EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN opens in ONE WEEK with Wax Wings Productions over at The Inner Sanctum, a gallery space in Dudley Square, and I can't be more excited.  Melissa deJesus who will be playing the mysterious Johanna, began working on this play last summer when she workshopped it with Interim Writers on their Woods Retreat. Wax Wings reached out to Melissa with some questions about playing  Johanna. Here are her answers:

WW: What's it like playing a character that you've been living with for over a year of development? How is it different from other roles?

MdJ: Mostly actors accept that their relationship with a playwright is one-way: the playwright provides text and the actor interprets. It's been so empowering to work on a character who is in progress. It's been a very long conversation, both literally, sitting on a picnic bench in the woods with Cassie talking about Johanna, as well as figuratively, in rehearsals as I push Johanna on the page and the text pushes back in the form of your shifting a line here or modifying the flow of a scene there. It's awesomely weird and scary.  I cannot recommend highly enough that every actor work with a playwright this way. It's a way to discover yourself as a performer but even more to discover how a text works: you get to see the strings that bind a play together and watch the work a playwright does to allow you to pull on those strings when you're performing it.

WW: There is a lot of mystery surrounding Johanna, without giving too much away, how has it been in rehearsal working on a character who has an agenda?

MdJ: It's fabulous. Johanna is my favorite kind of character in that she is both hero and villain, depending on how you look at the story. Even she has moments of seeing herself as both.  Of course, actors always work not just lines and actions but whatever is going on subtextually. Christopher has done a spectacular job in rehearsals of keeping track with us of all of our various complicated threads throughout the play, and giving us the space and guidance to explore and expose the audience to our characters' agendas. Johanna's subtext is wild (additional thoughts redacted to avoid spoilers) and it makes playing her challenging in all the right ways. And eventually, when I get it right, it's fun as hell. 

WW: Do you relate to Johanna in any way?

MdJ:  Of course! You always want to find some part of yourself as an entry point to understand a character. In some ways I feel like I could have been Johanna in another life, given different circumstances. I love that she advocates for herself and her choices, and the script lets her fail or succeed in her own way. Beyond that, she's funny, she's tough, she calls people on their shit, and she has great taste in food. What's not to love? Maybe she's all wrong and she fucks everything up sometimes, but I even think that's great. It's no fun being right all the time. She goes for what she wants and I respect that.  Don't get me wrong, it's absolutely a relief some days to leave rehearsal and go home to being me, but she's a fascinating character to step into for a few hours at a time.

WW: Johanna clearly has a mission with her art, do you, Melissa, have a mission or greater goal with your work in publishing or in acting?

MdJ: I love this question because I absolutely do have a sense of purpose in my work: that is, improving representations of women and people of color. Lots of horrible things happen in the world, and for me, part of the solution lies in the fundamentally empathetic nature of storytelling.

Whether on stage or in a book, fiction helps us to experience a world outside of ourselves, to see the world through eyes other than our own. Rote, stereotype-laden representations damage our ability to empathize. But fresh, complex representations can help us transcend divisive assumptions, like those tied to race or gender. The best stories let us see ourselves and each other more clearly. Sharing and supporting those stories is the fire that keeps me going.

A little over a week away  from opening my newest play EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN with Wax Wings Productions over at The Inner Sanctum, a gallery space in Dudley Square, and I can't be more excited.  Victor Shopov who will be playing Turner, actually began working on this play in April 2013 when we did a round table reading with Argos Productions here in Boston. We then met every couple of months as I worked on the script to talk more about what makes Turner tick and where his heart is hiding. Wax Wings reached out to Victor with some questions about playing Turner. Here are his answers:

WW: You are well known for taking on a handful of challenging characters in a theatre season, what is different about working on Turner and a new play? How has your time in the development process effected your journey with the character?

VS: ESDO is definitely different experience for me in that there has been a really nice ongoing collaboration among everyone in the room with respect to discovering who these characters really are. Rather than working on a locked script, we've been able to adjust Turner's voice and path along the way with a little help from our very open-minded playwright and director. It's been refreshing to be able to play around with what is in many ways a blank canvas (yes, that pun was entirely intended) and discover layer upon layer about what makes Turner Street tick. I cannot wait to see where we wind up in a few weeks.

WW: This play won't give you much breaks, how has it been in rehearsal playing a character who rarely leaves the stage and is in a constant triangle with the other two players?

VS: This role is definitely a physical and emotional challenge and there isn't a whole lot of downtime to recover, so it is going to be a sprint rather than a marathon for sure. I could not have asked for two better people with whom to share the stage  -- Mike and Melissa have been amazing partners in this process and it is going to make the triangular dynamics a lot of fun to experience (and I hope just as much fun to watch). As demanding as the role is, and as dark as things can get, I am having a tremendous amount of fun, so that will make the wild ride entirely worth it.

WW:  How do you relate to Turner's  struggle?

VS:  Turner has always struck me as someone trying to make sense out of the world, both in terms of the big-picture as well as his own microscopic place in it. He is sorting through a lot of pieces of history -- not all of them positive -- and doing his best to keep them under control, rather than letting them control him (with varying degrees of success). I think that is an innate part of human nature and something we all relate to, and without going into too may specifics, I can definitely appreciate some of the particulars of Turner's own unique path.

WW:  If you could give Turner a piece of advice, what would it be? (no spoilers!)

VS: You cannot run from the past, but you can embrace it, learn from it, and let it shape who you are in the future. Unfortunately, that is all much easier said than done. The past can be a pretty painful and awful place, and sometimes it seems far easier to simply bury the memories or dismiss them as unimportant or lacking in influence. In the end, though, we are the sum of our experiences, and denying that piece of ourselves is a formula for self-destruction. All that said, I would tell Turner to turn around and face the parts of himself he'd just as soon forget, rather than continuing to pretend that they aren't always just a few steps behind him, no matter how quickly he runs.

Because I'm a huge dork, I've made another rehearsal video compilation video of the first three weeks of rehearsal for EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN. 

"ESDO" Runs August 6th-15th at The Inner Sanctum in Boston with Wax Wings Productions. 

Featuring: Victor Shopov as Turner, Michael Underhill as Palmer, and Melissa deJesus as Johanna.

And for your listening pleasure, the classic styling of Eric Carmen from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack. 

Tickets to ESDO here! http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1710912

More info about the production on the Facebook Event here

More about the play here.

Just two weeks away from opening my newest play EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN with Wax Wings Productions over at The Inner Sanctum, a gallery space in Dudley Square, which will host this play as it's first theatrical production! This developmental production has been a long time coming, as I've actually been working on this play with actor Michael James Underhill for nearly four years! It began as a short story, then a short play, and then the script has changed significantly 15 times in the past four years. I am so thankful to Michael for all of his help and his voice in developing the character Palmer. Wax Wings reached out to Michael with some questions about playing Palmer, and I'd love to share them with you:

WW: What's it like working on a character, Palmer, for 4 years of development? How has he grown, changed, how have you influenced that?

MJU:  It has been quite a trip, to say the least. As the play has grown and expanded, we have had the unique chance to really delve into this pivotal evening in these brother's lives. What were the circumstances that led to nearly a decade of not seeing each other, and what were the inciting incidents that finally forced them into the same room? Working with Cassie as a playwright has been incredible during this process because she is very interested in collaborating on the play and tinkering and finding the right fit for the play. Some changes were logistical, as simple as how do we get someone out of the living room - and some were sweeping dramaturgical changes such as the reasons and revelation for Palmer's arrival in New York City. The biggest change for Palmer that I feel like I have had some influence with would be the evolution of what Palmer knows and what he doesn't know. The slowly leaking reveal of information as currently constructed gives Palmer a clearer descent into rock bottom despair. 

WW: What is it like rehearsing while wearing an eye patch?

MJU: Hard! A lot harder than I imagined it would be as well! But, the longer I wear it, the more I get used to it - and the more I learn how to handle the deficiencies that it presents. There is a little something about Palmer not being able to see the 'whole picture' that we have always talked about, but being presented with it in an immediate context has been a constant reminder to how Palmer has become who he is as he comes to see his brother, Turner. 


WW: Do you relate to Palmer in any way?

MJU:  Palmer craves approval and attention - and as an actor, I could say I relate! But seriously, Palmer has been dealt a rough hand from an early age and really has not had anyone to lean on. I was much luckier than that, and have had an incredible support system my entire life. However, I do think that Palmer and I both try our best to mitigate any grief with humor. As he says in the play - 'When you look like this, you kind of have to be (funny)'. 

WW: If you could give Palmer a piece of advice, what would it be?

MJU:  If I had a piece of advice for Palmer, I think it would be first things first - get some help man! An addiction to prescription drugs is not going to end up good for you. And as an added bonus - it's very likely that you will be able to find some people who you have a shared experience with and can feel safe opening up to. These are very likely people who you will be able to lean on in the future. 

More about Michael here at http://www.michaeljamesunderhill.com/

Stay tuned for more interviews from Victor Shopov and Melissa deJesus! 

EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN opens August 6th and runs until August 15th at The Inner Sanctum in Dudley Square, MA. For more info and tickets visit www.waxwingsproductions.com

I'm so excited to announce that it's official! I am the new Artistic Director of Boston Public Works Theater Company and will get to have not only a strong creative hand in the production of FROM THE DEEP, but I will also be able to run the company as the theatre I imagine I would run -- a theatre focused on identity. I am humbled and honored to receive this hard hat from former AD, John Greiner-Ferris, and look forward to guiding this company to it's next juncture. 

Read an excerpt from the BPW Blog post here:

"So, here I am! Your new AD Boston (Public Works). John started a tradition at the first read through of TURTLES and I continued it at the first read of FROM THE DEEP, which was held at the BU Hillel House on November 19th, and generously catered by Chubby Chickpea and DavidsTea. The tradition was to kick off the night by addressing what a theatre company would look like if I were the artistic director. I think I am still forming this idea, and it will probably grow from a mound of clay to a sculpture by the time FROM THE DEEP closes in late March 2015, but I see my mound of clay as a theatre of identity. A theatre where as humans we can explore and celebrate the uniqueness of our own individual identities, while also highlighting how some of the innermost personal moments, stories, and feelings are universal.

I explore this idea in FROM THE DEEP where we can feel the foreign story of an Israeli prisoner of war connecting and relating to the story of a young grad student from rural Pennsylvania. I’m interested in how people from opposite sides of the world, who see life, peace, and freedom under different lenses can be so similar and find that understanding each other is simpler than ever imagined. 

This idea of a collective consciousness was very present for me this summer..." more here

Stay tuned for more news about FROM THE DEEP, Boston Public Works, Measure for Measure at ASP, and my upcoming trips to The Kennedy Center Region 1 Festival!

I wanted to also thank our fearless director Lindsay Eagle, for her excellent grant writing skills, and for helping us organize and apply for this wonderful grant. I would also like to thank Sara Bookin-Weiner and Charles Linshaw for their contributions to the proposal and our upcoming outreach and eduction platforms through the play.

FROM THE DEEP is also the 2nd place winner of the Kennedy Center Latinidad Playwriting Award, the winner of the Pestalozzi New Play Prize, and a semi-finalist at nuVoices Festival. Through the Kennedy Center and the merits of the play, I was able to attend The O'Neill as a Playwright Observer and Kennedy Center Fellow at the 50th National Playwrights Conference.

Please take a moment today and sign these two petitions (below) to help free Eyal, Gilad, and Naftali. Take a minute to tweet or post on Facebook using the #bringbackourboys and #eyalgiladnaftali. These are boys, teenagers, they play ping-pong, do charity work, play sports, do homework -- they are kids. They were kidnapped on their way home from school last week and for what? Being Israeli? Being Jewish? We can not stand for it. When I wrote Ilan in FROM THE DEEP I was hoping that there would never be another Ilan in the world, but you can't really ever get that. People will continue to be abducted, kidnapped, and taken around the world -- it's a scary sad true part of this world we live it. But right now, if you're not the praying type, we can petition, we can create buzz on the internet and do whatever we can to bring back these boys. Like I said in my last post, I'm not normally a political person, but these boys have hit me hard after spending so much time writing about my own two kidnapped characters... that might sound trite or silly, but really, I had to try to dig deep and put myself in that situation to be able to write from that perspective. And of course, I have no idea what it's like, thank God, but I still feel for these boys because of the amount of time I spent on the play, and because I'm a person, who can't stand to think 3 boys will not be sitting around the family dinner table tonight. I hope they are unharmed, and I hope they return home safe. They are people. Kids. Someone's kids. Think about it. 

Here are the links to the petitions:
Whitehouse - US Government 
Palestinian Government

Learn about Eyal, Gilad, and Naftali above.