Interview: 'SOMETHNG WICKED' Directed by MATTHEW LACHIUSA at ART OF WNY
"SOMETHNG WICKED" Directed by MATTHEW LACHIUSA at ART OF WNY
By: Mark C. Lloyd Oct. 03, 2021
The Theater world can be a fickle place. Each show is a gamble.
A Theater company never really knows what an audience will laugh at or cry at.
How many tickets will sell?
Empty house? Full house? Audience disappointed? Audience loving it?
It can be exciting!
It can also make an artistic director not sleep at night, get grey and babble incoherently.
Now add to this stress an original production.
Trying a new Play out that isn't established.
More stress! It's new. No built in audience.
ART of WNY added to the normal stress by going above and beyond and doing a season of original productions.
No Andrew Lloyd Webber.
No built in audience other than their loyal audience.
It's risky but theater with no risk isn't theater. Sounds good on paper.
ART of WNY recently ended their successful run of "Speed of Dark" by Mark Humphrey.
Yes! It was an original Play.
Their decision paid off. It had good houses and good reviews.
Well played ART of WNY.
Now onto it's second world premiere of the season!
It's "Something Wicked" by Playwright James Marzo
Mr. Lachiusa is also the Executive/Artistic Director for American Repertory Theater of WNY. So far he is not grey and I have not seen him babble incoherently.
The no sleeping part I have no idea.
After the Theater Season we'll have to check in on him.
Bravo to Matt and ART of WNY for taking chances. It's not the easy road to take.
MCL:How did you get involved with this production?
ML: SOMETHING WICKED was originally a one-act that was featured in showcase called Rustbelt Grotesque - stories written by local playwrights about the darker side of WNY. Jim wrote this piece (featuring the likes of Christopher Standart & David Mitchell with Gail Golden directing it) but had plans to expand upon it. We had a discussion over Bloody Marys about the piece in which he got ideas into how to develop more of the characters & narrative. He came back with a full-length version, but at the time we didn't have space in our season. Jim made more revisions, including music components by Tyler Bagwell, and shopped the story around with no luck with exception of a staged reading at Aurora Players (Catherine Burkhart directing). He approached me once again, and after discussing some more revisions, the decision was made to produce the work as part of the 2020-21 season at ART/WNY. Well, that didn't happen on account of a nasty virus, so, here we are, and back in the 2021-22 season dedicated to 716 playwrights.
MCL:What's this Play all about?
ML: Murder, deceit, lost-love, desperate people, you know, American values.
MCL:What are the challenges on Directing an original Play?
ML: Fortunately, there hasn't been any with exception of dealing with a world health crisis and the ongoing threat of having to reschedule...again. But with this original play, Jim is a great playwright to work with in the sense that he is open to edits and revisions. Some playwrights aren't that way as they believe their first-drafts are final masterpieces and are not open to revisions or edits. As a director, it can get tiresome to work around patchy or unflushed pieces like that.
MCL:What should the audience expect when seeing this production?
ML:Great acting, compelling narrative, and, most importantly, the return of live theater to our stages.
Matthew LaChiusa m is the Executive/Artistic Director for American Repertory Theater of WNY. He has earned two Artie Award nominations for Best Direction of a Musical with one production winning Best Ensemble of a Musical. Favorite past directing credits at American Repertory Theater of WNY include KILLER JOE, A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE, AMERICAN IDIOT (the musical), and PICASSO AT LAPINE AGILE.
"Something Wicked" by Playwright James Marzo
Show dates and Times:
Oct 28th-29th, 8 pm; Oct 30th, 5 pm
Nov 4th-5th, 8 pm; Nov 6th, 5 pm
Nov 11th-12th, 8 pm, Nov 13th, 5 pm
Nov 18th-19th, 8 pm, Nov 20th, 5 pm
Contact: artofwny@msn.com
ART Box Office
716-697-0837
Hours
Mon-Fri: 9 am -2 pm
Sat 8 am to 1 pm
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