Interview: Ivan A. Ortega, Luke Stout, and Alejandro P. Ortega of 17 MINUTES at Miscast Theatre Company

I had the wonderful opportunity of speaking with some members of the Miscast Theatre Company in San Antonio about their upcoming show, 17 Minutes by Scott Organ. 

They gave me the following synopsis: “17 Minutes is the length of time Sheriff’s Deputy Andy Rubens stood outside of a school while a shooter was inside. The play 17 Minutes explores the communal and residual effects of a shooting through Andy, a man who struggles with his own complicity in the tragedy, and who seeks meaning in the wake of the shooting.” 

The Director of the show, Ivan A. Ortega, and the Assistant Director, Luke Stout, spoke about their process with this intense subject matter, and they were joined by Production Manager, Alejandro P. Ortega, who gave great insight into how he hopes this show can help educate the public and give them the space to wrestle with this important topic. Here’s a look into our conversation:

Tell me about 17 Minutes .

Ivan: 17 Minutes is a play inspired by the 2018 events that happened in Florida after a school shooting at Parkland High School. The events are seen through the eyes of Deputy Andy Rubens, who stood frozen outside the school during the shooting for 17 minutes. We never see any type of violence, instead the show starts with the interview process where a detective conducts an interview to find out exactly what happened on that morning. The play progresses through the next month and a half, and we see how this event affects Andy’s life and his relationships. There’s a lot of denial coming from his point of view. He feels he did everything he needed to do, but there are several people in the show that feel he needs to take accountability. One specific character, the father of the shooter, confronts Andy and tells him to take accountability. That sparks something in him that causes him to realize he could’ve done something to help the twelve children that were killed during the shooting.  The community reacts to him and even helps him, and that’s where the hope of the show comes from. I know this is a very difficult subject, but eventually the play is about forgiveness, hope, and the way forward. How do we move on from this situation and how do we learn? 

Luke: I would add that we do see Andy deal with his own complicity in the shooting, but we also get to see how the community and the people around him are also responding and reacting to that tragedy and as a community trying to find a way forward through all the grief that is happening. 

What prompted this play choice?

Ivan: This is Miscast Theatre Company’s third production. We’ve done a musical and a comedy, and we decided it was time for a drama. In my search for a dramatic script, this happened to be the first one I read. As I was reading it, it just took me on this emotional roller coaster, and it kept me engaged from beginning to end. As soon as I finished it, I told my team that we didn’t need to look any further. I knew this was the show I wanted to direct because of how impactful it was. I really wanted to choose something that was thought-provoking, eye-opening, and daring. Sometimes as artists we struggle with topics like this, wondering if it’s too insensitive or uncomfortable, but that’s the beauty of art. We can do these types of shows and explore these types of emotions. 

How has the process been as you’ve worked on this tough topic?

From the very beginning, we said that since this was a difficult topic that we were allowed to take breaks if anyone needed to step aside and take a breather. All of that was valid. There has been no place for judgement or anything like that. We knew there would be a lot of emotions flowing through this process, specifically for some characters that dig deep into tough conversations. We allowed them to take their time with it. Something that we established from the beginning was that we told them we didn’t need to see a full-out performance in those first rehearsals. Since it’s something so sensitive and takes time for the actors to get there emotionally, we didn’t want to burn them out. When you run a show like this over and over again, it can take a toll on your mental health. We also found some fun things in rehearsal to help us de-stress. For instance, we have this slime that we play with during breaks. It would work like a stress ball and help us decompress. Since it’s such a heavy topic, we would talk about other things during breaks, like finding something funny that happened during the day or something light. All of that gave us some balance and even let us have some fun during the process. We did have a few of our actors cry or tear up during this last week because sometimes there are difficult things an actor has to consider when building a character’s backstory.  As the director, I have to ask some difficult questions to get us there, but we allowed them to stop and take a break or take a deep breath whenever they needed that. Everyone seemed to go with it and let their emotions flow. We reminded them often that they were in a safe space. 

Luke: Yeah, over this past week, we’ve been having some exploration rehearsals where we try to get deeper into the characters’ mindsets, so it gets pretty intense sometimes. We really try to listen to the actors and be aware of their feelings and how they're doing so that we know if there are times when we need to pivot. 

What do you hope is the audience takeaway?

Ivan: The biggest takeaway is that the audience realizes this is a difficult topic, but it is very relevant. And it will continue to be increasingly relevant for years to come if nothing is done. The main point is not to push an agenda or to say anything about gun control, but rather to spread awareness that this is an ongoing problem. When we started doing research for this show, we started with Columbine back in 1999, and from then up until now there is very little that has been done to protect our schools and our students. Specifically training for teachers and police officers. I just hope that when people leave the show, that even if they are uncomfortable, they realize it’s a very important story to tell. In situations like this, it’s so easy to point fingers and blame people. We’re not technically sympathizing with the officer in this play, but there’s a line at the end of the show spoken by one of the mothers who says to the officer, “it’s not your fault. It’s all of our faults.” Everyone plays a little part, and so that’s the overall message. There are a lot of emotions hidden in this show that I hope will allow our audiences to leave thinking about this topic. 

Luke: There’s a quote from the playwright Scott Organ that says something like, the death of these children is apolitical, gun violence is apolitical, the grief that the parents and community feels is apolitical. These are things that are objectively bad things that we as a whole society do not want, so he wrote the play around the kind of human emotions people are dealing with and not trying to make a political statement. 

What would you say to people who feel you shouldn’t do plays like this?

Alejandro: My answer to that would be that our mission is to tell stories that push boundaries and get people thinking. We want to do shows that other theatres are afraid to do. Honestly, if we do get audience members who feel like that, then we’ve done our job because they should leave feeling some type of way. I’m happy to talk to anyone who feels like that because we believe theatre should sometimes make you feel uncomfortable; it gets you thinking. It can bring more awareness as well. It’s what we, as Miscast Theatre Company, are here to do. If they are talking about it, then we feel like we’re doing something right. We need to not be afraid to tell these difficult stories. Like bullying, mental health, sexual harassment, and so many other topics such as that. And there are so many scripts surrounding those topics that are good, but they don’t get produced because people are afraid of what the audience’s response will be. But these types of plays can even help with healing and can help educate the community in many ways. 

Ivan: It’s so interesting because we did get to talk to the playwright, Scott Organ, and he said that we were only the second production of it. He found it interesting that we were doing it in Texas because we recently had the school shooting in Uvalde, among other incidents.  He wants to hear back from us with how our Texas audiences respond to the show, as the only other production of this show was done in New York. 

What would you like audiences to know before they come?

Ivan: There’s no violence depicted in the show. Ever. We do use a pretty realistic prop gun, but it is never fired. When people enter the house, they will be listening to 911 calls of past shootings, starting with Columbine, so the heaviness will be there from the very beginning. We will help people out of the theatre at any time during the performance if they need a break or need to step away for any reason. 

Alejandro: I also want them to come with an open mind. Give the show a chance. Give us a chance to tell the story. We are working toward even having a counselor there to talk to anyone who needs that, but we haven’t solidified that yet. Also, we have recently gotten this great partnership with Palo Alto College, so our performances this year will be held at the Palo Alto Performing Arts Center. We are excited about the resources this venue provides, and we are also thrilled about the opportunity we have at the college to give back to the community by providing the theatre students there a chance to work with a professional theatre company like us. 

The link to buy tickets to this important show, which runs January 24-February 9, is below. See you there, San Antonio!

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