Brad McEntire has a nice Q&A over on nytheatre.com about his show CHOP playing next month at the New York International Fringe Festival. Here it is...
CHOP: Brad McEntire
An nytheatre.com FringeNYC Q&A
Q: What is your job on this show?
A:
playwright/performer
Q:
When did you know you wanted to work in the theater, and why?
A:
I liked to draw when I was a kid and thought I'd be a
cartoonist when I grew up. Had no interest in theatre.
In high school, I had a crush on a girl in the theatre department and
joined a class. I was hooked. The theatre bug bit hard! I never got to
date that girl, but I did stay with theatre. Been writing, performing,
what-have-you since then.
Oh, and I still draw comics, too.
Q:
Have you been part of FringeNYC in the past? If so, how did you particpate? (Be specific! Name shows, etc.)
A:
This will be my fourth time at FringeNYC.
In 2000 I produced a show called SLICK KADMON V. GOD by Chip Loser. In
2001 I presented my own comedy RED PAJAMA BLUES. In 2005 I directed and
produced Andy Eninger's one-man show THE LAST CASTRATO. I'm pleased to
return this year with CHOP which I wrote and will be performing myself.
Q:
In your own words, what do you think this show is about?
What will audiences take away with them after seeing it?
A:
CHOP concerns a man who is incredibly isolated from the
world around him. There's a layer of glass, it seems, between him and
all the happy, engaged, productive people he observes around him. Then
he meets a mysterious tattooed woman who introduces him to an
underground amputation fetish group. He finally feels a sense of
belonging.
I think the show is several things. It is weird and funny and
spontaneous. CHOP is about growth and identity. It is about potential.
And there is a really charming, heartfelt love story underpinning the
whole thing.
My hope is that audiences will come away feeling that they have taken in
a full experience of theatre, you know, gone on a journey with the
piece. I also hope they head off and have strong drink and stronger
discussions after the show about the lengths we all go to for love,
acceptance, place and belonging.
Q:
Groucho, Chico, Harpo, or Zeppo?
A:
What are you kidding? Groucho.
Q:
How important is diversity to you in the theater you see/make?
A:
If you mean seeing different races, genders, lifestyles
and the like represented on the stage, then I'm for it, but I don't
think of it as a big deal.
I am a huge champion of individual theatre artists having individual
points of view. I think the theatre, and therefore the greater culture,
would be a better place if more and more theatre artists considered
themselves more as creative artists rather than merely interpretive.
There would be more voices and, naturally, more diversity in those
voices, if theatre artists on the whole (especially directors and
actors) instigated their own projects rather than waited to be given
someone else's vision to interpret. That's my two cents anyway...
Check it out on nytheatre.com HERE.
INFO ABOUT
CHOP
CHOP concerns a man profoundly isolated from the people in the city
around him. Through a chance encounter with a mysterious tattooed woman
he is introduced to what be his true calling - a unique subculture of
amputation fetishists.
Venue:
Steve & Marie Sgouros Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street
Prices:
$15.00 - $18.00
Performance Dates:
August 17, 2012
-
August 25, 2012
Box Office/Info:
866-468-7619
Producer: Audacity Theatre Lab
Author:
Brad McEntire
Director:
Andrew J. Merkel
