So how long have you been writing plays?
I wrote my first play in 2000, which was produced by Reverie Productions at FringeNYC that summer. It was called Face Value; it was about a Black country singer. It started as patter for a cabaret, because I wanted an excuse to sing country music in public. The more I wrote, the more I knew I wanted it to be a one-man show. After that, I wrote a lot, but not for public consumption.
Then I became an ensemble member of the NY Neo-Futurists and wrote a bunch of short plays for Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes), or TML, in 2007, and I collaborated with Christopher Borg, Jeffrey Cranor, and Eevin Hartsough on a full-length Neo-Futurist play, (Not) Just A Day Like Any Other in 2008.
Have you always wanted to be in theater?
Opera was my first love. I trained classically as a singer in high school. I fell out of love with opera when I discovered Cole Porter in college. Truthfully, my need to make a connection to the world at large has always fueled me, so theater was a natural place to begin.
So, the title for this play is always an attention grabber. How did you arrive at it?
I wrote a series of plays for TML called Black Plays for White People. I always knew I wanted to expand them; when Christopher Burris told me he wanted to direct something that I wrote for FringeNYC, I suggested we submit Black Plays for White People. Christopher suggested we add "A Raisin in the Salad" to the title, since that was the first Black Play for White People I ever wrote.
You place yourself, the playwright, as a the character in the play. How and why did that happen?
So, when I said that I wanted to make a connection with the world at large, I meant that I want everyone to know who I am... Honestly, the play is about me. All the ideas expressed in it are mine. It's a tragedy about a time in my life when I marginalized myself and my work. I'd also like to one day perform in it, since I can't this summer. I figure it would be easier to be cast as myself in my own play about myself than not.
You parody a broad range of characters and cultural references in this play - a dangerous comedy. Very recently, a popular animated show target a specific cultural icon, leading to great controversy. Were than any sacred cows that you especially dared -- or dared not -- take on?
Well, since I'd like to run for the office of Oprah, I didn't dare to take her on. But one could say that writing a play for and about myself is Oprahesque, right?
Are you concerned that audiences might misinterpret the commentary you're offering?
Nope. People have their own interpretations of everything. I've had too much therapy to entertain for a second the notion that everyone will agree or support the issues I raise in the show. I hope, more importantly, that people come out and LAUGH at the jokes, even though they are edgy.
Social commentary, aside, the play is very funny. How did these characters come to you? Or how did you meet them?
I think the play is funny, too. I think our actors and director are hilarious in ways that I never expected, so in that sense, I'm just meeting the characters now. Also, I wrote the original works to be performed by Neo-Futurists, so I wasn't writing them as characters. I just wanted the performers to be playing styles, rather than exploring character arcs. I consider myself to be slightly larger than life, so I wrote characters who could also be big - since they all are coming out of my slightly-larger-than-life head.
You are also an actor, and director for stage as well. In fact, you have another show in FringeNYC that you're directing. Tell us about that.
I am definitely an actor. I've been too busy lately to perform much, but I'm gonna fix that (I hope) soon. I am directing a production of Godspell right now for Broadway Training Center, which I think will be AMAZING. 16 super-talented kids. Seriously.
Also, at FringeNYC I'm directing Tracey Lee's raunchy, hilarious, revealing STANDING UP: BATHROOM TALK & OTHER STUFF WE LEARN FROM DAD, and it is, coincidentally, in the Players Theatre with A RAISIN IN THE SALAD: BLACK PLAYS FOR WHITE PEOPLE.
Here's info about both shows, just in case...
A Raisin in the Salad: Black Plays for White People
The Players Theater
Fri, August 13 @ 5:15
Sat, August 14 @ NOON
Mon, August 16 @ 7:45
Fri, August 20 @ 9:15
Mon, August 23 @ 5
Then I became an ensemble member of the NY Neo-Futurists and wrote a bunch of short plays for Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes), or TML, in 2007, and I collaborated with Christopher Borg, Jeffrey Cranor, and Eevin Hartsough on a full-length Neo-Futurist play, (Not) Just A Day Like Any Other in 2008.
Have you always wanted to be in theater?
Opera was my first love. I trained classically as a singer in high school. I fell out of love with opera when I discovered Cole Porter in college. Truthfully, my need to make a connection to the world at large has always fueled me, so theater was a natural place to begin.
So, the title for this play is always an attention grabber. How did you arrive at it?
I wrote a series of plays for TML called Black Plays for White People. I always knew I wanted to expand them; when Christopher Burris told me he wanted to direct something that I wrote for FringeNYC, I suggested we submit Black Plays for White People. Christopher suggested we add "A Raisin in the Salad" to the title, since that was the first Black Play for White People I ever wrote.
You place yourself, the playwright, as a the character in the play. How and why did that happen?
So, when I said that I wanted to make a connection with the world at large, I meant that I want everyone to know who I am... Honestly, the play is about me. All the ideas expressed in it are mine. It's a tragedy about a time in my life when I marginalized myself and my work. I'd also like to one day perform in it, since I can't this summer. I figure it would be easier to be cast as myself in my own play about myself than not.
You parody a broad range of characters and cultural references in this play - a dangerous comedy. Very recently, a popular animated show target a specific cultural icon, leading to great controversy. Were than any sacred cows that you especially dared -- or dared not -- take on?
Well, since I'd like to run for the office of Oprah, I didn't dare to take her on. But one could say that writing a play for and about myself is Oprahesque, right?
Are you concerned that audiences might misinterpret the commentary you're offering?
Nope. People have their own interpretations of everything. I've had too much therapy to entertain for a second the notion that everyone will agree or support the issues I raise in the show. I hope, more importantly, that people come out and LAUGH at the jokes, even though they are edgy.
Social commentary, aside, the play is very funny. How did these characters come to you? Or how did you meet them?
I think the play is funny, too. I think our actors and director are hilarious in ways that I never expected, so in that sense, I'm just meeting the characters now. Also, I wrote the original works to be performed by Neo-Futurists, so I wasn't writing them as characters. I just wanted the performers to be playing styles, rather than exploring character arcs. I consider myself to be slightly larger than life, so I wrote characters who could also be big - since they all are coming out of my slightly-larger-than-life head.
You are also an actor, and director for stage as well. In fact, you have another show in FringeNYC that you're directing. Tell us about that.
I am definitely an actor. I've been too busy lately to perform much, but I'm gonna fix that (I hope) soon. I am directing a production of Godspell right now for Broadway Training Center, which I think will be AMAZING. 16 super-talented kids. Seriously.
Also, at FringeNYC I'm directing Tracey Lee's raunchy, hilarious, revealing STANDING UP: BATHROOM TALK & OTHER STUFF WE LEARN FROM DAD, and it is, coincidentally, in the Players Theatre with A RAISIN IN THE SALAD: BLACK PLAYS FOR WHITE PEOPLE.
Here's info about both shows, just in case...
A Raisin in the Salad: Black Plays for White People
The Players Theater
Fri, August 13 @ 5:15
Sat, August 14 @ NOON
Mon, August 16 @ 7:45
Fri, August 20 @ 9:15
Mon, August 23 @ 5
Tickets & info here
and
Standing Up: Bathroom Talk & Other Stuff We Learn From Dad
The Players Theatre
Tue, August 17 @ 2
Mon, August 23 @ 10
Wed, August 25 @ 5:15
Fri, August 27 @ 9:15
Sat, August 28 @ 4:45
and
Standing Up: Bathroom Talk & Other Stuff We Learn From Dad
The Players Theatre
Tue, August 17 @ 2
Mon, August 23 @ 10
Wed, August 25 @ 5:15
Fri, August 27 @ 9:15
Sat, August 28 @ 4:45
And finally, your reputation as a budding YouTube connoisseur is growing...what's your favorite YouTube video right now?
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