Baby Mama: One Woman's Quest to Give Her Child to Gay People

Written by Mariah MacCarthy
Directed by Sara Lyons
Produced by Caps Lock Theatre 

Nominations: Outstanding Original Full-Length Script: Mariah MacCarthy; Outstanding Solo Performance: Mariah MacCarthy


About the Production
Producer, writer, and performer Mariah MacCarthy talks to us about her show, including her motivation for doing it, its impact on audience, and other revealing insights.

Mariah MacCarthy (Photo credit: Kacey Stamats)



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What attracted you to this project?
Mariah: I'd had a unique and incredibly intense experience (placing my baby in an open adoption), and I didn't know anyone else who had gone through this. So I decided to be the role model I didn't have at the time.
What was your favorite part of working on this production?
Mariah: Looking each member of the audience in the eye at the beginning of the show, and eliminating any distance between them and me. Holding audience members in my arms afterwards and hearing their stories.


What was the most challenging part of working on this production?
Mariah: I hadn't acted in nearly a decade. I had rapped and done stand-up and burlesque, but I hadn't been in a show since college — let alone one where I was the only performer. I had to learn how to keep my energy up, how to dance with an audience, and how to not blow out my voice.


What was the quirkiest part of the production?
Mariah: The day of the inauguration, during the first break in the show, I asked the audience from the stage, "How you guys doing? Anyone need to scream into the void?" No one took me up on the offer, but I just needed to do something to acknowledge the elephant in the room, and the very real possibility that the world was ending. Mercifully, the world didn't end that day, and I did the rest of the show as usual.


What was it like working with this group of artists?
Mariah: This show is about the year that I was pregnant with my son. That was the same year that I started Caps Lock Theatre. I'm so glad, in retrospect, that I didn't let my pregnancy and adoption experience stop me from producing my own work. Self-producing has led to everything good in my career. I can't tell you how freeing it is to know that you don't need to wait for a gatekeeper. You don't need permission to do your work. Just find a time and place, and do the thing.

Mariah MacCarthy (Photo credit: Kacey Stamats)

What will you take away from your experience working on?
Mariah: I learned that even if your entire first row of audience has resting bitch face, the back rows might be getting a phenomenal show, and you're not allowed to give up just because you're not getting anything back in the moment.

 

Please follow Caps Lock Theatre:
Twitter: @CapsLockTheatre

 

Empathitrax

Written by Ana Nogueira
Directed by Adrienne Cambell-Holt
Produced by Colt Coeur 

Nominations: Outstanding Sound Design, Matt Otto; Outstanding Set Design, Reid Thompson

About the Company: Colt Coeur embraces the infinite theatrical potential of intimate live performance. Their work addresses the ambivalence, terror and exhilaration of our age on the scale of person-to-person through theater that utilizes a simplicity of means to achieve richness of expression. They produce original, story-driven, visceral theater that straddles the line between mainstream and experimental. They strive to create great happenings in small rooms, “theater as close as a whisper in your ear or a stranger’s hand brushing yours.  Intimacy is our way in.”

About the Production: Empathitrax is a searing, darkly funny and heart-filled story of a young couple who turn to a new breakthrough in pharmacology to save their fractured relationship. When “Empathitrax” hits the market promising instant emotional intimacy by divining what others feel, one couple takes the leap to eliminate all boundaries between them. Like any new drug, there are unforeseen side effects which in this instance have catastrophic and poignant consequences.

"In the beautifully redemptive and sweetly funny final moments of the show, the aspects of design come together magically, creating an incredible moment of deep emotion. Beyond words, we transcend understanding and simply feel." ~ Elizabeth Kipp-Giusti, Theasy

What first attracted you to this project?

Matt: Working with the director Adrienne Campbell-Holt

What was your favorite part of working on this production?

Matt: Being in rehearsal with Adrienne and the playwright Ana Nogueira.

What was the most challenging part of working on this production?

Matt: The speed at which we had to tech it.

Did you learn anything new from your experience of working on this production?

Matt: I learned a lot from the play itself, how to be more empathetic and caring for your partner.

What was it like working with this company?

Matt: The people are the best.

Make sure to follow Colt Coeur on Twitter @Colt_Coeur

The Queen

Written by Aditya Rawal
Directed by Gwynn MacDonald
Produced by Aman Soni in association with Juggernaut Theatre Co. and Theater for the New City 

Nominations: Outstanding Original Full-Length Script, Aditya Rawal; Outstanding Costume Design, Joseph S. Blaha; Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role, Sharvari Deshpande

Photos by John Barragan

About the Production: Set in 16th century India, at the peak of the Mughal era, The Queen is the story of Durga, who is consigned to the west wing of the palace after her husband, the Rajput king, marries a younger woman. She battles against the loss of her beauty and relevance as she resolves to burn the palace down and avenge her husband’s betrayal. The play draws inspiration from Macbeth, Medea and the works of Rabindranath Tagore. It explores themes of power and the position of women in society, an issue that in four centuries has not lost its importance.

What first attracted you to this project?

Aditya: I am immensely interested by the period in history that this play covers (the late 16th century in Northern India) - so that is the thought with which I began working on the play. Also, the fractured relationship that drives this play is based on one that I witnessed, and was deeply affected by, in my own life.

Joseph:  The script. I read it and I had to do it.

Gwynn: It's a rare opportunity to present a new play that feels like a classic, one that dramatizes South Asian history that is India in the 16c, and a piece about war and power that has a woman as the central figure.

What was your favorite part of this production?

Aditya: Apart from the joy of writing a new play, it was the pleasure of working with the wonderful cast and crew. We worked on a shoe-string budget - and everyone made a ton of compromises to be a part of the project. If it was not for their talent and amazing attitude - this play would not have been possible.

Joseph: The close-knit cast and creative team.

What was the most challenging part of working on this production?

Joseph: The tight budget for a show with such specific needs.

What was the weirdest thing that happened during this production?

Aditya: The final show was definitely the most interesting one. Our lead actor, Nilanjana, had her bag stolen from the venue an hour before the performance and we went around the neighborhood searching for it as she prepared to go on stage.

I remember thinking as I was driven around Union Square in the back of a police car - I may do many more plays in the future, but I don't think any one will be as exciting as this one. In a fittingly heroic manner, our producer and actor, Aman (who played her son), chased after the thief and got the bag back.

The play began on time, to a full audience, and went very well. Apparently, the tension helped Nilanjana perform in a manner she had never done before.

Did you learn anything new from your experience of working on this production?

Joseph: I learned how quickly I can work on my feet. Also, was able to learn something new from each of my fellow artists.

What was it like working with this group of artists?

Gwynn: They are all -- in my opinion - young and brilliant. So it's a thrill to see talented artists at the beginnings of their careers; for Sharvari and Aditya this production represented their New York City debut.

 Check out The Queen on Twitter @TheQueenTNC