Dan Heching Talks SAMMY GETS MUGGED

Award-winning writer Dan Heching is proud to present SAMMY GETS MUGGED! premiering this summer as part of the 15th annual New York International Fringe Festival.

As much as he tries to get around it, Sammy got mugged one Sunday afternoon, and it was pretty scary. But for whom? Him, or his mysterious mugger, whose resolve is less than perfect? SAMMY GETS MUGGED! recounts an antagonistic exchange between two strangers, all the wild possibilities that follow, and how we choose to remember the more unsavory moments in our lives. Loosely based on a real mugging, in Paris in the spring of 2005.

Helmed by upstart director Noah Himmelstein and starring Stephanie Pope CAFFEY* of Broadway fame, SAMMY GETS MUGGED! will invite urban dwellers, theater enthusiasts and their friends to witness a city mugging through the eyes of a born-and-raised city kid who is anything but your classic victim!

WHERE: The Living Theater, 21 Clinton Street between Houston & Essex, F/V to 2nd Avenue / J/M/Z to Delancey/Essex

WHEN: Mon 8/15 @2pm, Thu 8/18 @6pm, Sat 8/20 @9pm, Fri 8/26 @8.45pm, Sun 8/28 @12pm

Playwright Dan Heching chatted about the show in the interview below!

1. Sammy Gets Mugged! is based on actual events that happened to you, how do you feel as a playwright opening up to the audience is such an honest way?

After I was mugged, the way in which I would recount the event to friends and family almost became a play in and of itself. The memory was so clear, the thoughts I remember having during the exchange were so crisp...it was only natural to turn it into a story! One day I was telling close friends who live in Paris about it, and one of them said, 'You need to write about this!' And voila! I did.

2. Why did you decide to write this play?

As I would explain the event to others, certain things kept coming up--for instance, why didn't I make a run for it, or try and get help, etc.? The play is an answer to those basic questions, but so much more--it attempts to explain why this specific mugging turned out the way it did, and in a wider sense, examine how people interact in the worst--and best--of circumstances.

3. What do you hope the audience takes away from the production?

A changed view on how to treat strangers, and how to keep their wits about them in the 'big city' (that being anywhere at all)! SAMMY is also a very personal exploration of how a victim can choose to deal with the conflicts he or she faces. It certainly touches upon my own ways of coping, and I hope it appeals to that aspect of people's sensibility.

4. Do you see the production going forward past the fringe?

Absolutely. SAMMY has great urban appeal, and significant potential for a life far beyond this auspicious beginning. Its relatability is widespread--have YOU ever gotten mugged? What about someone you know? They should see this play.

5. Explain what this experience of writing and starring in a play about events in your life has been like.

So far this has been incredibly thrilling, because an experience that I have been living with for 6 years now is finally coming to light for others to see. I'm using this memory to tell a larger story, and connect some dots for people about how we interact in society in general, and it's so fulfilling and exciting to be a part of it on so many levels. I'm also more than thrilled to be returning to my roots as an actor (my first artistic pursuit, before writing)!

 

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