Pink Milk
nytheatre.com q&a preview by Anna Baryshnikov
July 13, 2012
What is your job on this show?
Events Coordinator.
Who are your heroes?
I'll be completely candid, which makes my answer cheesy. My heroes are teachers. More specifically, my heroes are teachers that inspire.
I think everyone has a moment in their childhood when they felt small. Alan certainly does in Pink Milk. The world can be confusing and cruel. It's easy to feel lost and even easier to feel lonely. My heroes are those teachers who suddenly change that.
Think of the first teacher who 'got' you; the first teacher who assumed the best in you and inspired you to be more. For me, it was the math teacher who broke down every algorithm into 'buying movie tickets' for me, but never once made me feel like anything less than Einstein. And the theater teacher who taught me that art could change an entire community.
There's a special high reserved for genuinely believing you can change the world for the better. My heroes are teachers who are in the business of making creating that feeling.
And Eleanor Roosevelt and Spiderman are pretty cool too...
Complete this sentence: My show is the only one in FringeNYC that...?
can reveal what we all have in common with the father of computer science.
Do you think the audience will talk about your show for 5 minutes, an hour, or way into the wee hours of the night?
After I saw this show for the first time, two friends and I went to a diner to discuss what we just saw. Three hours and four milkshakes later, we were kindly asked to leave because the diner was closing. Pink Milk asks huge questions that you can't help but mill over. And over and over and over. At it's core, this show is about what makes us human. Is it love? Or creativity? Intellect? Success? I discovered in that diner, as I suspect many audience members will, that not everyone agrees on what our lives amount to and what matters most in the end of the day. I love this show because it dares people to tackle bigger questions than we'd feel comfortable taking on alone. I know that many audience members will be closing down diners like I did after seeing Pink Milk.
Which “S” word best describes your show: SMOOTH, SEXY, SMART, SURPRISING?
If cosmo has taught me anything, it's that confidence is sexy. Pink Milk required an immense amount of confidence. It's a brave show that demands everyone it touches to be open-minded. Every person on the Pink Milk team is confident that this is a story that needs to be told, which I think makes it the sexiest show in Fringe. Plus, the cast members are ridiculously good looking. That helps.
Can theatre bring about societal change? Why or why not?
YES. In Paradise Park, Charles Mee wrote that theater is "a flight to reality, a rehearsal for life itself." 'Rehearsing for life' through theater gives us a chance to look at our lives critically, to discover what is important to us. Most importantly, it starts conversations. All positive change begins with open conversation. Someone once asked why I would invest so much time in something that can just go away. You work on a show, people see it, and then it's gone. What's the point? I should have said it's the potential for change. That's what keeps us all hooked in the end of the day. Pink Milk raises questions regarding social justice, and simply how we treat one another. It has already sparked conversations that have changed me, so that's a start.
