Podcast #185
ONE YOUNG GIRL, IN A SMALL TOWN, WHERE EVERYONE KNOWS EVERYONE, AND SHADINESS LURKS AROUND MANY CORNERS. CAN YOU GUESS WHAT HAPPENS TO HER IN THAT CIRCUMSTANCE? AND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU INJECT THE IDEA OF URBAN LEGENDS INTO THE MIX?
The play is called The K of D, aka, The Kiss of Death
One young girl embodies the entire population of her small town to spin the story of the summer that inexplicably changed her life. This quirky and touching play offers the unexpected perspective of a child on the big questions of life and death.
I dont know about you, but I have never lived in a small town. I have only heard about them on the Maury Povich show, or the Montel Williams show. And every time a small town story was on one of those shows, the least you could say about them was they were interesting as hell.
Characters seemed to abound in small towns. People you would never see in the city, all seemed to have moved to the country and started an inbreeding program there. You know, Uncle Cletus was in love with his sister Naomi and Jack had a secret crush on his mom.
I may be stating the extreme, but when you honestly reflect on your perception of small town drama, what does it entail? What happens when every one knows every one? What happens when nobody locks their doors at night, for fear of offending someone? What happens when kids have no outlet for their adolescent hormones raging thru them?
It all sounds interesting to me.
Add in to the mix, the idea of urban legends and you have a concoction that that is bound to be perplexing, engaging, unbelievable and enticing. But what is an urban legend? As described by the actress who will be playing 17 characters, an urban legend is a story that is told in many different ways. It has many different opinions on what happened and how it happened and what didnt happen. An urban legend has a leery quality that makes it interesting.
This would not be an interesting interview if I did not ask the participants about an urban legend that they have either heard or experienced. So I asked. And for those of you reading this in the SF Bay Area, you get a great story about a cop, the Golden Gate Park, and traffic tickets that may or may not exist.
I guess I should add that Urban Legends can be scary as hell.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE PLAY HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS MUSCULAR, HAVING BOLD IMAGINATION AND HAVING EMOTIONAL VITALITY. AND WE HAVE TWO CRAFTSMEN; OOPPS I MEAN CRAFTSWOMEN BRINGING YOU THIS PRODUCTION.
By that I mean they have impressive backgrounds and promising futures.
How can you resist a production that has been described in such a way? The playwright Laura Schellhardt went out of her way to make the language of this play accessible and true to life. As a matter of fact, she went thru an unusual editing process.
In order to make the language spot on, Laura enlisted the help of teenagers. You see, many, but not all of he characters are teens, and since the playwright has grown past her teens, she enlisted their help to help her nail the language of the younger crowd.
Laura was wise enough to recognize her weaknesses and genius enough to know how to inject her own voice to give the script vitality, depth, and poeticism. I gotta give her credit for that.
By the way, Laura heads the playwright program at Northwestern University in Chicago and an ex student of Pulitzer prize winning playwright, Paula Vogel.
These are the craftswomen putting on the play
The director is Rebecca Novick. She has been a fixture within the San Francisco theatrical scene for over 10 years. Many of you may know that she was the founding artistic director of Crowded Fire Theatre: a company that focused on new, experimental works. For 10 years she ran the company producing 23 plays and directing 15. She is an award winning director and works all over as a freelance director today, having left Crowded Fire Theatre.
I must say that Rebecca is highly qualified to handle text of this nature. She is not necessarily known for directing one person shows. She has two feet solidly planted in the experimental ensemble pieces world. But because of that I am certain that she will bring something a little different to this production. And no matter how you think about it, one person playing 17 roles is an ensemble piece.
The actress in this show also has nothing but praise for the director. I know that many of you will be saying of course she has praise for the director. Why would she not praise the director, in an interview, with the director sitting right there? And that is a valid point.
BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MEET SOMEONE AND YOU GET THIS VIBE, THIS VIBE THAT MAKES YOU SIT UP, PAY ATTENTION, AND GET READY FOR A JOY RIDE?
The actress is Maya Lawson. The minute I met her, I was put at ease. There was a positive aura that emanated from her. That aura resonated with honesty, a certain purity, a certain genuine-ness. She was very warm and very inviting. She was and is alluring, a fact that I could not escape moment I met her.
And Rebecca, the director, had nothing but praise for the actress. And I know what your saying of course she has praise for the actress. She picked her right?.
Well you have a point, Rebecca did pick Maya. But when I asked Rebecca why she picked Maya, Rebecca gave some very motivating explanations for her choice. I must say that hearing Rebecca expound on her reason for choosing Maya certainly helped me decide that this was a production that I need to see.
And Maya has plenty of experience. She is a Bay Area native who went to the School for the arts. And after that, she went to Cornish, in Seattle, and received a B.F.A in acting. She is also a member of Equity. And having been a member of equity myself, I take that as a badge of honor.
For those of you disenfranchised with the equity label, get over it. I am tired of hearing non-equity actors bash equity actors with things like just because they are equity doesnt mean they have more talent than me. Most of the equity actors suck anyway.
I can wait for the day a non-equity actor turns equity and I can say remember when you said most equity actors suck? Do you fall in that category now?
Anyway, I digress.
Go check out The K of D: An Urban Legend, playing at The Magic Theatre Sept 20th - Oct 19th.
SHOW NOTES
Magic Theatre: The Website
Playing Sept 20th, - Oct 19th
The K of D: An Urban Legend: Buy Tickets
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Laura Schellhardt magic theatre maya lawson northwestern university chicago paula vogel playwright rebecca novick the k of d
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