When the Art Chooses You

Contributed by Stephanie Cox-Williams

A lot of people ask if I always wanted to be a SFX artist or more commonly called, a gore designer. Well, no, not really. Or maybe?


Matt Hurley and Melody Bates in R & J & Z - Gore Design by Stephanie Cox-Williams. Photo by Hunter Canning

Going back to lil Stephanie days, each year I would choose 5 to 10 different possible careers. As I got older, I realized (after playing Sally Ride, my first role, in a 5th grade assembly) that if I couldn’t follow all 10 career paths, I could become an actor and just “play one on TV”. Or become a secret agent. I decided on actor.

Many moons later, I made it to New York. By then I had done just about every job in the theater from back and front of house and touched everything except lighting design (and gore design). Still with my dreams of being on Broadway -- or if LA came calling, a major motion picture star -- I needed all the training I could get, so I went to AMDA. I took acting classes, stage combat classes, dance classes, and eventually got my Masters in Educational Theater.

When I first moved to New York, I didn’t know about Off-Broadway, or Off-Off-Broadway. I didn’t know these were options for me to pursue in the arts. All I had done was Community Theater and I still had my eye set on Broadway. However my journey took me down a path that I didn’t even know I wanted to travel.

I remember my first experience with OOB or Independent Theater was through my friend Christopher Yustin who was doing a parody of Scooby Doo, Spooky Dog. After that, he was cast in a show, where he really connected with the company. He said, “these guys are really cool, I want to introduce you after the show.” The show was called Allston and the “guys” were Nosedive Productions.

Raw Feed in 2012. Photo by Isaiah Tanenbaum

Pulp in 2007. Photo by Aaron Epstien

I have “caught the artistic bug” a few times in my life. My first role on stage in high school; the first choreography gig I did; my first directing job; and meeting Nosedive (and subsequently working with them) each was a defining artistic moment for me. And then of course was the time I ended up doing gore design -- pretty much on the fly.

During the first show of The Blood Brothers Present… series, we had a “blood lab” and a lot of friends and designers gave us tips and helped us out. However, with the second show, it was up to each director to come up with their own effects. We were scheduled to try the effects for the first time during our tech night and incorporate them into the tech run. We were working with a lot of great ideas for effects, but they just weren’t working. It was taking a lot of time and everyone was getting frustrated. I walked over to our lighting designer and said, “I think I know how to do this, but I want to run it by you.” Together we came up with a great plan, tested it and it worked. For the rest of the night, anytime an effect was not working or taking a lot of set up (even one of mine), they called on me to solve the problem. I would instinctively MacGuyver it and we moved on. The two lessons I took from this experience was: 1) do not incorporate your effects tech into your regular tech on the same night – make sure to set aside “testing” time and then if time allows, an effects que-to-que with lights and costumes 2) keep it simple. Nowadays, I come in with, two strategies; something slightly complicated and the simple plan. Nine times out of ten, simple works best.

I still love to act, direct, choreograph, write, design props and sets, run sound, you name it. And while it wasn’t what I expected, I could not be more happy with the path my artistic life has taken. And I can’t wait to see where it leads me next. All thanks to independent theatre.

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Stephanie Cox-Williams is a FX/Gore Designer, Actress, Director, Producer and Fight Choreographer for independent theater and film. Some SFX/Gore credits include: Theatre – R+J+Z (OHA/Hard Sparks), The Temple (Tin Drum Productions), Jesus Christ Superstar, Bat Boy (NJIT), Frankenstein Upstairs (Gideon Productions), The Tower, Motherboard and Death Valley (Antimatter Collective), The Blood Brother’s Present…Anthologies (Nosedive Productions); Film –They Will Out Live Us All (AGottaandTwoShearersFilms), Assistant Effects/Make-up - Zombies: A Living History (History Channel). Named "Queen of Gore" by The New York Press (2009) and the “Tom Savini of Off-Off-Broadway” by The New York Times (2011). She has received a BA in Theatre, a Musical Theatre Conservatory degree and a Masters of Art. Named A Person of the Year by nytheatre.com in 2011 and recipient of the Outstanding Innovative Design Award for R+J+Z in 2015 by the IT Awards.

NYIT April: Women in Theater

We at NYIT are thrilled to present this month's theme, Women in Theater. We want to celebrate artists who are consistently making theater in NY. We have an eclectic array of amazing women who will be writing about their art on this blog, just a small sample of those on stage and behind the scenes who put their skills to work in making innovative, creative theater year-round.

In asking the people you'll be reading this month, our approach was to encourage contributors to speak about their art and chosen disciplines in a way that was meaningful to them. I often feel grateful for the great number of wonderfully talented people I know in this city who are passionate and dedicated to their work, and this is an opportunity for you to hear from some of those artists. I'm excited for them and for you.


Ken Simon
NYIT Communications Manager

OOB Resources

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Johnny Blaze Leavitt.

I’ve been talking a lot about the many hats an OOB producer wears for his/her company.  But one hat I’ve mentioned briefly needs a little more attention.

Liaison.

The OOB community has a LOT of organizations that are designed to help theatre companies.  Obviously, there’s the IT Awards and ART/NY.  But let’s not forget organizations like Fractured Atlas, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, United Stages, Materials for the Arts, Freecycles, Audience Extras, The Dramatists Guild of America, I could go on and on.

NYC has a vast array of helpful organizations ready, willing and able to help make your productions get better and better.  ALWAYS be on the lookout for helpful groups and always keep in contact with them.

But I don’t want to preach to the choir.  Rather, I invite folks to post a quick story about an organization that’s helped you and your projects.  Let’s sing some praises!

Sorry, I just watched “First Sunday” last night and have church humor on my mind :p

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Cinco de Mayo

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Johnny Blaze Leavitt.

Ah, May 5th. 

Point of You has been around since the year 2000 and we’ve had some tremendous successes and a few moments of floundering.  That’s normal.  And May 5, 2005 taught us a very valuable lesson.

We were producing LoveSmacked, a showcase that was part of our I’m Just Saying series.  We had all hands on deck.  We had all of our ensemble members writing, directing, performing, designing.  We had guest artists galore from various other theatre companies!  We had a poster that was so popular, it went on to appear in the 40th Street Drama Bookshop window AND for years one was hanging on the wall behind the bar at the Produce’s Club.  We were firing on all cylinders!

But the one hat none of my amazing amalgamation of multitaskers wore?  A party hat. 

It was Cinco de Mayo and no one came.  No prepaid sales, no walk-in’s, nada.  So we threw our own party in the theatre :)

Note to self (the self that sets the seasonal calendar): don’t book a show on Cinco de Mayo unless a) it’s related to the holiday or b) you offer free alcohol for your audience!

Second Note to self: Add Party Hat to the hat collection.

Anybody else have a weird holiday show experience?

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OOB Producing: A play

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Johnny Blaze Leavitt.

Let me ask you, my fellow producers, how many of you have had conversations like the following?


Johnny: Are you ready?

Jeff: Let’s do this.

Johnny: As the Executive Director, I need you to approve the postcard image.  We’re way behind in getting them printed.  Get it done, man!

Jeff: You’re right.  Sorry.  I’ll move that up.  Now, as the Production Director, I need to scold you!  You still don’t know your lines for Act One.  We’re well past the point of calling for line and yet you’re still floundering.  Bad actor!  Shame on you!

Johnny: I can explain.  That’s the scene where the Queen makes her grand entrance.  As the show’s Costume Designer, I’ve been distracted by Melanie’s blocking.  The period garb she’ll be in won’t allow her to move about as easily as she’s moving now.  I’m brainstorming rehearsal costume ideas to help prepare her.

Jeff: Understandable.  Give a note to the Stage Manager.

Johnny: You mean Melanie?

Jeff: Yes.

Johnny: Now, I need to speak to the Sound Designer.

Jeff: Ok, I’m ready.  Shoot.

Johnny: The gun shot after intermission sounds pretty terrible.  Can’t you find a better sound file?

Jeff: It’s not the file, it’s the sound system.  Weren’t we supposed to have our own by now?

Johnny: That was dependent on funding.  Let me put on my Chief Grant Writer’s hat on and say we still don’t have it in the budget yet as we have not heard back about our latest grant application.

Jeff: Then can we just fire blanks?

Johnny: Check with the Props Master.

Jeff: That’s me.  I just approved myself.

Johnny: Well done.

Jeff: Anything else?

Johnny: The show still needs a better ending.

Jeff: Talk to the playwright.

Johnny: That would be me.  I’m still waiting on feedback from the Artistic Director. 

Jeff: Oh.  Right.  I’ll get right on that.

Johnny: Anything else?

Jeff: Summation?

Johnny: I’m mad at you for four items and owe you two apologies.  You’re mad at me for two items and owe me three apologies.

Jeff: Crap.  You won.  Want to go get a taco?

Johnny: Can’t.  Too much work to do.

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