Tales from the Barber Shop | Interview 1

You may be familiar with some of our behind-the-scenes, rogue styled, interviews.
Well today, we launch a whole new series of interviews, this time, with the cast of
Barbicide!

Tales from the Barber Shop offers weekly cast interviews, following the development of Barbicide!
Shot in the barber chairs of Moustache Greenwich Tonsorial, join us each week for a brief sneak-peek into the developing world of Sean Pomposello's new play!

Today's interview features Arthur Aulisi, who plays Toddesco & The Judge.

Simply Intricate: Oral Tradition in Theatre

Staged Readings

Simply Intricate: Oral Tradition in Theatre

4. 16. 2012, 2:30 PM

As you may or may not know, we have been spending quite a bit of time developing our newest production, Barbicide by Sean Pomposello. We had originally work-shopped an early portion of the script in the fall, as part of our reading series, Universal Monsters. After an overwhelming response from our audience members, I began to see a great potential in a script that had otherwise been an intriguing concept, (See, The Playwright’s Pad: The Origin of Barbicide.) Shortly after, what was read at Universal Monsters ended up becoming the first three scenes of Sean Pomposello’s newest play! After lengthy conversations about the play itself, changes to dialogue and characters, as well as modifying concepts that would maintain a cohesive quality to the piece as a whole, we finally reached a rest stop. I wanted to give Barbicide the opportunity to truly evolve, so as the script was completed, we decided to present a developmental reading of the finished product. We began rehearsals last week for our reading of Barbicide, equipped with a great cast and a fantastic script. With a reading, there are a variety of options to present a piece of theatre. Beginning this process made me wonder, is there a proper way to direct a reading?

One of the most attractive qualities of a reading is the simplistic nature of the event as a whole. “Hey, here’s a reading. It’s free. Come see it,” is the essential structure of advertising your typical reading. When you are in a space, all it calls for are a few chairs and music stands, then you are set.  I have been to readings that play up and play down the event. Some readings I have been to can seem uptight and others too lax. How do you find the happy medium? Does the environment of the reading affect the piece itself? I do not believe there is one specific way to curate a reading, and granted, the mood and environment certainly will be compared to the play itself. The point is that these “simple” readings are an opportunity for like-minded people to gather, discuss and participate in a play in order to contribute towards it’s growth.

While the event itself can be presented simply or intricately, what about the direction of the piece? The ultimate goal is to tell a story. At a reading, there is typically very little stage direction. If you are operating under equity guidelines, actors cannot be using props or costumes. When I direct a reading I rely on three factors: 

-An Actor’s Instincts: In a reading, the actors have to rely on each other. There     are no light cues or staging for them to involve in their existence in the moment. Ultimately the actors must be storytellers. 

-Vocal Attention: The most crucial element in directing a reading is the unique and interesting ways you can guide a story by playing with vocalizations. With the actors unable to fall back on scenery and staging to add additional conflict or intent to a scene, they must resort to vocal variation. This keeps the audience involved while appropriately serving as a storyteller. 

-Audience Involvement: While you cannot rely on an audience to interact, you hope they do. If you have a good theatre piece on your hands, the audience will typically participate. This doesn’t mean inviting them to read, though you could if you like. An attentive and vocal audience is always appreciated at a reading. You get a sense of how people enjoy the piece as well as moments of the play that are simply not landing where you expected.

Really, readings are a prime example of oral tradition. Every culture throughout the ages has told stories to an audience. Novelist, Edwards Price once wrote, “A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species.” Everybody tells stories. Everybody includes their own influence towards a story. That is what gives a story life. As it travels from person-to-person and mouth-to-mouth, it naturally undergoes changes that are essential in it’s growth and complexity. 

Like most art forms, it is subjective to consider one proper way of holding a play reading. We should, however, be promoting and holding many more readings. We are responsible for carrying on the oral tradition. Through readings, we become a part of an age old custom.

With that said, you may join The Theatre Project as we continue our commitment to the spoken word. Friday April 20^th, I invite you to attend our developmental reading of Barbicide. The reading will be held at Moustache Tonsorial on 55 Greenwich Avenue. I look forward to seeing you there.

-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.

The Playwright's Pad: The Origin of Barbicide

I’ve been told that I’m dark. Frequently, actually. Most recently by my ten-year old daughter, over breakfast. And, in a great many of my plays, that darkness pervades, but it is often accompanied by some degree of violence. Stop, don’t ask why. I myself don’t know. It just does. In fact, I’ve even been passed over at certain festivals (the names of which I won’t disclose) for being too violent. So, you can imagine my excitement when I awoke with a start on my daily train ride with an idea for a way to adapt into a play, of all things, a well known, and beloved, musical. You know, orchestra, dancing, kicking, singing—in short, everything I despise about theatre. Well, not everything, but most everything. 

How great would it be to expose my work to a whole new set of theatergoers who might normally look the other way when a play of mine was being staged. Immediately, fearing the loss of cell signal that an approaching tunnel would bring, I texted Christian Amato, artistic director of The Theatre Project and detailed my idea. Christian was at the time knee deep in not only a reading series of a collection of my work (titled Universal Monsters), but a full blown, balls-to-the-walls staging of my play Bitch.

Over the months of development, Christian had become somewhat of the ideal collaborator for a playwright. He’d always listen to even half-baked ideas, listen some more, provide perspective, and then step back. Never one to stifle a good concept, however unpopular, Christian knows just what to say to find a way to steer something to the stage—even if that something might be a little too dark for mass audience consumption (read: taking on a play about dog fighting). Later that day we discussed the piece I dreamt up on the train while an actor read a rather lengthy monologue I had originally staged at Manhattan Repertory Theatre the previous Spring. After the piece was read, Christian leaned in and asked if I’d ever considered writing a full-length monologue. 

Now, the monologue is something that, for good or for bad, has made frequent appearances in my plays over the years, but it is normally the kind of conceit that actors shrink from and directors scratch their heads over.  It is often difficult to perform (particularly with my language) and even more daunting a task to stage in any compelling way. So, needless to say, the question took me aback. I had, however, always yearned to write a full-length monologue, but with multiple voices—a stereologue, if you will. The one I’d been toying with incorporated direct audience address, but also included such diverse elements as beat poetry, terse, hard boiled language and tenses that shifted from past to present. What’s more, I wanted all attention to be directed to the language itself—in fact, in order to focus on the words, in this piece, I’d ask that a small handful of actors impersonate scores of other characters. For me, this would be an experiment in pure storytelling. 

So, upon Christian’s question concerning the monologue, a light bulb went off. Why not apply this unique form of storytelling to this musical adaptation that sparked my imagination on the train. This was how Barbicide was born—my meditation on coincidence and fate. Or, if you’d prefer, my very loose, potty-mouthed, deconstructed adaptation, or parody, of the musical Sweeney Todd.  

At last, a lighter, more accessible play for the masses… a story about, among many of things, a serial killer barber and cannibalism.

-Sean

From The Director's Notebook v.4

Friday, February 10

11:30 AM

My apologies for being unable to post in the last few months, but my production schedule has been pretty hectic. Having been totally invested in B*tch, I did not have the opportunity to post as frequently as I would have liked. I imagine that those are the benefits to Twitter and Facebook. You don't have to write a lot—an update will suffice.

Currently I am working on a very cool production of Alice In Wonderland. The production is Off-Broadway at The Historic Players Theatre, and features a newly interpreted script and score by writing team Sgouros and Bell. This is the world premiere production of the musical, which features an all percussion score!

I have been fortunate to be collaborating with a large amount of artists lately, an experience which is crucial for all young directors. On Alice, I have been working with the composer and the librettist whom are both extremely keen on input and involvement. The same goes with my other collaborator, Sean Pomposello. Sean wrote B*tch and together we have been developing a new play entitled Barbicide, a noirish reflection of the Sweeny Todd myth set in 1960s Queens. To learn more about Barbicide, watch the talk balk between Sean and I.

The key to a collaboration is the level of involvement. A director should never make a bottom line. When collaborating, it is our job to guide the piece into the best possible production.

In theatre, there are a lot of opportunities to collaborate. You collaborate with actors, technicians and designers amongst others. Recently I have been able to collaborate with businesses, corporations and product lines as well.

As a director, the relationships built are equally as important in conjunction to the plays you develop. While it sounds like something you may hear in theatre school, it is a highly valuable piece of advice. It may be difficult at the outset to find collaborators you see eye to eye with, but then again not all relationships need to be on the same page in order to thrive. I am lucky to be involved with artists who share similar values as my own.

Creatives are out there, in all fields, seeking people to partner with and develop great work. Theatre allows for a fusion of many cultures and relationships. For me, I enjoy developing work with a group of people in highly varying worlds. The end result is magnificent for an audience.

Keep an eye out for future (and more frequent) posts and be sure to check out our new blog series, The Playwrights Pad.

-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.

Video Talk Back: Barbicide

Check out this video interview on our upcoming project, Barbicide.


Playwright Sean Pomposello answers questions with Artistic Director Christian Amato on our newest play!

Check out the B*tch Commercial

You have got to check out out B*tch promo video!

Universal Monsters Lineup!

Universal Monsters is a collection of 11 of Sean Pomposello's written work. The Theatre Project will be presenting these plays in a series of readings throughout the months of November and December. Revolving around the concept of "Man's inhumanity to man," the Universal Monsters Series offers a brazen look at the aggressive side of humanity in the 21st Century. Here is the complete series lineup!


November 3                                Bitch


November 17                             Unlimited Nights
                                                  Dark Future
                                                  The Walkaway
                                                  To Hell with Darwin
                                                  The Dog House
                                                  Daddy's Little Girl


December 1                              IT
                                                 Plus One


December 15                           Turnpike South
                                                 Barbicide




We look forward to seeing you at these 5 Free play readings.


@ The Players Theatre
115 MacDougal Street
New York, NY 10012


Plus!


Check out our Universal Monsters key art, and an interview with writer Sean Pomposello about the plays!

 

                                                  

Announcing our Cast!

We're very excited to share with all our followers our casting decisions! We have cast 5 actors to appear in both Universal Monsters and Bitch. These performers will be delving into 10 of Sean Pomposello's plays this fall and winter! They are a mighty talented bunch and we are proud to have them on board for this project! And here they are:

Michael Neithardt as Junie

Benjamin Weaver as Mitts

Brian Cheng as Davy Dollar$

Gina LeMoine as Gil

Arthur Aulisi as Uncle Knee Co

Universal Monsters: Part 2 with Sean Pomposello

Universal Monsters: Part 1 with Sean Pomposello

from the director's notebook v.2

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. 

Mini-Interview 1 of 3 w/ Sean Pomposello