In a FringeNYC-less summer, other theater festivals promoting the work of up-and-coming artists are taking the lead, including the Ice Factory Festival at New Ohio, Broadway Bound Theatre Festival at the Theater at the 14th St. Y, and the Corkscrew Theater Festival at the Paradise Factory. Among them is the NY Fridge Fest, a brand-new festival of multidisciplinary work at IRT. All genres are welcome, there's just one catch: every work must feature a fridge.
Presented by The Arctic Group, the festival runs August 31 through September 10; half of the performances are "Fill Our Fridge" nights, on which tickets can be purchased with non-perishable goods instead of money. We spoke with playwrights Jenny King and Suzanne Willet, whose plays will be performed on the same program, about participating in the festival's inaugural season.
Jenny King,
Moving Day
Tell us about your show!
Moving Day is about three friends dealing with their final day living together. Cleaning out their apartment turns out to be messier than anticipated.
What have been the most exciting things about seeing your show come together?
The Barrington Collective was started by myself and my two best friends from grad school, JoJo Ginn and Katie Morrill. (We were in the same MFA cohort at East 15/University of Essex in London.) Producing works for BarCo together is always wonderful, but getting to actually act with the two of them is a dream. Our director Nathan Markiewicz also studied at East 15, so we all have a shared knowledge of jargon and artistry. Bottom line: It's super fun to make stuff with your friends.
Who are your favorite playwrights, past and present?
Present: David Lindsay-Abaire & Simon Stephens. Past: Ibsen.
What famous (or not so famous) line do you wish you’d written?
"Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else." --The Player, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard (There are at least 17 quotes from that play that I wish I'd written, so that was exceptionally hard to choose.)
What would you change about the current state of theater?
I very much wish that all of theatre was regarded as art for the masses in the way that entertainment currently is. Every nook and cranny of this country can relate to a Netflix binge, but most of the theatre world is considered elitist. I wish we as an art form could agree on a set of goals to work towards a culture shift in our favor. Let's make theatre more affordable. Instead of demonizing, let's have real dialogues with those we disagree with. Let's reach out to communities who don't look like us and give them platforms to tell their stories and truly listen.
How important is it to you that your work relate to our current political/social climate?
My favorite quote of all time (half my thesis was based around it) comes from Bill English, Artistic Director of The San Francisco Playhouse. (It is very long, but no apologies because it is that good.)
"Our theatre is an empathy gym where we come to practice our powers of compassion. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Gandhi: These are the olympic athletes of empathy. But the rest of us need to go to the gym. It’s tough to be compassionate in everyday life. We get cut off in traffic, get our purse snatched, get knocked down, our house broken into, our country is threatened. It’s tough to be empathetic. But from the darkness and anonymity of our seats, we are safe to risk entering into the lives of the characters on the other side of the proscenium. We feel what they feel, fear what they fear, love what they love, and hope for what they hope for. And along the way, with our one hundred hearts beating together in the dark, we realize that under the skin we are the same. And as we leave, we take that miraculous spirit of unity out into the world to make it better."
Bottom line: Theatre is one of the greatest empathy-generating tool at our disposal and if we want to affect any of the "establishment," we must foster empathy. Does that mean everything I write must be blatantly political? I don't think so. Telling stories of true human connection can change people. I still believe in that.
Suzanne Willett, Rock Paper Scissors
Tell us about your show!
In a 1950's kitchen, Paper is torn over her moral dilemma as to why she can't save a guy in her dream. Scissors, a self-gratifying narcissist, refuses to help her. Rock, unable to feel anything, also cannot help her. As Paper seeks various ways to save the guy in her dream, Rock seeks his own metamorphosis despite Scissors misgivings.
What have been the most exciting things about seeing your show come together?
Seeing where the actors are taking the roles, how space and objects affect them and how they react to them.
Who are your favorite playwrights, past and present?
Adrienne Kennedy, Caryl Churchill.
What famous (or not so famous) line do you wish you’d written?
I know. You know I know. I know you know I know. We know Henry knows, and Henry knows we know it.
What would you change about the current state of theater?
I would like to see theater in the U.S. move boldly in experimental directions. I think U.S. theater is hamstrung by the lack of funding for the arts which stresses commercial success over pure experimentation. In practically every other field, theory is actively researched and funded; however, theatre theory seems to be the exception.
How important is it to you that your work relate to our current political/social climate?
Very. I think art needs to respond and challenge the world in which it finds itself. One of the great things about theater is its ability to create dialogue and perhaps -- if not a change -- create a consideration of a different perspective. I think this is in keeping with theater’s ritual roots. Rituals served to produce a reality, i.e., a rain or a good harvest, and I think today’s theater should also strive to produce a reality -- tolerance, acceptance and diversity. These goals are exceptionally important for the milieu in which we find ourselves today.
