Q&A with Rachel Handler, writer/performer, Plus One Solo Show Fest (April 7&8)!

Our 2013 season starts this week! Hurrah!

Starting Thursday, The Mistakes Madeline Made runs for 7 performances, April 4-6 and 10-13 (Tickets). During the dark nights of Madeline, we feature 4 solo shows and a singer/songwriter with our ninth Plus One Solo Show Festival, April 7-8 (Tickets).  All shows are $18, begin at 8 pm, and run at The Bridge Theatre @ Shetler Studios (244 West 54th Street, 12th Floor, NYC).

Bonjour, Inspiration Whore!

We sat down with the beautiful and bright Rachel Handler, to discuss her autobiographical solo show, Inspiration Whore.

What inspired you to write Inspiration Whore?
After I lost my leg, everyone told me I was an inspiration, but I didn't feel like one.  I felt like I just lost my leg.  So I wrote this piece about finding myself and finding that inspiring spark that others saw in me but that I didn't see for myself.

How did you come up with the title?
I had heard the term before and thought it applied perfectly to my story.  Every single day, ever since I lost my leg, at least one person tells me I'm an inspiration.  I like to inspire!  I am an inspiration whore!

If your solo show became a movie, who would play you?
I'd have Natalie Portman or Jennifer Lawrence play me.  They are both honest, audacious actresses... plus people tell me all the time that I look like Natalie Portman.

Q&A with Jennifer Fisher, writer/performer, Plus One Solo Show Fest (April 7&8)!

Our 2013 season starts this week! Hurrah!

Smart and scrumptious.

Starting Thursday, The Mistakes Madeline Made runs for 7 performances, April 4-6 and 10-13 (Tickets). During the dark nights of Madeline, we feature 4 solo shows and a singer/songwriter with our ninth Plus One Solo Show Festival, April 7-8 (Tickets).  All shows are $18, begin at 8 pm, and run at The Bridge Theatre @ Shetler Studios (244 West 54th Street, 12th Floor, NYC).

The first thing you realize when you meet Jennifer Fisher is that she is one smart, stylish woman.  Her piece, SBF, laments a series of interactions she has with men one rainy night in NYC, and she recalls it all with wry wit.

We asked this talented solo show artist a few questions about her process.

What is your writing and rehearsal process like?
The rehearsals dictated writing changes and I went back and forth.  My rehearsals are all about trying different approaches to make sure the audience sees me at my most free and impulsive.

If we made your solo show into a movie, who would you cast as you?
I'm can't think of a famous black actress who'd be willing to do this.  If she's out there, she's British.  And smart.

Editor's note: perhaps Thandie Newton?

If your solo show were a baked good, what it would it be, and why?
A scone, because it's scrumptious.

Opening Night Sold Out; Load In Done!

This just in: our opening night of The Mistakes Madeline Made is sold out!  Holy cow and happy Tuesday!

On top of all that, the set is done.  I love Load In Day.

The Mistakes Madeline Made set is set!

Here's how the day has gone:

Director Brock H. Hill picked me up at 8:30 am this morning from my apartment on the UWS, weighing down his blue SUV with boxes from IKEA and Amazon.

At 9 am, we pulled up in front of our theater at Shetler Studios, a non-descript high rise on West 54th Street.  Allison Lemel, our assistant director, was waiting with caffeine and a smile.  We loaded the boxes into a freight elevator with the cast of The Godfather and pulled everything into the Bridge Theatre. 

Allison immediately got on a ladder to adjust the lights; I cleaned out the narrow dressing room and opened boxes.  We assembled 2 IKEA tables and rolling chairs in Pepto pink and then we taped off our upstage wall for painting.

By noon, nearly everything had found its place, and the paint was drying.  Time to take a break for the traditional load in day lunchtime meal of pad Thai and beer.

2 pm: back to finish setting up the desks and props, and then home for a quick cat nap.

3:33 pm: a text from Philip (husband and box office supervisor extraordinaire): Opening night is sold out!  Yeah!

So... time to lie down and get back on NYC time and get ready for our tech run through at 7 pm.

Tomorrow we have our final dress rehearsal and on Thursday we open.  Tickets have been selling like hotcakes, so get yours now!

Q&A with Joel Haberli, writer/performer, Plus One Solo Show Fest (April 7&8)!

Our 2013 season starts this week! Hurrah!

Starting Thursday, The Mistakes Madeline Made runs for 7 performances, April 4-6 and 10-13 (Tickets). During the dark nights of Madeline, we feature 4 solo shows and a singer/songwriter with our ninth Plus One Solo Show Festival, April 7-8 (Tickets).  All shows are $18, begin at 8 pm, and run at The Bridge Theatre @ Shetler Studios (244 West 54th Street, 12th Floor, NYC).

Joel Haberli is a heart breaker, literally and figuratively.  We sat him down and grilled him a little about his solo show, Cracks in a Concrete Heart.

Dishy Joel Dishes

Give me your best elevator speech about your solo show.
It's about a lifelong womanizer who faces a possibly life-altering health issue and wonders if there's a connection between his emotional and physical being.

What inspired you to write your piece?
My friend Jeanette Bonner took Matt Hoverman's "Create Your Own Solo Show" Class and I was so impressed by her show that I thought I'd give it a try.  I've been thinking about writing this story for some time... seeing her show was the kick in the pants I needed!

What's your writing/rehearsal process like?
Write, write, write... edit, edit, edit!  I always start at the beginning of what I've written and go through the whole thing trying to be objective about what works and what doesn't.  I'm a big believer in "tweaking."  Rehearsal involves memorizing it and then working with my director to try and make it more than what I envisioned.

Q&A with Miranda Jonte, writer/performer in Plus One Solo Show Fest (April 7&8)!

Our 2013 season starts this week! Hurrah!

Starting Thursday, The Mistakes Madeline Made runs for 7 performances, April 4-6 and 10-13 (Tickets). During the dark nights of Madeline, we feature 4 solo shows and a singer/songwriter with our ninth Plus One Solo Show Festival, April 7-8 (Tickets).  All shows are $18, begin at 8 pm, and run at The Bridge Theatre @ Shetler Studios (244 West 54th Street, 12th Floor, NYC).

Jaunty? Jonte!

We chatted with actor and playwright Miranda Jonte about her newest piece, St. Francis, an excerpt of which is premiering in our Plus One Festival this coming weekend.

Give me your best elevator speech about your show: who, what, where, when? 
St. Francis is about a veterinarian who runs a no-kill animal shelter in the Pacific Northwest which is in danger of shuttering. She's out of options, struggling to maintain her sobriety, and approaches a family member with whom she has a rocky history for financial help.

What inspired you to write your piece?
After my mom died, my family went through a great deal of turmoil. Relationships changed, alliances shifted. Bizarre things happened. I began to need to write a piece in order to deal with it. Thus, St. Francis was born.

How did you come up with your title? 
St. Francis is the patron saint of animals. The character is a woman whose mission is to save these animals, and she goes to great lengths and extremes to do so. It popped into my head at one point and I never had another idea for a title after that!

Editor's note: Miranda Jonte's funny and smart play about the mechanics of love, Greasemonkey, is transferring to Chicago later this year!  For more on that show, please visit www.greasemonkey.weebly.com.

A Pre-Show Intermission (in Prague!)

We have a big week ahead, with the start of our 2013 season:

The Mistakes Madeline Made (Thur 4/4-Sat 4/6 & Wed 4/10-Sat 4/13).  Tickets

Spring Plus One Solo Show Festival (Sun 4/7 and Mon 4/8).  Tickets

Normally the weekend before we load into the theater, I am fretting, buying last minute props and rehearsing transitions.  Happily, this time around I'm taking a sort of pre-show intermission.

Czech's answer to TIC's mascot, Harold.

Composer and TIC sound designer (and my husband) Philip Rothman is working this weekend in Prague, working with  a composer and a Czech orchestra to record music for a feature-length documentary, and he invited me along.  I was just over at the concert hall watching them record, and it was a pretty cool sight to behold.

And then I wandered off, down a cobblestone street, admiring the art nouveau architecture and eventually settling in at a cafe to drink an enormous cup of coffee and people watch.  Tomorrow we fly back and Tuesday, we'll be loading in, focusing lights and tech-ing our shows.  So I am going to enjoy every last minute of this trip.

Hope wherever you are this Sunday, you are taking a break and enjoying your respective holidays.  Can't wait to see you later this week at our shows!

Q&A with Allison Lemel (assistant director, 'The Mistakes Madeline Made')

Over the coming weeks, we're featuring interviews with artists in our spring productions.

Our main stage show, The Mistakes Madeline Made by Elizabeth Meriwether, opens Thursday, April 4 and runs for 7 performances, April 4-6 and 10-13 at 8 pm at The Bridge Theatre @ Shetler Studios (244 West 54 Street, 12th floor, NYC). Tickets are $18 online or by calling 212-868-4444.

Lemel est la meilleure.

Behind every great production is an exceptionally organized person calling the shots.  For more than 11 productions to date (and 2 more to debut in April!), Allison Lemel has been that resource for Tongue in Cheek: stage managing, lighting and costume designing, and assistant-directing (including our sold-out and critically-acclaimed Our Town in October 2012).

We asked Allison what she's working on in addition to The Mistakes Madeline Made and the Spring 2013 Plus One Solo Show Festival.

Tell me what you've been up to (in addition to running rehearsals of The Mistakes Madeline Made)?
I just completed writing my one-woman show, Places, Please.  It's about all my experiences (both funny and strange) in the world of stage management.  I am in the midst of submitting it to festivals in NYC and am also working on completing a full-length screenplay.

What's your favorite play?
My favorite play is Our Town.  I was so excited to assistant direct TIC's production in October 2012.  I remember when I first read it in college, and the thing that first caught my eye was the narrator role, which is called 'The Stage Manager.'  I love how heartwarming the story is, and how it can be related to small town life, or even big city life.  It's a timeless piece.


You've now stage managed 8 of our 9 Plus One Solo Show Festivals.  What kind of solo shows do you like, and why?
When looking at the solo shows I've seen, I always love when the performer is telling me their story, and making it personal: when the performer takes you along for the ride, it makes great theater.