After the Circuit
nytheatre.com q&a preview by Josh Billig
July 11, 2012
What is your job on this show?
Playwright.
What was the last show you saw that really excited you, and why?
I saw Jerusalem in London last winter, and was floored. The story was so simple and the characters were so damaged and full of need. That play hurt my heart. And how the man who played Olivia in Twelfth Night played Rooster still has me floored.
Why did you want to be part of FringeNYC?
After the Circuit is set in Alphabet City during the depression. The opportunity to present the show in a theatre in Alphabet City, in our current economic woes, I feel adds a wonderful layer of relevance to the piece.
Why did you want to write/direct/produce/act in/work on this show?
I wanted to write this play out of a love for Vaudeville and a nostalgia for a world I never knew. The more I got into the research of Vaudeville, its roots, and particularly to actors who made a living but never broke, the more I wanted to inhabit that world, and I had the characters, but not a story. Then I saw a production of Waiting For Lefty, watched 'The Young Hack and his Girl' and when I left the theatre, I went straight to my computer and started writing.
People who like which of the following recent Broadway shows would also probably like your show: THE BOOK OF MORMON, ONCE, DEATH OF A SALESMAN, CLYBOURNE PARK?
Death of a Salesman - but we got the rest of you covered too. Sketch comedy (good and purposely bad) and weaved into the plot as well as a bit of fiddling for you music lovers.
Why should people come to FringeNYC this summer, rather than the beach, mountains, or the latest movie blockbuster?
Attending the Fringe causes 0 pollution and has no chance to giving you a sunburn. In the history of the fringe, no one has every toppled off a cliff and fallen to their deaths. Can mountains say the same thing? I think not. And as for the latest blockbuster, chances are you've already seen The Dark Night Rises, but I can guarantee you the second viewing will be identical to the first. Never could such a thing be said of the theatre!
