Stage Whisper
Whisper in the Wings Episode 616
(upbeat music) - Welcome back in everyone to a fantastic new Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper. We're very excited about the show that we're bringing you today, not only because it's at one of our favorite venues, but the show itself is such a great story. You're gonna love it the minute you hear it. And joining us today on the show, we have the playwright Matthew Freeman, and we're so excited to welcome back the director, Jesse D. Hill, both of whom are here to talk to us about the Ask. It's playing September 6th through the 28th at The Wild Project, and you can get your tickets and more information by visiting the wildproject.org. - This is a wonderful production. As I mentioned at one of our favorite venues, The Wild Project, right there on the heart of the Lower East Side. I can't wait to learn more about this piece. So why don't we go ahead and welcome in our guests, Matthew, Jesse, welcome into Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper. - Thank you so much. - I'm so excited to be speaking with both of you. Jesse, it's so good to see you again after speaking with you last year about that great production, Small. Matthew, I'm so excited to talk to you as well and get to know you. And I actually want to start everything off with you. You're the playwright of the show, The Ask. Can you tell us a little bit about what the show is about? - Sure, so thanks. So The Ask is a play about a young progressive fundraiser for the ACLU who is a meeting with sort of the 70 year old second wave feminist at her nice apartment on the Upper West Side to ask for a big gift. And it's very much about the sort of generational tension that we see in the progressive community. And sort of the compromises that people have to make just to get their jobs on sometimes and get what they need. - Ooh, I love that. What a very timely story. I feel like, ah, so what inspired you to pen this? - Well, I have worked at the ACLU for 13 years. I am a fundraiser at the ACLU. I'm a, my title is Associate Director of GIP planning. So it's a real full-time day job as many of us have. And I intended not to write about this. I mean, it's a big part of my life, obviously, but I've written very different. I tend to write in very different modes and I've written sort of larger abstract plays or adaptations of fairy tales or, and lately I've been very interested in just sort of like saying what I see is true in my life, right? Just like kind of going back to basics. And so this play not only did I feel it was interesting and timely based on what I've experienced at work, but also just it seems like something that's pervasive in the entire sort of sort of communities that I run in, you know, the theater community, nonprofit community fundraising. There's this generational tension that we're seeing. And it felt like, yeah, it felt like the right time to tell that story. Yeah. - I mean, way to capture the zeitgeist with that, that absolutely, absolutely. So I want to bring you in now, Jesse, as the director, how is it you came upon this great piece? - Matthew and I have been friends and collaborators for about a decade and have conspired often to have an opportunity to work together on a production. And as we know, this requires a lot of support and a lot of fundraising. And we haven't really been able to pursue it until now. It, coming out of the pandemic time, I think I observed Matthew saying, okay, it's been since 2019. I really want to put my work out there again. We talked about several of the projects that we've developed together primarily at New Dramatists in recent past. And as you said, Andrew, it just made sense on so many different levels. The timeliness of this piece and the opportunity that we sought to really start a very potent and very necessary conversation coming up, most especially to this very interesting election time that is unfolding on a daily basis. It just seemed like the perfect moment to start bridging some of this conversation. So I hope that Matthew and I will work together over and over again and on different projects, but this is the one. - That is the moment. - I love that. So Jesse, I would love to know. I mean, we are at the time of this recording about a month away from the show opening up, but what has it been like developing the piece so far and getting it up on its feet? - Well, Matt's done this before. This play, sometimes the plays just come out in really great shape. And we've done the responsible thing as people who work on new plays and have read the play with the help of some generous actor friends who've helped us along the way hear it and discuss it afterwards. So we've done that a couple of times and then of course had an audition process where we got to hear sections of the play over and over again and get some feedback from those actors. Obviously we have designers myself and our community of playwrights and other friends who've read the piece and given us notes. Though it hasn't gone through what I would call a formal development process, we've definitely been sending it to all of our trusted friends and colleagues and getting the feedback that we feel that we need to get it to the next level. But what's interesting is we're actually starting with essentially what I would say is an early draft and rehearsal and have agreed to really work collaboratively with the two actors to make necessary changes and develop the piece further in the process which I know we're both really excited about. - Yeah, that is so cool. That is an amazing process. - Yeah, well, you know, I mean, a lot of the getting, first of all, the process is part of the fun. It's like we want, you know, the presenting it to the audience is so important and that's why we do it and the audience is the ultimate. It's for them. But for me, I also feel like sometimes I just like to get things in front of the audience. I'm a, I believe that that's where the play figures itself out. And I believe that there's a clarity that you find when you're on the clock and people are about to come see it. You know, you can fiddle and try things in a long development process and see how things work and that could be very productive. But sometimes if you know that decisions have to be made and people are about to, you know, show up, you find things that you more quickly, in a way, I think. So it can be productive just to know that you have this deadline and make decisions that are intended to make the play work. But the play that's not to imply that the play we're working from is like in some raw form. I mean, it's, I think it's a very good shape and we're happy with it, but it just, we just want the actors to have the freedom to provide us with their expertise on their characters and find those accents that we can't find in any other way. - That is really fantastic. Now, building kind of on that, Matt, I love this process you're going through this collaborative kind of giant sandbox you're creating for all of you to play in. But is there a message or a thought at the end of the day you're hoping the audience can take away from the piece? - I mean, I think that there's sort of twofold. One is I just think that there's something valuable about showing someone doing their job. I mean, I think we all have this. We all do our job, especially American society where we define ourselves by our labor and we all do our labor and we wind up limited by that. Sometimes we can only show so much of ourselves or the person who is the client has more power than the person who is the vendor or the person who is trying to get the money is not as powerful as the person who has the money. And that's true if you are a fundraiser for the ACLU or if you're a sales person or you work at Burger King or you just have this role you have to fit yourself into that gives you limited expression on your personal behavior. And I think people will recognize that. But I also think I think I'm interested in these two perspectives because I'm Gen X. So I sort of fall right in between them. Jesse and I are very similar in age. So we're both sort of right there. And so there's a generation of people who have a very idealistic perspective on what it means to be progressive now. And then we have a generation of people who were that when they were 20 something. And I think it's very interesting to ask the question about why these people, why these communities find themselves in tension even though they probably vote exactly the same way for the same candidates but drive each other crazy. And I think it's, I'd love to explore why we can't find our path to an easy alliance. And maybe that's inevitable. Just generations don't. They always see each other in an antagonistic way. But yeah, I'm fascinated by that. - I love it. Jesse, anything you'd like to add regarding the message that you two are hoping that audiences will walk away with? - The play, and I think Matthew and I have this in common, the play really wants to stimulate conversation and debate and discomfort. Discomfort in the sense that we're all encountering our feelings about whose side we're on throughout the piece, if that's a thing, or if we have mixed feelings about what someone is saying, the play is constantly provoking you to think about why, why the discomfort, why do you feel the way that you do? Where do you empathize with this generation? And where do you not empathize with your own generation? Et cetera, et cetera. So it's very, it provokes self-examination. But I hope that it does it. And I think we both believe that it does it in a way with humor and with real authenticity and truth and nuance. And I have to say that we have just tipped the jackpot with some of the best actors that could possibly be inhabiting these roles. So yeah, I can't wait to see how people respond. It's taken me a while being a professional director and being drawn to this kind of work that kind of presses people's buttons to be, you know, at peace with the fact that that's really what I love about theater is being entertained, obviously, while being able to really think about how I live and how I've educated myself and why I believe the things I believe. And I think that's one of the wonderful things about theater and it's not supposed to make you feel form and fuzzy and comfortable all the time. And I think Matthew and I are celebrating, you know, engaging in this project that way and knowing that some people don't really like this kind of thing and they're entertaining it. Some people just want to sit back and relax and kick up and say, woo, those costumes, terrific, loved it. I was smiling the whole time, but that's not what we're doing here. We really are very intentionally getting back into the socio-political motivation to do theater, I think, and a very interesting political landscape. - I love that, I love that. Jesse, I want to start with you and my final question for this first part. And that is, who do you hope have access to the ask? - Well, we all know that, and I think we all relate to this, that theater in general in New York City can feel very inaccessible by its nature, particularly the closer you get to a commercial theater scene in this town. And I think, you know, Matthew and I have talked, you know, with our producing team about accessibility quite a bit in terms of cost and offering tickets, you know, to people who really helped us on this journey to get us to this place, which has been an enormous, you know, self-producing undertaking for this team. And I think we feel that unlike a commercial show, what we actually are trying to do is, the most important thing is to get people into the seats. And I think that we also agree that if we did have a friend who really needed to see it, or we really thought would be moved by it and they can't afford a full-parts ticket that we would somehow figure out a way to offer them a discount or to help them. I mean, I don't know if that's too simplistic of an answer, but I would hope that costs, especially in a show, in a play like this, where the big action of the piece is someone who isn't as well off at asking a philanthropist, an affluent person for money that we wouldn't be, you know, so inaccessible to somebody who doesn't have those deep pockets of someone else. So that's a conversation that we're always having. We chose The Wild Project for a lot of reasons. But really, I think the production is going to feel very at home in the theater because of its intimacy, but it also tries to have a very low environmental footprint. What you get for the cost of it is, I mean, it's as affordable as you can get in the city. And I think it's in a location where we can really serve the community, you know, surrounding businesses and bring business to an area of the city that we love. So I don't know if I'm answering your question, but it's a venue that will accommodate a lot, a lot of different people and their needs. And in addition to us talking about making it as horrible for people. - I love that, no, absolutely. That's one of the reasons why that venue is one of my favorites. Matt, is there anything you would like to add to that? - I mean, I think, yes, you said it all. I think, you know, if I, it's funny, I was just thinking today how much I would love it if I could get people who work in development to come see this play. Because it is a super common thing for people to do for all these every single nonprofit you love and care about, you know, Planned Parenthood, Southern Poverty Law Center, Doctors Without Borders, the Met, everybody, you know, Lincoln Center, they all have a development staff who make sure everything gets paid for. And this play is going to make them feel a lot. No, I really, I certainly hope that we can reach out to those folks because they're gonna understand the play on a particular level. And I also hope that the people who sort of embody the character's names are Tanner and Greta. And I really hope that people who kind of feel like they embody Greta, who's the woman who lives on the Upper West Side. Because that is the theater going audience largely, right? If you, demographically, those are the people who buy tickets to plays, right? And they are keeping us all alive as much as we're all limping over the finish line here. You know, they are the people who buy tickets. And this play speaks to some part of their own personal experience. And I hope that they are able to come and see themselves reflected in it. And maybe it gives them something to think about. Again, you know, every individual is different. And so, you know, I hate to speak about people as if they're one big demographic group. But there's a kind of archetypal thing happening here. And I hope that people check it out. But, and yes, I think, as Jesse said, ticket prices are crazy. I heard somebody say today didn't I, that Adam Driver was just announced as being a new Kenneth Lonerton play. And the upper ticket price for that sticker price, as they say, is like $400, right? Now, no one pays that. That's what they say about colleges, you know. That's sticker price. Everybody's discounted. Everybody's discounted. But when you start there, you're sending a message to the audience that this is an exclusive club. And I really don't think theater, I mean, it's very expensive to do these things. You know, I mean, I really wish we could make the ticket prices as low as possible. And we are. But yeah, I mean, you want people to see it? You know, and everyone to see it, I think we want people in the room, you know, who can respond to it and feel it. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Well, for the second part of our interviews, we love giving our listeners a chance to get to know our guests a little bit better. And Matt, I want to start with you with our regular first question, which is what are who inspires you? What playwrights, composers or shows that inspired you in the past or just some of your favorites? - That's a great question. I mean, I think, you know, when I was a kid, just like so many people who are like me, I was a Sam Beckett lunatic and obsessed with Beckett and Ian Esko sort of theater the absurd. I don't really come from a background of like writing about socio-political issues like Shaw or something, you know, it's not my, so I sort of came to this sideways, but I kind of, one of the artists I always quote that inspires me most is Bob Dylan because he wrote in so many different styles, right? It was always Dylan, if you listen to a Dylan album, but he wrote, you know, when he was a fan of the beats, he wrote like the beats when he was a fan of what he got through, he wrote like what he got for you. When he suddenly went through a phase where he was ultra Christian, he put out, you know, these amazing gospel albums. He just constantly, you know, recently he put out a album of like, of Frank Sinatra covers and then he did a Christmas album and there's something about that that I love. It's not about repeating yourself or like doubling down on your voice. It's about exploring all these things that inspire you. And that's sort of what I hope to be as a writer is just follow what inspires me and it excites me, you know, like that. - That is a brilliant answer. So one put that last line on a t-shirt or a bumper sticker. That's a great line right there. Now, Jessie, we've had you on our show before and so I'm curious to know, how is it that you came into the performing arts? - It's in my family a little bit. I have two parents who and grand-grandmother who did it in their young year, you know, acted in their young years and just carried a kind of love for it. So I was being taken to the theater very early on in my life and can't think of a time when I wasn't aware of it and amored with it, always having it in my life. And, you know, I had initially like Matthew pursued acting as a kind of a first love in the theater and came to directing through my interest in acting and it got a lot of encouragement from mentors and teachers to pursue directing. I think they saw a lot of promise in me in that way and I feel so grateful because I wonder if I didn't have that support where I would have ended up. But I think about that a lot. Anyway, Matthew and I think really have in common a kind of reverence for people who... And Matthew does this as he mentioned as a writer, you know, people who challenged themselves to step outside in boxes and try out different genres and just go where they feel like they need to go as an artist in that moment. And I like to think that I'm like that as a director too. I've certainly in this business and Andrew, I'm sure you can relate to this. People are standing around in every corner waiting to put you in a box. And, you know, when I'm in interviews people say, so what's your thing? What do you do, you know? What kind of plays do you direct? Do you do Shakespeare, blah, blah, blah? And I'm always very resistant to saying, you know, saying I do this or I do that. My answer is I'll do what I want to do when I want to do it. And that's not a popular response. And if you don't have your, you know, your stick. So I think I often look to artists who are reinventing themselves. And if they decide they want to be a painter for a year and everyone knows them as a musician, I really respect and admire that courage in the face of all the people who tell you that you just need to be one thing and following your, just not caring what people think and just following what you want to be doing. So, and I can think of a whole list of artists who've influenced me and that way, inspired me in that way over the years. I love that answer as well. We got another bumper sticker out of that. That's fantastic. Well, now we have arrived at my favorite question asked guest, which is what is your favorite theater memory? Or Jesse, in your case, what's another of your favorite memory? It's, I mean, I feel I'm old. I mean, I feel old. I mean, when you ask me that question, there's like dozens and dozens of little flashes of moments that come into my mind and also, you know, like theater disasters too. You know, like these very memorable moments of, oh, things just couldn't have gone worse in that moment. But the actor covered or, you know, whatever it is, to be honest with you, Andrew, I'd have to think about something that really, you know, rises to the surface of everything else. What about you, Matthew? Yeah, I mean, we're in the same boat where I've done so much work over the years. It's like every single one of the individual projects has some great memory associated. I remember that there was one thing. This is not, I don't even know if my favorite we were talking about big disasters, like moments of, oh my God. And so I was in a play years ago when I got started, I was acting in Gorilla Repertory Theater, which used to be. They would do these shows, Chris Sanderson was a director, and we would do Shakespeare outside in like Fort Trion Park or like Washington Square Park and shout over everything and light each other up with, you know, flashlights. And there was an actor named Greg Petrov, who since passed away and I loved Greg so much. And he was also, he was just very loud, which made him very good at this, but he also had this one moment where we were all, he entered as Jupiter and none of us could help him because we were all behind these like sort of poster boards that we were behind or a big sheet that we were behind as representing planets or I can't even remember what the hell was going on. But anyway, we were all back here and Greg walked out in sort of a toka as Jupiter and had a big cigar and walked out and just immediately went up into the stratosphere and lost everything that he was saying. And we were all back here like we literally, the entire cast is behind these sheets. There is no one to save Greg and watch Greg kind of puff on this cigar and try to figure out where he was forever. Like I could, it was probably a minute, but it felt like it was never going to end. And then his final line was like, I will ascend into my palace crystalline. And he said, and I will go into my callous crystalline and then exited and I was like, this is the funniest mess thing I've ever seen. I'm sure, you know, and Greg did a thousand things right in his life and was brilliant and wonderful. But like that moment where he was probably like for him, like a nightmare, was like such a delightful horror that I will always remember it. And then yeah, but every single play has a wonderful story attached and that's the beautiful thing. And you know, that feeling of when you can feel the audience in sync with you, when they're like, when they're with you, when they feel those moments, you know, when there's probably one at every show that you can find. But yeah, okay, that was a very long story about something that I just watched. - Yes, well, I agree with you, Massey, actually. It's like you can think about these glimmers of memories and every single production experience, but I realized listening to you that the memory, that the memories that are really popping out, that they have in common is that they, for me, as a director, this work is about process. Like I leave on opening night and then you give it over to all the artists who keep it going. And so most of my memories are about what, you know, fun moments in the process or breakthrough moments where we discovered something that we didn't know before and a brilliant idea that somebody had that I never thought of, that I embraced. And I also just remembered that there was a streak in my 30s, which is longer ago than you think, where almost every show that I directed, a couple emerged from the cast. And it kept happening. And after a while, it became kind of like an inside joke. Like, what is it that's happening in your process that's making, you know, Cupid's arrows fly? But I remember being very proud of that at one point is rememberable to be like, oh, that's the moment we're that couple formed. And that's the moment we're that couple formed, you know, in the cast, that's something. - That's great. - I love those, you're so wonderful. Thank you for sharing those. (laughing) - Well, as we wrap things up here, I would love to know, do either of you have any other projects or productions coming on the pipeline, we might be able to plug for you? - Well, let me think. I mean, obviously this is the thing I'm excited to share. I don't have anything lined up right afterwards. I just did a play up in Beacon with my friend Steve Burns, who is a, he was on "Blue's Clues" years ago. He was that, you know, the "Blue's Clues" Steve. And we did, you know, three performances of "One Pam Show" that he is working on that we will probably bring back soon. So, you know, keep your eyes out for that. But yeah, and Theater Accident has, which is the name of our company, we actually have some stuff, some podcasts that we made over the course of the pandemic that I'm really proud of, and I would love people to listen to, and Jesse directed one of them, which is called Places I Have Heard Voices, with one of our producers for this "Play Moira Stone." And, you know, there's a lot of pieces like that that I'm really proud of. So, I would love people to check those out if they're popping into the Theater Accident website. You go get tickets for this, so. - Yeah, and please come see the ask. Jesse? - Yeah, I teach directing at several schools this fall, Wardham, and Tish, Playwrights Horizons, and I'm starting at Barnard in Columbia in the fall. So, I'm doing a lot of teaching, directing, juggling. And then, as you mentioned, Andrew, we have a small coming up at George Street Playhouse in January, and later in the year, we'll be doing a re-envision production in the round at the old Globe in San Diego. And hopefully, in conversation with having small pop-up in different places in the 25, 26th season. And then, I think Robert's gonna be done with it. I don't know if you saw it, did you see it, Andrew? Yeah, he's not gonna be able to do it much longer. It's, as you know, it's a pretty physical piece, and I think he would dream to have it published, and then has other younger guys to it. But yeah, that's as small as a big part of what I'm focused on in this upcoming season. - It's amazing. If you get the chance, listeners, to see the show, it really is fantastic. This all leads to my final question, because it sounds like y'all got some irons in the fire, and we need to keep tabs on you. So, if our listeners want more information about the ask or about either of you, perhaps they'd like to reach out to you, how can they do so? - For me, I have a website, which is MatthewFreemanRider.com, and I have Instagram, MFreemanRider, and Theater Accidents website, which is www.theatreaccident.org, and you can find information on the show on the Wild Projects website. So, yeah, we'd love to hear from people, and I'm excited to see them at the show. I'm at jessydehull.com. You can find every way to reach me, either. - Perfect. Well, Matthew, Jessie, thank you both so, so much for taking the time to speak with me, for sharing this incredible show. I am so excited for September now. I can't wait to see this. This is gonna be so amazing. So, thank you very much for your time today. - Thank you, this was so great. Yeah, this was awesome, thank you. My guests today have been two incredible artists, the playwright MatthewFreeman, and the director, Jessie D. Hill, who joined us to talk about this incredible new work, "The Ask." It's playing September 6th through the 28th at the Wild Project, and you can get your tickets while they last, and more information by visiting thewildproject.org. We also have contact information for our guests, which will be posting in our episode description, as well as on our social media posts. So, like I said, you need to run, not walk, get your tickets now. This is gonna sell out. I can feel it in my bones. This is such an incredible work. It's great ideas being discussed, and the process the show is going through to be put up is also amazing, I can't wait to see it. The show, again, is "The Ask" playing September 6th through the 28th, and we wanna add for our American listeners that election day is November 5th. Make sure you are registered to vote, have a plan to get out and vote, and do your democratic duty. You can find out how and where you can register to vote by visiting vote.gov. The future demands that we fight for it now. So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez, reminding you to turn off your cell phone, unwrap your candies, - And keep talking about the theater. - On a stage, Ms. Paul. - 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 stagewhisperpah. - And feel free to reach out to us with your comments and personal stories at stagewhisperpahd@gmail.com. - And be sure to check out our website for all things stagewhisper and theater. You'll be able to find merchandise, tours, tickets and more. Simply visit stagewhisperpahd.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/stagewhisperpahd. There you will find all the information about our backstage pass as well as our tip jar. Thank you so much for your generosity. 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