By Celeste Fowles
Arts Editor

What did you do last Friday and Saturday at 7:30 [p.m.] and Sunday at 4 [p.m.]?

I split my time between the backroom of Russell House cueing actors and watching the play "Mickey" from the front row, silently cheering on the actors.

How long have you been working on this project?

I wrote the play in March and have been rehearsing for it since early September.

Are you a theater major?

No, a Libra.

But you’ve done lots of theater at Wes?

I’d never done any theatre until second semester sophomore year (I’m now a senior). That semester I wrote and directed "The Playwright." I’ve been in two plays here. When I was in   England last semester, I co-directed a George Feydeau farce in French. That was the most fun I’ve had with theatre because a) it was with French people and b) it was massively entertaining to watch them somehow learn most of their lines during the first performance.

What’s been your biggest struggle in putting this all together?

Trying to convince the actors that there are NO HIDDEN UNDERTONES anywhere in the play.

How did you start off imagining this project?

I wanted to write a play about the simplest possible thing I could, so that I could learn better how to write a play without worrying about silly things like character development, theme, line of action, plot, or entertainment. Just the basics.

The play is about a crazy man who thinks he can fly and tries to get everybody to go in on it with him. I wanted there to be a spectacle on stage (at one point there are 6 people on stage pretending to fly so as to indulge the main character, Mickey) that makes sense in context, but, taken out of context, makes people stop in their tracks and think, "I’ve never seen this before. What is going on?"

How has it changed in the process of getting it together?

It is better than I imagined, because real actors, particularly these ones, come up with far better stuff than I could simply imagining it before hand. Sometimes it gets a little wild.

How were you able to pull off scheduling your performance at the Russell House?

The Russell House is a cozy atmosphere in which there is less separation between performers and audience. I think anybody watching will feel close to the action, like they are witnessing the events from inside Mickey’s home. Often throughout the play, it becomes unclear which is the stage space and which is the spectator space.

What is the coolest thing about your comedy?

The actors are the *only* cool thing about it. The writer and director both are in need of some serious help. But that is beside the point. The action is mostly two characters bantering. Their relationship on stage is great. When the other five workers come in, the actors playing there really have found a way to be simultaneously charming and violent.

What sorts of accomplishments did you feel when the play was over?

I did not look at it in terms of accomplishment, but simply wanted to see the play happen in front of an audience. Going into it, I knew that I just enjoyed being in rehearsal and going through the process of working with actors and trying to get the individual and communal performances to realize the play. I think the best accomplishment is that everybody (including me) really enjoyed themselves especially by the end of the play, when it was actually going up in Russell House. Also, I enjoyed seeing the chemistry between the actors as they really went off into a world of their own up there. I think they were very proud of themselves, as they should be, by the end.

How did the performances go?

Each went fine. Saturday was the best. However, on Friday, they only laughed at the jokes I thought were particularly funny, and then on Saturday, they laughed at everything else but those jokes. There was definitely more laughter on Saturday. But, as laughing goes, that was not meant to be the main response I wanted from the audience. A few people stayed after each time and shared some of their reflections about the play’s comments on religion, the admiration they had for the performances, and the humor. From my perspective, though, the
performances all went fine.

What did you learn?

I learned it is important to have cast chemistry. They seemed to develop their own chemistry backstage.

Are you afraid of flying?

No. Are you?