BWW Interviews: Denver Actress and ScreenPLAY's Founder, ADRIAN EGOLF on Favorite Scripts and Movies, and Her Unique and Fun Stage Experience

Adrian - Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak with me and BroadwayWorld today! We are excited about your newest staging of Quentin Tarantino's iconic classic, RESERVOIR DOGS... Tell me a little bit about the unique twist...or as i like to call it the bitchin babe's broadcast!

Well, Tarantino loves women! In his subsequent films, he features female heroines and bad-asses, so why not offer a twist that takes his super-brutal, classic gangster film and fill it with powerful hot chicks? With an all-female cast, we are able to see how macho and silly these characters can be. It begs the question of what that means for us living in a society that is often dominated by gender role stereotypes. Women are expected to be a certain way, but in this reading, our expectations are flipped upside down. We expect men to be more violent and cut-throat, but what happens when we see a woman chop someone's ear off, or talk about "female" jobs, or sexual needs? The results are surprising and thought provoking.

And who is this production benefiting and tell me more about that charity...

All ScreenPLAY readings benefit a Colorado arts-based charity. The RESERVOIR DOGS reading will benefit Girls Rock Denver. Girls Rock Denver is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to helping girls find the self-confidence, strength, and communication skills necessary to become leaders in their lives and their communities. They seek to empower young women and girls by putting instruments in their hands and unveiling what they already possess in their feet, fingertips, vocal cords, hearts, and minds. They are awesome! They believe girls should be seen and heard. They believe potential is not indicated by gender. They believe in the power of women and girls learning from each other and they believe in a girl's right to confidence, self-reliance, and courage. After a summer of camps, lessons, and workshops, the girls of Girls Rock Denver put on a concert and rock it out with a band they have created in the camp. It literally ROCKS!

What do you hope audiences take from this production?

I hope audiences come away from this reading questioning our ingrained stereotypes of power and influence. What does it mean to be a powerful woman? What does it mean to be a powerful man? Does one have to be violent? Does one have to carry a gun? Do women have to abide the typical male stereotypes of what it means to be powerful? Seeing women in stereotypical male roles is somewhat shocking and exciting, and FUN! But, what does it mean for us moving forward in a society laden with hot-button issues such as gun-control, domestic violence, and wage inequality?

How was your last reading of THE PRINCESS BRIDE received that benefited the Denver Actors Fund?

The PRINCESS BRIDE was a huge success. I was overwhelmed and blown away by audience response and turnout. It was unbelievable! We had audience members quoting lines along with the actors. One young boy came to the show with his father and literally stood up (walked up on stage!) to confront Prince Humperdinck. It was awesome! THE PRINCESS BRIDE is such a beloved story. The incredible cast of actors was thrilled to get to play such iconic roles, and the audience had a ball seeing familiar faces bring them to life. We were able to give over $600 to the DAF. All in all, it was an incredibly successful night. The reception was beyond my wildest dreams.

This is such an awesome concept - how did Screenplay become a reality and whose genius idea was it (I feel like there is a fun story there possibly involving cocktails)?

Haha. Well, sadly, there were no cocktails involved, but there were coffee and donuts! I had just watched an interview with Olivia Wilde, who had participated in a reading of AMERICAN PIE at LACMA where they gender-swapped the roles. She was commenting on the way the men in the reading responded to playing roles that had no punch lines, no character arch, and no "fun scenes", i.e. most female roles in Hollywood! Hearing her talk made me think that it would be fun to do readings similar to LACMA here in Denver, readings with a twist, readings that would give our awesome community of actors a chance to play roles they might never get the chance to play in the "real world." I wanted to create something that was just for us, our community of theater artists, a place where we could go to enjoy and support each other. I also wanted to do something that would put me in the driver's seat as a director and producer. As I was talking this over with my boyfriend, Luke Sorge, he looked at me and said, "You should do it!" And I thought, "I should!" And so, I did! And because I must give credit where credit is due, THE PRINCESS BRIDE was his idea for the first reading and it was perfectly brilliant.

Let's build your dream wish list for future screen to stage gems - What is you dream script in the genres of:

Comedy: ANCHOR MAN (Somewhat ad-libbed by Denver's finest improvers!) or THE BIG LEBOWSKI

Drama: We try to stay away from dramas, but I think AMERICAN BEAUTY would be pretty awesome.

Romance: THE NOTEBOOK (I had to say it! I had to!) But really, ROMANCING THE STONE is so great. So is BLIND DATE with a young Bruce Willis.

Thriller: Does the USUAL SUSPECTS count?!

Horror: THE SHINING

Indie: CRY BABY

B-Movie: HARD TICKET TO HAWAII

Foreign: DAS BOOT

And what are your personal top three that you have always dreamed of taking part in?

It's so hard to pick! CRY BABY is right up there for me, so is THE BIG LEBOWSKI and AMERICAN BEAUTY. I also want to throw in LABRYNTH because, its totally awesome!

Are you currently in any shows that we can look forward to?

Yes! AMBITION FACING WEST opens on October 10th at Boulder Ensemble Theater Company. We have a killer cast (that includes ScreenPLAY's Ass. Producer Haley Johnson) for this beautiful story. Come check it out!

I will so be in attendance for that one! Can you give us the scoop on what the next exciting production of ScreenPLAY will be?

All I can say is we are cooking something up to keep you warm in the middle of January and I can promise it will be FUN! We will have a suggestions box at our RESERVOIR DOGS reading on Sept. 22nd, so come with ideas of what we should do next and let us know what you want to see!

Again thank you so much for speaking with us today and I cannot wait to see Screenplay all female version of RESERVOIR DOGS at Buntport Theatre on Monday, September 22nd at 8pm!

The bitchin babes lineup of RESEVOIR DOGS

Hanging out with the all female cast of RESEVOIR DOGS