Q-and-A with Brigham Mosley

Brigham Mosley [credit Erik Carter]

Describing Brigham Mosley's work, Clint May of Chicago Theater Beat wrote "To say he has a lot of panache would be an understatement...[A] beautiful curio—at once poetic, raw, and intimate...Mosley is yet a young man in the world of theatre, but shows a talent and wisdom beyond his years." 

Brigham is a Dallas-based theatre artist. He is presenting his show Mo[u]rnin'. After. at the 2015 Dallas Solo Fest. He sits down here to answer some questions for us at TSP.

Here we go...

Q: Please give us a brief bio, where you are from and how you started in performance? 

A: I'm from southwest Oklahoma - went to school for theatre studies at SMU where I first got into performance work - moved to NYC after graduating; got into the downtown, queer theatre scene and then moved back to Dallas last summer!

Q: What event or desire brought you specifically into the world of solo performance?

A: At SMU I took a workshop with acclaimed solo performer Tim Miller - it just opened up my world.  I realized how immediate and charged solo work can be - it changed the way I saw theatre!  After graduating I moved to NYC where I pursued solo work at spaces like PS122, La MaMa, and The New Museum.

Q: Could you tell us about your show Mo[u]rnin'. After.?

A: Mo[u]rnin'. After. is a "mythic autobiography for the queer, prodigal son" - a journey to the ancestors and back to the homeland through magic, musicals, and time travel.  There will be dream ballets.

Q: What is your favorite thing about doing this work?

A: The immediacy.  I love being in a room with an audience and having that agency to break from the script and explore a moment - to have that conversation and acknowledge what's happening in the space.  No fourth walls!  No walls!

Q: What has been the biggest challenge?

A: Getting perspective.  It's hard to step back from a piece - especially autobiographical ones.  Removing myself from the show and looking at it from above or beside - that's a toughie for me!

Q: What inspires you to keep going and how do you keep yourself motivated?

A: The work keeps me going - the exploration - I love digging deep and when creating new work all these new little germs of future pieces bubble to the surface.  To stay motivated I read a lot, I see a lot.  I love everything - high-brow, low-brow - it's all good!  It's all meaty!

Q: What is your approach to the development process when putting together a new project? Do you create a lot on stage, improvising? More on paper? Tape or video record? Hold readings? Go to a mountain top?

A: I'm so text-based - I love scripts - I love having the work on paper.  For me it's about knowing a show backwards and forwards and then on the other side of that is all this freedom to break from the text.  For creating new work I do a lot of uncensored writing - often I have impulses for pieces - whether that's a character or a topic or a metaphor - and from there it's about unpacking and unfolding and then re-shaping into a new vehicle.

  

Q: Who are some of your influences or people that inspire/embolden you? Particularly as a solo performer?

A: Tim Miller started it all - I think he's incredible.  Taylor Mac is divine - I adore his aesthetic and style and humor.  Charles Ludlam and the Theatre of the Ridiculous, Young Jean Lee, DOLLY PARTON!  Dolly is God.

Brigham Mosley in Mo[u]rnin'. After.

Q: How do you bridge the gap between the business side of theatre and the creative aspects?

A: Oh goodness - that's the challenge!  To quote Dolly (so much Dolly!): "Find out who you are and do it on purpose."  I think all artists are brands - we're all entrepreneurs and inventors and we have to be able to represent the work we make.  For me it's about knowing who I am as a writer and performer.  It's about being able to sum up the work for an elevator pitch, for a grant, for an application, etc.  Once you know who you are and what you want you can sort of piece together what that life looks like - and then you can add in the day job on top!

Q: What do you see for the future of solo performance and for you personally as an artist?

A: You know people always talk about Theatre as a dying art form - which I so don't agree with. [Editor's Note: Neither do I ~ Brad]  I think theatre is Experience and that will never be something humans don't hunger for.  I think theatre must become more theatrical (because theatre will never be able to do film better than film!) - I think that solo performance as a medium is one with strengths in immediacy and intimacy - it's also inherently theatrical because it's so much exposed-wires and torn-down fourth walls.  Film can't do that - TV can't do that.  I want more collaboration (which is maybe paradoxical in solo work but whatevs!) - I think making theatre that's more dancerly, more musical - big costumes!  Makeup!  Wigs!  That's the future for me!

Q: Any links you'd like me to list?

A: brighammosley.com

First-Time Solo Performers Premiere at Dallas Solo Fest

Jeff Swearingen and Kris Noteboom tackle the solo format for the first time

The 2015 Dallas Solo Fest opens June 4 at the Margo Jones Theatre in Fair Park. The festival, in its second year, will feature eight solo performers from around the country as well as a few locals. Each artist will perform an original one-person show.

For two local performers in the festival, Jeff Swearingen and Kris Noteboom, the Dallas Solo Fest marks the World Premiere of new work. More than that, though each has an extensive background in the performing arts, their participation in the DSF serves as in introduction into the world of self-created solo work.

Jeff Swearingen has been a fixture in the Dallas theatre scene for over a decade. He has won Best Actor awards and worked on many area stages. In 2011 Swearingen co-founded Fun House Theatre and Film. The goal was to disregard the usual plays tailored for young actors and instead challenge them by casting them in plays usually performed by adults. Swearingen is currently directing adolescents in productions of Sam Shepard’s True West and David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow.

Though Swearingen is not a stranger to solo performance (he performed Andy Eninger’s solo show The Last Castrato for Audacity Theatre Lab several times) An American Asshole in France, will be his foray into self-created solo work.

Jeff Swearingen

Several years ago, Swearingen took a trip to France. It did not go as planned.

“I told this story of what happened to me so many times,” Swearingen recalls “and people seemed to enjoy hearing it . When Brad [McEntire, producer of the Dallas Solo Fest] suggested I make it into a show, it seemed like a good idea.”

KrisNoteboom has worked as an arts journalist in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area for the past half decade, mostly for TheaterJones.com, while he completed his masters and PhD work in performance studies at University of Texas at Dallas.

“Initially, school didn’t allow me the time necessary to take part in theater as a participant,” says Noteboom. That changed when he was prompted by a class assignment to try his hand at creating a one-man show.

“I was taking a class with Fred Curchack called Creating Original Performances. Our first assignment was a four minute performance,” says Noteboom “I didn’t know it then, but that was the skeleton of the show.”

The class assignment gradually expanded into a full show called And Then I Woke Up, a series of humorous and bizarre monologues about dreams. 

Both performers believe premiering their work in Dallas in important. For Swearingen home is a key component of his play.

“It is fitting that I do the show first here at home in Dallas,” says Swearingen “One of the main through lines of the piece is a fear of leaving home, of getting lost in the world.”

For Noteboom doing his play at the Dallas Solo Fest serves as a means of reinvention.

“Its a good way to reintroduce myself to the Dallas-Ft. Worth theater community.” Says Noteboom “I took the job writing for TheaterJones, which let me stay involved in theater from a distance. But, I’ve always been a performer first. And, hopefully this is a good way to show people as I try to transition back to that.“

Kris Noteboom

Now that they have each created an original solo show, is there anything they are learning about putting the work together that is different from the usual work they do in the theatre?

“I have the freedom to do what I want on stage,” says Swearingen “I can format the show to fit my personality and follow my twisted little tangents, rather than have to mold my performance to fit a larger canvas like in work I am hired for. That’s kind of refreshing.”

For Noteboom, who is taking And Then I Woke Up to four other festivals this summer after the Dallas Solo Fest it is the behind-the-scenes work that is such an eye-opener.

“I’m learning what goes into actually producing a show. A lot of paperwork,” says Noteboom “I always respected producers, but now I worship them. It’s tedious and not fun, but necessary work for putting on a show. That’s been the biggest adjustment for me.”

The Dallas Solo Fest will be produced by Audacity Theatre Lab and will play at the Margo Jones Theatre June 4-14, 2015. Located at the Magnolia Lounge in Fair Park at 1121 First Avenue, Dallas, TX 75210, the Margo Jones Theatre features ample free, well-lit parking, access to the DART Rail, and a handy BYOB policy! 

Single tickets and Festival Passes are available. Individual ticket prices for each show are $12. Reservations can be made via the Dallas Solo Fest website or by calling (214) 888-6650. Details about the shows, artists’ bios, the full schedule and ticket information at: www.DallasSoloFest.com

Q-and-A with Bremner Duthie

I saw Bremner Duthie perform a few years ago at the Seattle Fringe Festival. His show '33 was amazing. Simply put, Bremner is one of the most dynamic performers I have ever seen, in solo work or otherwise. He is the definition of unbridled energy, connection and focus. His performances are similar to watching a tornado unfurl with a lot of excellent singing thrown in. And emotionally, he plays the scales as well. From laughter to tears and back again. 

He is heading to the Dallas Solo Fest in June. Between stints of Bremner zipping around the world (he was in Armenia last week), we managed to get him to answer a few questions.

So, here we go...

Q: Please give us a brief bio, where you are from and how you started in performance? 

A: I was born in NYC, moved to Scotland when I was 8 and spent almost 9 years on that side of the water.  Singing is the first thing that I wanted to do - so I think I can say that I started in performance when I was 6, walking home from school and making up songs. 

Q: What event or desire brought you specifically into the world of solo performance?

A: I was about to give up as a performer after a particularly hard stint of auditioning and being involved in many crappy, exhausting shows in NYC.  I had been kicking around an idea for a solo show based on the music of Kurt Weill, and I thought that if no one was hiring me for roles that I wanted to do, then I'd create something that interested me.  It turned out this show was a hit and provided me with a better living and more satisfaction then anything else I'd been doing. 

Q: Could you tell us about some of your recent solo work?

A: I'm always exploring various kinds of music theatre.  Lately I've been trying to play with the dividing line between the audience and the performer, without dropping into the dreaded world of 'audience participation'.

Q: How would you describe your particular kind of solo performance?

A: I'm a singer/actor, so I'm always asking myself the question - why does this character need to sing at this moment?  As a solo performer, I'm always asking myself the question - why does this character need to be on stage right now and why should the audience care?  I think the sum of those two questions adds up to my style of work. 

Q: What is your favorite thing about doing this work?

A: One of the strange things about being a 'working actor' is how much time you spend waiting for people to allow you to do your work - waiting for the role where you are the right age, height, weight etc etc etc.  Those roles may not be very ambitious or push you to develop your skills - but still, you take the gig, 'cause it's a gig.  I got tired of sitting in audition rooms with a bunch of other balding guys waiting to audition for a walk on as 'Fed-Ex Man #2'.  Solo work allows me to set new goals and push myself with each new show.  


Q: What inspires you to keep going and how do you keep yourself motivated?

A: The fear of working as a barista, since I have no other marketable skills.  The joy of being on stage and feeling that I'm sharing some wonderful, fragile moment with the audience as they join me in some crazy dream that I'm trying to create. 

Q: What is your approach to the development process when putting together a new project? Do you create a lot on stage, improvising? More on paper? Tape or video record? Hold readings? Go to a mountain top?

A:  I write a rough draft and then workshop that rough draft - so I'm improvising and making constant changes to the text and performance as I find better options.  I never get to a final draft... I just get to a point where I have to perform tomorrow.  Lately I've been working with a video recording, which is time consuming and brutally honest, but has helped me immensely to focus on what is working.

Q: Who are some of your influences or people that inspire/embolden you?

A: I love the world of 'performance' - so Pina Bauch, Laurie Anderson, Robert Wilson's early work, Mnemonic, Le Coq are some of the names that have really inspired me.  In the last years I've been blown away by the work of young artists touring the fringe circuit playing with form and style in storytelling and performance. 

Q: How do you bridge the gap of the business side of theatre?

A: Endless mind boggling hours of Admin/Publicity/Planning/Budgeting/Website Development etc etc etc etc.... trying to approximate the skillsets of a staff of 10 people... it is an ongoing challenge.


Q: Any advice for some aspiring artist just starting out in solo performance?

A: Don't write shows about your feelings and hopes and dreams.... write shows about characters (and that character might be yourself) trying to accomplish something that is vital to that character and thrilling to the audience...  and only write one show (if you must) about your family's immigrant experience.  Remember that your job is to move, delight, thrill and connect with your audience, and that is insanely difficult to accomplish.  Watch a pro-football game - see how excited people are in the stands?  They should be that thrilled by your performance. 

Q: Links? 

A: www.bremnersings.com

Q-and-A with Carla Cackowski

Carla Cackowski

Entertainment Voice said of Carla Cackowski "Her skills to captivate audiences through monologues are uncanny."  Cackowski is bringing her newest solo show THE SERIOUSLY NEUROTIC DREAM OF MARY SHELLEY to the 2015 Dallas Solo Fest. TSP got a chance to grab a quick Q-and-A with her.

So, here we go...

Q: Please give us a brief bio, where you are from and how you started in the theatre? 

A: I was born in Kentucky and spent most of my childhood in South Florida.  The first play I ever did was a Nativity Play when I was seven years old.  I played a cow.  It was awesome.  I spent some time in Chicago studying improv and theater before moving to Los Angeles, where I continue to improvise and do solo performance.  

Q: What event or desire brought you specifically into the world of solo performance? 

A: I had been doing a lot of ensemble based work, which was satisfying creatively, but hard to coordinate schedule-wise.  I decided instead of stressing out over when we could all get in the same room to rehearse, I'd simplify by doing something on my own.  Around the same time I saw Lauren Weedman do her solo show, "Wreckage", and I knew this solo performance stuff was for me.

Q: Could you tell us about some of your recent solo work? 

A: I just completed my fifth solo show in five years.  When I started writing my first show, I knew it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be, and I figured the only way I'd get better at this artform was to generate as much material as possible and to allow myself to make mistakes along the way.  So I made a goal to do one solo show a year for five years.  Along the way I was invited to be a member of The Solo Collective (a group of solo performance artists in Los Angeles headed up by Paul Stein) and the work started to feel less terrifying and more fun.  My most recent show (the fifth) is The Seriously Neurotic Dream of Mary Shelley.  In it I play Mary Shelley as she struggles to find an idea for a scary story.  So the show is about that, but it's also about me and the struggles and insecurities I have felt over the years as I've attempted to piece together these five shows.  It's also about being a female artist in a man's world and the obsession to prove yourself and find your voice.  And there's time travel in it.  Because time travel is awesome.

Carla Cackowski peforming The Seriously Neurotic Dream of Mary Shelley

Q: How would you describe your particular kind of solo performance? 

A: Ever changing.

Q: What is your favorite thing about doing this work?

A: The thought as I'm about to go on stage - "I can't do this".  And then the thought as I come off - "I did it!"


Q: What inspires you to keep going and how do you keep yourself motivated?

A: Deadlines.  I've never been able to finish a show without setting a performance date.  Even if it's just for a group of friends in a living room, I have to have a performance date.

Q: What is your approach to the development process when putting together a new project? Do you create a lot on stage, improvising? More on paper? Tape or video record? Hold readings? Go to a mountain top?

A: It has been different each time.  An unsatisfying answer, I'm sure.  Sorry!


Q: Who are some of your influences or people that inspire/embolden you?

A: Lauren Weedman is the greatest solo performer working today.  I luff her.

Q: How do you bridge the gap of the business side of theatre?

A: Fortunately I'm pretty good at putting on my producer's hat.  Maybe because I've only ever made my own stuff?  Who will promote me if I don't promote myself?  It's a struggle, sure, but just the reality of creating your own material.


Q: Any advice for some aspiring artist just starting out in solo performance?

A: Don't be a one and done kind of artist!  Get out there and put up as much material as possible.  It's the only way you will discover your tastes and style.  And mistakes are okay.  So get off your own back.

Q: Share with us something funny that has happened to you recently.

A: I joined an acapella group and in a high stakes performance, vomited all over the place!  (Maybe wasn't me, maybe was a plot point of Pitch Perfect.) 

Q: What do you see for the future of solo performance and for you personally as an artist?

A: I think all these storytelling shows popping up everywhere, made popular by The Moth, are really cool and exciting.  It gives people who aren't necessarily performers an opportunity to share their story.  For me personally, I'm not sure what I'm up to next.  Maybe I'll be inspired by something I see at the Dallas Solo Fest and set to work on my next project straight away!  Fingers crossed! 

Q: Links?

A: www.carlacackowski.com and  www.thesolocollective.com