8/31/2011 3:00 PM It has been a interesting week! I'm starting to realize how tough it is to manage a Kickstarter campaign. That in itself is like having a full time job. I think a secret is having a lot of content. The campaign in itself is a little over a week in, so I'm not to worried about the progress as of yet, I feel that people will be more provoked to donate later on in the campaign. As for content, I believe that the interviews with Sean are great. They give an audience a chance to learn more about the person behind the words. There are two more interviews regarding Bitch, and then we will be moving on to discussing the plays in Universal Monsters. Outside of the whole Kickstarter world, auditions will be announced later today and casting notices will be going up. I have been debating over whether or not I should have sides available prior to the audition, or if I would like to do cold readings. Typically I prefer cold readings because it reveals an actor's abilities instantaneously. It also shows how quickly an actor can develop a concept behind a piece of text, which fascinates me. Regarding what I will be having those auditioning read, I'm not only looking a the Bitch script. I'm also looking into the plays in the Universal Monsters series. The great thing about Sean's writing and his style with language is it's consistency. Since the performers will be auditioning for Universal Monsters and Bitch, it will be the perfect way to evaluate them for the work as a whole. Design wise, our key art for marketing was just completed. Scenically we are in early phases of the design process. I had been planning to discuss that this week, but I am holding off until next week when there is more imagery to share! The interesting thing is that the set is the office of a chop shop, so there is a lot of fun in considering the objects in the room. The set must be easy enough to move quickly in terms of strike, but hearty enough to appear permanent. It will be a challenge but I think it will turn out very well. Regarding key art, there is a big play with the masculinity of the chop shop paired with a subtle hint of animal cruelty. Being that the play focuses on dog fighting, our imagery aptly touches upon numerous ideas while maintaining a strong design aesthetic. I'm eager to share the design concepts at length, so expect another post very soon! Feel free to send in questions as well as well as comments and please share our Kickstarter project! -Christian The director's notebook is a blog Christian Amato started through theatre projected in order to allow people to see how a younger director approaches his work.
Check out our new interview with Sean Pomposello, writer of Universal Monsters and Bitch. This is part 1 of many other interviews with Sean to be released!
Also, were now on Kickstarter! Please show your support and share with your friends..
August 15, 11:40 AM
As I sit on the two train en route to meet up with Sean, the playwright I am fortunate enough to be working with this fall, I cannot help but be nervous. Despite having met a couple of times in person and sharing a regular dialogue through email, today fills my stomach with excitement as my nerves jump like a student at his first day of classes.
Today I will be filming an interview with Sean where I will be asking him questions to learn more about his play Bitch and his play series, Universal Monsters. This is the first time I've had the opportunity to work with a modern playwright and actually speak to him one on one. What has been fascinating is the way I can read his word and then be able to question him about it.
Sean Pomposello's writing intrigues me in the simple fact that it combines New York's grit with a cinematic movement and a conversational thread. It reads very naturally, and with auditions fast approaching and the summer coming to a close, I look forward to being able to getting inside his mind.
Email interaction can only go so far, but to truly understand the play, I must truly understand Sean. This video interview should do the trick! As I prepared the questions, I thought of how a character in Bitch might ask them. I wanted to avoid a "Inside The Actor's Studio" format because frankly I felt it would be perceived as too lofty. That would have been the opposite of what I am trying to achieve. I want to keep The Theatre Project accessible, and as a young company, I believe that is what makes us relatable.
I can't help but imagine that the characters in Bitch all have ridden this train before. The play is set in my town, which is not initially attracted me to the script, but certainly made me consider it. As I look around I can see people who remind me of the characters. Real people on their grind—which is what makes the characters unique. It doesn't glorify or enlarge a situation. Bitch exposes real people doing what they have to, no matter how corrupt, in order to survive
August 15, 8:05 PM
After I emerged from the Penn station subway stop, I met with Sean and we hopped back on a train heading towards the West Village. As we got off the Christopher Street/Sheridan Square stop, and walked over towards The Players Theatre, I felt a sense of gratitude in the fact that such a great playwright would be willing to place such faith in my hands. We went over to one of the best coffee shops in the area, Pubblico Espresso, a favorite haunt of mine.
Pubblico is right across the street from the theatre and delicious. Over iced coffee we discussed marketing, scenic design, and most importantly—the show itself. After posing many questions on the script, I was thrilled to have been able to pick up on and relate to aspects of the script that may lie more dormant in the dialogue. Facets of the plot that are there, but not spelled out. It's refreshing to know you are on the right track, especially with such a contemporary work. After coffee and small talk, we went to the theatre and I conducted my interview with Sean. We filmed at the Players Theatre which I felt was appropriate since it will shortly become a "home base" for The Theatre Project. It was a noisy day on MacDougal Street and the noise of the day served as the underscore to our interview, which went extremely well and was an eye-opening experience. By learning more about the playwright, I have learned more about the script itself. I highly recommend doing something like this, be it in person or through email in order to fully understand a project you may delve into. It particularly helps if the playwright you are working with happens to be alive. I would not be able to have done the same with say, a Chekhov play. Unless, that is, you happen to be able to channel the dead.
I also was able to show Sean the space where Universal Monsters and Bitch will be staged. There was something exciting about standing in the theatre with Sean and talking about the show. Mostly it was inspiration, the rest was probably fear that he may say something along the lines of "Look at this shit hole," but he was actually pretty psyched!
Overall, it was a great day for me as a director, and a great day for Sean and I as artists, as we step further into this venture. I'll wrap it up there since this is a blog post and it's becoming a novella. I look forward to my next blog post as well as newer developments in the project.
- Christian Amato
The director's notebook is a blog Christian Amato started through theatre projected in order to allow people to see how a younger director approaches his work.
