Help Yourself

Our current production, Books on Tape, (running in the New York International Fringe Festival with two remaining show Sat 8/27 @ 7 pm and Sun 8/28 @ 1:15 pm), explores New Yorkers' search for meaning and love in the big city.  Donna Paige Miller, a character in the play, is an accomplished self-help writer and self-declared guru.   Curious about the real-life counterparts to our four characters, we caught up with Matt Prager, a New York-based therapist and self-help author, to hear how all this self help works.

TIC: How did you get interested in the world of self-help?
MP: I had a whole other career working in Hollywood and, believe it or not, talking to people about their problems was kind of my relaxation on the weekends.  I was office shrink in every job I had and, out of the necessities of work (Hollywood is completely nuts when it comes to leadship and group dynamics issues), I started doing executive coaching and leadership.  Ultimately, I decided to make my hobby my career and went back to grad school.

 

TIC: If you had to boil down your philosophy on therapy, what are the big themes?

New Age-y as this may sounds, my fundamental belief is that the answers to all your issues are inside you and that it's a therapist's job to help you find those answers, not give you those answers.  I am violently against the notion of therapists giving advice - "yes, you tell your boyfriend how you really feel - then eat that cupcake 'cause you deserve it!"  Therapy is about handing you the tools to make your own decisions.  Put another way, our childhoods often result in our being on emotional short circuits, e.g. "I feel wronged therefore I get angry"; therapy is there to help you break those short circuits so you can make decisions based on the adult you are now as opposed to the person you were back then.

 

TIC: Any recent success stories?

Success is in the eyes of the client, not me, and, barring the occassions where a client references having used a tool I gave them, the only time I really know I'm successful is when therapy terminates (it's like a rock power ballad - you only know they love you when they leave <smile>).

 

For more words of wisdom from Matt Prager, check out www.ThisOrProzac.com (including his pithy-titled oeuvre of self-help books) and his Grand Online Dating Experiment http://www.datingnancyp.com/. 

A wonderful week in review!

Our first three shows of Books on Tape have gone off beautifully in the New York International Fringe Festival (with two more coming up on August 27 @ 7 pm and 28 @ 1:15 pm).

Some high points:

A sold out crowd for opening night, followed by boisterous drinks at Dorian Gray bar across the street with playwright Bill Downs, who flew in for our Fringe debut and New York City premiere of his work.

A stellar review on NYTheatre.com:
"Playwright William Missouri Downs has given us a well-balanced tale.  ...Director Brock H. Hill has made desperate into funny.  Jake Lipman (Adriane) is as charming as she is needy.  Nate Washburn (Jeffrey) is amusing, as even an actor he cannot play along with the absurdity of his lovers.  Geoffrey J.D. Payne (Father Larry) is convincing as the ultimate yes-man.  Shana Wiersum's Donna Paige Miller is so self-centered she is ready to sue Kitty Kelley for writing her unauthorized biography--hysterical!"

Wonderful audiences who have praised the underlying message of the show, its witty script and strong ensemble.

Please tell your friends to come see Books on Tape and be sure to vote for us as FringeNYC Audience Favorite.  Thank you to all who have come out to support us!

Over the moon on our opening night!

It's not quite midnight after our opening night, and what an opening it was.

Backstage, before we opened, the actors were buzzing around nervously and excitedly. We knew we were sold out, and that the playwright was coming, but you never know how a show is really going to go until it's on its feet for the first time.

From an opening bit where a voice over artist narrates, the audience exploded with laughter.  Onstage, it felt like a laugh track, turned up full blast.  It didn't even seem real, to be honest.  But it was intoxicating.

The show flew by, and as we took our bows, it was a tremendous feeling to see 99 happy faces smiling back at us.

Thank you to our talented playwright, cast, and all who came.  We could not do this without you (and a very special thanks to the unsung heroes: our crew, who toiled in the booth at tech and at every run to make our show run seamlessly).

Please tell your friends to come to our remaining 4 shows:

Friday 8/19 at 4:45 pm
Saturday 8/20 at 5 pm
Saturday 8/27 at 7 pm
Sunday 8/28 at 1:15 pm

www.tictheater.com/tickets

Venue Director Kathryn Stephens

On load-in day a few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to chat with the FringeNYC venue director for the Connelly Theater, Kathryn Stephens, to find out what drives her to volunteer at this festival and what she has going on after August.

Originally from Brooklyn/The Bronx, Kathryn majored in theater at Stony Brook University on Long Island.  She traveled to London, where she worked on the International Youth Arts Festival.  As the sole person running the festival production office, she learned the ins and outs of that festival in no time.  Intriguingly, the International Youth Arts Festival is entirely comprised of artistically-minded folks under the age of 26.

Kathryn said she heard about the New York International Fringe Festival earlier this year from a friend who was submitting a show, and she was inspired to apply to run a venue.  As all the Venue #7 shows can attest, Kathryn kept load in and tech running smoothly, and we all thank her for that.

Now that the festival is underway, she is the eyes and the ears of the theater.  This fall, she departs for London to earn an MFA in Culture Policy and Management from the City University of London.  Her goal is to come back to the U.S. and start her own festival.  Stay tuned to see what this talented New Yorker has in store for us next!

Shoot Us Now!

On Saturday, the cast of Books on Tape was down at the SoHo playhouse for a photo shoot with acclaimed photographer Dixie Sheridan.

Another FringeNYCshow, Zombie Wedding, was onstage, wrapping up their shoot when we walked in.  They were in full wedding regalia, zombie make up, like they’d stepped out of a 1980s Winona Ryder movie.

FringeNYC asked for press photos as soon as humanly possible, so we jumped into reenacting a few scenes from our show (that we have not yet begun to rehearse!).  Dixie directed us, jumping onstage to re-position us and show us shots that worked.

She was tremendously supportive, laughing when we ad-libbed from the show and saying how exciting all the shoots had been.   She promised us that poses that felt like overacting in still photography end up looking really fun and engaged.   Can’t wait to see our final shots this week!

Guess who’s coming to the first table read?

William Missouri Downs (or as we now call him, Bill) so graciously flew across the country today to join the cast and production team for our first read through of his play, Books on Tape, which we are performing in the New York Fringe this August.

We dove in, reading his script around my dining room table, pausing for Bill to explain what inspired a particular joke or section, and a few times, he even offered up edits, “if that’s okay with you?”  Of course it’s okay, dude, you wrote it!

The show centers around four New Yorkers: a girl who loves to listen to books on tape, a handsome actor who records them, a self-help author who secretly wants to be a rodeo announcer and a would-be minister of a new religion.  They’re all looking for love and meaning in the coincidences that arise.  Bill talked about everything from tenure-track positions, making a Muslim audience laugh, to the assassination of John Lennon.  Throughout it all, he talked about living in the moment, coming to your own conclusions outside of coincidences, religious rituals and superstition. 

In short, it was a perfect evening.

As we were wrapping up, Bill let us in on one of his own little superstitions.  “Every time I’ve ever been at the first table read of one of my shows, the production has been great.”  That’s a ritual I’m happy to believe in.

The cast list is posted!

Hundreds of actors submitted for our production of Books on Tape by William Missouri Downs.  Last Sunday, we held auditions and saw so many lovely and talented folks.

And now... the show is cast!

Nate Washburn will be playing Jeffrey, a voice over actor who records books on tape and has a habit of hovering around the audio book section of his local bookstore to meet women.

Jake Lipman plays Adriane, a make-up artist who longs for her life to be filled with all the drama and surging music of a book on tape.

Geoffrey J.D. Payne will play Larry, a frustrated Ph.D in religion who has taken his philosophies into his own hands by launching a ministry that extols the virtues of walking barefoot on Thursdays.

Shana Wiersum will portray Donna Paige Miller, a celebrated self-help book author of such books as All Men Are Jerks: Even Your Father.

Thank you to all who submitted and auditioned!  Looking forward to our first read-through on June 30 with playwright Bill Downs, who's flying in for the occasion.

Always an applicant (until now!)

Seven weeks ago, I was having a pretty great night. I was on my way home from the theater around 10:15 pm, after the second night of our production of The Drunken City by Adam Bock. We got a lot of laughs that night, and I was feeling good.

And then I checked my e-mail, and saw the best subject line, ever:

Welcome to the New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC)

I almost dropped my phone. I did a little dance and the guy working in the nearby newspaper stand just watched.

Ever since I moved to NYC in 2000, I have wanted to be a part of the Fringe. I’ve auditioned as an actor, I’ve submitted shows as a producer, and this year, I will get to wear both hats in our production of Books on Tape by William Missouri Downs.

Books on Tape is a love letter to New Yorkers looking for love and meaning in their every day lives. The comedy follows four characters in search of meaningful narration: Adriane, a girl who loves to listen to books on tape, to Jeffrey, the voice over actor who records them, to Donna Paige Miller, a celebrated self-help author and Larry, a religious leader.

It’s been a whirlwind ever since we heard: talking with the playwright, who is flying in from Wyoming for the first read-through, speed dates with directors, meeting deadlines for our artwork, the inspiring first town hall meeting with FringeNYC co-founder Elena K. Holy, and today we held auditions! More to come on this blog about our first time in Fringe, all the collaborators between now and then, and a lot of hilarious stuff that happens in the process of creating seriously funny theater.

--Jake