BWW Spotlight Series: Meet Actor and Playwright Wendy Bryan Michaels

With the current theatre world on hiatus, I have created a Spotlight Series on Broadway World which features interviews with some of the many talented artists who make our Los Angeles theatre community so exciting and vibrant thanks to their ongoing contribution to keeping the Arts alive in the City of the Angels. And just like all of us, I wondered how they are dealing with the abrupt end of productions in which they were involved.

This Spotlight focuses on Actor and Playwright Wendy Bryan Michaels whose comedy show, MY SISTER IS SO GAY, is now streaming on Amazon Prime, although pre-production for the next season has ground to a halt due to Covid-19.

Shari Barrett (SB): What would you like readers to know about your theatrical background?

Wendy Bryan Michaels (Wendy): I am a lover of all things theatre. From the first time I entered the back stage area and smelled the wood from the stage sets, I knew I was home. There is something so magically intoxicating about live theatre, beginning the first time I had stage lights stream across my face, in college, which actually brought tears to my eyes. There was something about their warmth and the disappearing of the audience which left me staring into a black space that seemed perfectly natural to me. I knew then, that this is where my soul thrives, my heart opens, and I could become myself.

(SB): What production(s) were you involved with when word went out you needed to immediately postpone/cancel the show?

(Wendy): My co-writer/co-star and I were preparing for meetings to sell our comedy show, MY SISTER IS SO GAY, now streaming on Amazon Prime. Although we are fortunate that we completed post production on the most recent episodes and were able to stream them, our pre-production for the next season has ground to a halt due to Covid-19.

LAFPI (Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative) SWAN DAY March 2020, is a day devoted to actors, playwrights, and directors to gather together to read new works, old works, and works that need an audience, and that was instead transferred to Zoom. And although nice to see everyone, it doesn't seem to have near the impact of face-to-face networking and watching live theatre in person.

(SB): Those of us involved in live theatre have always understood that there is no replacement for being with a group of people who have gathered together in person and they impact they have on the actors in a production. It's what makes every performance unique in its own way, adding to the interactive magic.

(Wendy): Absolutely! It's so important to have that give-and-take during a live production. I just finished a full length play LOVING MATHEW about when a brilliant young man struggles with addiction and mental illness, and his vulnerable sister fights to keep him from harm over seemingly insurmountable odds. There have been two staged readings at City Theatre in Santa Monica, but in terms of finding theatres to now produce, well that's on hold indefinitely.

My other play, GOD AND SEX, is about a bride, a groom, and a maid of honor who just happens to be the bride's ex-lover. So, what could possibly go wrong!? It had its world premiere at the Santa Monica Playhouse from Feb 2017-May 2017. But that's another project now on the shelf until after COVID-19 passes us so theaters can reopen.

(SB): How was the shutdown of LAFPI communicated with the cast and production team?

(Wendy): For the LAFPI swan day, emails and Zoom meeting details were constant. You volunteered as an actor via email, got the script via email, no rehearsal though, and then joined Zoom the day of the event. As for my plays, I just told myself "no." (laughs) My co-writer for the series and I knew we would have downtime ahead of us and communicated that through text and emails.

(SB): Are plans in place to present that production at a future date, or is the cancellation permanent?

(Wendy): Plans are on hold for My Sister is So Gay, pre-production for next season, as well as any face-to-face meetings to sell the show.

(SB): How are you keeping the Arts alive while at home by using social media or other online sites?

(Wendy): I am reading plays like crazy as the process amazes me as to the how much comfort reading brings to my theatre soul and imagination. Oddly enough, my 'Art' is kept alive through producing self-videos on social media detailing the Covid-19 quarantine. The videos are experiences that actually happened to me and I find it all so surreal that I needed to document something on video - like finally a friend 'social distanced' me and or giving me a roll of toilet paper. So I made a video which turned into a love story about being reunited.

I am keeping in touch with events with LAFPI and ALAP (alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights) through Facebook and may take a class online with Westside Comedy to keep my creative soul from shrinking. I am also submitting MSISG to agents and casting directors since they might have more time on their hands to take notice of a new show from an unknown-to-them writer. We do have Loni Anderson, Debra Wilson and Rae Dawn Chong in our show, which helps our credibility, but Terry Ray and I are fairly unknown writers in the business. At least for the time being....

(SB): What thoughts would you like to share with the rest of the L.A. Theatre community while we are all leaving the Ghostlight on and promising to return back to the stage soon?

(Wendy): Keep reading plays! Order plays online. Keep in touch with other actors and theatres to see how they are doing and maintain community any way you know how! I mean, we are creatives and need to keep expressing ourselves and sharing our stories.

For more information, please visit my website: www.wendymichaels.net

Amazon Prime link for MY SISTER IS SO GAY: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07WC4DD97/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

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