Plus One Fest: Sun Oct. 21-Mon Oct. 22 - Q&A with Andrea Alton

During the Dark Nights of OUR TOWN, Tongue in Cheek celebrates the solo show with our Plus One Solo Show Festival, which runs Sunday October 21 and Monday, October 22 at 7:30 pm at Theatre 54 @ Shetler Studios (244 West 54th Street, 12th floor).  Plus One features 5 short solo shows and a musical guest.  Tickets are $18 online and at 212-868-4444.

We sat down with solo show artist Andrea Alton and asked her a few questions about her process as a writer and performer.  For more on this funny lady, read on!

Where do you do your best writing?

On the subway.

When you're developing new work, how do you know when you're on the right path with it?

I get really excited to write and I can't stop thinking about the story and the characters.  If I feel that passion and excitement at the beginning, then I know I'm on the right path.

What scares you about writing and performing your own work? 

For me, the scariest part is the minutes before the first show when all of a sudden, I'm standing backstage by myself and I think, "What if nobody laughs?  What if what I wrote is crap and no one told me?"  I usually stand there in sheer terror for 30 seconds and then I let it go, because if I'm not confident in what I wrote, why should other people take the journey with me?

www.AndreaAlton.com

[Editor's note: Phew.  So we're all terrified.  Somehow that's reassuring!]