Announcing the New Season

It's been a few weeks since my last blog post, I know. But the fact is, Parkville is over, the air-conditioning is fixed and the fire alarm hasn't gone off recently. If you walk into the theatre, there will be no actors chomping down A.C.P's and no lighting guys getting strangled with wire. You will see interns on their Macs, Hillary on the phone, and (if you're lucky) Tracy in a meeting. You will think the theatre is a dying place. You will, however, be dead wrong.

These few weeks of calm actually disguised a very crazy time for PoP's directors: finalizing the line-up for next season! They shoot frantic emails, text urgent messages, engage in loud phone conversations and sometimes even talk face-to-face! They get a new idea, whip out the calendar, and cradle their heads in their hands, realizing they cannot squeeze yet another event into the already packed season. But finally, (finally!) after a summer of waiting and Bated Breath, the new season has been decided. Here are the winners!

Mainstage Productions:

Side by Side by Sondheim, music by Stephen Sondheim, Julie Styne, Richard Rodgers and Mary Rodgers

Brighton Beach Memoirs, by Neil Simon

Art, by Yasmina Reza

The Scarlet Letter, based on the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Comedy of Errors, by Christopher Marlowe (just kidding, I'm just making sure you're paying attention)

Around the World in 80 Days, based on the novel by Jules Verne

A La Carte Series (a little more edgy):

Equus, by Peter Schaffer

Holiday Cabaret

You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, based on the comic strip "Peanuts"

Chicago (yes, the really famous Broadway musical)

Theatre for Young Audiences:

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, based on the book by Laura Joffe Numeroff

Homeroom, by Andrea Green and Selma Tolins Kaufman

I Think I Can, by Bruce Bowden, Barry Miller and Kathryn Schultz Miller

Full descriptions of the shows are available on Playhouse on Park's website, but I'll give you the scoop on a few things that the website won't tell you.

1. PoP's very own Sean Harris will play one of the three main roles in January's production of Art. It will be hilarious. You will come see it.

2. Not to brag or anything, but having Homeroom as part of the Young Audience series might not have happened if PoP had not hired a literary intern for the summer. In all

seriousness, though, seeing Homeroom on the roster is a testament to all the work I've been doing at PoP. Homeroom fell into our laps here at the Playhouse. I read it, visited the playwright's website, listened to the songs, and got an official copy and written reviews from the playwright herself. I talked with the artistic directors about it, had them read it, and next thing you know, we were calling up Andrea Green all the way in Philadelphia and talking with her about putting on her show. I have a feeling that Andrea is pretty thrilled - and so are we. We have found a great musical for middle and high school kids that touches on a lot of important issues and has a ton of really catchy music. It doesn't get much better than that. :)

3. Be on the lookout for staged readings and workshop productions of new work by Connecticut playwrights. Another product of my labors this summer, these low-key productions will run over a two-day period, with the purpose of introducing a new piece to the Connecticut theatre community. The playwrights we are featuring are really excited about their pieces, and my hope is that audiences can get over the fact that they "haven't heard of it before" and come out to see some great new work.

So that's the scoop from this literary blogger. Enjoy the next season!

Cleaners and Writers

Tuesday was one of the craziest days the Playhouse has ever seen. The interns and volunteers arrived in the morning to an email from the boss that looked something like this: CLEAN THE THEATRE!! So that's what we did. Floors were mopped, trashed was collected, carpets were vacuumed, bathrooms were restocked and plants were watered. The highlight occurred when Hillary and I returned from one of our multiple trips out to the dumpster and the lobby had sort of a funny smell to it. "It smells like cleaning stuff," Hillary said, and not having any other suggestions, I agreed.

Then Hillary had another revelation.

"Wait," she said, "I think the vacuum is in the trash pile." She was right. One of our trusty

vacuums was now sitting guiltily amidst the pile of black trash bags.

"That's it!" I said. "It's smells like broken vacuum!" As soon as David appeared from the storage room lugging another vacuum, our suspicions were confirmed. When asked about the dumpster-destined machine, David replied,

"Yeah, it started smoking a few minutes ago..." Tuesday, July 6, 2010 marked the first day I ever threw a vacuum into a dumpster.

But enough about the interns! Today I'm going to tell you all about Michael Bradford,

writer of The Parkville Project. I had so much fun interviewing Michael; he is

incredibly easy to talk to and offers up loads of information. But first, here's a little background on how he got into the theatre scene:

Originally from Kansas, Michael hitch-hiked around the country as a young man and then entered the navy, where he began writing poetry. While in the navy, he was lucky enough to see an August Wilson play - and from then on Michael knew he wanted to write plays. After serving in the navy, Michael went to UConn for his undergraduate degree and continued on to Brooklyn

College for his masters in playwriting. He received a fellowship at Manhattan Theatre Club, and then UConn hired him as Associate Professor of Theatre History, Dramatic Literature and Playwriting. He also serves as the Director of the Theatre Studies BA program.

Helene did most of the interviews for The Parkville Project, but it was Michael actually wrote the script. An aspiring playwright myself, I asked about Michael's writing process. How did her turen all of those interviews into just one family's story?

Michael had many questions to consider while writing. "How much drama can I add to real people's stories? How much can I manipulate?" Michael made a distinction between the "truth" of the play and a whether or not the story is "true." The "macro-story" (the overarching themes of immigration and separated families) has a lot of fact in it, while the the "micro-story" about Amalia and her family is not factual but very truthful. His goal was to weave many lives together into a larger story about the history of Parkville. "Writing this play was very different from any other play I've ever written," Michael said.

The script itself is highly unique. The play went through at least seven significantly

different drafts, with the script constantly undergoing revisions. Michael and Helene settled on an untraditional plot structure, with no obvious peripeteia (the literary term for the turning point or reversal of fortune). The structure alludes back to the works of Sophocles and Euripedes in ancient Greece, with the cast often acting as a chorus and individuals periodically stepping out to tell their stories.

When I asked how he got the idea for the specific stories of Amalia, Argulio and Eduardo, Michael responded that he had taught an acting workshop in Guemaras, Portugal, the town where Amalia's parents met. One of his students brought in a typewriter that he said had been dropped from the sky in Cuba...and the story began.

So although the craziness has died down since Tuesday, Playhouse on Park is still the place to be. We are expecting a sell-out tonight for our opening and we hope that word will get out about this locally relevant, highly powerful piece of theatre. Enjoy!

A pivotal moment between Eduardo and Amalia in The Parkville Project

Welcome to Parkville

They're singing. That's the first thing the actors do at rehearsal. For their "warmup song," the stage manager sounds a percussion soundtrack from his computer and one actor leads the rest in a responsive Spanish work song. It takes a few bars to make sure everyone is in the same key, but once they get there, it sounds cohesive and the harmonies beautifully blend together.

So of course I'm wondering why the actors have spontaneously broken into song. With my history as an acting student, I just assume it's a vocal warm-up they've worked on. So I was surprised when I heard the song again a little while later as part of the show. As impecunious citizens labored under the blazing sun, their song poured out over the hot, Cuban fields, bringing their culture directly to the stage.

Music is just one of the unique elements of the upcoming Parkville Project. Movement sequences and animal puppets also add style to the performance, in addition to flying typewriters and unconventional staging techniques. This show is something else.

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to sit down with the director and the writer of the show: Helene Kvale and Michael Bradford. Both work at UConn and head the Bated Breath Theatre Company, the group presenting Parkville here at the Playhouse. During my interviews, I got to hear all about Helene and Michael, as well as their inspirations and processes for creating the show. Here's some of what they had to say:

A word with Helene Kvale...

This European director is tall, refined and elegant. Born in Norway and raised in England, she was introduced to theatre at a young age in the dramatic hotbed of London. She began the Bated Breath Theatre Company a little over two years ago, a group whose goal is to bring a slightly different flavor of theatre to this part of the world. So, speaking of this part of the world...

How did you get the idea for this project?

After a visit to Real Art Ways, Helene was fascinated by the warehouses and architecture of the area. She knew there were stories attached to these buildings and she wanted to find them.

The building that inspired Helene

To unearth the stories, Helene conducted numerous interviews with the people of Parkville. When I asked her what kind of people she interviewed, she said she talked to a lot of seniors at the senior center, people on the street, business owners, politicians, and policemen. She conducted most of her interviews in Spanish and chose not to record them. Helene explained to me that she didn't want to intimidate, because many of these people are illegal immigrants themselves.

Were there any specific interviews that stood out?

Helene highlighted her interview with Norbert, a man born in 1917 who she found at the senior center. He lived in Parkville all his life. She was also especially moved by her interviews with two young men from El Salvador whom she spoke with at a literary volunteer agency. They had been separated from their families a few years ago and were doing their best to learn English.

How much were you involved involved in the writing process?

Overall, the writing of Parkville was a very collaborative process. Helene was very instrumental in deciding on the focus and structure of the piece, as well as the dramaturgical aspects. She worked closely with Michael Bradford, who created the actual dialogue and scenes.

What is the main point you want to get across with The Parkville Project?

Helene said she jumped into this project without the desire for it to go in any particular direction. She called the process "organic," letting it take her wherever it wanted to. Immigration is a fascinating issue, she said, and she found herself focusing on the idea of the government preventing people from moving when that is really their only option. She also wants to showcase the resiliency of a community and echoes of stories over the decades. But most importantly, she said, "it all comes down to family." This is a local story and the main point is to engage the audience. She's not trying to make a political statement, she's just trying to raise some questions and make people realize that immigration issues are present right here, right down the street.

Next post: A conversation with writer Michael Bradford!

The Lighting Guys are Here!

I found the theatre on Monday morning in a state of dramatic disarray. The lobby was filled with large fragments of The Last Five Years set, including numerous pieces of wooden shelving and a burnished Kawai piano. Unfamiliar people filled the theatre, climbing up on ladders and wielding paintbrushes like stage-fighti

ng Shakespeare actors. Music blared and lights were hoisted as The Parkville Project set began to take shape. But the most shocking aspect of the day was that both Artistic Directors and the Executive Director were all here at the same time. Somehow I missed the opportunity to take a picture, but I can assure you that Sean, Darlene and Tracy all occupied the office for at least a ten-minute span.

And another thing: it was hot. And humid. Dan and I expertly devised a system, however. The theatre itself is air-conditioned, a fact that we used to our advantage. We opened the theatre door, letting the icy air creep into the lobby. We then closed both doors to the foyer and positioned the fan in the office doorway to blow the air from the lobby and the theatre into our workspace. Ahh...circulation. The result? No one worked in the office that day.

But thank goodness that today is cooler and dryer and a little less hectic! As promised, here is the sixth and final intern intverview, and keep an eye out in the next few days for interviews with Helene Kvale and Michael Bradford, director and writer of The Parkville Project!

Lighting Intern

Name: Devin Lee

Age: 19

School: Endicott College in Beverly, MA

Major/Field of Study: Liberal Studies with a Photography concentration…which basically means he gets to take science, math, English and get a really well-rounded education while taking photography! Wow, I wish my school did that.

Where are you from? Cheshire, CT.

What do you do here? As the lighting intern, Devin hangs lights, plugs them in, and basically does anything to help with the construction and operation of lighting here at the Playhouse. He is usually called in the week before a show and works long shifts during load-in (yesterday he was here from 4-11pm!). “It’s hard work,” he says, “but really rewarding.” Devin started doing lighting in college. The drama club needed help and Devin was there to offer his. One of his friends taught him the basics of theatre lighting, and Devin learns more with each project he does.

How did you hear about this job? Getting at least a 120-hour internship is a requirement at Endicott College, so Devin was on the lookout. He then heard about PoP’s internship program from his teacher at Kingswood Oxford, where he attended high school.

Do you see yourself doing this in the future? “I hope to,” Devin says. Maybe he’ll be involved with lighting at a college theatre, maybe he’ll integrate photography somehow… “we’ll see where everything takes me,” he says.

Favorite Play or Musical: Sweeney Todd

Really Good Theatre Experience: Working on Endicott’s performance of Carnival for their Spring Musical Event this past semester. Doing lighting for The Last Five Years at PoP was also quite an experience because he could compare it with Endicott’s production of L5Y the year before.

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Black Raspberry

Favorite West Hartford Activity/Locale: Running around Blue Back like a bunch of wild children! “That was what we did when were done with school at KO: we ran around to all the different stores and talked to the employees.” Devin and his friends found that the guys at REI are particularly friendly. I have to agree.

Favorite book/what are you reading? Whenever there is a lull in his lighting duties, Devin can always be seen with a book. As an avid reader myself, this sparked my curiosity and I felt that I just had to know what he was reading. Currently, he’s on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers, and confessed that The Lord of the Rings series is one of his favorites. I in turn confessed that I had read The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Two Towers, but never made it through The Return of the King. I did watch the movies, though. Devin then expressed his complete awe of J.R.R. Tolkien and his imagination: “I wish I had his mind!” he said.

As promised, today you will hear all about our newest intern, David Ciano, and one of our veteran interns, Erin Kacmarcik. Enjoy!

Theatre Management

Name: David Ciano

Age: 18

Position (what do you do here?): This is only David’s first week on the job, but so far he’s helped Dan with marketing and postering. David is also a great vacuumer and is known for bringing in a fan to cool down the office.

School: UConn

Major: Theatre Studies

How did you hear about this job? David’s roommate, Steve Magro, knew David was interested in theatre and suggested he work here for the summer.

Favorite Play or Musical: Into the Woods. "Everyone thinks it’s really childish, but there’s so much subtext if you look!" David insists.

Really good theatre experience: David loves being involved in the arts and being part of a creative team - team being the key word. He enjoys being in a creative environment in which everyone works toward a common goal.

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: He doesn’t really eat ice cream. His family raised him on fat-free frozen yogurt.

Type of car he drives (a very important tidbit, considering he must be mobile in order to poster): Dodge Caravan

Favorite West Hartford Locale/Activity: He’s from Bristol, so he doesn’t really know so much about West Hartford. He likes Westfarms Mall, but wonders if it is actually in Farmington.

Costuming

Name: Erin Kacmarcik

Age: 20

Position/Job Title: Costume Intern. She’s the wardrobe mistress for the four summer shows, as well as the assistant to the designers. She also helps organize and inventory the storage room upstairs.

School: The University of the Arts (Philadelphia, PA)

Major/Field of Study: Theatre Design/Technology with a concentration in Costume Design

How did you hear about this job? Internet search

What do you like best about working at the Playhouse? Erin loves working backstage on the shows and meeting the actors, directors, and designers. It's interesting to get to see the process that each artist goes through in order to create his or her vision.

Favorite Play or musical: Equus

Really good theatre experience you’ve had: The first show Erin designed for UArts was a great experience: The Dining Room, by A.R. Gurney. “It was great having the actors, who were also students, compliment me on my professionalism and creativity, as well as having the faculty director respect my opinions and ideas.”

Favorite Ice cream flavor: Turkey Hill Choco Mint Chip

Type of car she drives: Hyundai Elantra

Favorite West Hartford Locale/Activity: She’s from Ellington, so she’s not too familiar with West Hartford...she likes going to the movies, though.

Yours Truly

Alert! Alert! Although Monday's blog post stated that we have FIVE interns here at Playhouse at Park, we actually have SIX! Our newest intern is David Ciano, a theatre student at the University of Connecticut. In the two days that he's worked here, he's already been an asset to the intern team by helping Dan put up posters all over town (and bringing a fan for the stiflingly hot office!). I'm sure you're all really excited to hear about David! He's already left for the day, however, and won't be available for an interview until tomorrow. So until then, you'll have to read about yours truly, the literary intern. As weird as it was to play the interviewer and the interviewee at the same time, I sucked up the discomfort and got to know myself for the good of the Playhouse. If you're going to meet the interns, you're going to meet ALL of them.

Literary Intern

Name: Naomi Bilmes

Age: 19

Position (what do I do here?): As the literary intern, my primary job is to read and evaluate new plays that writers and agencies send us. Working with Artistic Director Sean Harris, I have recently started the Readers Circle, a group that meets monthly to discuss and critique the submissions that we receive. I also write letters to agents and playwrights, play around on this blog, and have recently learned how to run the box office! I also hone my phone-answering skills when no one else is in the office and I do any other odd jobs that need to be done. Highlights include vacuuming the theatre and climbing up on a ten-foot ladder to change the wording in the marquee on the front of the Playhouse. As you know, I often work in the lobby between the piano and the coat rack, but depending on the weather, the lighting, and the position of Jupiter, my workspace of choice may be the box office, the foyer, the patio, or the floor.

School: I just finished my first year at the University of Maryland. Go Terps!

Major: Right now I am a declared English major with a plan to double major in psychology as well.

How did I hear about this job? Through Sean Harris, of course! After slaving over countless applications for summer jobs (including one for Hartford Stage, gasp!) Mr. Harris approached me and asked if I wanted to intern at his new theatre. How could I turn down my acting teacher of four years? I almost immediately said yes, even though it meant filling out yet another application and writing yet another cover letter. But this time I knew my labors would be rewarded.

What do I like best about working here? Learning about all the inner workings of the theatre. Honestly, I can’t post most of them here, but let me just say that there is way more to running a theatre than just hiring actors and a director. I also really enjoy seeing the actors come in and out of the theatre and snatching small opportunities to talk to them and learn a little bit about the real lives of people in the business. And I love love love this blog. It gives me the opportunity to be creative and write – one of my ultimate goals in life.

Favorite play or musical: Wow, this question is hard. My answer can only be based on plays I have seen, and I might’ve seen a bad performance of a good play or a good performance of a bad play, so how can I really judge whether the play itself is good or bad? And what about movie adaptations? For now, though, I’ll have to go with The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams.

Really good theatre experience: Performing in The Laramie Project and The Diary of Anne Frank during my senior year at Hall High School. I also really enjoyed writing one-acts and seeing them performed by my classmates.

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Chocolate Peanut Butter, hands down. And I’ve gotten into cones recently. And I really like frozen yogurt (chocolate vanilla swirl).

Favorite Mode of Transportation: Bicycle! I ride it to work almost every day.

Favorite West Hartford Locale or Activity: The Noah Webster Library. (I’m the literary intern, remember?)

And here's some more photos from around the PoP office:

From top to bottom: 1. The blogger 2. Dan behind bars! 3. Volunteer Hillary Ekwall and House Manager/stop/time dancer Carolyn Cumming

Top: "When would you like those tickets for?"

Bottom: Deana, casting intern, hard at work

The blogger and her bike

Meet the Interns: Take One

As you may or may not know, Playhouse on Park has FIVE interns this summer! I've already introduced myself as blogger, interviewer, play-reader, phone-answerer and box office worker. You'll learn a bit more about me later on. But first, I want to introduce two of our other dynamite interns: Deana Croog and Dan Deutsch.

Casting

Name: Deana Croog

Age: 18

Position (what do you do here?): Deana is the Casting Intern. She helps Artistic Director Sean Harris cast upcoming shows and plans to assist him when he attends casting calls in New York City in July. Deana also makes audition notices and posts them on casting websites while organizing and categorizing incoming resumes and headshots.

School: Just finished her first year at Umass Amherst

Major/Field of study: Right now, Deana is an English major with a film minor, but she is thinking of switching to a marketing major with a film minor… but this could easily change!

How did you hear about this job? One of Deana’s friends was actually planning on working at the Playhouse and she told Deana about it. Deana then explored Playhouse on Park’s website and decided to apply for the internship in casting - an area of theatre that she always found very exciting.

What do you like best about working at the Playhouse? “The people! They’re funny, creative welcoming and quirky!” Deana says. She also admits that it’s really nice to be back in a theatre - something she misses while she’s away at school.

Favorite play: This one took her a while to answer. Eventually, Deana decided it was a tie between Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, by Edward Albee, and A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen.

Really good theatre experience that you had: Directing Play it Again Sam, by Woody Allen, during her senior year in high school

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Either chocolate chip cookie dough with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (NOT Reese’s Pieces!!) or cake batter with marshmallow topping

Favorite West Hartford Locale/Activity: Another tie! Either The Quaker Diner (because “I love breakfast,” Deana says) or Elizabeth Park - a beautiful park right down the street from Deana’s house!

Marketing and Development

Name: Dan Deutsch

Age: 20

Position: Marketing and Development Intern. Dan compiles databases of addresses, phone numbers, and contact info for local schools and restaurants. These databases are useful for marketing of any kind (guerilla or otherwise) that needs to be taken care of. Dan was also in charge of gathering gift cards for the raffle at Act One, Playhouse on Park’s one-year anniversary fundraiser. You know he’s good at his job because he collected over $200 worth of gift cards from twelve different restaurants! Through his marketing work, he’s gotten to know some restaurant managers and owners personally, “which was cool,” Dan said. Dan also emails local theatre teachers about PoP and writes press releases for The Parkville Project, our next summer show. And, last but definitely not least, Dan has the very vital privilege of POSTERING! Dan can be seen on a daily basis driving around in his silver Subaru Forester or treading the sidewalks of Hartford and West Hartford, carrying stacks of posters of many sizes and shapes. No matter the weather, Dan earns his lunch every day by the sweat of his brow and the soles of his feet.

School: Clark University in Worcester, MA. He'll be a sophomore in the fall.

Major: As of yet, he’s undeclared, but he wants to be a Communications major with a theatre minor and possibly a music minor, too

How did you hear about this job? Dan emailed lots of arts-related organizations in the Greater Hartford area, looking for a way to get involved in theatre this summer. Of course, Mr. Harris suggested that Dan apply for a PoP Internship. Sean and Dan had a meeting over spring break, and Dan heard a little while later that he got the job!

What do you like best about working here? Getting involved in all aspects of theatre, as opposed to just the acting and backstage work he did in high school. During the interview, Dan and I came up with a metaphor for the various areas of theatre. We decided that theatre is like the human body: the actors on stage are the face and skin, the backstage workers are the skeletal, muscular, digestive, circulatory and nervous systems, and the marketing people are the oxygen (theatre can’t exist without funding and support!) Ten bucks if you can come up with a better metaphor than that.

Favorite play or musical: West Side Story

Really good theatre experience: Performing as Victor Velasco in Barefoot in the Park and as Manolo Costazuela in The Odd Couple: Female Version. Dan participated in these productions at Hall High School as a part of their superb theatre program.

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Mint-chocolate chip! More specifically, “Haagen Dazs mint chip” kicks butt. Why, you may ask? No, not because it costs $6 per scoop, but because Haagen Dazs' mint ice cream is white, not green, which means the flavor is more genuine. That green glop with brown chunks in it? Not the real thing. And if Dan had to pick a favorite at Ben and Jerry’s, he would go with Phish Food and Coffee Toffee.

Favorite WH locale/Activity: “Besides Playhouse on Park, you mean?” Dan laughs. Blue Back Square on a good weather day is his second favorite West Hartford hangout.

Since Dan and I both spend the majority of our day at the Playhouse, we have had the privilege to take many a lunch break together. We stroll up and down Park Road, eyeing the various choices of cuisine. I always end up eating the kosher contents of my lunch-box, but Dan is the ultimate connoisseur of West Hartford grub. After he purchases his carefully selected meal with cash from the intern lunch money fund, we sit in the lobby and Dan dissects his lunch choice, rating everything from the temperature of the food to the level of sugar. It’s quite an experience. Here are a few of Dan’s lunch hour highlights and lowlights:

Best lunch at PoP this summer: Any sandwich made at the deli counter at Hall’s Market

Worst lunch: Chicken Parmesan Flatbread Panini at Dunkin’ Donuts and an iced tea that was WAY too sweet

Favorite drink: The water bottle that he puts in the freezer when he gets to work. By lunch time, it's one big ice cube and beats the heat of his morning excursions.

Most recent kitchen adventure: Making crepes! Last Friday morning, Dan walked in with a cylinder of orange juice and a rectangular container with a homemade crepe in it. Dan explained to me how he cooked up his delicious breakfast of three different crepe varieties and proceeded to eat his Nutella-filled pastry with grace (until his plastic fork broke).

Next time: Interviews with more of our excellent interns and more photos of our fun-filled days at the Playhouse (it's more fun than camp!)

Lights, camera, direction!

With his show going up this week, Director Kyle Fabel has been as busy as an ant next to a chocolate-chip cookie. Before rehearsal on Tuesday, however, he combined his lunch hour with a much-anticipated interview with your favorite blogger (me). Talking to Kyle was like talking to a real artist - he took a few moments to think about his answers and spoke eloquently and thoughtfully, despite the frenzied setting of our interview (the Playhouse box office). So here's a bit of info about our resident artist at work:

As a child, Kyle was surrounded by theatre. His family performed in community theatre productions and church plays, but Kyle's passion for theatre seemed to outdo that of the rest of his family. Kyle called his high school self a "malcontent" who viewed theatre as life's only worthwhile activity. After twelfth grade, unseen artistic forces pulled him into double-majoring in theatre and writing at Marquette University and subsequently propelled him to NYU for his graduate degree in acting. He recalls that the best experience of his theatre education was going abroad to London while he was an undergrad. While in England, he took nothing but theatre courses and completely immersed himself in the world to which he most wanted to belong.

But there was something different about the way Kyle looked at pieces of theatre, and this unique sense of vision led him eventually to directing. Kyle realized that he wanted to have his say in every aspect of a production; his head not only focused on his own role, but constantly whizzed from lighting to sound to staging...he was meant to be a director.

In light of this revelation, I asked Kyle whether he considers himself primarily an actor or a director. He nodded, acknowledging the depth the of the question, and answered that he has "just turned the corner" onto a sidewalk of equal portions directing and acting, with maybe a bit more directing. The directing, he said, is "gaining momentum" and he foresees much more of it in his future.

As for directing The Last Five Years, Kyle said that directing a musical did not differ as much from directing a non-musical as he had expected. It is a bit more exciting, though, he said, considering its two vitally fresh elements that a drama lacks: singers and music. Basically, there is just "more stuff to throw on the canvas." Kyle acknowledged, though, that music even plays a large role in his non-musicals. Whenever he reads a new piece, sound and music are the first aspects he starts building, whether or not they are written into the script.

He got involved with The Last Five Years here at the Playhouse during a meeting with Artistic Director Sean Harris a few months ago. Kyle knew he wanted to direct a musical, and Sean knew he wanted Kyle to direct...so when Sean whipped out the list, Kyle pointed to The Last Five Years and that was that.

So if the title of this post didn't alert you, tonight is the official opening of The Last Five Years. An hour before the show we'll be having complimentary wine, cheese, and schmoozing (although you might have to pay for the schmoozing). And now that you know all about Carey, Jeff, Colin and Kyle, you're ready to have your head spun across time and stage for five years of songs, solos and summers in Ohio.

And now a word from Jeff Scot Carey...

So we've heard from the female lead, we've heard from the man behind the music, and now it's time to hear what our male lead has to say. Jeff Scot Carey plays Jamie Wellerstein, a writer who is apathetic about his religion but energetic about his romance with Cathy. Judging from Jeff's extensive interview responses, I'd say he genuinely has a great deal of energy himself. So read on, because this actor has a lot of interesting things to say!

Naomi: What made you want to audition for The Last Five Years?

Jeff: Well, I first saw the show Off-Broadway a number of years ago, and I remember being moved by it. It was innovative and stylistic musically, and the story was very relatable to me. I never saw or even listened to it again until I got the call to come audition for this production, but I always knew it would be a role I would be interested in exploring. So when it finally came up I was intrigued.

Naomi: What has the rehearsal process been like?

Jeff: We dove right in, and it’s been kind of a whirlwind up to this point. Obviously, we had to hammer out all of the technical aspects first (the music with Colin and the staging with Kyle) but the most involved aspect we had to figure out early was the timeline for the story. The two sides of the story are told in separate planes from each other. I think my process has been a little bit easier than Carey’s because Jamie’s story progresses sequentially whereas Cathy’s progresses in reverse. It’s a nice little device that Jason Robert Brown uses in the piece. We actually had a rehearsal where, as an exercise, we did the show sequentially [in chronological order] for both characters and it was amazing. It was so telling and sweet at the early part of their relationship, but extremely devastating later when the relationship ultimately fails. That day when we finished we were all a wreck, and Colin (our Music Director and Pianist) brilliantly quipped, “Well now we know why Jason Robert Brown decided to set the timelines in opposition. It’s way too depressing this way.”

Naomi: Do you have a favorite song or a favorite moment in the play?

Jeff: It’s hard to pick favorites because the whole show is really a joy to do. If I had to single out some moments, however, I’d pick the songs Miracle Would Happen and If I Didn’t Believe in You. But the best part for me is when Carey and I sing together in The Next Ten Minutes, because it’s the one moment in the show where the two timelines cross and we are actually in a scene together… in the same moment. And she’s so great to work with. I miss her the rest of the time.

Naomi: How did you first become interested in theatre?

Jeff: I didn’t get into theatre at all until college. I grew up as a military kid because my dad was a fighter pilot in the Air Force, and theatre wasn’t really a thing to do for some reason. I mean, I’m sure it was for some people, but I never got into it. I was intrigued by creative-writing and plays though, so naturally the idea of acting was always appealing under the surface. When I eventually heard of “Musical-Theatre” it sounded like the combination of two very cool art forms so I ended up taking a crack at it just for fun. I had discovered I could sing when I was a senior in high school, so when I got to college I was able to audition because I had started to learn how to read music and where to place things vocally. That’s where it started - out of curiosity really. I do come from a musical family - my mom and dad are both singers. In fact, I later learned that they actually met doing a musical in high school in 1967 (Carousel, I believe) and they’ve been together ever since. Is that a beautiful fairytale or what?

(Naomi: Yes, I think it's pretty beautiful.)

Naomi: From looking at your website, I can see you've done some interesting stuff in the past. Can you tell me about the short play you wrote, Storm Control, and the Nancy Ford musical you performed in called Blue Roses?

Jeff: Haha. Yes, I can tell you about that. I’ve always enjoyed writing and about five years ago I had my first play produced in New York. Later, I ended up joining the theatre company that produced it, City Attic Theatre, and their resident playwright, Melissa Gawlowski, used to get playwrights together for benefits in the city. Storm Control was a short piece that was presented as a part of a collaboration of music and spoken word called Metis. Each playwright adapted a section of Homer’s The Odyssey, and so I wrote a comedy about these strange demi-god-like beings who drive storm clouds like military vessels and are under orders from Zeus to wipe out Odysseus in the Mediterranean. When they start to question the supremacy of the orders that get passed down, things get dicey and they start to realize that Zeus is using them inappropriately.

Blue Roses is a musical adaptation of The Glass Menagerie. The playwright, Nancy, had seen me in a show called Back Home at the New York Musical Theatre festival that year and asked me to sing as one of the characters in her new piece. So I sang the part of Jim, the Gentlemen Caller: two songs and a duet. Wonderful music and directed by Albert Marre. Hopefully something will happen with it some day.

Naomi: From looking at your resume, I noticed you also play guitar and piano. Have you been able to use these skills at all in your theatre career?

Jeff: Seems like I’ve auditioned for lots of rock/folk musicals lately where I go in and play guitar and sing. In these cases, even if nothing comes of the audition, they’re fun little projects. I have been involved in numerous shows or films where I have played guitar as a part of the character, but mostly I just play for fun. There have been times in my life where I have written a lot on guitar and piano and then recorded the songs, but these days it’s pretty slow on that front. I don’t think I’ve written a song for two years, maybe more. I think I use music to center myself nowadays. It calms me.

Naomi: Do you have a favorite role out of all your past credits?

Jeff: Haha, no, not really. So hard to choose. Probably Roger in Rent, Dorian in A Picture of Dorian Gray, Huck in Big River, Tony in West Side Story, and Michael in Two Rooms. I’m sure tomorrow my answer would be different.

Naomi: What do you think of your experience in West Hartford so far?

Jeff: Beautiful and charming. And I love the history of this place. I haven’t had agreat deal of time yet to check out all of the places I want to see, but I’m looking forward to exploring West Hartford more. The Mark Twain and H.B. Stowe museums are on the list for sure. Today after rehearsal, on a whim, I drove down to Dinosaur State park, but it was closed by the time I got there. I am very curious to see what that’s about. Also, I’m kind of a big sports-junkie so I think I need to drive over to Bristol to see the ESPN Studios. Thanks for having me!

No problem, Jeff! The pleasure is all ours, especially when we listen to you sing!