Danse Macabre
nytheatre.com q&a preview by Nick Giedris
August 17, 2013
What is your job on this show?
Actor.
What is your show about?
Danse Macabre is a contemporary tribute to Grand Guignol, featuring five short plays of humor and terror, plus a dance.
When did you know you wanted to work in the theater, and why?
When I was growing up I never even thought about theater. If you would've asked me about my ideal career, there was a long stretch of time when I would have said UFO-ologist. (I was 11. Ok, 11 and 12...and 13 and 14.)
Then as I started high school, a couple of knee injuries had me sidelined from sports, so my sister suggested I audition for a play.
I. Was. Hooked.
Even still, the summer before starting college I sat myself down for a serious "we need to figure this out" session. (I host these sessions more frequently than I care to admit.) I had to come to terms with the fact that as much as every ounce of me was shouting, "You have to keep doing this," I knew theater wasn't a viable future. Too competitive, too unstable, too impossible, really. I decided that once I got to college I'd stop acting for good.
Flash forward to the second semester my freshman year and I knew I had it all wrong. There wasn't room for logical argument in the matter: I had to keep doing theater. When I saw a sign go up for Into The Woods auditions, I knew it was fate. (Into The Woods was my first musical in high school, and Jack was my first big role.) I went in and nailed the audition, and got cast as Jack again.
After that I started trusting my instincts more. I am in the theater world now because I cannot fathom a life without it.
Why do you do theater (as opposed to film, or TV, or something not in the entertainment field)?
Even as a gin and tonic aficionado I can say without a doubt there is nothing more intoxicating than playing for a live audience. The energy is pure magic. No matter what's going on in your life at the time or how difficult the rehearsal process may have been, once you get out there and start feeding off the energy of the audience and the other actors and feel the lights and the moment and everything's clicking--there's nothing more fulfilling.
There's also that element of anything could happen at any time. Like this one time I was on stage and my fake mustache fell off. I was able to make a joke about it and carry on, and the audience loved it. Of course, if we were filming that scene, we would have done another take. But that's what's so exciting about theater: you can't press a reset button.
Why did you want to write/direct/produce/act in/work on this show?
Danse Macabre is a contemporary tribute to Grand Guignol, a graphic and gruesome form of theater. The overall effect of our show is wonderful because the plays move across the board from terrifying/grisly to hilarious. It's really a wonderful collection.
I knew from the beginning there would be an opportunity to play multiple roles, which the actor-me liked because it's challenging. Once we started rehearsals I knew I was lucky to be working on this show.
Sidenote: Danse Macabre is not meant for young children!
Which character from a Shakespeare play would like your show the best: King Lear, Puck, Rosalind, or Lady Macbeth -- and why?
Puck would love it. He'd see a lot of himself in the show: Danse Macabre is mischievous, playful, and full of our own "merry wanderers through the night."
How important is diversity to you in the theater you see/make?
Theater is all about opening eyes and expanding horizons. When the audience has that story unfolding in front of them on stage, they can't turn it off or press pause and walk away. That's why diversity in theater is so important: it asks the audience to contemplate things they may not have thought about or may make them uncomfortable. It's a beautiful power that theater has at it's disposal, but it is sadly often shelved for safer bets.
