Woyzeck or The Endless Cycle
nytheatre.com q&a preview by William Lewis
November 8, 2012
What is your job on this show?
Director/Co-Writer/Production Designer.
When did you know you wanted to work in the theater, and why?
I first knew that I wanted a life in or associated with the theatre when I was in my early teens. I was a shy and incredibly awkward kid. When I first began acting it really started to change my life in ways that I could never have expected. As I continued to study through college and work as an actor and director, I began to realize how beneficial and crucial theatre was for me and for our society. It is because of theatre's ability to transform ideas and people that I must have a life in the theatre.
Who is more important in the theater: the actor, the playwright, or the director?
I'm actually surprised that this question is even being asked. No single person in the theatre is more important. Our theatrical history has at one time or another placed superiority in the hands of one of these three, but increasingly I think practitioners or theatre are coming to believe that a necessary symbiosis of text, performance, design and direction is the only answer to creating a truly exceptional theater experience.
Why did you want to write/direct/produce/act in/work on this show?
I chose Woyzeck in conjunction with Tin Lily because of its timeless relevance. I first wanted to work with Woyzeck because of the quandary about how it is supposed to be organized. After months of creating a new adaptation of the original play we decided that it was important to touch on the theme of inequality and suppression primarily related to a pseudo class warfare. The issues that plagued Woyzeck nearly two-hundred years ago have not dissipated even a little. The poor and powerless are still bullied and pushed around by those of higher rank and influence. Hopefully our adaptation, with it's addition of modern film material will induce a dialogue about how to change these problems.
Which famous New Jerseyite would like your show the best: Snooki, Bruce Springsteen, Thomas Edison?
Thomas Edison: Smart, inventive and willing to take chances.
Can theater bring about societal change? Why or why not?
Absolutely yes! But that ability is waning. The problem is that in today's society theatre has lost it prominence. In the face of the various competing medias I feel as though theatre must adapt and begin to look at what it wants to be in a hundred years. If this forward thinking does not start to happen soon theatre will become only "art for art's sake" and therefore have no ability to affect society any longer. This must not be allowed to happen.
