‘Tis the Way of Theatre
Yeah, boss, I've been moonlighting!
I recently completed the run of a crazy production of THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL at Classical Theatre Company, which I adapted for six actors, directed, and acted in. This was the culmination of a dream I'd had since I first encountered that play as a senior in high school, and I hope many of you had a chance to catch it; it was a wild ride.
But, why didn't I do it at 4th Wall?! I'm the artistic director, right? Don't I get to do any damned play I want to?
Well, no, I don't.
I mean, I do, but I don't.
I mean that, as I wrote in my last blog, the process of planning a season depends on my falling in love with a play, but also depends on finding a balance of authors, cast, directors, designers, etc.
So, if we do a play by a long-dead white man (which Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the author of SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL is) (he was also a theater owner, producer, and long-standing member of parliament during the reign of King George III, or, as we called him here in this country: the enemy) - if we do a play written by a guy like that, we have to balance it with something quite different.
Also, if we've gotten into the habit, as we have here at 4th Wall, of turning our attention to, mostly, plays that have been done recently in bigger cities (New York, London, Chicago) but which haven't yet been done in Houston, you'll see that SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL is a hard fit. And hey, Classical only does plays that are at least 100 years old, and I'm a company member of CTC, so it just makes all kinds of sense to do the play with them, right?
Right.
Side note: shockingly to me, as far as CTC's artistic director, JJ Johnston, can tell, our production of SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL appears to be the professional Houston premiere of the play!!!
Now, do I feel bad about going behind 4th Wall's back to do this work? Well, it turns out that I'm not the only moonlighter around this burg.
While our current production, THE SOUND INSIDE, was in rehearsal and performance, a bunch of us here at 4th Wall were doing double duty. In most jobs we'd be trying to cover that up, but here (to answer the question I posed just now), I think it's cause for celebration.
Our marketing manager, Gabe Velazquez, is one of the cast of a new venture (in Houston, anyway) called DRUNK SHAKESPEARE. You can catch him in the cohort of folks who take turns getting drunk, for real, and performing Shakespeare, or attempting to perform Shakespeare, as the case may be, at the newly created Emerald Theatre downtown. DRUNK SHAKESPEARE exists already in several other cities in the US, and if those companies are any indication, Gabe and friends will be performing the Houston iteration for an open-ended run. DRUNK SHAKESPEARE opened at the end of January, so get on down there and watch Gabe do his thing.
And our new managing director, Jennifer Dean, had accepted a directing gig at A.D. Players before she interviewed for her job with us, thus, in February, you'll be able to see her excellent moonlighting work in EVERY BRILLIANT THING, which stars Orlando Arriaga, himself a veteran of the 4th Wall stage (JESUS HOPPED THE 'A' TRAIN.) Jennifer hit the ground running here at 4th Wall, and somehow has also found time to share her talents with A.D. Players. So, ditto: get your tickets now to EVERY BRILLIANT THING.
I think it's obvious that, artistically, we can only do so much at 4th Wall, and so sometimes it makes sense for us to exercise our craft with other companies. SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL is a better fit at CTC, as is EVERY BRILLIANT THING a better fit at A.D.P., and drunk actors attempting Shakespeare, well, we're just not even going to go there at 4th Wall! We bless each other when we go outside and take a risk, or do work we can't do at 4th Wall, and we love sharing our talents with other companies. We look at this as making 4th Wall stronger.
Now, I want you to close your eyes, take a deep breath, forget everything you just read, and buy a ticket to the fantastic production now onstage at 4th Wall: THE SOUND INSIDE, by Adam Rapp. It's as good as it gets, and I'm so proud to be producing it right here at the theater where you can (usually) find me!
- PL
