What was the most challenging part of the show you were nominated for?

 

 

We have a very eclectic and dynamic and somewhat opinionated group of nominees this year and we wanted to get to know them a little better so we asked them to answer a few questions about their work. 

Here are their answers to question #3:

What was the most challenging part of the show you were nominated for?

“Embracing that people were calling my play ‘the porno play.’ Who am I kidding, I embraced it pretty quickly. I write what I know.” 

- Isaac Oliver, Outstanding Short Script nominee for Come Here, which was a part of The Spring Fling, F*It Club

“One of the more challenging parts of being the ‘man in chair’ is the relationship he develops with the audience. He doesn't get to interact with the ensemble until the end of the show, so the audience is really his scene partner for the time he is up there. It can be daunting, knowing you have a new partner every night and your job is to win them over.”

- Craig E. Treubert, Outstanding Ensemble and Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role nominee for The Drowsy Chaperone, The Gallery Players

 “For me, the most challenging part of Balm in Gilead was the overlapping dialogue.  It was quite tricky trying to listen for my cue which often came from across a very crowded stage given by an actor who was in a scene in which I was not involved.” 

- Jill Bianchini, Outstanding Ensemble and Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role nominee for Balm in Gilead, T. Schreiber Studio

“The most challenging part of St. Nicholas wasn’t that it was a Solo Performance. The greatest challenge was the Dublin dialect. If I had been doing this show in regional theatre, I would probably have been more at ease with the idea…but there are many Dubliners in New York City, and I didn’t want to disrespect them by mangling their dialect. I worked with several different native Dubliners (mostly bartenders) but the most useful “coach” was Professor Emeritus and distinguished poet Eamon Grennan. Eamon and I had worked together on Oedipus at Colonus, and his help was invaluable. He often said, “Alright. That’s definitely Irish, but it’s not quite Dublin Irish.” And so the work would continue. After one performance, a big Irishman approached me. “About your accent…” he said. “You fucking nailed it!” Higher praise was never heard.” 

– Darrell James, Outstanding Solo Performance nominee for St. Nicholas, Theatre of the Expendable

“For better or for worse, we here at the Pumpkin Pie Show have forged a somewhat emotionally manipulative, abusive relationship with our audience. We fight, we take hostages, we hurt those we love the most—and yet, year after year, for well over a decade now, we keep begging our audience to take us back. The challenge is always to bat the eyelids just right and say we’re sorry like we actually mean it.” 

– Clay McLeod Chapman, Outstanding Short Script nominee for both Diary Debris and Sixteen Again which was part of the Pumpkin Pie Show, Horse Trade Theatre Group

“To be very honest, it was working with that tight budget, so commonly a challenge in theatre today.  It had to be stretched in all aspects of the show; technically, artistically and reaching a new audience base. Godlight Theatre Company, who produced Rupture…, has roots and a strong audience base at 59 E 59 Theaters where the Page-to-Stage adaptations are typically produced, so being at a new venue for the original works, (An Impending Rupture of the Belly), provided some challenges with our audiences initially.  But in the end there was still a great deal of support, which we were so thankful for, and some of the hurdles we faced actually made the company stronger.”  

- Deanna McGovern, Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role nominee for An Impending Rupture of the Belly, Godlight Theatre Company

“Learning the Toledo Surprise!” 

- Robert Anthony Jones, Outstanding Ensemble nominee for The Drowsy Chaperone, The Gallery Players

“I played the Navigator in The Navigator so I was seated onstage for the entire play and was only able to make the smallest of movements. It was super challenging to remain still throughout. I remember some nights when all I wanted was to itch my nose!” 

- Kelly Anne Burns, Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role nominee for The Navigator, Workshop Theater Company

“Most challenging part was the research. Understanding about Korean fan dancing and incorporate contemporary dance in it, still being able to tell a story.” 

– Elisabetta Spuria, Outstanding Choreography/Movement nominee for disOriented, Theatre C

“The set in 'Balm in Gilead' rotates 3 times- not like a turntable, but where the actors pick up and rearrange all the furniture. Because the walls don't move you can't commit a surface to any specific area, like a back counter. The challenge was to find a neutral pallet of architecture that was still detailed and interesting.” 

– Matt Brogan, Outstanding Set Design nominee for Balm in Gilead, T. Schreiber Studio

“The set. It was very labor intensive with all those cut outs and signs.”  

- Heather Siobhan Curran, Artistic Director for The Gallery Players, which is nominated for Outstanding Production of a Musical for both Reefer Madness and The Drowsy Chaperone

 “mmm....probably to keep from cracking up onstage at the rest of our hilarious cast!  Everyone was so funny in this show, it was a blast from beginning to end.” 

– Kent Meister, Outstanding Ensemble nominee for Theater of the Arcade, Piper McKenzie & The Fifth Wall in association with The Brick Theater

“The most Challenging thing about directing The Drowsy Chaperone was to re-envision it rather than re-invent it. Casey Nicholaw's original Broadway production I though was pretty damn perfect and I was a huge fan, but as a Director I need to tell my own version of the story, so there were decisions early on- for example no refrigerator that turns into a door, we found different solutions because I needed to break from the original. Also the intimate space of OOB allowed us to make different choices and for the audience to get to know these characters in a more intimate way.” 

– Han Friedrichs, Outstanding Director nominee for The Drowsy Chaperone, The Gallery Players

“Time, being sick in the days leading up to tech, and having jury duty the second and third days of tech.” 

– M.L. Dogg, Outstanding Sound Design nominee for The Land Whale Murders, Shelby Company

“About 2 days before we opened, the director made an ultimately liberating decision to drastically change an element of the blocking. While this was initially difficult to adjust to in such a short period of time, in the end it became one of the most rewarding elements of the show during performance." 

– Nick Paglino, Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role nominee for An Impending Rupture of the Belly, Godlight Theatre Company

“Taking on a divisive political topic and making it human.” 

– Jeff Pagliano, Outstanding Actor in a Featured Role nominee for Fracturing, Sweeter Theater Productions

“For my role as Mrs. Tottendale in The Drowsy Chaperone, I got to take on the challenge of creating a character who is very different from me. I also got to learn a couple new skills that the character uses onstage: spit takes and playing the ukulele. Perhaps now I should learn to do spit takes AT THE SAME TIME as playing the ukulele? Now that would be something.” 

– Dawn Trautman, Outstanding Ensemble nominee for The Drowsy Chaperone, The Gallery Players

“Getting butts on seats and press to come out. As a performer it was tough trying to split myself and take care of administrative and production duties while having to do a show at night.  The rest was fun and satisfying.” 

– Jenny Lee Mitchell, Outstanding Ensemble nominee for Radio Purgatory, Theater THE

“I'm proud that terraNOVA has received four nominations this year for four different shows. Alex Koch's nomination for Innovative Design for Feeder: A Love Story was certainly the most challenging show as a producer and artist this year. The subject matter has never been dealt with on stage and the way our production moved the audience to laughter, tears and disgust was an absolute joy to be part of and absolutely terrifying at the same time.” 

– Jennifer Conley Darling, Artistic Director for terraNOVA Collective and the soloNOVA Arts Festival which is nominated for Outstanding Performance Art Production for Woman of Leisure and Panic

“Probably learning how to look like I played pool. I got pretty good at it by the end.” 

– Donya K. Washington, Outstanding Ensemble nominee for (oh my god I am so) THIRST(y), Little Lord (a theater company)

“Adjusting to needless complexities. My advice: never rely on what you’re told - verify before hand any dependency that can frustrate an otherwise worthy production.” 

– Aldo Perez, Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Sound Design and Outstanding Original Music for Radio Purgatory, Theater THE

“The sound for this show was another character, VERY much an integral part of the show, and the timing had to be just right, or it would never work- there were also nearly 100 cues!” 

– Quentin Chiappetta, Outstanding Sound Design nominee for The Navigator, Workshop Theater Company

“Doing my own promotions, and constantly being challenged by the space--they kept changing my lights.” 

– Elaine Del Valle, Outstanding Solo Performance nominee for Brownsville Bred, Del Valle Productions, Inc.

“Teaching myself to play the accordion.” 

– Frank Padellaro, Outstanding Original Music nominee for Theater of the Arcade, Piper McKenzie & The Fifth Wall in association with The Brick Theater

“Sheila was a mess, constantly wavering from one emotional extreme to another.  That's hard enough to do in a performance, harder in rehearsal where you are working on small sections at a time.  But I think the hardest thing about Sheila was finding the trigger that pops in her head that turns her suddenly violent towards the end.  (And Good Lord there were a LOT of lines!)” 

– Heather Cunningham, Outstanding Ensemble and Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role for Benefactors, Retro Productions

“Always the limitations of a budget. I prefer to have a show built, so every character looks just as i want them to. I was not able to build the men’s clothes for Drowsy so i was forced to rent them. The ladies however were exactly as they were sketched.” 

– Ryan Moller, Outstanding Costume Design nominee for The Drowsy Chaperone, The Gallery Players

“Having to re-cast my lead actor due to an over-seas family emergency was...pretty challenging but intensely exciting. Benjamin Cerf was basically born to play this role of a corrupted and manipulative ring-master, and I had no choice but to find his replacement 2 days before the opening of our final sold-out weekend. Luckily my director found Tegan Flanders who stepped up and learned the entire show in 2 days. That is pure talent mixed with intelligence. Plus he fit the unitard. We held nights of full rehearsals, redistributed lines and changed choreography. It was like the bonus round of some fucked up ultimate-challenge theatre game show...and We WON!” 

– Kae Burke, Outstanding Costume Design and Outstanding Innovative Design nominee for Circus of Circus, The House of Yes

“Theater of the Arcade was in many ways a dare to myself - could I actually pull off the gambit of matching up a classic video game with a recognizable theatrical style and somehow create something that people wouldn't be completely sick of in less than five minutes? It ended up that I decided to make each of the pieces actual, authentic little PLAYS rather than just sketches, and that was a scary thing to commit to - the more seriousness I gave the material, the more absurd the whole enterprise seemed. In the first piece, Monologue for Single Play (which is Frogger reenacted as a Beckett monologue), I still don't QUITE feel like I made it - the play still works better on paper than on stage, where it's too long - I'm still having a hard time figuring out how to shape its contours a bit more successfully.” 

– Jeff Lewonczyk, Outstanding Original Full-Length Script nominee for Theater of the Arcade, Piper McKenzie & The Fifth Wall in association with The Brick Theater

“What I thought was going to be the most challenging part of the production I was nominated for, in actuality, turned out to be the most joyfully simple. With a show like The Drowsy Chaperone, it is so much about ensemble timing and unselfishness. It's about listening, giving, listening, giving. Not about making your own lines funny. The joy and humor comes from considerate actors throwing the ball back and forth. It comes from playing. With the ensemble of Drowsy, it was just an absolute pleasure to play during every rehearsal and every performance.” 

– Whitney Branan, Outstanding Ensemble nominee for The Drowsy Chaperone, The Gallery Players

“Since the show is about The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, the characters are walking for most of the show.  The challenge was to choreograph the walking so that it was theatrically engaging and that it reflected the physical and emotional changes of the activists on their nine month journey.   Since Taylor Mac conceived the piece as a pastiche of several genres -including Chekov, Commedia del'Arte, and Beauty Pageants - the walking reflected those genres as well.” 

– Paul Zimet, Outstanding Director nominee for The Walk Across America For Mother Earth, Talking Band in association with LaMaMa Experimental Theater Club 

“I played a transvestite so... the heels and the makeup!” 

– Ian Bell, Outstanding Ensemble nominee for Balm in Gilead, T. Schreiber Studio

 “There is never enough time to explore the play with an audience. Just when it seems like there is a dynamic, sustainable dialogue happening between the observers and the actors--such that the line between observer and actor begins to disappear--the run ends and it's time to pack everything up.” 

- Matt Wilson, Outstanding Original Full-Length Script nominee for Play America (Life is Short, Wear Your Party Pants), Sister Sylvester

“Ending it.” 

- Belle Caplis, Outstanding Ensemble and Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role nominee for Balm in Gilead, T. Schreiber Studio