My guest this week is Company Member and Communications Director Ann Harris. We talk about the intersection of theatre, social media, Southern gentility, and SCIENCE! Plus, tantalizing hints of a new website! Well, not so much hints as the statement that we will have a new website soon. Read on!
Seamus: Tell us how you met Jason and got involved with Flying V.
Ann: A colleague and friend of mine (Aviva) mentioned an exciting new group she was going to be a part of. I was an apprentice at Studio Theatre and new to D.C. so I was dying to dive head first into the theatre scene, meet new people, and see if I was really cut out for the Capitol City. I jumped on board via Hunter Styles (Wayward) when Flying V teamed up with Wayward Theatre for a Capital Fringe Fest show (Incurable).
Seamus: There's a lot of intersection between theatre and social media; both are simultaneously a public forum and a creative outlet, and anyone who's Facebook friends with theatre people knows how much of a self-marketing tool that and other social media platforms can be. Which came first for you, theatre or social media marketing? How have they informed each other in your time doing marketing and serving as Communications Director for Flying V?
Ann: Both theatre and marketing interests sort of emerged simultaneously. I had been a big ole nerd in high school (Seriously, don't start a "technology club" at an all-girls school if you want to make friends or have any social life. On that note, better skip the Intel Science Fair, too...). I was both a science honors nerd and a drama club nerd, so art and technology have always gone hand in hand for me. I'm a natural introvert so the places where I feel most comfortable are online and on stage-- places where I can pretend to be someone else, or at least a more awesome version of myself. Creating an online brand and creating a character are similarly exhilarating, frustrating, and rewarding experiences.
Seamus: Talk a little about your website, Southern Social Marketing, and how and why you came to create that.
Ann: I created Southern Social to put on airs, essentially. Freelance web design gigs and odd jobs in marketing fell under the "random stuff to do for money" budget column when I was an undergraduate. One day I just decided to buy a domain, slap up a website, and start acting professional about it. It's growing on its own and somewhere along the line morphed into primarily a Facebook fan page design business. People still find me randomly through Google searches or Facebook posts needing a simple custom app or wanting to transfer a static HTML site to a CMS like WordPress. In the end, whatever they need or wherever they found me, I will take their money. I've found I have expensive tastes. [Significant Other] MaxNova can vouch for that.
Seamus: What's the Flying V project you're proudest to have worked on?
Ann: The new website-- yay! Launching October 1st.
Seamus: What's your dream project for the future?
Ann: I wish there was a site dedicated to providing marketing resources specifically for theatre companies. For the most part, theatre people are trying to run a business...there aren't many business majors trying to run a theatre. How fab would it be if you could find marketing templates that were truly tailored towards performance art? Not just stock press releases, but checklists, timelines, downloads, tutorials, etc., that trained theatre professionals on how to effectively market a production.
Plenty of sites exist with generic templates for direct mail marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, and on and on ad nauseum. I'd love to develop a site with the goal of getting theatre people out of the office and back on stage where they belong-- by giving them the tools necessary to automate, or eliminate, the amount of marketing shenanigans they have to get into to put on a successful production.
Seamus: Who or what are your big artistic influences right now?
Ann: I have a bit of a crush on the guys behind Wibit.net. Design influences include graphic artists like Kristen Hodges of Ahoy Graphics, Kelly J Sorenson, and of course Kate Spade (I guess I have a thing for Ks?). I like things simple, clean, uncluttered, and colorful.
Other artists I just adore include Marion Cotillard, Woody Allen, Lelia Broussard, my cute friend Ruby Lou Smith, and Django Reinhardt (come back to life and make love to me!).
Seamus: Who would you most like to work with on a future project?
Ann: I would promote the shit out of Aviva Pressman.
Seamus: Wouldn't we all!
Ann: Also, one of my business inspirations needs a Facebook face lift. Marie Forleo should definitely give me a call.
Seamus: Ann, thanks a lot for making time for an interview in the midst of websitin'. I'll join our multitude of fans in looking forward to the October launch!
This week I spoke with Associate Producer and jack-of-all-trades Colin Grube. Find out about Colin's proudest project with Flying V, his favorite era of Doctor Who, and his plans for Flash Gordon villain Ming the Merciless, all after the jump.
Seamus: Thanks for making some time to talk and catch up, Grubester!
We'd be remiss if we didn't mention that this is the week that Jason and company are in New York City for the area premiere of Elizabeth at the Tea Party, the show that started it all for Flying V when you and Jason began the venture almost two years ago.
Colin: For sure, a crazy idea to begin with. I should have kicked Jason's ass two years ago when he suggested doing this. ;)
It is very cool that Elizabeth is in NYC. I loved the concept of the script. I didn't have the time to do this iteration and can't wait to see what Schlafstein does with it.
Seamus: And there's still time to donate right here in support of the new production! We need bus fare so none of our actors are stranded in New York, reenacting Midnight Cowboy.
What was it like to put together the first Flying V show ever, and from your perspective how has the company changed since then?
Colin: The first one was on a wing and a prayer, just the way I like it. I remember meeting with Augie and Jason, well before the idea of a company ever came up. I was so excited to be working from the beginning of the creative process. I had never worked with Augie before and I loved how his brain worked and how open he was (and is) to new ideas and ways of looking at things.
The first show was such madness. I went on vacation three quarters of the way through the rehearsals and came back just before tech, so we had to cram a lot in. Everyone on the show was working multiple jobs, as is the norm, dealing with the holidays and any other variety of health and family issues. But somehow, we made it to opening, Jason and I feeding on each other and assisting each other I think pretty well. The show got wonderful responses, and by the time we ended the weekend run, everyone was exhausted and joyful. And we came up financially ahead.
Seamus: Which seldom hurts.
Colin: How has the company changed? Well, it has gotten better, expanded. We are getting better at planning ahead and executing the plans. And Jason and Jon Rubin have taken the reins at running this thing as a real theatre company.
Seamus: You are a busy guy, with plenty of full-time professional gigs in theatre and a family of your own. How did Jason talk you into co-directing such a big project AND co-founding a theatre company?
Colin: Like I said, I should have kicked his ass.
It really wasn't hard. Jason is what I like in theatre: Smart, passionate and with boundless energy. We have similar tastes but with enough differences to keep things interesting. And he was willing to work with me and my crazy schedules and the knowledge that, at the end of the day, I would rather hang out with Taran and Staci than even my best friends at FV.
Seamus: Which is something that came up in at least one of the conversations I witnessed Jason and Jon having with local artistic directors: having an honest dialogue about how much time someone is willing to commit to a small company and having an honest understanding of where it fits in with their priorities is apparently a major part of keeping that company sustainable and keeping membership active without causing burnout.
Colin: I think burnout and commitment are things that all artists have to deal with. We want to be producing all the time, but sometimes it feels like being on a hamster wheel.
Seamus: You've had a real Renaissance Man thing going on during these first few seasons with Flying V: you've directed, acted, done props and tech, and you have a staff position as Associate Producer.
So far, what's the project you're proudest of?
Colin: I still love SF2F. It was crazy, the midnight shows and all. It was a huge reach for us, production-wise. We had some great scripts with your and Augie's material and some great script snippets as well- I still crack up at Zach's Robot Sam Spade material.
Seamus: And you got to do the drunken "Thriller" dance!
Colin: The cast was such fun to work with. My small part was fun and gave me my first chance to work one-on-one with Jason as my director. He is good. And yes, the drunken "Thriller" dance was pretty awesome.
And it was the first time working with people like Luke Cieslewicz and Katie Jeffries, both of whom have become favorites of mine.
Seamus: So we can reasonably say you've done nearly everything in these first couple of seasons. For your next project, your dream project, you can do any damn thing you want. What is it?
Colin: There have been a couple of things I have been kicking around. Some have Flying V written all over them, others are outside projects. When Jason and I first met, we always talked about how much we loved old vaudeville, old movies, old radio, lots of old things.
So one idea is to stage (and this is one I have been working on) a classic radio show like Gunsmoke or Johnny Dollar. Then there is the wish to put together a show in the style of the Marx Brothers. I just heard of a place in Alexandria, VA which is planning to do vaudeville acts, so I want to explore that again.
Finally, I am developing a project with a friend of mine about Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon. We have a couple of thoughts kicking about, but my favorite is the one where Ming is an actor, and being and intergalactic tyrant is just his day job. He is of course trying to land a role as Ming in a new Flash Gordon movie, but gets turned down.
Seamus: Hahahaha. So he's earning money as an intergalactic tyrant during the day, but what he'd really like to do is get paid to PLAY an intergalactic tyrant in a movie.
Colin: Exactly. My friend Dane Petersen approached me with the idea and now we are trying to work out details, get it together and maybe get it up for Fringe.
Seamus: That sounds like a strong premise for Fringe. You can definitely summarize it in a program-sized sentence that makes you excited to see that specific show.
Speaking of old science fiction, you told me back during SF2F that you grew up watching Doctor Who well before Russell T. Davies brought the show back in its current incarnation. What's your favorite Doctor Who era?
Colin: That is a hard question. The current series has such great production values and tight stories for the most part. But I was first introduced to Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee as Doctors and the truth they lent to the role, the fact that the series was driven by character and story. And it was so theatrical. The monster with the silver dryer hose for arms was scary because the Doctor and his companions were afraid of it.
Seamus: Absolutely. That's what's wonderful about even the first season of the new show, with Chris Eccleston-- he fights a plastic dummy arm in the very first episode.
Colin: David Tennant and Tom Baker are such iconic Doctors, but I have to throw Pertwee and Matt Smith in there for their takes on the character. I never cared for Peter Davison, and would like to have seen more of the Sylvester McCoy episodes. Eccleston was great, playing the raging Time Lord.
DW is one of those shows that the more I watch of the new and re-watch of the old, the more impressed I am with it. THAT is a show I want to work on!
Seamus: Agreed. The first TV script I ever wrote that I thought was any good was a Doctor Who spec.
Okay, last one: Who's the next artist you'd like to work with, again or for the first time?
Colin: I would say Lee Liebeskind. I have enjoyed his work on stage. We've always only touched base in passing but I get the feeling that he and I would be simpatico in many of the ways we view theatre and art in general. I could be totally wrong about that, but I am willing to put it to the test.
Everyone I have worked with on FV I would work with again. But focusing on those I haven't had a chance to work with...Lee would at least be in the top five.
Seamus: And he's definitely got the nerd cred, so based on stuff we've talked about in the last hour alone, you'd both have common ground.
Colin: Hell yeah, and that may be why I think we would get along.
Starting on September 14, our own Katie Nigsch-Fairfax will appear in 1st Stage's production of Suite Surrender, a mistaken identity comedy that pays tribute to the great farces of the 1930s and 40s. If you're still kicking yourself for missing Katie's turn as the hedgehog-obsessed Honoria Glossop in last year's By Jeeves, this month-long run is your chance to make it right!
Help us raise the final $1,000 in our push to bring Elizabeth at the Tea Party to New York City in style!
Even the cost of a cup of coffee (or tea) will bring us closer to our goal of sweeping Manhattan Theatre Repertory's One Act Play Competition. Let's do this!
Jon Rubin, Jason Schlafstein and Blair Bowers rock their superhero personas for the opening night performance of Theater Alliance's Reals. H Street just got a little bit safer.
Next Monday, September 3, don't miss the Page-to-Stage reading of The Pirate Laureate of Port Town by Flying V Company Member Zachary Fernebok, directed by Company Member Jason Schlafstein, and starring Company Member Michael Saltzman along with Ryan Tumulty, both of whom will also star in the upcoming New York City production of Elizabeth at the Tea Party.
It all goes down on Monday, September 3 at 7:30 at the Kennedy Center. Don't miss it!
This week, I spoke with company member and Production Manager Ryan Maxwell about his work with EMP Collective, the deeper meaning of subway photography, and which actors may be alien beings out to steal our bodily fluids. Plus: we both have a theatre crush on the same company! Find out which one, after the jump.
Seamus: To start with, tell our multitude of readers about the Genesis project that opens in DC this weekend.
Ryan: Genesis is a group show that EMP Collective pulled together with 20+ artists from Baltimore, DC, and beyond all responding to Native American creation myths that had been anthologized by a writer named Eduardo Galeano in a trilogy called Memoria del Fuego.
It showed first in Baltmore at EMP's space downtown and is transferring to the Fridge in Eastern Market, DC this weekend.
Seamus: And what's your piece?
Ryan: The material we had to respond to was all audio recordings of these short creation stories, and the one that called out to me was called "The Spider Web":
There was once a Lakota holy man, called Drinks Water, who dreamed what was to be. He dreamed that a strange race had woven a spider's web all around the Lakotas. And he said: "When this happens, you shall live in square gray houses, in a barren land, and beside those square gray houses you shall starve."
The piece I put together from this is a mixed-media photography installation that draws extensively from a series of photos I've taken over the last three years of passengers on public transportation around the world.
Seamus: Which makes it great for audiences in a public transportation hub like DC.
Ryan: Absolutely. The images are printed on 4-inch squares and double-sided and suspended face to face from monofilament wires in arcs from the ceiling. So the image is of a basket web or a series of tunnels in a rabbit warren.
The piece is suspended to just below head height so that people can walk around and under it and see the images from many angles, but almost always looking up. Because, in general, I find that a lot of people ride the metro with their heads down: in their books, in their papers, in their iPads or Kindles or phones.
And what gets me going as an artist: in the theatre and photography, is people. Looking at people. Asking people to look at each other and celebrate each other.
So the piece requires the viewer to do that. To get in there, get up close, look up and see these people who are in front of them every day, and who are, frankly, beautiful.
Seamus: Now let's talk Flying V. How'd you get involved with the company?
Ryan: When I was planning to move to DC from Boston, I started emailing all the artistic directors in DC to let them know I was coming and set up informational interviews. I ended up talking to a few, but mostly I got played off to assistants or ignored. In the case of Howard Shalwitz at Woolly, his assistant at the time said "Let me put you in touch with this guy Jason (Schlafstein) who had my job last year."
I emailed with Jason and then talked to him on the phone from Boston and we hit it off talking about projects we had in mind and he mentioned this thing that was just starting to come together as a company. We met for coffee and by that time Flying V was closer to becoming a reality and a month or so later he called me on the phone to say that they were doing their first show and did I want to stage manage.
That show became Become What You Are. And it was crazy and jangly and new and exciting and weird and rough and funny and produced on a shoestring, but it also carried with it the sense that this was a group that had a voice and a vision and a drive to get noticed.
And that spirit has carried forward through all the Flying V productions and it makes for a very exciting, rewarding, strange, and challenging experience every time. Both onstage and from the audience.
Seamus: Now you went from stage managing and directing to being a company member and, more recently, our Production Manager. Tell us a little about what that job entails.
Ryan: Mostly it's emails and phone calls making sure that everything is getting done on time. Holding meetings.
Though for Me and the Devil Blues, the only V show since I stepped into the PM position, I was more of a background production consultant and Jason took on himself most of the PM duties.
But Flying V as a company is in an interesting position, as the team has so many people who have worked together on so many shows that the channels of communication are always already open. So, it's a young company that already has an established core of artists that allows for a greater coordinated, cohesive effort in productions. Which I think is a rare combination.
Seamus: Speaking of our many wonderful artists, who'd you like to collaborate with again, or for the first time?
Ryan: It was great to see Maya Jackson [Tamara in Me and the Devil Blues] in a Flying V show this summer. She is someone whose work I've seen in a lot of different venues and has always impressed. She manages to strike a wonderful balance between super-tight specificity and explosive grandiose gesture and performance that is just thrilling and great to watch onstage. I'd love to direct her or just see her in more work with the company.
The same with Alex Vernon [the Devil in Me and the Devil Blues], with whom I have worked frequently at Young Playwrights Theatre and who was in the cast of Just a Dream, an Adventure Theatre show that took both of us to Singapore last year. Really, as far as Alex goes... There isn't enough good I can say about working with him. He's just phenomenally talented and creative in so many ways and that makes him so fun and rewarding to work with.
Also, with both Maya and Alex, they are just nice. Like too nice. Like grown-in-a-vat-by-aliens-to-put-us-at-ease-so-they-can-steal-our-precious-bodily-fluids nice. And you always want people like that around.
Unless the alien thing ends up being true. In which case, you want them around, but you never want to go to sleep when they're in the room or let them stand behind you.
Seamus: I can't attest to the alien thing, but I cannot overstate how much I loved that cast.
I told Maya that Tamara's monologue only really came alive for me when I saw her do it. She took it to a remarkable place.
Ryan: Oh yes. And that's part of her presence onstage. She's always breathes life into the scene. And the more she has to do, the further she can go. So when you give her a big monologue like that, she can just bring the house down. Every time. Hence my desire to collaborate more with her in the future.
Seamus: Speaking of which, what is a dream project you'd like to do with Flying V in the future?
Ryan: I'm becoming more interested in devised work and documentary theatre (Think the work of groups as varied as Tectonic Theatre or Universes). And I'd love to find a story that the company could take on and take apart and build into a fully fledged production. Something that bears all the hallmarks of a Flying V show I was talking about above, but is also... true, I guess is the word.
Seamus: A real event of some kind.
Ryan: Yes. The way Tectonic took on the trials of Oscar Wilde or Universes took on post-Katrina New Orleans. And I have no idea what the content would be. But the kernel of the idea is to take the V's aesthetic and entertainment sensibilities and use them in service of telling a real story. To take something from the world, something the audience might have never heard of or only heard of in passing, and draw it out for them in a new, unexpected way.
I don't know if I'm making a whole lot of sense or conveying what I mean here. I just think that Flying V's aesthetic would make a good counterpoint to a nonfiction story.
Seamus: No, I think I see what you mean. It would be a different type of show from what we've done in the past, to be sure.
Ryan: Like, people would hear the story more acutely for its coming from the same company that put on a talkshow in hell. On the other hand, is it so very different? My mind draws more than a couple of parallels between Me and the Devil Blues and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.
Seamus: When we remount it, we should add a song called "I'm Robert Fucking Johnson!"
Ryan: Absolutely.
Seamus: But that's a great example. It took me a while to get it, but Bloody Bloody is a fun show with wild rock conventions that talks about both real history and surprisingly deep and relevant modern stuff about leadership.
We could follow worse examples.
Apart from the obvious creation story, what or who are your big artistic influences right now?
Ryan: The piece with EMP was a great first step forward in a whole new realm for me. I didn't plan it as an installation. When I read their call for artists and applied, I was thinking I could do something more theatre-y, but time and travel wouldn't have allowed for me to find/create a text, cast a reading, rehearse, and produce it. So I went in another direction that was unprecedented in my experience and, I hope, successful.
Because, even though the piece is static and silent, there are still elements of theatre and drama to it: A relationship between action and audience, and invitation to react and interact, elements of mystery and problems of sightlines. I hope that people will view it and tell their own stories from all the images. And from their own experience of the piece. In the same way that an audience leaves a theatre talking about what they thought about what they saw.
Also: Pinky Swear. They are another new company in DC doing amazing work with a clear and persuasive mission and style and, I dunno. I just want to see more of them and talk to them more on Twitter and in person and maybe collaborate at some point down the road.
Seamus: Agreed, I like their stated mission and the work I've seen them do.
Ryan: They started their company out of frustration with the options open for women in the small/fringe theatre scene, and I see that and I feel that and love the way they go about breaking down those barriers and building the kind of work they want to see on DC's stages. They could have gone strident and severe and political with that mission, but instead they are all kickass rock-and-roll badassery.
And I respect that and want to see more of it and support it however I can. And maybe steal a trick or two or maybe play along.
Seamus: Agreed, we can learn a lot from their particular brand of Awesome.
Ryan: Everyone can. And I think they are. They are a model for using social media on top of quality onstage product to direct the discussion about their work and their mission. But not in a manipulative way. Just because they are smart, funny, honest, passionate, and outspoken. If they could bottle that, they'd make a fortune.
Seamus: And if you can do all those things plus a sexy rock show or a limbs-optional carnival drama, you're doing your job as a theater company.
Ryan, can't thank you enough for making the time to talk with me.
This multi-artist, mixed media performance/exhibition opens tomorrow night in Baltimore and next Friday night in DC! Follow the link for more details on how Ryan and company will be riffing on creation myths.
Our interview series continues! This week I spoke with company member Andrew Berry about set design, massive T-Rex heads, and which children's toy may be the basis for a future Flying V show.
Seamus: How'd you get involved with Flying V?
Andrew: Well, basically one day Jason came up to me and said he was working on producing a show and asked if I wanted to be involved. How could I say no to that?
Seamus: Isn't that always the way?
Andrew: Pretty much! That was Become What You Are, and here I am four shows later.
Seamus: And still killing it, as the Devil Blues set demonstrates. How'd you get into set design to begin with?
Andrew: Aww, shucks. I think it was just a way of fulfilling a fundamental need to create things that rose out of extensive exposure to Legos as a child.
The fact that there were a lot of Technic sets involved probably has something to do [with] ultimately getting a job as a technical director as well.
Seamus: If they'd had Bionicles in those days, just think how you'd have turned out.
Andrew: I'd be cool-looking but made of mostly useless pieces?
Seamus: I feel like there's a new Flying V show in there somewhere. Lego theatre.
Andrew: Anyway, I got interested in set design in college, where it was my concentration. I guess it was the idea of creating an environment from whole cloth, temporarily remaking a small slice of the world, that drew me to scenic design.
Seamus: And the set for that first production, Become What You Are, did have to turn into three different sets and tell three different stories about the characters who lived there.
Seamus: Had you done flexible designs like that before, or was it a new challenge?
Andrew: Never quite to that extent. You always have to try to strike a balance between setting place and time, making an aesthetic statement, and supporting the action. When you have to drastically change environments, you also have to make sure that you can accomplish those changes without killing the pace of the show.
And when your resources are limited, you really have to figure out what's most important to the project. BWYA had all of those challenges at once, so we wound up being very minimalistic.
Seamus: You've designed (and largely built) the sets for five Flying V productions now. Has your style changed or adapted significantly after doing so many shows with this company?
Andrew: Your question presupposes that I have a style! Shortly after graduating college I gout out of doing design, so BWYA was actually my first time designing a set in quite a while. Since then, I think we've seen a lot of overall growth with each show, in terms of how we tackle a project. Maybe after a few more I'll be able to answer that question.
Seamus: What is the project, Flying V or otherwise, set design or otherwise, of which you're proudest?
Andrew: The metaphorical next one.
But seriously, among Flying V projects, I really like what we came up with for Incurable. As much fun as Devil was, the constraints of being a Fringe show really chafed, I think, in what we could do with the set, but I think we struck a good balance with Incurable. And Dre rocked those paintings!
But otherwise, especially with my personal projects, the goal is always for the next one to be the best one yet.
Seamus: That's a good segue: what's your dream project?
Andrew: I'd really love to do some sort of large scale interactive electro-mechanical type thing. I don't really know what sort of form that would take, but in a sense it doesn't much matter because the really fun part, for me, would be in implementing it. I'd definitely want it to be something that had dimension and mass and was really tangible, though.
Seamus: Like the giant T-Rex head at Universal Studios? That kind of thing?
Andrew: Sure! Or if you've seen the videos of the animatronics from the How to Train your Dragon stage show, something like that. Or it could be something else entirely, like an environment that reacts to its occupants in an interesting way.
Seamus: Let's hope that either you or the V gets the resources to do things like that someday. Or both!
What are your big artistic influences right now?
Andrew: I was afraid you might ask that.
Seamus: Muahahahaha!
Andrew: I don't think I have an answer for that. I go to museums, and listen to music, and so on, but since neither my day job nor most of my hobbies involve making art, it's hard to say what influences me. I will say that I'm partial to Jasper Johns and Arthur Ganson, though.
Seamus: There you go! They totally count.
Who'd you most like to work with on a future project, and in what capacity? It can be a company member or a guest artist.
Andrew: You know, I really like the crew we have now. I think we have a group that works well together in our niche.
Seamus: Basically just keep the band together as is until we have the funds to do giant robot heads and other large-scale designs?
Andrew: Yes! And I'm sure we'll pick up a few more awesome people along the way.
Seamus: Any other ongoing projects you want to plug before we call it a night?
Andrew: Not right now, but I'll let you know when it's time to unleash--uhh, I mean, unveil the giant robots.
Seamus: Hahahaha, bloody marvelous.
Andrew, it's been a pleasure catching up. Thanks again for chatting.
Here's to many more shows and to getting to the robot stage!
Flying V is thrilled to announce that we have been accepted to and will be performing in Manhattan Repertory Theatre's One Act Play Competition this September and October. We'll be presenting Company Member Augie Praley's play Elizabeth at the Tea Party, which was the first of three plays that made up our inaugural show, Become What You Are. Artistic Director Jason Schlafstein will be directing, and we'll be announcing the cast soon.
Tea Party was the first script that Flying V ever commissioned and we're overjoyed that it'll be our first show to play outside of the DC area. We'll be announcing more information on how you can support our trip early next week, and we appreciate all the help in advance!
Pictured above: the original cast, featuring, from left to right, Edward Daniels, Blair Bowers, Michael Saltzman, Kristen Garaffo, Katie Nigsch-Fairfax, and Aaron Bliden, with costumes by Chelsea Kerl and props by Jose Nunez.
Our interview feature returns as I sit down with Managing Director and Company Member Jonathan Ezra Rubin to discuss his new position, the future of Flying V, and what weapons to bring to hand-to-hand combat with a Scottish tyrant. All this and more, after the jump.
Jonathan: My pleasure!
As it turned out, I open [Jewish Theatre Workshop's steampunk production of] Macbeth [this week] and I didn't have anything else scheduled for today. So I went in early to help rehang some curtain so we have an actual backstage on stage left...and then this is all I've got until fight call.
The weekend after closing Macbeth, I actually get to put on the Scottish dialect (and kilt!) at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, where I'll be in the Royal Court, playing Sir William Cunningham, Lord Kilmaurs. I'll also get to fight with an awesome sword called a flamberge in the Human Chess match, and act as Richard III in a short play describing how we got from Richard to Henry VIII.
Running Saturdays, Sundays, and Labor Day Monday, from August 25th-October 21st, it's always an awesome time!
Seamus: For the benefit of our readers, tell us how you got involved with Flying V.
Jonathan: Sure thing. Like just about everyone, my connection to Flying V came through having worked with Jason, when we sat next to each other as assistants at Woolly Mammoth in the 09-10 season.
While that was going on, I was working on a theatre company I had founded with friends from college, which then took me to the NYC/NJ area for a year, during which Jason started Flying V.
After I moved back down here, Jason approached me about being the Development Director for Flying V, as that is what I had been doing with my old company. This had me starting in September of 2011, just one month prior to the opening of Tough!
Seamus: And that's sort of expanded into your role as Flying V's Managing Director.
Jonathan: Exactly. In December of 2011, Jason came to me and said that he needed and wanted a partner in running Flying V, that he was already coming to me about all of the administrative things he wanted to bounce off of someone, and that he'd love if I was willing to step up to take on this new role.
And, obviously, I agreed.
Seamus: And I think we all feel better about Jason's ability to keep his head from exploding, now that you're on board.
Jonathan: I try to do what I can to keep him both grounded in reality, organized, and back him up when he has a totally awesome idea that needs smoothing around the edges to make it a reality.
Seamus: Now, so far, our multitude of readers haven't been able to see your work directly reflected onstage, the way they do with many company members. Walk us through some of the more interesting duties a Managing Director has.
Jonathan: Well, I'd say one of my biggest duties currently, is that I am still fulfilling the role of Development Director, because we have not found someone new [for] that position.
So, it is still falling to me to make sure that we raise all of the money we need to put on a show, and coming up with different ways to bring that money in.
Seamus: Which is one of the more important, and more overlooked, aspects of doing theater.
Jonathan: Absolutely. I am also the oversight on all things monetary. So, any money that Flying V spends, be it on paying everyone who works with us, getting sets/props/costumes/etc built and found and organized, is something I need to know about- when it happens and what exactly it's for.
I would say the most interesting parts of the job for me, however, are the infrastructure and company building.
The meetings that I have with Jason, usually multiple times a week be it by phone or in person, as a full multi-hour meeting or a few minutes while we're hanging out together, are a huge part of that. There we get to go over all of the ideas that we have for the company- in terms of making it a better oiled machine, picking shows, sharing news about new donations or opportunities, etc.
We have also had a great opportunity to sit down with some of the DC area's best and brightest theatre administrators, board members, and minds, and create or grow our relationships with them.
Seamus: I remember those months after you came on being meeting-and-discussion intensive for both you and Jason. Of all the people you sat down with and all the conversations you had, what's the best advice you guys have heard to date?
Jonathan: I think the best advice has probably been to be true to ourselves and our aesthetic. We are, in a lot of ways a very "out there", adventurous, and relatively geeky theatre...but that means we're filling a niche that's not really being otherwise filled outside of the annual Fringe Festival.
That conversation really helped us refine the mission into what it is today.
Seamus: Yeah, Flying V put out a revised mission statement last month. Talk to us about how that was refined- what was dropped from the mission and what's been emphasized.
Jonathan: The new mission really focuses on the various elements of what makes a Flying V show. Our unique brand of inspirations, coming together through our company of theatrical professionals of all types to pull these modern mythologies into something that you're not going to see anywhere else, but is still of an extremely high quality.
The old mission touched on some of these core elements, but they were not as fleshed out as we would like. Our original mission also listed the number of company members we had, which is a very fluid thing that had changed already a number of times by the time I came on. So, that was wording that we wanted to make equally fluid.
The other amazing piece of advice [Jason and I received], which was so obvious and yet not something we ever would have thought to say out loud: Don't let your second year be a repetition of your first year. So many companies, especially the smaller ones, just keep repeating their first year, instead of truly growing in their second, third, etc. Make sure that you really have a second year.
Seamus: Speaking of the third year that Flying V will begin soon, can you talk about what this renewed focus on our productions will mean for Flying V's future programming?
Jonathan: I can't give too much away yet, as some things are still being finalized, but we are in the process of actually being able to create a season for our third year, as opposed to announcing just a show and prospects in the slate at a time. Jason and I have discussed filling multiple slots in the next year with shows that are ready or being worked and close to ready, as well as trying to do some smaller pieces that will just be a one or few night gig.
Seamus: Watch this space, readers!
Jonathan: However, I can definitely say that coming off of the great success of Me and the Devil Blues at Cap Fringe, we have a renewed sense of all of the awesome things we can do as a company, and we want to keep people coming to us saying, "That was awesome! Flying V really took it to another level with this show."
Seamus: I felt something similar, coming back to DC after moving to LA to pursue TV writing, and being reminded how cool a single theater project can be.
Now that we've suitably foreshadowed the V's future accomplishments, let's do the Jon Rubin creative lightning round!
Jonathan: Bring it on!
Seamus: You AD'd, did fights for, and appear in the steampunk Jewish Theatre Workshop production of Macbeth that opens this week. Your facebook profile says you die four times, kill two people and are in six fights. Do you have a favorite death in the show, received or inflicted?
Jonathan: Haha. I'd say my favorite fight is probably my Young Siward vs. Macbeth battle in Act 5, where I, as Young Siward, go toe-to-toe against the Scottish tyrant in an epic duel that pits my trident vs. his cutlass and hammer.
Seamus: Tridents! DC Metro audiences need more tridents.
Jonathan: This was the first time I had ever used a trident, or anything similar, in a fight. So, it was certainly a learning experience. But very fun! And our Macbeth is really great to work opposite.
Seamus: As a theatre artist, what is your future dream project?
Jonathan: Depends what my role in it would be. As an artist, I am most drawn to acting, directing, and fight choreographing- and which wins out totally changes. At the moment, I think I'm actually most fascinated by the story one can tell through a fight, and so I'd love to get a chance to be involved in that more moving forward. I'm not sure there's a specific show I can answer for that element.
As a director, I have a list of a few plays I'd love to tackle now (ex: Jailbait), in the future (ex: Clybourne Park), or with one example tackle again (ex: Helter Skelter). As an actor, I think one of my top shows that I'd love to do is Gruesome Playground Injuries.
Seamus: What's the fight you're proudest of choreographing?
Jonathan: I think it's a toss-up between the one I did for the kids I had in my Lightsaber Intensive Workshop at Adventure Theatre this past spring (a three way fight for 6-7-year-olds with two Jedi vs. one Sith) and co-creating, on the spot, my opening melee fight against the director and fight choreographer for Macbeth.
He and I had decided that we wanted to have a fight where we could do some things that we didn't necessarily trust others who didn't have as much stage combat experience to do and so pitted him with the trident against me with a smallsword (a post-rapier precursor to the foil) and dagger.
And so we each grabbed our respective weapons and made it up, move by move, on the spot, in rehearsal a couple of weeks ago.
Seamus: Last question and I'll let you go. Who's an artist, either a company member or an outside guest, with whom you'd like to work more, and in what capacity?
Jonathan: I would love to work with Jason as a director. With me either as a fight choreographer or actor.
I would also love to act opposite (my girlfriend) Hannah Fogler again, as I think we have great chemistry on stage.
I'd also absolutely love to be directed by Jen Spieler (a former professor of mine and one of my mentors) again.
Seamus: Break many legs this week as you face off against Mackers!
"...delightfully intriguing and witty...Rock 'n roll heaven, eat your heart out."
-Rachel Manteuffel, Washington City Paper's Fringe and Purge
The critics are unanimous. You really don't want to miss Me and the Devil Blues. Catch a performance either tonight at 10:45 PM or Sunday at 4:45 PM. Or see both!
And after that, let's be honest. You'll probably want to vote for us for "Best Comedy". Why fight it? Follow the link below:
http://www.theatermania.com/festival/capital-fringe-2012_31/audience-awards-voting/
