Brigham Mosley on his show Critical, Darling!

Brigham Mosley presents Critical, Darling!

We did an interview with Brigham Mosley a while back about his show Mo[u]rnin'. After.

Here we catch up with the prolific performance artist and chat a bit about his background and his new show Critical, Darling! which will play as part of the 2019 Dallas Solo Fest.

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Q: You took a workshop with Tim Miller when you were a student at Southern Methodist University. How did that workshop and Miller’s approach inform your own work?

A: Tim is one of the great mentors of my life.  He changed the way I think about performance and about theatre in general.  One of the many brilliant things about Tim and his work with students is that he comes at performance-creating from a thousand different directions - dancing, speaking, writing, drawing, etc - he's all about keeping your creative self on its toes and pushing to find moments when that uncensored, multi-layered, pure Truth can come out of the creator.  Tim seeks out those complicated, murky, resonant moments of identity-formation as foundations for exploration/scripts/shows.  I've followed a similar path in my own performance-making - I'm always trying to disrupt my process and go deeper into a truth that is more complicated and more honest (and maybe less polished or noble).  It's important to me that my shows - and my performances - aren't "The Shiniest Side of Brigham" but something braver, something more flawed, something more human.

Q: You lived in New York for a while after college and got involved with the downtown queer theatre scene. Any experiences that have stuck with you and influenced your present work?

A: Yes!  PERFECTION IS FOR ASSHOLES!!!  Also perfection is not super interesting!  Being a part of that downtown scene taught me the magic of risking.  Seeing a performer choose to leave the Rehearsed in order to pursue what was happening in the moment (whether that be interacting with a heckling audience member or living in a bombed joke) - and often failing in that pursuit!  And the failure is the delight!  That cabaret sensibility felt really cozy to me and much closer to the theatre that gets me jazzed and that I am interested in making.  I push myself to risk failure in my work.  Perfection can never be the goal; the goal is the bravery to risk.

Q: Tell us a little about your newest work, Critical, Darling!

A: Critical, Darling! is a big ole gnarly piece!  It's about safety and fear and "How-do-we-be-happy?".  It's also full of original songs and me in a lovely yarned-out drag number!  Critical, Darling! is a dismantling of the world around us and how we interact with each other, all-the-while attempting to regress back to the last time I/we felt safe.  It's funny and pop culture filled (because that will ALWAYS be my gig!) but sorting through the fear/anxiety/fatigue I think every American (and maybe Earthling?!) is feeling.

Q: What inspired the piece?

A: Fear!  Lolz.  Yeah, I think fear.  I'm so afraid of how afraid I am - and how afraid everyone else seems to be.  We're all so scared and desperate and angry - and for so many good reasons, right?  But it's exhausting to constantly be in this state.  And what's the alternative?  To turn into a child again?  Become apathetic?  That's not a way to live either.  So where is the space between?  I want my life to mean more than my anger.  I am a campy, pop-culture-obsessed, busted drag queen.  How does my anger and my apathy get reflected through that lens?  How can I remain critical without losing my darling?

Q: What are you hoping the audiences will walk away feeling/thinking?

A: I hope they feel seen.  I hope they feel safe.  I hope they think about being quiet and being still and what makes them happy. 

Q: What is next for Brigham Mosley? Other projects? A tour of Critical, Darling! maybe?

A: I'd love to take Critical, Darling! on the road!  Right now though I've got a couple projects with my constant-collaborator, the brilliant Janielle Kastner.  For the past two years we've been working on a play about journalism, based on 100+ hours we've spent shadowing and interviewing folks at The Dallas Morning News.  We'll also keep on with our ongoing Movies That Should Be Musicals series where we turn cult-fave movies into the musicals they so desperately deserve to be!  We'll re-assemble the MTSBM crew for another musical this fall!

Q: Links?

A: For the latest haps...

brighammosley.com 

DMN Project:

https://www.dallasnews.com/arts/theater/2018/03/29/playwrights-working-play-journalism-already-changed

https://www.dallasnews.com/arts/theater/2019/03/15/two-bright-young-talents-dallas-theater-world-written-play-newspapers-2019 

MTSBMs:

https://www.dallasobserver.com/video/movies-that-should-be-musicals-2kDj1Tnv#

https://www.smudailycampus.com/ae/brigham-mosley-smu-alumnus-solo-performer-and-total-drag-diva

Past Critical, Darling! press:

https://www.smudailycampus.com/ae/dallas-based-actor-and-smu-alum-unpacks-identity-crises-in-his-smart-solo-drag-show-critical-darling 

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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