we (the cast) could have fun startling them awake when we break out into song and dance numbers. Another benefit is that we could just chat while their sleeping and tell them later that they missed the best show.

As a theatre artist, who are your biggest influences?

Bud Abbott, Katherine Dunham, Bob Fosse, Carol Burnett.

What other shows are you planning to see at FRIGID?

Basic Help, East in Red. All of them, though, if I can. There's some real talent in this festival.

What's else does 2014 hold for you?

Brownie and Lolli Go To Hollywood will continue to run in New York until April/May and then head to DC in July for Capital Fringe. We will find investors somewhere along the way. Fall onward is to be determined, but I have a feeling there's a tall dark stranger in there... 

Lightning round

Favorite playwright? Tennessee Williams.

Show you would love to be involved with? Tommy.

Favorite venue? Town Hall.

Favorite actor? Stage actor? Christine Baranski. Overall? Glenn Close.

Best theatre experience? Fela, the Musical. Bring it back! It was magical.

Worst theatre experience? A production of Ibsen's Wild Ducks that I had to walk out of before intermission. I think the director must have been a sadist to make us all sit through that.

Person you’d most like to thank? My parents, who at 41 years have one of the longest running comedy double acts in America. They call it Their Marriage.

For more information about Brownie and Lolli Go To Hollywood, visit the FRIGID New York website.

FRIGID New York Interview - J.Stephen Brantley of "Chicken-Fried Ciccone: A Twangy True Tale of Transformation"

By Byrne Harrison

Show:  Chicken-Fried Ciccone: A Twangy True Tale Of Transformation

Website: www.jstephenbrantley.com

Photo credit: Jody Christopherson

J.Stephen Brantley is an actor and playwright whose work has been commissioned by Performance Space 122, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and East Hamptons’ Guild Hall. His plays Blood Grass, Break, Furbelow, The Jamb, Nevertheless, Shiny Pair Of Complications, and Struck have been performed across the U.S. and in Canada and Ireland. His Eightythree Down, winner of the 2009 Georgia Theatre Conference award, was nominated for six 2012 New York Innovative Theatre Awards and is published by Indie Theatre Now as part of their Best of 2011 collection. Brantley has performed with Big Dance Theatre, CapsLock, Cucaracha, The Directors Company, Horse Trade, Jewish Plays Project, Neo-Political Cowgirls, and Theatre 167, and at venues including 59E59, HERE, Queens Theatre, Metropolitan Playhouse, P.S.122, Soho Rep, Guild Hall, and Provincetown Theater. He received the Micheál MacLiammóir Award for Best Actor at the 2013 International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival and a 2013 NYIT Award nomination for his work in the FRIGID New York production of Kathleen Warnock’s That’s Her Way. J.Stephen is a graduate of NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing and a 2013 Indie Theatre Now Person of The Year. His latest full-length play, Pirira, was recently produced Off-Broadway by Theatre 167.

Tell me a little about your show.

Chicken-Fried Ciccone is the true story of my own addiction to heroin and subsequent recovery, with country covers of Madonna songs, naturally. Director David Drake and I have packed a ten-year epic into fifty-five twangy minutes of reinvention, reconnection, and release.

What inspired you to create it?

Back when I was at NYU a hundred years ago, I used to joke about doing a cabaret act of acoustic Madonna covers. But I did not yet play guitar, and I certainly didn’t have the story I do now. Then maybe six months ago, Chemda Khalili invited me to talk about my history with addiction and homelessness on her What’s My Name podcast. Like a lot of people, she was surprised to find out I used to shoot dope, and she and her fiancé Lauren insisted the story would make a great one-man-something... At the time, the very idea of doing a solo piece show seemed self-indulgent to me, but then I was laying in bed trying to think of what I might create that would be simple, portable, cheap. What do I do? Well I write, and act… I have this story…and I play acoustic covers of Madonna songs… It sounds like random madness but actually it makes a lot of sense. It’s a story about reinvention, about the intersection of art and spirituality, and Madonna is the one cultural icon that has been around my entire adult life. I was totally wrong about it being simple or cheap, but everything else has been very right.

Who else is helping you bring the show to FRIGID?

I’m incredibly blessed to be working with director David Drake. He is a master of the one-man-show, his The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me has been a big inspiration to me, as it has been for many writer-performers. I still have vivid memories of seeing the iconic billboard for that show not too long after I first moved to New York – and now I know him! And his alter-ego Tawny Heatherton too! We’re working with a terrific stage manager, Abbey Bay, who won the NYIT stage management award last year. Madonna herself could not have a cooler team.

Who would be your dream audience for this show?

Me, at twenty-two? Young gay guys predisposed to substance abuse? Anyone who needs to reconnect to the better parts of themselves, really. I guess we all walk through darkness to find our light; I’m spilling some really dirty secrets in this show – sex and drugs and all that… Maybe it’s not heroin for you, maybe it’s something else that knocks you off your path but my hope is that the people who see Chicken-Fried Ciccone come for looking for renewal. That’s what it’s about.

As a theatre artist, who are your biggest influences?

My background is in avant-garde and dance-theatre. I don’t get to do much of that stuff anymore but I continue to be inspired by companies like The Wooster Group and Big Dance. I lean toward the Brechtian. And Madonna. Obviously.

What other shows are you planning to see at FRIGID?

There are loads of interesting shows this year but the ones I am most excited about: Charlie Gershman’s Shooting Abe with Ethan Fishbane, No.11’s The Eyes Of Orbach, Ed Malin’s Oscar Tango-Bravo directed by Bricken Sparacino, and I-DJ from my hometown, San Antonio!

What's else does 2014 hold for you?

Oh boy. I am returning to Neo-Political Cowgirls’ immersive dance-theater piece EVE, which figures into the story of Chicken-Fried Ciccone actually. I’m spending much of the summer up in Maine at Stonington Opera House doing Romeo And Juliet and its sequel – Romeo And Juliet And Zombies, a new play in Elizabethan verse by Melody Bates. I’m collaborating on another multi-writer epic with Theatre 167. I think Hard Sparks is doing an event out east. I’d like to finish a new full-length. And I’m already booking CFC in other places later this year. But you have to see it at Under St. Marks! It was written very specifically for that space and it won’t be the same script in any other venue.

Lightning round

Favorite playwright? Lanford Wilson, probably.

Show you would love to be involved with? I kind of want to be in Peter In The Starcatcher. Anything with pirates really. Wait, is this meant to be specific to the Frigid fest?

Favorite venue? Anywhere I can work with Theatre 167. Sometimes that’s a school cafeteria. Sometimes it’s an artist’s studio at Queens Museum. Sometimes it’s an Off-Broadway theatre in a landmarked church…

Favorite actor? I HAVE TO CHOOSE ONE FAVORITE ACTOR?! No. But I will tell you my current New York actor crushes: Nic Grelli, Diana Oh, Jordan Tierney, Todd Flaherty, Rajesh Bose, Mikaela Feely-Lehman, and Kristen Vaughn.

Best theatre experience? That I saw? National Theatre of Scotland’s Black Watch. That I was in? Oh hell I wouldn’t know how to choose…

Worst theatre experience? I saw a terrible high school production of Cabaret once. The teacher/director also played the Emcee. It was…uncomfortable.

Person you’d most like to thank? David Drake. Maybe Madonna. No, David, David for sure.

For more information about Chicken-Fried Ciccone, visit the FRIGID New York website.

FRIGID New York Interview - David Mogolov of "Eating My Garbage"

By Byrne Harrison

Show: Eating My Garbage

Website: davidmogolov.com

Photo credit: Kelly Davidson Studios

David Mog0lov is a Boston-based monologist. His comedies are fast-paced, unpredictable dives into the moment, a blend of the personal and political, the universal and mundane. Since 2002, he has written and performed 5 solo shows including Dumber Faster (FringeNYC 2012), There Is No Good News (FRIGID 2011), and One Night at T.F. Green (Single File Festival, 2003). His plays are published by Indie Theater Now. 

Tell me a little about your show.

Eating My Garbage is a comedy about belief. Not religious belief, but about everyday beliefs like, "Subway is a healthy lunch" and "I am a Democrat." Prompted by a simple question from a political pollster, I launch myself into a quagmire over whether it's possible to know what you actually believe, and whether those beliefs have any rational basis. It's funny, I promise.

What inspired you to create it?

This sounds stupid, but I've been wanting to write a show about the Subway sandwich chain for a long time. It just never quite seemed relevant. But then, last year, I was working on a show called Carry the Two and had drafted a somewhat lengthy section about Jared the Subway guy, and I mentioned it in passing to my younger brother. He told me something that pretty much obliterated the whole Carry the Two concept and gave birth to Eating My Garbage.

Who else is helping you bring the show to FRIGID?

There should be a title other than Director for Steve Kleinedler. I've been working with him since 2001, and while he's excellent as a director, the fact is he's a full-on concept-to-execution collaborator. We have overlapping but not identical interests and strengths. Different excesses. He's extraordinarily good at making me reach a little further and say what I want to say, not just what seems OK to say. He has a gift for spotting big-picture opportunities that I sometimes miss in my focus on the details, but he's also, as a talented improvisor, sometimes responsible for providing the perfect verbal button where I'm spinning my wheels. These shows wouldn't happen without him, I don't think.

Who would be your dream audience for this show?

This sounds corny, but it's true. I love every audience as long as they want to be there. If I could perform in a random location every week where an audience was expecting an hourlong monologue, I'd be happy. I could play apartments for a year.

As a theatre artist, who are your biggest influences?

I'm fifty percent inspired by stand up comedy and fifty percent by theatrical monologue. I adore Spalding Gray. I think Mike Daisey is one of the most engaging performers in theater. On the comedy side, I wish everybody would make time to take in every bit of the British comic Stewart Lee. His shows are perfectly assembled and constantly surprising. He talks himself down, but what he's doing is art. If it's not, there's no such thing.

What other shows are you planning to see at FRIGID?

Charlotte the Destroyer, Oscar Tango Bravo, and The Eyes of Orbach, for sure.

What else does 2014 hold for you?

I'm co-writing a musical about a notorious killer, finishing a book about children, and hopefully launching a podcast. Otherwise, my goal is to book Eating My Garbage anywhere an audience will come see it.

Lightning round

Favorite playwright? Yasmina Reza

Show you would love to be involved with? A musical about ambulance chasers

Favorite venue? I love Boston's Oberon

Favorite actor? Philip Seymour Hoffman 

Best theatre experience? A London production of Art in the late 90s. 

Worst theatre experience? I'd prefer not to relive it.

Person you’d most like to thank? My first grade teacher, Ms. Mays, for pushing me to share my writing. I was a little awkward, standing in front of the class with a Big Chief pad, reading my first story, but I've always been proud of that one. I'm so glad she saw something and pushed.

For more about Eating My Garbage, visit the FRIGID New York website.

Interview with Robbie Robertson of "Satan in High Heels"

By Byrne Harrison

Robbie Robertson is a playwright and screenwriter and a graduate of both the University of South Carolina and UCLA’s professional program in screenwriting. Robertson’s first play, Mina Tonight!, was published by Samuel French Inc. and has been consistently produced in regional theatres across the nation. He created the musical comedy The Twitty Triplets and brought '60s TV to life by directing a staged version of “Gilligan’s Island” at Trustus Theatre.  Robertson’s screenplays have placed in several national contests, including his latest comedy, “Sweet Child of Mine” being named one of the top 12 comedy scripts in the 2010 Austin Film Festival’s Screenwriting Competition. He is currently developing several independent television and film projects and will be mounting a workshop production of Satan in High Heels this fall in NYC.

I recently attended a reading of Satan in High Heels presented as part of the TOSOS theatre company's Chesley/Chambers Playwrights Project reading series.  I had such a good time that I had to talk with Robertson about the play and how it came to be.

So I'm guessing that you are a fan of B movies and exploitation films?

You know, it’s funny, I do love exploitation films but my tastes run wildly from camp to classics. And when judging these films solely on their screenplays, what many people consider B movies of the past have at lot in common with independent cinema of today. That said, I do love a fun, low budget trashy movie and “Satan in High Heels” is my all-time favorite. “Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill” is a close runner up. And “Kitten with a Whip.” Anything with Ann-Margret makes my list.

When did you first see the film "Satan in High Heels"?

Meg Myles

I first saw “Satan in High Heels” about 15 years ago. It was on a videocassette loaned to me by this cool old gay guy in the deep south who collected obscure celebrity autographs. He was a big fan of singer and pinup girl Meg Myles who was the lead in “Satan” and he kept telling me I had to see this film. Little did I know, it would become my favorite obsession.  On the first viewing, I was especially thrilled to see Grayson Hall from the original “Dark Shadows” TV series playing a lesbian nightclub owner named Pepe. Doesn’t get any better than Dr. Julia Hoffman.

What was it about the story that made you interested in it?

What I loved most about the movie is the lead character, Stacy Kane—a carnival stripper turned nightclub singer—is totally amoral, a sociopath with no redeeming qualities except she has a killer body and can carry a tune. The film almost plays like a horror movie in that Stacy, the sexual predator, takes out her victims— one at a time—as she bed bounces her way to the top.  It’s just great fun to see everyone fall victim to her charms—repulsed and turned on at the same time.

Did you have a "Eureka!" moment when you decided it should be brought to the stage?

Absolutely. Upon repeated viewings, I kept shouting out lines I wished the characters would say. Then I started imagining new scenes and plot twists that would make for a more satisfying ending. As a comedy writer and a playwright, I knew the film’s theatricality and melodramatic tone would translate well to the stage. My adaptation definitely plays up the unintentional irony and humor of the original film but I also worked hard to beef up the overall story arc  with new and rewritten scenes, character development and dialogue rewrites. 

How long of a trip was it from film to stage?  What did you need to do along the way?

I started on a stage version of the film about 8 years ago with some friends of mine I met at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. They were interested in collaborating on a musical version of the film but life got in the way. But after leaving a day job corporate gig, I realized I wasn’t getting any younger so the only person to execute my vision was going to be myself. So I finished a new draft about two years ago and then I did a staged reading at Trustus Theatre in Columbia, SC  directed by my pal Tim Gardner, an in-demand commercial film director. From there, my friend (and playwright) Kathleen Warnock asked to read the script and she suggested it be part of TOSOS’ Chesley/Chambers new play reading series in NYC. 

As you know, I attended that staged reading of your play.  I thought it was a lot of fun, thanks in no small part to the talented cast.  I understand you'll be bringing most of them back for this fall's production.  Who will be involved?

How cool is our cast?? Karen Stanion is playing Stacy Kane and I could not be more excited to have her in the lead role. She is absolutely ravenous in this part and she looks awesome in high heels! Brett Warwick plays Stacy’s drug addicted husband, Rudy, an ex con turned pulp fiction writer. Ron Bopst is a dynamo as Arnold Kenyon, the shady businessman with a penchant for S&M, with Paul Caiola as his naïve son Larry Kenyon. Virginia Baeta is playing nightclub manager Pepe. Jacqueline Sydney is jaded barfly Felice and Robert Locke is bitchy, piano playing Paul, one of the only people in the cast who doesn’t sleep with Stacy! I'm leaving a couple of people out but suffice it to say we have a dream team of actors who not only get the era but the style and tone of the piece.

And who do you have directing? 

Mark Finlay will be directing and I am so really fortunate to have him at the helm. He is a big fan of the original source material and I instantly had an incredible rapport with him. With an evolving piece like this, the writer/director relationship is crucial and I lucked out with one of the nicest and most accomplished stage directors in NYC.

What would you say to your potential audience to get them to see the show?

Sex, drugs, booze and murder in a cabaret setting…this one has it all! And for lovers of B movies, I think you’ll get a good buzz from the laughs of this staged adaptation.

Are there any other B movies you'd like to see turned into plays or maybe even musicals?

I think “Kitten with a Whip” would be awesome on stage. Think we can get Karen Stanion to wear a red wig? That and the women’s prison movie “Caged.” I want Kathleen Warnock back on stage playing the Agnes Moorehead role!

If you could give some advice to the Stacy Kanes of the world, what would it be?

Always remember, bruised strippers get lousy tips. My favorite line from the play!

Follow the progress of the play on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SatanInHighHeelsThePlay or on Twitter @SataninHH.

Planet Connections Interview - Roi Escudero of "Artaud..mon mômo"

By Byrne Harrison
Photo of Roi Escudero by Valentin Ewan
Production photo by James Ewan

Name: Roi Escudero
Show: Artaud...mon mômo
Relationship to production: Producer/performer/writer/designer/director
Website: http://planetconnections.org/artaud-mon-momo/

Conceptual performance artist Roi Escudero was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her award winning inter-media work, as designer, songwriter, dramatist, and director of documentary-visual theatre and video, is internationally known. She is the creator  of performance-art-cinema™. Her vision paved the way for new media-theatre through her Connected Series BUBULINOS’ DREAMS.  In the USA her work has appeared at The Art Museum Council Gallery, at Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA), Los Angeles International Open Festival, at The Charlie Chaplin Space L.A., The Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, The New York International FRINGE Festival, The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), The Midtown International Theatre Festival, FRIGID New York, and other cultural and artistic events. Escudero's performance-art productions B=Essence, (2012) The Matra India (2011) and 11 seconds of ecstasy!(2010) presented at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, won the PCTF 2011 and  PCTF 2010 Awards for Outstanding Performance-art, Multimedia Event, Use of Projections and Special Effects. Escudero's plays received a total of 14 nominations. This includes Outstanding Overall Production of a New Play. 

Quotes Playwright/Critic Mario Fratti hailed Roi Escudero as “a director of the third millennium” Martin Denton of nytheatre.com wrote: “Roi Escudero —"Bubi" to anyone she's ever met and anyone who's ever seen one of her extraordinary shows—doesn't believe in walls. She's against barriers of any kind: artistic ones that would attempt to put any of the multitudinous disciplines that make up her work—music, dance, poetry, mime, mask, puppetry, fashion, architecture, video, and others…” Alfred Weiss of The Italian Voice praised the “Convincing ensemble guided by Ms. Escudero’s masterful direction…”    Producer and Entrepreneur John Chatterton calls Roi the “Ultimate visual-dramatic artist.”   Artist Sue Grillo said: "On the imaginary  canvas of the stage, Roi Escudero paints with light." 

How did you first get involved in theatre?

I was involved in theatre since I was a little girl. I grew up in a creative family. My parents constantly gave  theatrical "tertulias" at home. My aunt, my uncle, and my parents were amateur performers. My father was a extraordinary comedian and my mother a ballerina and designer, as a designer she became well known. My mother made the most amazing costumes and accessories. 

Who are your biggest influences? 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Antonin Artaud, Jean Genet, The Instituto De Tella, The Living Theatre, Maria Fux, Guliano Vasilico, Prem Rawat, Salo Vasochi, Lucille Ball, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, Quentin Tarantino and everyday life.

What is your show about?

In the final period of Artaud's life, he is living in an abandoned pavilion in a park convalescence clinic at Ivry-sur-Seine, surrounded by 406 school children's notebooks. The pages are covered with drawings and cutting edge text: "a body without organs". The drawings depict sexuality and terror, screams and gestures, and the paper is scarred with strokes of piercing knife-blade incisions. Artaud 's radio play To Have Done With the Judgment of God has been  banned. It is Mardi Gras, Jacques the poet, masked as "el Diablo", brings chloral to Artaud. The drug transports Artaud into an imaginary transitory zone in his mind that materializes the assorted places of his memories.  Artaud's hallucinations and flashbacks bring him to his mother's womb, his childhood next to the sea, Paris, the  silent cinema, the Surrealist movement, Genica, and The Théâtre Alfred Jarry.  Artaud also flashbacks to his journey with the Tarahumaras peoples and the time of war at the asylum of Rodez, where Artaud suffered beatings, starvation and electroshock therapy.  In the constrained space of his mind  the only contact that Artaud has with the outside world is the memory of a movie by  the Marx Brothers that he loves.  The action is focused on the protagonist’s awareness with the support of his alter ego, the bon vivant God Pan and a nurse with multiple personalities: Mademoiselle Perfection Obsession Phobos La Folie. Artaud sometimes perceives God Pan like the sadistic Dr Ferdière, a psychiatrist that knows from experience that nothing is more terrifying than freedom. The female figures represent the maternal, the erotic and the hysteric. All of the allegorical characters are manifestations of Artaud's raison d'etre and his pain, the pain of the world and its violent indifference. 

What inspired you to write it?

Artaud mon mômo is inspired by the life, work and lucid madness of the actor, director, theoretician, artist, and visionary genius Antonin Marie Joseph Artaud. After years of research and practice with Artaud’s theory and  following Artaud's belief that the creative process of the mise-en-scène needs to be in the hands of the same artist, I conceived Artaud mon mômo.  With my background in French literature, visual arts and theatre I produced an integral work as a performance artist, designer, playwright and director. I mingled documentary and visual theatre with the extemporary nature of performance-art through an artful planning method. The mise-en-scène containing stage design, new-media, and a narrative of moving images, supports the action onstage and connects my extemporary performance-art action with a skillful performance of actors following my stage directions. I created the  plot with real facts, the mystique of the fantastic, a touch of the  absurd and the irreverent awareness of the Theatre of Cruelty. I removed the stage’s imaginary fourth wall to produce a spontaneous response and pull the audience into a "visual-dramatic spectacle."

Who are your collaborators and how long have you been working with them?

I met most of the cast of Artaud...mon mômo by fate!!! The first was Brad Burgess, executive producer of  The Living Theatre, and the main collaborator of the legendary Judith Malina. I went to a LIT Fund meeting at The Living Theatre to bring a piece from a project that I'm doing with kids for the LIT Fund. And there under a red light I saw a living image of Artaud! I murmured Artaud, and Brad Burgess responded, "I love Artaud!" Later he said: "Since The Living Theatre helped bring Artaud to the United States and has championed him as one of the great thinkers in their own work and in world theatre, I could not refuse the opportunity to play one of my own and my mentor's heroes." Brad Burgess said yes, and Voila he is portraying Artaud!  Later on  I went to a benefit for the LIT Fund  by The Living Theatre and Elephant Run District in a retrospective of Chris Harcum and I saw Bryant Carroll perform one of Chris plays and he was fantastic. Now Bryant is part of the cast of Artaud mon mômo, with the gifted twins Ashley and Kimberly Carvalho and the unique Mika Oyaizu. I have been working with Mika since 2009 when she danced tango in my performance art play, Argentina Passionate choreographed by the genial Rubén Celiberti. Since then Mika has collaborated in three of my performance art pieces presented at The Planet Connections Theatre Festivity: B=Essence (2012), The Matra India (2011) and 11 seconds of ecstasy (2010). Mika's work was nominated for Outstanding Choreography for the PCTF awards! Others participating in the production are: Erika  Bracy Mendoza who gives to the piece a priceless touch by singing  acappella a Jacques Prevert poem. The endowed Ryan Metzler as technical director and light designer. The multimedia and research assistant is Valentin Ewan, a recent Honors graduate from New York University with a Major in History and a Minor in Documentary Film, he also serves as stage manager.  Renown artist James Ewan created painted costumes and a virtual background for the Tarahumaras scene. The original songs are by La Banda Argentina and me. A new actor in town, James Stokes, gives an awesome curtain speech and is our house manager. I love the cast and the crew too! Artaud... mon mômo is dedicated to Judith Malina.  

Planet Connections donates a portion of the box office for each show to a charity.  What charity has your production chosen and why?

Artaud...mon mômo is benefiting The LIT Fund. The LIT Fund, is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit designed to financially assist organizations and individual artists creating independent theater in the five boroughs of New York City. The intent of the Fund is to protect, sustain and strengthen this vital segment of American theater--in any economic environment--and to further enhance its positive impact on the cultural landscape of the city. The money for the Fund comes from participating organizations and artists who make donations in the amount of 5¢ per ticket they sell. www.litfund.org

I chose to help the LIT Fund because the indie theatre in New York needs to stay alive! 

What's next for you after Planet Connections?
 
I'm have been invited to present my work at the Urban Eye Studio in L.A. California.  

I'm planning to bring my documentary-performance piece America what  a trip! and Artaud...mon mômo to the west coast.

If you could work with any famous actor, living or dead, who would it be? 

Charlie Chaplin and Johnny Depp!

Planet Connections Interview - Mark-Eugene Garcia of "The Holy Cows of Credence, South Dakota"

By Byrne Harrison
Headshot by Ben Strothmann
Production photo by Melissa Segal

Name: Mark-Eugene Garcia (with a little help from Carolyn Lardinois English)
Show: The Holy Cows of Credence, South Dakota
Relationship to production: Bookwriter and producer
Website: http://planetconnections.org/the-holy-cows-of-credence/
 

Mark-Eugene Garcia is a proud member of A.S.C.A.P. and is the director of the Playwrights Forum of the F.A.C.T. Theatre Company. He is a Graduate of City College of New York and studied book and lyric writing with the Academy of New Musical Theatre in Los Angeles. His musicals include STANDBY- THE MUSICAL (New York International Fringe Festival- Encores Selection, New York Musical Theatre Festival, Next Link Selection), FACING EAST: A NEW MUSICAL (Broadwayworld.com Chicago Special Event- Nominee), THE HOLY COWS OF CREDENCE SOUTH DAKOTA, and THE JOURNEY. His plays include (UN)MISSED CONNECTIONS (Jacob Weiser Playwriting Award for a Fully Realized Drama, The Stark Award in Drama in Memory of Ross Alexander- honorable mention), ONE NIGHT AT THE GOLDEN BOOT, INSCRIPTIONS, WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR and KEYS. His works have been presented in The New York International Fringe Festival, The Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, The Puzzle: Marble’s Festival of New Works, ANMT’s Festival of New Musicals, Untucked: LBGT One Act festival, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Disney’s Hyperion Theatre, and The Colony Theatre Burbank. 

As an actor he has appeared from New York to California, including the shows A STRANGE AND SEPARATE PEOPLE (Jay Berman) (Winner- Seymour Peck Award for Sustained Excellence) THE TAINT OF EQUALITY OR I WANT YOUR SEX (Javier Pena) ,SIX SILENCES IN THREE MOVEMENTS (Sean), THE MOUSETRAP (Paravacini), LEAVES OF GRASS(Nude soloist), NEW YORK ( Duff, Vigil), HAMLET (Horatio), THE BOYS IN THE BAND (Larry), THE JAR (The Man), FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Fyedka) , CITY OF ANGELS ( Pasco,Eugene, Munoz u/s), TEN PAGES WITH 25 WORDS AND A NUDE SCENE (Jay), and many performances at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure as well as on the Jenny Craig Website. Mark's film roles include NOCTURNAL FURY (Charlie) and ALEKSANDR'S PRICE (Michael) He can also be seen on the web series THE MESSAGE BOARD (Charlie) and PIONEER ONE (Dr. Richard C. Hadfield)


How did you first get involved in theatre?

Carolyn: Royal Crane and I began our career as stand-up comedians performing in the LA area. On a challenge and the promise of an all you can eat buffet, we began writing a play for three friends who had found it difficult to find parts that fit their unique personalities and extra-large bodies. Night Nurses was a critical success and quickly launched our writing career but ruined the three aforementioned friendships. Writers see things differently. Often mistaken as husband and wife, which creeps us out, we continue to work to write for all mediums but fewer larges. Holy Cows is our second collaboration. 

Who are your biggest influences?

Mark: When it comes to musical theatre, Ahrens and Flaherty will always be my biggest influences. When I was in high school I happened to see the pre Broadway cast of Ragtime and a regional production of  Once on this Island back to back. I was immediately drawn to the storytelling through music in each show. Up until then I felt musicals were just about doing a scene, singing a song about it, then doing another scene. In those two stories so much time and emotion was wrapped into each song. I was addicted   When I realized that the same people wrote these two shows, I instantly went and found their other material. I’ve been hooked ever since. That’s about when I started writing plays and poetry, which led me into musical theatre.

What is your show about? 

Mark: The musical is about a community of women- and one man- who get together every Sunday to watch their, ever losing, church baseball team (The Holy Cows) play. The minister’s wife, Marlys Brooks, uses these Sunday get-togethers to solve the problems of all of her friends. But this Sunday is the anniversary of a tragedy in her life. Because of this, she is losing her faith. But she has no one to tell. Alone, confused, and searching, Marlys puts her faith in an unlikely source.
 
What inspired you to write it? 

Carolyn: On a hot summer day on a dirt road in South Dakota, four young adults, almost home, passed a slow-moving tractor. Their head-on collision with the vehicle on the other side of the road and their deaths is not newsworthy. It happens with regularity on the two lane dirt ways of rural America. But in that event were all of life’s unanswered questions. Why do these things happen? What if they had had one more cup of coffee to drink that day? What if they had had one less cup of coffee? Why do the “good” ones have to die and who gets to decide who the “good” ones are anyway? With the metaphor of a church softball game, a game that everyone understands, we explore the profound questions of life and death and signs in a game that no one understands.

Mark: My mom handed me the play Holy Cows which was written by a friend of hers and mentor of mine, Carolyn English and her writing partner Royal Crane. That was almost ten years ago. It was a bit of time before I was able to sit down and read the play, during the break from another project. Immediately, I heard music singing from the page and knew that I needed to tell this fantastic story through song. I was incredibly nervous approaching someone who I had always thought of as “teacher” and “mentor” and asking if I could try my hand at adapting her work. However after giving me the go ahead, and seeing Carolyn and Royal’s reactions to the first readings, I felt reassured and very excited to move along with this project. 

We have been given some fantastic opportunities, first with LaGuardia College, then later The Puzzle: Marble Collegiate Church’s Festival of New Works, and finally here, with the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. 

These characters mean so much because they are so real. The story means so much because it is so basic, yet so touching. This is a simple show, with an intimate story of six people hoping for something as small as their small town church winning a game. Yet, looking deeper, to  hits heart, we see a woman searching desperately for meaning, a group of people searching for community, and a young girl searching for a connection. It is in these moments that the Holy Cows sing.

Who are your collaborators and how long have you been working with them?

Mark: One of the many things I love about The Holy Cows of Credence, South Dakota is the sense of community between the characters. This is something that continues in the behind scenes element also. We have Carolyn, who always encouraged my writing when I was younger.  Then three years ago, when the musical premiered at LaGuardia College, a fellow student, Viktoria Dana King, was my assistant director. We were so happy to have her back on board in that role this time around. Rodrigo E. Bolaños was our set designer in that run, but in the past few years has become an accomplished director. Having seen every production of Cows, and after his fantastic work on my play (un)missed connections, it seemed only natural to have him take the bull by the horns this time around. David Rigano and I worked on another musical Facing East out in Chicago. He and his brother Paul Rigano write so well together and their song, style and sensibility fit the show so well, that they also seemed the natural fit. Kyle James Johnson, our stage manager, was an actor in (un)missed connections last year. Donald Garverick is a friend, as well as a fantastic choreographer whom we’d all longed to work with for quite a while. I love the storytelling he does with movement. Casting wise, Lisa Dennett who plays Grandma Fette did such a great job in the reading at The Puzzle Festival two years ago that we were so happy to have her back. As for the new members of our herd: Stephanie Kirkland brings such honesty and beauty to Marlys. Alanna Gwynn Shaffer manages to be hilarious and touching at the same time. Jenny Paul is hilarious perfection as Dotty-Lue.  Peter Ackerman is spot on as Skipper and has more energy that I thought was humanly possible. Julia Menn is wonderful, bringing a balance of dark and light to the dramatic role of Liz. 

Planet Connections donates a portion of the box office for each show to a charity.  What charity has your production chosen and why?

Mark: For our charity, we chose WIN (Women in Need). The Holy Cows of Credence, South Dakota is show about women and community. With nearly an all female cast, we really wanted to find charity that focused on women. WIN transforms the lives of New York City homeless women and their children by providing a holistic solution of safe housing, critical services and ground-breaking programs they need to succeed on their own  – so the women can regain their independence and their children can look forward to a brighter future. The linking of women and community was so close to our theme that WIN seemed like the perfect fit.

What's next for you after Planet Connections?

Mark: Two days after Holy Cows closes, my other musical Standby begins rehearsals for The New York Musical Theatre Festival. It’s a rock musical about five people waking up in an airport terminal with no recollection of how they got there. It’s a lot darker than Holy Cows but just as character driven. It was really well received at last years NYC Fringe Festival and was chosen for the Fringe Encores series. I co-wrote the book and lyrics with Alfred Solis. The Music is by Amy Baer and Keith Robinson. Carlos Armesto is directing and our cast is amazing. We’re opening July 19th
  
What was your best “theatre moment” - that one moment, either onstage or off, that was so sublime that it stayed with you?

Mark: Okay, it’s going to sound like I’m sucking up here. But, I promise it’s all true. Two years ago I got mentioned my first NYC review. I remember reading it, in my living room, with my heart beating a mile a minute. It was just one sentence, but it was my name and a statement of praise.   It was for Duncan Pflaster’s Six Silences In Three Movements which was a big step for me theatrically as well as one of my favorite theatrical experiences. In the review I got a shout out about my performance. I showed that review to EVERYONE. I Facebook linked it. I emailed it. I printed it and handed it to my friends. In fact, it’s still quoted on my website. That year, I was really taking a tentative step back into performing, but that sentence changed everything. I went at everything full force after that. That night at the show, when I went on, I was so happy- but at the same time thought “don’t mess this up!” It was a mix of pressure and jubilation. I never wanted that to stop. That review was by a certain Byrne Harrison on a certain blog called StageBuzz. So yeah, it might sound like I’m sucking up. But I’m saying that it’s all true. And I am also saying, “thank you.”