Lindsay Brandon Hunter
You Must Take The A Train
A nytheatre voices cyber-interview
Lindsay Brandon Hunter is a playwright, actor/performer. She has acted with the Neo-Futurists and has held down assorted jobs including the one she talks about in her play.
You wrote and perform this production of You Must Take the A Train. Could you give us a quick synopsis?
The show is about some time I spent working at a public middle school in Harlem shortly after I moved to New York. I had a terrible day job, and a friend wrote to ask if I was interested in working with school kids. The show is mostly made up of stories from the school and conversations I had with the kids.
You took a job as a "drama therapist" with the school system. What exactly is that, what did you think it would entail, and what did it end up actually being?
I had no idea, really—the actor friend who told me about the job said that she had done it previously, and that she was assigned to a school and did theatre games with kids, one on one and in small groups. I figured that was do-able—it sounded like being a teaching artist, which I'd done before and really enjoyed. The "therapist" appellation bothered me, a little, but she told me not to worry. The school, however seemed to take it pretty seriously—they started referring kids to me as soon as I got there. I had no idea what to do with them, so we just started talking.
Why are you equipped to be a "drama therapist"?
I'm not, at all. I think you could say that that's what the show is about: being totally unequipped to deal with your surroundings, and having to make it through the day anyway. I think that's the reason the show is pretty funny even though some of the stories are sobering.
Do you ever think you will be a "drama therapist" again and, if so, under what conditions?
Oh, I doubt it. I certainly wouldn't mind working in schools again, but I can't imagine anyone hiring me as a counselor. I do miss talking to the kids, though. That was a magnificent experience.
Do all the shows you write and perform in reflect real life events and how do you transform these happenings into an entertaining evening?
Well, a lot of them do. I worked with the New York Neo-Futurists for a while—their show, Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, is made up of a lot of ensemble-written pieces that come from the company members' real experiences. I suppose I try to give the stories some theatricality while performing them honestly—you know, to give them structures, and to tell them in such a way that communicates to the audience why the stories were compelling to me in the first place. The honesty is the most enjoyable part.
What's up next for you?
We're hoping to bring the show to a few other venues, maybe tour it to fringe festivals. And I've started work on a new piece, about my family. It's tentatively called, The Reason of Age. For now, though, I'm really looking forward to more people hearing the stories about the kids.
March 5, 2006
