So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz! -- Part 2:

So... before you read any further, know that this interview is now two weeks old. I was completely out of commission, per my last post, for the better part of last week. Because of that, it is necessary to assume that the questions focusing around timeliness of certain activities may have been resolved at this point. However...may be not... I guess we'll never know. Anyway, this is an interview between myself, and Amy Salloway who is doing her show So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz! in this year's fringe festival. As I've written earlier, and elsewhere (http://fringe1234.blogspot.com), Amy has taken her show fomr lasst year on the road...

Q: What is touring a Fringe Show like?

A: Fantastic. Exhilarating. Exhausting. It’s a tremendous amount of work – planning participation in four Fringes besides our own, which is basically what I did last year and this year, is the equivalent of having another part-time job. It’s also expensive, and I’ve had to make some really, really hard decisions (like dropping out of Fringes I’d wanted to go to) based on whether I truly think the opportunity will be financially viable – for example, when I lost my job this past year smack in the middle of planning my Fringe sequence, I had to cut back how many places I could go – I couldn’t afford them all anymore. For that matter, last year I was also accepted into a Fringe I was dying to go to and had my office (the one that later laid me off) tell me I couldn’t go, because it didn’t jive with their schedule. So – it’s hard. It’s hard to manage all the details and parameters. It’s hard to maintain the energy to keep marketing and publicizing and contacting papers and reviewers and flyering and putting yourself out there, over and over – with way more pressure than one might feel at our Fringe, because elsewhere, you’re not local – you can’t slack off, thinking “Eh, they know me here.” That producing aspect is something I wish, in my fantasy life, that someone else would do for me. But the actual performing side – being in new places, meeting other actors from all over, getting to see their shows, experiencing all kinds of different audience aesthetics and dynamics, watching yourself adapt to a multitude of situations, watching a city come alive in this funky, creative theatre event – all of that is a blast. It is utterly addictive. I say it over and over – touring a Fringe show is like going to theater summer camp all over again, but this time as a grown-up.

Q: Who the hell is Herschel Gertz?

You’ll have to see the show to find that out.

Q: Last year you were at the Jungle at very odd times compared to the rest of the festival, how will this year be different? Better or worse?

I had NO problem with being at the Jungle at odd times – that was actually awesome for me, because my solo show then didn’t conflict with any of the spoken word shows. That also happened because the Jungle was being a satellite venue, and not a regular Fringe venue, and had to work around their mainstage show (The Dazzle). This year they’re a normal Fringe venue …except actually, my show times are still weird! I have almost ENTIRELY day time shows – 1:00s and 2:00s…my showtimes are perfect for the Senior crowd.

Q: You are participating in the Spoken Word fringe again. Can you give us a hint as to what your story will be about?

A: The theme of The Pope Stole My Pretzel! is ‘encounters with celebrity’ – or ‘celebrities’ – and I THINK – though I’m not sure – that I’m going to write about the first and only time an AGENT actually called me to audition for a MOVIE – I got called to audition for the role of an obese prostitute in an HBO film. Oh – let me clarify -- a TOPLESS obese prostitute.

Q: I know about last year, but how far back does your Fringe history go, and what’s it been like?

A: I started doing Fringes when I lived in Seattle – the first year I participated was probably 1994? I’ve been an actor in other people’s shows, and twice in Seattle I produced Fringe shows as well – I directed Only You one year, and I co-wrote, directed and acted in a seven-woman, collaborative ensemble piece in either 1994 or 1995 (I can’t remember) called Size of Discontent, that was also about body image and the beauty myth. That was another exhausting yet exhilarating experience. It ATE my life for about four solid months – I hope to NEVER be that sleep-deprived again – but it was a fantastic project and an amazing catalyst in my life, both personally and artistically.

I started participating in the Minnesota Fringe in 2002, first by acting in other people’s shows and running the Spoken Word Fringe, then by writing my own pieces.

Q: Do you like Canada?

A: I LOVE Canada. But really…who DOESN’T love Canada?

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.)?

A: Write the mother$%#ing show.

Q: What’s been the hardest thing about getting ready for the Fringe thus far?

A: Writing the mother%$#ing show.

Q: Will you be hanging out at Fringeville this year?

Not if I don’t write the mother#$&ing show.

Q: What are you reading this summer?

A: I just finished I’m Not The New Me, by Wendy McClure. I’m almost done with Marya Hornbacher’s The Center of Winter, and I’m almost done with Truth and Beauty, by Ann Patchett. But I shouldn’t be reading. I should be (all together now)

Writing the Mother%$#ing Show!


ALL RIGHTY THEN... Time for a bit of good old fashioned trivial banter about whatever:

-- Today is the first day that I've really been able to enjoy Spain, and I've been here for 9 days now. As I walked back from class I was able to notice the leaves on each of the trees. It was cool. Not a one looked familiar to me, but at the same time they were all similar to trees that we have back home in MN. There's a tree that has a leaf in the same general shape as the Maple tree. It's slightly different, and the seeds aren't those cool helicopter things that we all chased as kids. This tree's seeds are held inside a spikey little ball about the same size as a cherry. Anyway, it's a good to be infused with that Zippity-doo-dah feeling again. YAY!

-- Anyone wanna learn somehing new from http://www.hookedonfacts.com?: "Justin Timberlake's half-eaten french toast sold for over $3,000 on eBay!" -- Now that's about as trivial as trivia can get.

-- If you travel to Spain, and you find that it is oppressively hot, don't say "Soy muy Caliente!" That means you're horny. Unless you are, then I guess you can go ahead and say it. You'd actually want to use the words "mucho calor," but really, don't say that either. It's a waste of breath. Everyone here is hot. Saying it is like saying "I'm alive." Uh-huh, that's nice.

-- I had ten fingers and ten toes, when last I counted.

-- I'm missing my lunch hour to type this up. That was sort of bad timing on my part.

-- I miss my cats, but I find it much easier to type without them scratching at my arms and sitting on my keyboard, so there are some advantages of not being around them.

-- Boo! Did I scare you?