Stage Whisper
Whisper in the Wings Episode 545
(upbeat music) - Welcome back in everyone to a fabulous new Whisper and the Wings from Stage Whisper. We are joined again by another finalist in the series we're talking about today. Of course, we are talking about Soho Playhouse's presentation of the Lighthouse Series, the finalist edition. It's happening July 5th through the 16th at Soho Playhouse and you can get your tickets and more information by visiting sohoplayhouse.com. We are so excited to be welcoming back an amazing playwright and her show Unconditional, which is part of this finalist phase of the series. And of course, the playwright we're speaking of is the great Ali Keller. So without further ado, let us welcome on our guest, Ali, welcome back to Whisper and the Wings from Stage Whisper. - Thank you. It's so good to be back. - I'm so happy you're here. First of all, congratulations. You're a finalist. Yes, amazing. I'm so excited to be seeing you work and this elongated, this 45-minute snippet of your work. So why don't we actually start by having you remind our listeners a little bit about what your play Unconditional is about? - Sure. So like we're saying, this show is called Unconditional. It's a full-length piece that we're doing an excerpt of at Soho Playhouse and it's about two married couples and one partner in each of the couples is kind of either introducing a new sexual fetish or kind of pushing a sexual fetish towards their partner and their relationship. And it's kind of about what happens to these two couples as that sexual fetish is either introduced or is sort of brought back up in their relationship and how that plays out both for the couples individually and their relationship to each other because they are loosely friends through work. So sort of unknowingly advising each other on how to be there for their partners without really understanding the details of each other's relationship as well. - So really the show is about how far you're supposed to go for your partner and where that line is between enabling and self-sacrifice and supporting your partner without hurting yourself. So it's a lot about communications and boundaries in a very dark comedy way. - That is so cool. I remember your show now and I was very freaked by it. So let me ask you, where did you come up with the idea for this piece, for this story? - So finally enough, it started as a short play that was inspired by the song Semi-Charm Life, which I doubt that if you listen to the song and then watch the piece, you won't see how I got there. It's just a very long and winding road in my brain from listening to that song to this idea. But technically that is like the first first inspirations of it. And that short play that it started as actually one of the scenes in the full length now. And I loved the couple from that particular short play and I really wanted to expand it into a full length and look at larger themes, like not just what was going on with that one particular couple, but to expand it to two couples so the play could really be about communication and consent in couples over time. Because I think we talk a lot about those kinds of issues and being overly loyal to your partner in the early parts of relationships, but we don't talk a lot about what it means to kind of keep checking in with yourself and keep checking in with your partner throughout a relationship that goes on for years and years. So that's really the inspiration towards the full length afterwards. - Very cool. Well, let me ask you, we've mentioned that this is gonna be a longer presentation, a 45 minute presentation of the piece. What has it been like developing the longer version of this? - It's been great. It's been like so fascinating because in this piece in particular, it's like it started as a short play and then became a full length play and then to cut it back down to the extra blanks for Soho Playhouse has been really fun and exciting and something that we kind of discovered in rehearsal last time was adding a monologue for the character of Mia, who's actually the child of one of the couples. And the monologue was not originally in the full length piece. We kind of did that so that the audience would have enough context to understand the excerpt that we created. And we all liked the monologue so much and that convention, it's now being developed to be put in and added a few more within the full length piece itself. And part of that is because we think it gives Mia's character like such awesome development and also because the actress, Georgia Baylor, is playing Mia. It's just like so amazing. Let the teen that we have all of our actors and our director Ivy and her statement or just one have been like so unbelievably supportive and so like excited to dive into this like very dark show that's very funny and they give it their all. And it's just been like an absolute joy to discover stuff and rehearsal with them. It's been really amazing. - That sounds fantastic. I love that. Let me snowball that into action which is, is there a particular message or thought? You hope audiences will take away from this version of "Unconditioned." - Yeah, I think there's probably, there's probably two things I would like people to take away, both from the full length and from this version. I think we've done a really good job getting both, both of these things into this like 40 minute excerpt that we're gonna show. And one is to really challenge the idea I was mentioning before of like, we romanticize this concept of being right or die and unbelievably loyal to your partner. And I think that's like a really incredible, beautiful idea that is not necessarily beautiful in practice all the time. And I think to really look at what it means to be supportive and be there for your partner without sacrificing yourself or your own needs for your boundaries or advocating for yourself is really important. And then the other thing that I think is tied to that, that I'd love people to be thinking about in it is that we pick up these patterns for ourselves about who we attach to and how we love and how we wanna be loved when we're really, really young. Like we're processing all of these stories about being overly loyal and we're looking at our parents' relationships and media and all of this stuff from a really young age before we really know what we're looking at witnessing. And so me as Journey in the show is both reflective of her present day problems that she's dealing with kind of as like a seven-year-old in the show. But she's also in the show to kind of show the audience like how much we're actually processing about love and how to be loved and how society's saying we should be loved from such a young age. So also to really think about like, or I hope the show makes people think about the stuff that we picked up on when we were kids about what relationships are and what partnerships are. And if we've taken anything that's maybe not so amazing into our present day life that we haven't thought about yet. So those are the two things that I think we've done a really good job getting them both into the excerpt but that's definitely a part of the full life for sure. - That is wonderful. That is a very interesting idea. I love that. That leads to my final question for this first part which is who do you hope have access to unconditional? - That's a great question. I hope anybody who's in a romantic relationship or has been at a romantic relationship or is thinking about getting back a romantic relationship, especially if they're heterosexual. I think if you're not, there's absolutely things about relationships and dynamics and power dynamics in the piece and there's definitely stuff in there but the show does feature two heterosexual relationships and it has a lot to do with the sort of traditional gender and power dynamics. So I think like anybody who's interested in those things and who or is in them, there's definitely stuff in the show for you. And really I think like, I mean, I feel like it's such a problem to be like everybody, everybody is. It's definitely not for kids. I could say that for sure. But the topics, like it's not for young adults. I think if you're graduated from high school and older and interested in shows about relationship dynamics, there's something in there for you. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Well, for the second part of our interview, we love giving our listeners a chance to get to know our guests a little bit better. Pick your brain if you will. And I'm really interested to start with my regular first question, which is what are who inspires you? What playwrights, composers or shows have inspired you in the past? Or are just some of your favorites? - So writers, I think, definitely Abe Kubler, who just did staff mail a playwrights ride. And I think he's brilliant. And I've been fortunate enough to take the classes and get to know him as a person. And I just think he's like brilliant and lovely. And all of this work has been a big inspiration to me. - Paulable goal, just everything Paulable does is amazing. She's absolutely incredible. And Roxanne Gay is really, she's not a playwright as far as I know, but her essays and her work has been really amazing. I've always been moved by that stuff. I feel like the things that I've seen besides staff mail really recently that I am just like encouraging everyone to see as stereophonic and outsiders. I think they're incredibly different shows, but like really beautiful and amazing. And Paulable's new show is also incredible, but like be prepared to cry if you're going to see mother, be mentally prepared to stop in a wonderful way. But not everybody wants quite a heavy experience when they go to the theater. So those are the three that I've been thinking about recently. That I think are really beautiful works. - I love that list. That's wonderful. Let me ask you, what is your favorite part about working in the theater? - Oh, there's so many things. Favorite part about working in the theater. I think my favorite part about working in theater is the like amount of control. I feel like I have to give up at a certain point, which I know sounds silly, but I think like when I work on films, it's great and it's a totally different experience and a totally different beast. But being on set with something, you're just always kind of working with it or there's something like going on in your mind being on set and then you get to see it in the editing process and all of those things. And then it kind of exists as like a finite piece that you can watch over and over. And I think what's really cool about theater is you have all these amazing people in the room. You have to work with them and rehearsal and tweak stuff. And there's something that's like so very and beautiful at the same time of like on a show day or a preview, like I'm out in the audience and the actors on stage are gonna show, you know, the culmination of all the work, the director's work, the designer's work, everything, their work. And like it kind of lives and breathes on its own. And the version that you see one night is not gonna be the exact same thing as another night, which is just I think very cool and very beautiful. And like there's something really exciting about the fact that while the lines are the same and the stories the same and the sets are the same, like all of those elements are the same. Like the performance that everybody gives is slightly different every night. And there's always like new things that actors are discovering on stage with your work that it feels like not even your own when you get to kind of hand it off to audiences, which I is a very special and like unique experience to theater. - That is such a wonderful answer. I love that. - And it's a great lead into my favorite question to ask guests, which of course is what is your favorite theater memory? - I think my favorite, and this definitely changes for me for sure. But I actually just was thinking about this the other day. I was talking to somebody and I saw a version of, I think it was a velveteen rabbit at the Atlantic, like children's theater company. And they, it was like an audience of like a couple of adults who were like friends with the cast and stuff. And then parents and their kids. And at the point where the velveteen rabbit dies, there was like a little kid who turned to his mom, like super freaked out and he was like, but they, they're not really dead, right? Like they didn't die. And then I was like, no, they're fine. Like it's fine. But it was just something that's like, I don't know, just reminded me of that like suspension of disbelief that you have to have, but I always laughed and think about like, just that little kid who for like four seconds thought maybe the actor really died on stage. Like that was what was happening in front of them. And I think like, well, as adults, we don't have that moment where we're like, maybe what's happening on stage is actually really happening, but it's nice that like that suspension of disbelief is kind of as close as we get to that like little kid's reaction to buy it in the show, like believing in magic for a couple of hours, which is very sweet. - Oh, oh my gosh. What a memory. - Oh, I can hear the little kid's voice in my head. Like they didn't really die though. And I'm like, it was very, very sweet. - That is an amazing memory. Thank you so much for sharing that. Well, as we wrap things up, I would love to know if our listeners would like more information about unconditional or about you, maybe they'd like to reach out to you. How can they do so? - So the best way to look at that step's following my Instagram page at Allie Keller 47 or my website, Allie Keller Playwright.com. I'm probably more responsive on Instagram though if you're looking to reach out. - Fantastic. Well, Allie, thank you so, so much for taking the time to speak with us once again. For bringing back your amazing show, congrats again on being a finalist. I cannot wait to see this show. I will be there with bells ringing. So thank you so much today for your time. - Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you for having me back. - My guest today has been the amazing playwright, Allie Keller, who joined us to talk about her show, Unconditional, which is a finalist in the Lighthouse series, which is being presented by SoHo Playhouse. This is all happening July 5th through the 16th at SoHo Playhouse and you can get your tickets and more information by visiting SoHoPlayhouse.com. We also have some contact information for Allie, which will be posted in our episode description as well as on our social media posts. But you need to make sure to get your tickets. Come on out and support this incredible artist. Join us, we'll make it a stage whisper, nine out of the theater. This is an incredible show. Again, it's called Unconditional, part of the Lighthouse series finalist, July 5th through the 16th. 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) - 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 Jazzar. Other music on this episode provided by Jazzar 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. We could not do the show without you. ♪ A long way from there I swear I don't care ♪ ♪ Anywhere will your town make me down ♪