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 Katie Cappiello and Jordan G. Teicher, whose plays will be performed on the same program, about participating in the festival's inaugural season.
Katie Cappiello, Joy
Tell us about your show!
Jesus first. Others second. You last. In a rundown farmhouse, in an isolated Christian community in upstate New York, adopted sisters Joanie and Jessa Wade go to desperate lengths to please their God, their mother and their bodies. Can their purity and safety be preserved when puberty takes hold and the girls begin journeys of self-discovery?
What have been the most exciting things about seeing your show come together?
Definitely those moments when the whole creative team (myself included) realizes the subject matter in this eccentric play actually hits pretty close to home. The practice of controlling female sexuality is universal – and it's something everyone in the cast has been able to recognize and identify in their own lives. We've been talking quite a bit about things like slut shaming, school dress codes, purity balls, child marriage, female genital mutilation, and the fact masturbation is still taboo among teen girls and young women. So, that's my favorite thing about this part of the process, seeing the world of the play begin to seep into the world of the artists, and vice versa. Also, I live for working with teenagers and I'm lucky to have two brilliant, brave high schoolers in this play, Mirabella Raschke-Robinson and Rebecca Renner; it's been pretty thrilling watching them hold their own with seasoned professionals like Mike Turner and Kea Trevett.
Who are your favorite playwrights, past and present?
Rebecca Gilman, Caryl Churchill, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Kenneth Lonergan, Sarah Jones, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Leslye Headland.
What famous (or not so famous) line do you wish you’d written?
"It's very erotic in an Oedipal shirtwear kind of way." – Jonathan Marc Sherman, Women and Wallace
What would you change about the current state of theater?
Along with being a playwright, I'm also a teacher, and the majority of young people I know don't believe theater is for them – they don't find it accessible, they don't find it relatable, they have never seen themselves on stage. I want smart, cutting-edge, YOUNG, diversified, energetic theater to pop-up in communities big and small nationwide, and I want every show to be cheap (if not free). I want theater to be something people under 25 actually do on a Friday or Saturday night.
How important is it to you that your work relate to our current political/social climate?
It's paramount. I think theater makers have a responsibility to take risks and challenge the status quo, and create spaces for conversation and catharsis. For me, with this play, it's like this: it's 2017 and young women in this country are still deemed dangerous and distracting, vaginas are still degraded (even by the President and his administration), and the health and freedom of those vaginas is being decided in back rooms by people without vaginas who insist on bringing their God into every discussion about women's bodies... So, in this wildly infuriating climate, I'm inspired by stories of girls out there who rage against the patriarchal machine – who believe their bodies belong to them and dare to seek their own pleasure. And their pleasure is not dirty or wrong or sacrilegious, it's their damn birthright. That's the type of stuff I want to write about. What else is there, really?
Jordan G. Teicher
, What's In Your Fridge?
Tell us about your show!
What's In Your Fridge? is about a man and a woman who met and married on a trashy reality TV show called "What's In Your Fridge?" in the 1990s. In the play, they meet each other for the first time since their divorce and it turns out they have some feelings — and business — to discuss. It's a show about love, ambition, and disappointment.
What have been the most exciting things about seeing your show come together?
Writing, for me, is solitary, but theater is collaborative and it's been a treat to work with some great people on this production. I've loved seeing what actors Yurié Collins, Marcus Crawford Guy, and Gerrard James bring to their roles. I've also really enjoyed working with director Ran Xia, who has brought a lot of great ideas to the table. I was especially thrilled when she managed to enlist composer Andrew Wangemann to write the theme music for the "What's In Your Fridge" TV show.
Who are your favorite playwrights, past and present?
Annie Baker, Will Eno and Oscar Wilde have been big influences for me.
What famous (or not so famous) line do you wish you’d written?
"I got really emotional next to a screen door, once." -- Will Eno, The Flu Season.
What would you change about the current state of theater?
I'd love more people my age to attend! I see a lot of theater in New York and I'm often the youngest person in the room by a few decades.
How important is it to you that your work relate to our current political/social climate?
I have a background in journalism so I'm naturally drawn to stories that illuminate the world we're living in now. I'm particularly interested in exploring the ways technology impacts our lives and relationships.
