FringeNYC 2013: The Skype Show or See you in August

A dramedy with music, written over Skype by two artists (Jody in New York, Michael in Holland) torn apart by visa regulations. This live Skype call is a testament to how technology can transcend boundaries, uniting artists and their audience.

Official production website
Show details/ticketing at FringeNYC

Venue: The White Box at 440 Studios, 440 Lafayette Street, 3rd Floor

Review by Lynn Marie Macy · August 14, 2013

The Skype Show is a fascinating idea and writer/performer Jody Christopherson has done a worthy job of constructing a unique piece based on actual experiences. Is life imitating art? Or is art imitating life?

The play prompts a thought provoking examination of how interpersonal relationships are affected by technology. In our modern Wi-Fi existence fears pervade that human connection and relationships are breaking down. While that may be founded on truth, Internet advances and communication technology like Skype have allowed various communities that have been “deconstructed” to rebuild themselves into bigger and stronger social networks.

Michael De Roos and Christopherson are personal as well as professional collaborators in their multiple artistic disciplines. The couple is suddenly separated by thousands of miles due to visa difficulties and they are forced to continue their relationship and musical compositions over Skype. As might be predicted things get rocky in short order.

The “Skype calls” between Christopherson and De Roos work quite smoothly and believably. And the sound and lighting design do a great deal to support the technical effects. De Roos and Christopherson play themselves and are, as might be expected, pretty convincing in their roles. The audience is on their side rooting for them from the start. Their frustrations and heartaches ring true.

The piece consists of a series of Skype vignettes, which are interspersed with original music performed by all three members of the cast.

Supporting actor David Anzuelo does a scene stealing turn as Unka Dave, a forceful video guitar teacher Christopherson watches in an attempt to learn how to play guitar in the absence of her musical collaborator.

Aaron Simms is the director as well as the co-producer (with Greencard Wedding), and deserves kudos as well for the good work that was presented. However the play could still have benefitted from some further outside artistic guidance. The pace is somewhat slow and lacking variety. The songs, though fun and well executed do not move the action of the play forward. The transitions between the scenes also take too long and stall any momentum being built up during the dramatic dialogue. The script stops and starts and ends rather abruptly without sharing any real resolution with the audience.

All in all, the piece does show a great deal of promise and potential and Christopherson and De Roos should be encouraged to continue their artistic collaboration and to carry on developing this script which feels incomplete.

Preview: Interviews with Artists from The Skype Show or See you in August

We're asking artists from each show to answer questions about themselves and their work to help our readers get a detailed advance picture of the festival:

Many Faces of Theater · Natalie Johnsonius Neubert (Designer)

What type of theater do you like most to work on?
Over the years, I have worked on so many different kinds of theatre in so many different capacities...that's a tough question. If I had to pick one type of theatre I like most to work on, I think I would say I find working with emerging artists or artists working in a new form for the first time the most fullfilling. I enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out how exactly the puzzle pieces are going to fit together. Particularly with low-budget indy productions, where financial limitations determine with what resources you have to work. I find it thrilling to boil down big ideas and plans to their essence to really get down to what a scene is truly trying to related to the audience. For example, in The Skype Show there are so many elements of technology that simply must be in place for the show to take place. With artists in different countries collaborating over Skype and the performances requiring WiFi connections to multiple computers and projectors, it's been a real challenge to make it all happen on a shoestring budget. Seeing all the elements come together through technology, though, has made the whole process worthwhile, and has proven that artists really can collaborate with each other no matter where they are in the world.
Who are your heroes?
I have always admired Mark Russell for all the ways he supported and cultivated so many generations of emerging artists.
Why are theater festivals important?
I find that drawing ideas and inspiration from other artists is an important way for me to stay fresh in the ways I create work and look at theatre as a whole. For me festivals have always been an invaluable opportunity to see many, many shows and artists in a short period of time. Additionally, it's a great way to build audiences as so many people who don't otherwise know you work come to shows.
What is your favorite sound, color, fabric, or other tool of your trade?
ProTools! To be able to take a recording or a found sound or sample of music, and be able to edit, mix, augment - change it in so many many ways- to make it sound exactly the way it does in your head....all on your home computer. It's technological alchemy! For example in The Skype Show, there are obviously many instances where one could simply insert ringtones from Skype. But with ProTools on my laptop, I can alter those highly recognizable rings to not only tell the audience "Oh, she's getting a Skype call" but also reflect how she feels about getting the calls and direct the audience into the emotions of the next scene.
Which character from a Shakespeare play would like your show the best: King Lear, Puck, Rosalind, or Lady Macbeth -- and why?
Oh, that's an interesting question. I think, given the choices, I'd have to say Puck, because a big part of The Skype Show is about bringing people together. I think he'd love to use the magic of the Internet to bring the lovers together instead of a love potion.

All About My Show · Jody Christopherson (Writer)

Complete this sentence: My show is the only one in FringeNYC that...?
is performed over Skype and was written over Skype calls to Amsterdam at 6am NYC time for 7 months.
What do you think this show is about? What will audiences take away with them after seeing it?
This show is about the distance between people and the obstacles that people overcome in order to connect. It's about finding something you love and not giving up on it. I hope our audience will take a sense of triumph with them because that is what this is when people come to see it, our show can't exist without an audience. I hope they will feel that even the smallest everyday stories can be big. Also some fun original music, info about the red light district and that Dutch beat box is super sexy.
Why did you want to write this show?
Actor/Musician Michael de Roos and I have been working together for almost three years. We were living together in Crown Heights and creating music, theater and films daily, playing gigs as our band Greencard Wedding, when his student visa ran out and he had to move back to Holland. We needed to find a way to continue our work. So getting an opportunity to present the show is a huge thing for us. It reunites us and our audience- exactly what we'd hoped for when writing the script initially.
Who are some of the people who helped you create this show, and what were their important contributions to the finished product?
There are so many people I can't even mention them all. David Anzuelo has been a huge support and mentor to us. He is also an actor and musician in the show, who has written some amazing songs we perform. He thinks big and it's been thrilling working with him. Aaron Simms our producer has been making opportunties for us and working non stop even while getting an MFA at Columbia and interning at Daryl Roth. Pirronne Yousefzadeh directed and developed the script for a workshop at New York Theatre Workshop this past May so that we could see the piece on it's feet and work with the technology. Doris Mirescu of Dangerous Ground Productions has really helped us to embrace the technology and made some available to us we would not otherwise be able to afford. Alexandre Perez our music producer at Brokenland Studios made it possible for us to create a new LP for the show (which we are sending downloads of to ticket buyers who post a picture of their confirmation on our Greencard Wedding Facebook Page). THe heater community and all our donors, who are truly making this happen with their unbelievable support. Cecilia Copeland, Gina Femia, Angela Santillo, Natalie Johnsonius Neubert, Rob Rosiello and Erin Walker Beitz for taking part in our head shot project to fund the show (I'm shooting head shots on a Canon 5D Mark II).
Which character from a Shakespeare play would like your show the best: King Lear, Puck, Rosalind, or Lady Macbeth -- and why?
I'd say Juliet. She'd see two star-crossed long distance "lovers" finding a way to to work out a happy ending. If only they had had Skype in Mantua and fair Verona!

Read more All About My Show previews!

Journey to FringeNYC · Michael de Roos (Actor)

Who do you play in this show, and what was your key to unlocking this character/these characters?
I play Michael.. a character that is based on myself. I think the key to what makes this character accessable for me.. is distancing myselffrom the fact that it's based on me and approach it as if I had never met this person before.
What are some of your previous theater credits? (Be specific! Name shows, etc.)
Phases by Rachel Carey, Frankenstein the Musical, Cantaloupe(in Holland) EN NU ALLEEN(in Holland), The Eshaton Cabaret, Ashley's Birthday.
Why did you want to be part of FringeNYC?
I wanted to be a part of FringeNYC because for one the NYC version is bigger then the one in Amsterdam. and two because the FringeNYC will be a great opportunity to breathe live into this ballzy show that we made.
What was the most memorable/funny/unusual thing that has happened during the development and rehearsal process for this show?
when I was in New York the last time in May to do the workshop. we decided we would pop into the studio to record some last tunes... just to capture them.. we ended up recording a full album in 3 hours.. when I walked out of that studio... I was like..... that's.... just awesome!
Now that you’ve played this role, which Shakespearean role are you ready for: Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, Juliet, or Puck?
HAMLET.. it has nothing to do with this part but I have seen Kenneth Brannagh do it so many times now... I am ready to take a crack at it.! KABOOM!

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