SCREW YOUR
COURAGE! (or The Bloody Crown!)
Greenside @ Infirmary Street
(Venue 236) 13:50 Aug
5-13, 15-20, 22-27
In this
one-woman show, a Brooklyn actress confronts her most stubborn demons. Cursed
with an unshakeable obsession to triumph in the role of Lady Macbeth, will she
finally come to terms with Shakespeare’s most misunderstood heroine? Or will
she succumb to madness, Serbians and enchanted bagpipers? Warning: Contains
drama and insanity.
What
was the inspiration for this performance?
I've
always been fascinated by Lady Macbeth. About six years ago, I was
participating in a very intense program at Shakespeare & Company (here in
the States) and was working on the role. We were strongly encouraged to
draw parallels between the trajectory of our characters and the trajectory of
our own lives. One night I was writing during a mandatory journal writing
session (SO American!), and the idea hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew
that I could do it, and I knew that it had to be a solo show.
How did
you go about gathering the team for it?
That's a
huge question because it's been six years in the making! Matt Hoverman
and his Go-Solo Workshop here in New York City was absolutely instrumental in
the writing of the show. My friends Autumn Mirassou, Kacie Laforest, and
Perri Yaniv were my rocks during the initial staging, and now my director (and
former teacher) Eileen Vorbach has joined on! I've also relied heavily on
my friends from Shakespeare's Globe for their continued support and guidance
and, of course, my husband Sean who is possibly the most patient man in
Brooklyn (imagine how often he's had to run lines with me!).
How did
you become interested in making performance?
When I
was a student at The Second City Conservatory in my hometown of Chicago, making
performance was the only thing we did! Honestly, I was terrified of
improv, but my Mom had just died and I needed a challenge and a
distraction. And, boy did I get one - when it goes wrong (which it easily
can) it can be quite daunting. But when it worked, it was pure
magic!
Was
your process typical of the way that you make a performance?
That's
hard to say because it was my first solo show, and it's worlds apart from
improvising with an ensemble or doing a play. I definitely used
techniques from The Second City, but I also used a lot of techniques that I
learned during my Fellowship at the Globe. Performing at the Globe is an
extraordinary experience because that theatre allows you to open up and have an
intimate conversation with a thousand people. Actually, it doesn't just
allow it - it demands it! I address the audience directly quite a bit in SCREW
YOUR COURAGE, which was an intentional choice. I wanted the audience to
feel that they were coming with me on a journey rather than just
observing me.
What do
you hope that the audience will experience?
I hope
they're surprised by the show. There are many elements in the piece
(comedy, drama, Shakespeare, contemporary language, and... Shakespeare in
Serbian). It's a lot of fun, but it also deals with some very serious
matters, such as my family's history of mental illness.
What
strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
I wrote
three witches into the story for the purpose of exposition (and, yes, their
lines are mostly written in trochaic tetrameter
because... giant nerd). Otherwise, I tried to use a comedic touch to move
the story forward. I think that helps the audience when things get
serious. After all, even King Lear had a fool.
Do you
see your work within any particular tradition?
Certainly
it's part of the solo theatre revolution we've been having here in New York
City, and it's part of the ongoing fringe theatre tradition as well.
No comments :
Post a Comment