Stage Whisper
Whisper in the Wings Episode 579
(upbeat music) - Hello everyone and welcome back into a fantastic new whisper in the wings from Stage Whisper. We have the runner up from the Downtown Urban Arts Festival Best Play and they are now having an extended run over at the tank. And joining us to talk about this amazing, amazing work. We have the playwright, Alexander Perez and the director, Paula Ali. They're both here to talk to us about the bad in each other, which is playing July 24th through August 3rd at the tank. And you can get your tickets and more information by visiting thetanknyc.org. This is a fabulous show, fabulous summer show, really. The story is amazing. It is exactly the kind of show I really think we all just love to go to. It's that sweet tooth, that guilty pleasure, if you will. And I cannot wait to learn more about it. I can be sharing this with all of you. So why don't we go ahead and welcome in our guests? Alex, follow, welcome into Whisper in the wings, Stage Whisper. - Thank you, Andrew, happy to be here. - Thank you so much, I can't believe we're here. I just can't believe it's next week that's wild to think about. So we are here ready to go. - Right, July is just chugging along. And I can't, you know, I'm all right with it chugging along because I can't wait to see the show, the bad in each other. This is so exciting. So Alex, why don't we start with you first? Could you tell us a little bit about what the show is about? - Yeah, absolutely. The show just, it's a story about two people who want the same thing, but go about it in slightly, in ways both different and alike enough to cause just the best kind of attention. I love it, love it. Where did you come up with the idea to penance? Like what inspired you? - Sure. So at the end of October 21, I had just closed the workshop of a different play of mine at IRT Theater downtown. And that was around the same time that the AOC Met Gala dress thing happened in the press. And I remember, you know, just seeing a lot of the discourse around that and just in terms of, you know, what does wearing attacks the rich, you know, dress mean? What does it, you know, does it do anything? Is it kind of, you know, cringe and flaccid? Is it a stronger statement to not go to the Met Gala? Which is funded by all the people that you supposedly are saying that you used to tax or whatever. And it's all very nuanced and specific discourse, but really taking a step back from it, I realized that, you know, AOC is only maybe a couple of years older than I am. And if somebody told me, hey, we're gonna have somebody make you free bespoke clothing and you can go to a party with Frank Ocean. I might have a difficult time saying no myself, you know? And around that same, I just, in about four days, just between that and arguing with a lot of strangers online, just kind of expressed a lot of internal dissonance of what the right thing is versus what the practical thing is. And if the practical thing is just a rationalization of a hard thing I don't wanna do. So I just split that into two people and I had them fall in love and now we all get to watch it. - Amazing. - This is so fascinating. So Paula, let me ask you as the director, how is it that you came upon this piece? - Oh, this is actually a really funny story. So I had just been a part of a show with Alex. I had just been in the acting position of his other brilliant work. And so we had just been kind of chit chatting and talking as two people in the art scene. And he was like, you know, hey, I just wrote this play in like, you know, four days and just kind of came out of me. And I think you're perfect for this role. And I was like, oh my God, that's so flattering. And I had just done, I had just assisted the associate and the director on chicken and biscuits on Broadway. So I had just been kind of in my director bag, if that makes sense, kind of like learning a lot about the craft and like really kind of immersing myself with directing and I was like, okay, let me read the script. I can't wait. And I read the script and I was like, way, way, way, way, way, way, one, I'm so flattered. Alex really just believes in me, which is such an amazing friend to have. And I was like, thank you for thinking that I could just do anything. But I am definitely not this person. However, I love this show and I would love to direct it. And I think I have more to offer as a director in this position than I do as an actor. And that was a really fun like transition and conversation to have with Alex. Alex was immediately like, oh, wow, really? Like, I would love that. That's amazing. I was like, oh, I thought I was like ready with the pitch. I was ready to convince him to trust me. And Alex was immediately on board, which was so kind. And yeah, and that's how we started this partnership. And we started meeting up and talking about the play. And then Alex being a really diligent playwright that he is would be applying to different things. And we've been able to kind of put this thing on its feet several times because of that. But it started off as a friendship from being an actor to a collaborator to here we are now today. And we are fully forming this piece together, which has been really lovely. That is so, so fantastic. So as I mentioned in the intro, the show was the runner up for Best Play at the Downtown Urban Arts Festival. And now you're being mounted at the tank for an extended run, if you will. So what has it been like developing this piece between the two venues? You know, it's being, you know, the indie self-producer type. It's you do a lot, you do what you can with what you've given. And after a certain amount of time, you get pretty good at that. So it started originally with, you know, step one, am I diluted and does the suck? So you send it to the friends who you trust to tell you that it sucks if it does suck. And that's when my friend and the actor that's going to be playing Felix in this production, Justi Kosik read it. And he loved it. And he immediately wanted to, you know, just try it out on Zoom. So we hopped on Zoom with a friend of his hunter done, played karma for that reading. And we were just on Zoom and we did it, you know, just for ourselves to hear it out. And then after that, that is when I showed it to Paula. There was no direction on that first one. We just read it with each other over Zoom. And I kept the recording of it so I could listen to it a whole bunch of times. And I showed it to Paula, then Paula wanted to do a similar reading. So that's when we got Steven Macropoulos and Taylor Harris Butler to do it for the second go. And we were able to present that, we did that Zoom read and I was able to present it again. This would be in March, May 23 at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn as part at a Play Data Pete's, which is a monthly play reading series that's curated by my friend Andy Boyd and now Ellie Mims. And so we did that there. And then that went really well. And then I got the offer for Downtown Urban Arts. Oh, actually, no, I'm sorry, I'm skipping one. After that, we got into the Emerging Artists New Works Festival, which is nothing called the Spark Fest. And then we did that there, which is when we brought in Shuri, who's playing Carmen Al and has been Carmen since this point. And at that point, we had my friend Eric Bermudas in as Felix and we did that for one night. And then the following year, that's when we did the last year, was when we did Downtown Urban Arts Festival. And that's when we first got just the entry together on stage, which was instant magic. And I've been sort of building the same crew over this period of time. So, first it was just myself, then myself and Paula, then I brought on Monica Athena's, who's been stage managing basically all my stuff for the last four years. And then after her, we brought on Hannah's again, Baloney, and this thing has been running like a smooth machine. So in terms of developing, it has been deceptively easy to the point that I'm trying not to think about it, only because even though the script has developed, we've been in this neighborhood before. So carving out streets and stuff is in as big a task and we can go deeper. So we've been able to sort of synthesize many disparate rehearsals and workshops into what I guess a regular production would get in just regards to normal rehearsal windows without normal day jobs and much stuff happening. - I also want to add what Alex is saying because that was so beautifully set. Like, oh my goodness. Also, the transfer between last summer and the summer from playwrights horizons to the tank has been more of an artistic one. So normally, I mean, first of all, we've had the luxury of doing this of a few times and really trying to get like the kinks out, focusing on the writing, focusing on the actors, focusing on all of the things you normally focus on with a whole production. But now we've kind of got most of that set in stone. So we've taken this opportunity to add an amazing scenic designer, Daniel Allen, to the project and we've added more artistic elements to it. And now we're seeing how the piece lives in an extended run, seeing how the piece, what the piece is trying to say in an artistic sense and also with a more incubated space. So the space is smaller, it's more intimate, which actually I think is going to serve the piece 'cause there's already such an intimate, passionate show. So it's exciting that we get to add all these new artistic elements. I mean, that is just like, for me, like as a director, it's just like candy in the candy store. I'm just like having a ball. Just kind of trying to plan what this piece will look like now from here on out and how we can incorporate more of the, like I said, not just the design elements, the design elements of Karma's point of view of her artwork. So we're incorporating a lot of art homages, if you will, to the piece, which has been really exciting. So yeah, I'm so excited 'cause we finally get some design elements into it. And instead of just like, me and Alex making it happen, we get to kind of like really do our roles as playwright and director and like really just do this thing with a bunch of beautiful, amazing designers around us kind of like lifting it up. So that's been the exciting part for me in this last year. - That is so wonderful. What an amazing process. Alex, let me ask you as the playwright, is there a message or a thought you're hoping that audiences take away from this piece? - If not a, I've always said I'm not, you know, I don't consider myself a particularly intelligent person, but I do like asking questions to get information, to make myself that much more intelligent or informed I guess at that point. So it's really less about putting a specific, you know, slogan or thought out and more about reflecting on attitudes of ideological purity in terms of reconciling, you know, like I said previously, what's possible with what's practical, with what's smart in terms of, you know, how another thing that inspired, you know, this whole piece was, you know, also being at home with my parents down in Florida during lockdown and I have a son, he's seven, so I was down there with my wife and son and my parents and my sister. And just seeing lots of protests that I would have otherwise have been at and probably, you know, wound up worse for wear as a result. But I couldn't 'cause I have a family and that's really hard to, and a lot of people who do have families go out and do it anyways. So I wonder what my excuse is and where I, where one draws the line where, you know, but also at the same time, you know, there are practical responsibilities that we need to attend to in everyday life and we all can't just go and start a general strike tomorrow, but also shouldn't we and why can't we? There's a lot of, it's just a lot of bees buzzing around my head. Hopefully I forget the question. (laughing) - But I love hearing that, that was really helpful. - He basically has asking the, what's the message? What's the- - Oh, right, right, right. Grace, you know, there's lots of ideological grace. There's a lot of really deep lines drawn in the sand for a really good reason, but there's also a wall that seems impenetrable in the discourse and I don't know what, how to surmount it or how to go around it. And it's sort of a matter of, looking at the process behind our decision-making and how we position ourselves in regards to the greater everything else going on and how that ties into our artistic pursuits 'cause everybody and their friend, despite the world falling apart in 2020, had a zoom read that they were chilling for one reason or another and a part of that is 'cause we need distractions and another part is, you know, you got a hustle. So yeah, I love that. That is so fascinating. - I was just about to say, it feels more relevant now. The more we do it, the more relevant it feels, which is kind of, I think that's a testament to what the piece that Alex has written is that every time we do it, whether whatever's happening in the world and it feels more relevant. Yeah, so it feels more important to tell this story now than it did three years ago, which is wild to think about and actually upsetting to think about, but it, you know, it is a lot of, Alex has written such a beautiful piece. It's so passionate and political yet sexy, yet of a love story. And like that kind of is, I think, a real testament to the relationships that we all have with our political experiences right now and the country we live in and how frustrated we all are. I think it's a really good, a mirror to what we're all going through. - What brilliant thoughts. I love those. I love those. Paula, I wanna kick the final question for the first part to you. And that is who do you hope have access to this piece? - Oh, oh, that's such a fun question. This feels to me like a classic downtown like show. However, I think that this is a show that everyone can enjoy. I think this is a show for millennials. I think this is a show for Gen Z. I think this is a show for inter-relacial couples. I think this is a show for someone who is frustrated by the world right now. It needs to see how we're all grappling with that. I think this is a show for people who are going through. Also, there's a piece of it that also feels like it's for people who are in a rough relationship, people who are having trouble loving someone and not knowing if love is enough. Yeah, I feel like a lot of, I think that's actually what's been so beautiful and why this piece gets stronger and stronger is that there's a little bit for everybody in this piece and the target audience is vast. Yeah, so I'm like anyone and anyone who is frustrated by the world is in love, knows love. And once to stop talking about a movie on a theater show and once to actually talk about what's going on in the world and how we're all dealing with it and how we all fall in love, like around that, that's what the show's about and that's who should come see it. That is a brilliant, brilliant demographic or group of people you hold comes to the show. Alex, is there anything you'd like to add to that? No, I think Paula hit the nail on the head. We also have a dynamic pricing scheme through the tank that they were very gracious in allowing us to do. So there's tickets start at 15, there's 15, 25 and 35 depending on how much you want to support. But I'm not interested, the point of the play is to get as many people into the place to get it. And I'm not gonna let a $10, a $10 round of $5 bill stay between somebody and an MTC, you know what I mean? But more overall, if there was a crappy elevator pitch as far as to sum up the whole piece, what I usually like to say, it's heroes are the fourth turning but for the online left. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Well, on the second part of our interviews, we love giving our listeners a chance to get to know our guests a little bit better. Pull the curtain back, if you will. And I would love to start with our regular first question which is what or who inspires you? What playwrights, composers or sheriffs have inspired you in the past or are just some of your favorites? And Paula, can I start first with you on this? - Yeah, absolutely. That's so funny, you know, I come from its background. That's how I got here. I as a director, you know, I have like my two compartments if you will, I have two compartments of inspiration. And as a director, I find a lot of inspiration for my good friend, Jayla Livingston, who's directing Cats at PAC right now and his willingness to not settle. He wants things done right and he wants things done in a way that's humane. And I always have really looked up to how he runs his rooms and artistically Rachel Chafkin is someone, you know, women in theater. I have always loved all the work that she's done. It's always pushing the envelope of what is theater and how does theater need to look. I've also find a lot of inspiration from Whitney White and her ability to juggle being a performer, a writer and a director, I'm not a writer, but she really does kind of do all of it. Those are kind of my like, you know, holy grail of humans. Also, I'm really inspired by Sanos Tussi, Persian playwright who's just everything to me and how she really just evokes. Well, I think what I'm all of this to say is that I'm very inspired by real human emotion and real human moments. I'm not as a director. As an artist, I love flashy. Like, I love being a dancer and being out there and performing and a chorus line and all of those things. But as a director, I'm much more in tuned with the raw human moments. Like, what are the movie moments of life that can be put on stage? And I think those are some amazing artists that I'm always looking to to see how they're cultivating those in their work. Yeah, and I think that's why I'm always so drawn to Alex and his work is because it's always so like, I feel like some of these conversations you could just hear if you could just hear your neighbors across the street. And you can just hear a couple having a conversation about their day. There's something very human and vulnerable there. That's really interesting to me. And I'm also just interested and inspired by all the women, fans in theater who are really pushing through this impossible business and really making interesting art on the way. So that's what I have to say. I love that list. Some amazing playwrights and artists who we are also huge fans of. That is amazing. Alex, what about you? What are who inspires you? Sure. So it's, but my inspirations often come in the form. I, you know, Hero Worship is a very interesting topic for me to talk about. It was actually just about a couple of weeks ago was just diagnosed with autism. And I bring that up because for a lot of my life, you know, Hero Worship or seeing or being inspired by people meant mimicry, which is what I usually did. You know, that's, you know, before I went to acting school I thought acting was, you know, load Nathan Lane.exe into whatever script I was reading and then do that. Or if it was a different tone, put Jack Black in there or whatever, you know, and just repeat that. But then you get to acting school and they tell you to stop acting. And they say be yourself and you're like, what, what? I, I had no reference point for that. So a lot of people and things that inspire me are both things I desperately want to be, but in a way that I know would destroy me the way it did the people that I look up to. So with that said, I, I, I'm really into Frank Zappa. I love his music. I think as a personality, he's really interesting. Aside from being like an intelligent guy, I think it's interesting seeing how somebody very well spoken and intelligent can also very much get in their own way with the way that their discourse works. Specifically with the, if you watch the hearings like in the eighties with Tipper Gore and you see him speak to the Congress members and then you see John Denver speak to the Congress members even though John Denver's less, you know, radical in his position, he's able to communicate with these people better 'cause he's not trying to flex on how much smarter he is in them. And more on an artistic side, Zappa's somebody who has a really wide and very body of work who had a really high standard for himself and the people around him. And it seemed the only time he ever enjoyed his achievements were brief moments on stage when everything was going very well. And outside of that, it didn't seem like it was a terrible amount of fun. You know, I'm sure he would say the fun was at the point, but I'm more interested in having not, maybe not necessarily having fun but not being miserable, but translates to success for me has changed very much over the last five years. I know a lot of the things I went to art school wanting to achieve just don't fit my personality. And to that end, to kind of segue over into another person, Steve Albanis, another one. I like a lot of curmudgeons. Albanis, Hayao Miyazaki, basically, you know, if somebody's angry and they drop cute cartoons that fly in the face of that aesthetic, that's I'm usually into them. And more of a plain fandom, just kind of way, I really love King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. They're a great psych band out of Australia. They've got six members and about, I think in the last 12 years, they've put out a little over 20 records in varying styles. These dudes go all over the world. They're just best friends with each other. They take the kids on tour, which is like the other side of the coin of where I'm at, of where I'm trying to solidify myself more. They found a way to make, you know, their touring lives and their personal lives and their artistic lives, holistic, they're independently owned. They run themselves. So there's a lot of things I take inspiration from in regards to, you know, once the success of my art hits a certain ceiling, how much autonomy am I willing to give up for a certain amount of prestige? And the answer is looking more and more like not very much. So that's where I'm at. That is truly such a fantastic answer. Some amazing, amazing artists on that list. Well, let me ask the two of you, you know, what is your favorite part about working in the theater? And Alex, why don't I start first with you on that? Cool. I'll keep my answer uncharacteristically brief on this one. As far as I've concerned, my role as a playwright is very much just like creating the dough of a pizza. And I can make the pizza shape the certain size. I can put out a certain thing. But beyond that, I'm just providing a base for other people to put their creativity on top of. And their creativity is going to inform mine in ways that will change and improve mine. And mine will put up certain limitations and boundaries being, you know, the world of the play, practical stuff that will challenge them and make them better. So it's the fact that it's, you know, you can, like I've told the crew many times before, it's, you know, all of us, the show is all of us. I, with me, it's just a script, you know? And that's, that's my favorite part is just kind of, especially with my more misanthropic tendencies, theaters never failed to bring out the best in people. That is a fabulous answer, fabulous. Paula, what about you? That's such a beautifully loaded question. I think what I love to work in the theater, why I love to work in the theater, is that we have this amazing responsibility to hold the mirror up to society and mirror up to people. And between that, honestly, statement of activism that we all have, there's also this element of getting people to feel something that they haven't felt before or have a feeling, a joy, a laugh, a cry, an evoked emotion that is really beautiful to me that I think can't be replicated in a movie, can't be replicated in a, like in a conversation, there's just something very special about the theater and that relationship between audience and person and person on stage. And I think specifically how I love working with Alex is that he writes women like better than most people I know. The way he writes women and fems is so beautiful and so complicated and almost like a love letter to them at every turn. And it's always such a joy to get to work on a script that is so positive to black and brown fems and also being able to marry that mirror to the audience and have an evoked emotion. It's just, it really is just like the highest form of art, in my opinion, it's just rich and like kind of like eating a chocolate cake every time I get to work on one of his pieces. And so it's like, that's what I love about theater, is getting to create something that will hopefully have an impact on somebody. - That is also such a brilliant answer. You two are killing this, killing this. And that is a great lead into my favorite question to ask guests, which is what is your favorite theater memory? - So this kind of loops in the autism where it all back again. So as we're, you know, autism's genetic found out cause you know, my son was diagnosed and then my wife and I, oh, oh, SpaghettiOs, it's like, it's like, instead of all crunchberries, it's all neurodivergence. So looking back, going all the way back to 2012, I went to go see a production of Red by John Logan at the Florida Repertory Theater. And there comes a point in the play where Rothko and his assistant, you know, paint a giant canvas red, many different kinds of red. And they do it to classical music in a very, you know, rhythmic, very speedy, at least the way they did in this production. It was amazing, you know, just, it's a really intense short sequence. And my father, who is a CPA, and I love him dearly. And he, you know, just don't talk much, but he loves his spreadsheets. Lean's over to me because everyone, you know, after this sequence of painting is, is complete, the, you know, the theater erupts and applies. It's cause it was, it was, it was wonderful. Actually, it was just a really great moment. And my dad leans over to me and he goes, "Why is everybody clapping?" (laughs) And I had to stifle just the biggest laugh. And it was just a moment of like, I, I, I'm sure the same look many people have given me have just like, first day on Earth guy, you know? And it was just, I think we all, we saw a sad year and saw the same thing. And you know, I know people don't appreciate art in different ways, but just that moment in particular really struck me just in terms of subjectivity and how, you know, despite an uproarious house, there could be still different layers to the reaction, something on stage can get. But I just personally found it funny. And it's, you know, it's a, it's a good memory. That is a one memory. And what fantastic storytelling. Oh, what about you? What is your favorite theater memory? - This is a hard question for me to answer this moment. So I'm going to give, I think it's just because of where I'm at emotionally, but I, I'm going to give my recent one. So I have a memory from 2018 that honestly still like, has changed the way I work and operate and function as a human being. I saw, when I auditioned for the show too, it's just comical now to think about, but I went and saw the show called Edda, Questions for My Father by Ayyya Aziz, who is a dear friend and truly just incredible artist. And it was a musical at the New York Theatre Workshop about being half Egyptian and half white and having the relationship of a estranged, but also close relationship with your father and how that all kind of comes to head, if you will. And I saw this show and I was sobbing. I was laughing. I was on my feet. I was yelling. I was, I mean, I was unwell. I had never felt so seen and heard and inspired by a piece all at one time. And it has completely changed how I function and work and the theatre has completely changed. My mission statement has completely changed what I want to do. And that moment, honestly, is a huge turning point in my life, which is, every time I tell her this Ayyya, she's always like, that's not true. You're just being kind and I'm like, no, I'm very much not. That's one of my favorite recent theatre memories because it has changed me into more of the, instead of just wanting to perform and just wanting to do the thing that I love which is acting and dance, it became a need. It became a passion and it became immediate need to tell my story in any way possible, whether that was directing, whether that was acting, whether that was seeing things. I just, I had to do it. There was this call to action that has changed the course of my life from 2018 to now, which is feels like it was yesterday, but it's also almost six years ago, which is crazy to think about. Yeah, and I also have a really funny memory of me and my mom going to see Les Mis when I was in high school and she fell asleep when Eppenine was dying and she's snoring in the middle of the theatre and then my phone goes off and it's like a custom phone ring and it's like bang, bang, bang, boom, hey, hey, okay, what? Like in the middle of Eppenine dying in the middle of Les Mis and I was mortified but we both laughed about that for years and years afterwards. So that's my like fun memory of the theatre is just like, how theatre can be so serious and so exciting, but also like we were falling asleep and our phones were going off. So those are my two fun theatre stories. - I love those. Those are amazing. Both of you, thank you so much for sharing those. Those were wonderful. Well, as we wrap things up, I would love to know, do either of you have any other projects or productions coming on the pipeline that we might be able to plug for you? - This is it for right now. I don't really have anything on the horizon. Yeah, no, I'm also a cartoonist. I have a webcomic. So if you want to follow a media hush on Instagram, you'll see lots of my crude drawings of everyday life and other such things. Yeah, other than that, I'm just kind of chilling. - I know, I feel like we've worked so hard to get to this point. So a bit of me is a little like, I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow, but for me, I'm working on a show called Seven Actors, One Room with Matthew Pieden that's been in development. So hopefully there'll be next steps for that. And I'm also working on my One Woman show, which I've said many, many times I'm not a writer, but I am a storyteller and my life is pretty. Alex knows some of it, but it is pretty wild. So I am trying to figure out a way to create that into a One Woman show. So that has been my current project, which who knows when that will happen, but I am trying to get that together. But this has been kind of like the most exciting thing I've done this year. So it's next steps will kind of like, babe, this is the top of the mountain for me right now. - So it does sound like there are some projects that are in the fire right now that you were developing. And that leads to my final question, which is, if I'm listening to more information about the bad in each other, or about either of you, maybe I'd like to reach out to you, how can they do so? - Well, we do have an Instagram. Alex, do you know the name of our Instagram? - Yes, it is the bad in each other, all together. Underscore play. That's the main Instagram for the show. I myself am at a medium harsh, like I said, or at red savage zero, which is my main one, and was also my RuneScape name. And I just haven't been able to shake it. So yeah, I'm around. I am still have the doom project of making a website has not yet happened for me, but it is in the works. But until then, Instagram is where I post a lot of my stuff on my stories about what I'm doing, and that is not Paula Addul and YC. - Yeah, I do have a, not a guess my main site of the writing done, it's Alex Perez together.card with two Rs.co. And that's links to everything there. I write essays on medium every now and again. Recently, I did a series called Assessing the Apocalypse where I review random things like the old lady who sat next to me, but when I went to go see Rise of Skywalker, the prospect of being loved by your family. The inspired very much by John Green's, the Anthropocene Review thing, and I give it a little start and stuff like that. But so that's that main hub there, that card website should be the main point of contact. - Wonderful. Well, Alex, Paula, thank you both so much for taking the time to speak with me and for sharing this fantastic show. I cannot wait to see it. I'm so excited and I'm just congratulating- - You're so excited to have you. - What a wonderful accomplishment being the runner up at the Downtown Urban Arts Festival. And I'm so happy that the show has continued to stretch its legs here in the city. So thank you both so much for your time today. - Thank you, Andrew. - Thank you. - Wonderful, that was a good time. - Thank you. And hopefully, everyone can come catch it. You can come catch it at the tank. And I like to thank Alex that we will be getting to do this again very soon at a bigger venue with more money and more resources. So hopefully there was more legs to stretch. - From your lips to base zoos is here. (both laughing) - My guests today have been the amazing playwright, Alex Perez and the incredible director, Paula Ali, who joined us to talk about their great work, which as I keep mentioning was a runner up for best play at the Downtown Urban Arts Festival. The play is the bad in each other and it has an extended run now, July 24th through August 3rd at the tank. You can get your tickets and more information by visiting thetanknyc.org. We also have some contact information for our guests which will be posting in our episode description as well as on our social media posts. But right now, head over to thetanknyc.org, get your tickets, come join us out at sea in the show, we'll make it a stage whisper night out at the theater. Again, the show is the bad in each other, playing July 24th through August 3rd. So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez, reminding you to turn off your cell phones, unwrap your candies and keep talking about the theater. - In a stage whisper. - Thank you. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - If you like what you hear, please leave a five star review, like and subscribe. - You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at stagewhisperpod. - And feel free to reach out to us with your comments and personal stories at stagewhisperpod@gmail.com. - And be sure to check out our website for all things stage whisper and theater. You'll be able to find merchandise, tours, tickets and more. Simply visit stagewhisperpod.com. Our theme song is "Maniac" by Jazar. Other music on this episode provided by Jazar and Billy Murray. You can also become a patron of our show by logging on to patreon.com/stagewhisperpod. There you will find all the information about our backstage pass as well as our tip jar. Thank you so much for your generosity. You cannot do the show without you. ♪ I don't care any when you're down ♪ ♪ Makes me down ♪