For Pete's Sake
nytheatre.com q&a preview by Angelique
September 4, 2012
What is your job on this show?
Director/Producer.
When did you know you wanted to work in the theater, and why?
When I was in the second grade we did a production called "Hawaii is My Home." In the middle of the dance routine I lost my hula skirt. I remember the director saying "whatever happens you must keep going." The skirt dropped and I finished the dance in my bathing suit. At the end of the number, the audience stood up and clapped. I took my bow (still skirt less of course) picked up my hula skirt and exited stage right. I heard my father laughing at me and I thought "I have got to do this forever."
Who is more important in the theater: the actor, the playwright, or the director?
All of them are equally important. A playwright can write the most amazing piece in the world, but without a Director to shape it and the Actors to give it life, it's only just a bunch of words on paper.
Do you think the audience will talk about your show for 5 minutes, an hour, or way into the wee hours of the night?
Typically right after the show ends people rush up to Joe, the cast, and even to me to talk about the show. Days after, people continue to call me and want to talk about it. I think it opens people up to their own painful experiences. They feel connected to you. They just want you to hear them. Before you know it, they are telling you their story. Joe's story gives others permission to speak their own truth, honestly and through humor. That is the real gift that this particular piece gives to it's audience.
Groucho, Chico, Harpo, or Zeppo?
Although I dig Chico's fake Italian accent, I'd rather keep the family together.
If you had ten million dollars that you had to spend on theatrical endeavors, how would you use the money?
I'd give a bunch of my struggling artist friends a shot at getting their projects made.
