Here's the long-distance interview that I conducted with director/playwright Christina Akers:
Q: What gave you the idea for this play?
A: Funny story... one day I was sitting in a Geology lecture at the U and finding it very hard to pay attention. Thinking it more rude to fall asleep than just not pay attention, I started to write something to pass the time, (having experience with writing stories since I was 8 years old). Though this time I started only thinking about the characters and what makes a unique persona. I began writing some descriptions based on some of the people I've known all my life, taking their most outstanding traits and blowing them out of proportion. I focused on their relationships to one another and their quirks more than anything. For the next few months I focused on these characters that evolved, imaging them in various scenarios and letting that form the shape of the play to come. I knew it had to be a musical because these characters were so expressive that to deny them the conventions of the musical would only limit their ability to communicate. After entering a playwriting class at the U, I then began to write the story centered around who I saw as the epicenter of all this madness, the King of France. From this I had a shortened version of The Mockery, which I put aside for about 6 months and then expanded upon in the beginning of 2004. From there it went into 2 workshops and then the full production that we did last fall through The X. Through all of this, it continued to be a character exercise for me, and even now we're discovering more about each of these characters and what makes them tick, both individually and as a group.
Q: When you decided to do this as a Fringe show, what was your motivation (workshop it further? Get it noticed by other producers? Something else?)?
A: My motivation to work with Fringe was to continue this character and textually work on the piece. Each group of actors I've worked with, (be it reading, workshop, or full production), has allowed me some new discovery for the text. Also, being Fringe, it will allow the piece to be seen by a much larger and broader audience, giving me a chance to see if the piece truly works for the public.
Q: Are there any unique challenges working with a new cast on something you've directed once before?
A: The biggest challenge for me anytime I direct something I've worked on before is not putting an expectation on the work. Having fairly successful tryouts with the work before, I want to apply a lot of the conventions and ideas we first established to this performance, though with new actors, the chemistry between these individuals will dictate a lot of what we do, especially since I like to let everyone play in rehearsal as much as possible. For example, this past week in rehearsal I was working with the King of France and his wife Kleptinya, (played by Stephen Jahn & Devon Novy), and just after making their entrances I realized that their relationship was taking an entirely different direction than I had ever explored before. Immediately I had to throw out the ideas of work I had done before with this relationship and start to embrace their new approach. Often times this is hard for me, throwing away something that originally worked so well, but I find comfort in working with these individuals and seeing the brilliant new choices that are being made from these new ideas that are presented.
Q: Why a mime? Are you ever tempted to beat them up?
A: Why a mime? Because he is our "unsung hero" in this musical. Really, the mime serviced the play by being someone the King could have an affair with, but who would not talk about what happened or tell anyone about the King's lies. Also, he was the biggest "artist" of the traveling caravan, or at least the most unique! And no, I never attempted, or had the urge to attempt, to beat one up!
Q: Have you ever been involved with a Fringe Show before? If so what ones?
A: I was a part of Fringe NYC in 2003, where I performed in a cabaret performance where I also had a chance to write and direct. My written contribution to the piece was a story called Little Red Hoe From The Hood. It was a warped retelling of Little Red Riding Hood where she became a snotty teen who hired the cross-dressing wolf to kill Granny for the insurance money. I also had an internship with the Fringe in New York through work I did with NYU.
Q: What is the next thing that you have to do to get ready for the Fringe, in the immediate future (rewrite, print postcards, write promotional blurb, buy costume, etc.)?
Right now it is most important to me to get working in rehearsal. Though I am currently adding the finishing touches to the postcard layout and will be having these printed up next week. Also, we'll have some more publicity calls/emails to make and some posters to put up. I just finished some rewrites which developed after talks with the new cast, and I talked to original costume designer Michal Mann about how we will throw together a wardrobe with basically no budget! We do have many of the pieces from the last show, and some new things are coming up that we hope to find within the ensemble. Also, and perhaps very importantly, we need to finish our casting! We have one female role left to cast and are meeting with 2 women next week, so if things go well, we'll have a full cast soon and can focus on the work in rehearsal.
Q: What's been your favorite thing about getting ready for the Fringe thus far?
A: My favorite part about getting ready for The Fringe is just having the opportunity to get ready for The Fringe! Again, working with this piece again gives me more workshop time, more practice working with it as a director, and allows the work to be seen by a much different audience. Also, I'm very excited to have the opportunity to work with my talented new cast, as well as working in the Bryant-Lake Bowl, which I've discovered to be a tremendous theatrical space!
Q: What was your favorite class at the U this past term?
A: Having scheduled my classes just so, I was able to keep EVERYTHING in the theatre and music department, so I immensely enjoyed everything I did. Outstanding in my mind is the work I've done with Lou Bellamy in his advanced directing class, Aleksandra Wolska in her Alchemy of the object class, as well as the work I've done in class and on this project with Luverne Seifert. He's worked with me on this piece since I started with it in the workshop at the U, and he's been incredibly insightful along the way, helping me out as much as he can and offering an educated opinion.
Q: What are you reading this summer?
A: I've actually attached a study with Luverne through the U of M to this project, and I am also using it as a precursor study to work I hope to contribute to my honors thesis this Fall, so I have some reading that's involved to the "study" of things, but on a more personal level I am trying to educate myself more about Commedia del arte, so I'm looking at some things by Dario Fo & Jacques Lecoq, then I'm checking out some more modern script commedia pieces like Commedia Americana by Jules Tasca and The Love of Three Oranges by Hillary Depiang.
And so we conclude today's column with our daily dose of absurdly random topics:
- About 5 minutes into class this morning I got something stuck in my eye. I thought it was an eyelash, but I wasn't able to see it when I looked in the mirror, so maybe not... Anyway, class has to be temporarily put on hiatus while I went and flushed out my eye. I thought that I'd gotten the thing (what ever it might have been) out, but apparently not, because I'm still dealing with a very teary, very painful eye right now. It's really hard to focus on anything when you're in this condition. Incidentally that's the communal meaning of the word "you." I have no idea if you, specifically, have a hard time focusing when your eye is irritated. If you don't, I'm jealous of you. I know, it's an odd thing to be jealous about, but if you were suffering my current agony you'd identify, I'm sure.
- I don't often buy the Cappucino stuff that they sell at convenience stores. That's for two reasons. 1) It's fake crappy tasting stuff, and 2) caffeine and I don't get along too well any more. That being said, I found a Cafe con Leche machine over here and decided to try it because it was 45 cents for a cup. It was magical! I don't remember how much one of those drinks costs stateside, but this was such a wonderful deal.
- Bippity-boppity-boo!
- "Mary had a little lamb! But not like this. We can toss and turn, rumble, tumble, and twist." -- Heavy D and the Boyz, Now That We Found Love
- What would we do without trivia from www.hookedonfacts.com?: "Babies that are breastfed are more likely to be slimmer as adults than those that are not breastfed. " -- Milk, it does the body good!
- I'm really looking forward the the Fringe Prom. Since there's a Fringe Button discount at Ragstock, I'm just dying to know how many guys are going to show up in Powder Blue tuxedoes. You'll help me count, won't you?
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