How to Break
nytheatre.com q&a preview by Christopher V. Edwards
October 17, 2012
What is your job on this show?
Director.
Complete this sentence: My show is the only one opening in NYC this fall that...?
Takes break dancing, spoken word, rapping, beat boxing video projection, dialogue and folk music and mixes them to tell the story of 4 characters trying to open themselves up to love, healing and community.
How did you meet your fellow artists/collaborators on this show?
The collaborators all met (except for our music composer) as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Mixing Texts Annual Workshops. It was an initiative to look at the classical theater aesthetic and the hip-hop theater aesthetic and see where they live in harmony and clash. We worked on defining the aesthetics and we shared skill sets and read new plays and generally vibed. We all met there over a 3-4 year period. Though the playwright and myself had met previously working on one of his plays.
Which famous New Jerseyite would like your show the best: Snooki, Bruce Springsteen, Thomas Edison?
It would be a tie between all three: Snooki would like the hip-hop, Springsteen would like the music and Edison would be impressed by the lighting and the projections.
Theater is a necessary ingredient in democratic societies. Do you agree or disagree, and why?
Agree. I think it is a necessary ingredient in all societies. It is essential to the human race. We go to the theater to be reminded of our humanity and that as a society we are in the same boat.
