A History of Launching Ships (somewhat after Washington Irving)
nytheatre.com q&a preview by Catherine Wallach
September 10, 2012
What is your job on this show?
Producer.
When did you know you wanted to work in the theater, and why?
I came to working in theater very gradually. I was never dedicated to being a performer, but I always enjoyed going to the theater and was interested in how it got made. When I got to college, I became involved with a student theater company, which was very collaborative. I learned about how shows happen, and how I could make them happen. Doing productions with that company made me realize that working in theater was a way to work with like-minded people toward a creative goal, which was much more fun for me than any individual pastime.
Why do you do theater (as opposed to film, or TV, or something not in the entertainment field)?
My favorite part of any production is when the audience arrives for each performance and, if I am watching that performance, watching and hearing their reactions. Live theater is such a communal experience, and I couldn't get that working in TV or film.
Do you think the audience will talk about your show for 5 minutes, an hour, or way into the wee hours of the night?
I think that our audience will have a lot to talk about after seeing this show. Part of what we are dedicated to doing, as a company, is representing different points of view in our work, and to leaving certain things up to each audience member's own interpretation. We feel like our audiences don't need to have everything tied up for them. There are a lot of really strange and surreal moments in this play, as well as a lot of morally ambiguous decisions made by the characters. I can't wait for people to come see it and to share their thoughts with us.
Which cartoon character would you identify your show with: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Mickey Mouse, Marge Simpson?
Bugs Bunny, because he's a showman and draws his audiences into the stories he tells.
If you had ten million dollars that you had to spend on theatrical endeavors, how would you use the money?
That would be incredible! If I had a huge sum of money, I think I would want to open a performance space. It would probably take more than ten million dollars, though, because I know that running a performance space takes all the money you have, and then some!
