BWW Interviews: Nettie Kraft of Five Dollar Recession Theatre on McDonagh's CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN

The Five Dollar Recession Theatre Company, Nashville's newest theatrical outfit, makes its debut Thursday, June 23, with its production of Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, playing at the Belmont Little Theatre (underneath Hail Hall on the Belmont University campus) through Sunday, June 26.

Jim Al-Shamma directs a cast that includes Kelly Lapczynski, Oriia Oxnam, Nettie Kraft, Zack McCann, Joanna Hackman, Kristin McCalley, Steven Berryessa, Christy White, and Jim Al-Shamma.

Kraft, who like Al-Shamma is on the Belmont University theater faculty and who plays alongside him in The Cripple of Inishmaan, says that circumstances, both economic (as suggested by the company's name, tickets are only $5, cash only!) and artistic, have led to the company's 2011 premiere.

"I have been in Nashville now, off and on, for eight years and finally found a group of people that I feel creatively compatible with," Kraft explains. "I also started at Belmont four years ago and feel an affinity with the graduating class of theatre students who were just freshman when I started. I wanted to give them opportunities to work on scripts in a non-academic surrounding with more seasoned performers. A couple of summers ago we performed Fuddy Meers, by David Lindsay Abaire, with only students. It was great fun and I was so impressed with the talent and dedication of my students I decided then that I wanted to produce shows in the future that had age appropriate opportunities for them...or at least opportunities of some sort, in the case of Christy White."

Kraft received her BFA in acting from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she worked for three summers with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. "While there, I started a theatre company with friends from school and I always knew I wanted to do that again when the time was right," she explains.

"After undergrad I moved to Tennessee and the following year entered grad school at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University," she continues. "Chicago is the best place to study theatre. I don't want to start beef, but Chicago is more accessible and visceral as a theatre scene, in my opinion, than New York."

During her time in Chicago, Kraft interned at Steppenwolf Theatre on its production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal, which starred Tracy Letts, Amy Morton, and Ian Barford.

"This was while Tracy was putting the finishing touches on August: Osage County and going through casting decisions," she says. "It was an exciting time to be at that theatre and only made it more clear to me how special and wonderful this art form is and that I'm blessed to be in it. I would like to bring that sense of local, immediate, and not overly produced 'Broadway' styles of shows that I found in the smaller, storefront houses of Chicago to Nashville."

With curtain fast approaching, Kraft offers some further insight into McDonagh's darkly comic tale about "Cripple Billy" and the movie fever that seizes the inhabitants of the small Irish hamlet of Inishmaan, located off Ireland's western coast, when word comes that filmmakers are nearby to film the documentary Man of Aran in 1934. She also talks about the particular interdependence among the artists who've come together to produce the piece for Nashville audiences:

How does the play speak to you? The Cripple of Inishmaan is a dark comedy. So is life. I'm not saying that to sound trite, but there is something about the cruelty and ridiculousness of these island people that is only balanced by their fierce love for one another. Humans don't always show love through kindness and gentle words, there are other ways. McDonagh has the kind of sharp comedy in this play that is broad and high at the same time. Penis jokes and cussing balanced with wit and satire. These are the kind of characters that make you wonder, after the play is over, what happened to them? It's that dangerous wish for an addendum or a sequel.

How has the rehearsal process been for you? Rehearsals are going very well, short but sweet. The cast and crew have all brought so much and offered to help in the most unique and thoughtful ways. Kelly ordered all this vintage candy, which we've all been eating non-stop by the way, and Oriia and Brad fed us all pizza at tech. Those are only two examples. The generosity of spirit, time, and resources has been amazing. And actors always surprise me. We asked who could play an instrument or sing, oh my. I'm secretly worried the music will be better than the play! 

Does Nashville really need another theater company? And will we be seeing other productions from your company in the future? Yes, Nashville needs more theatre! The more theatre there is in the world, the better. Our niche is going to be different than others. We aren't here to compete, we are here to share and strengthen. I hate the fact that many of my friends don't go see theatre, and when I ask them why, a lot of them mention the ticket price. I know, ticket prices in town aren't bad at all because the quality is wonderful, but how do we compete against the movies? That is why we decided on the five dollar ticket price. I can't see anyone complaining about paying that amount...although I'm sure someone will eventually! So that means we won't probably be paying actors and designers any time soon, but it does mean that you, as an artist, could come to us with an idea or dream, and we can try to get a show up on its feet and out there in the world. I want to have a very open house here and support the younger artists and the community in general with production support.

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