Mar 5, 2014

I Interview Playwrights Part 643: Sarah DeLappe


Sarah DeLappe

Hometown: Reno, Nevada

Current Town: Brooklyn, New York

Q:  Tell me about your upcoming Amoralists reading.

A:  Well it’s this play called PARABOLA. It’s a triptych spanning the history of Western popular culture as we know it. We follow one woman, one man, and one inanimate object on this gonzo journey through reincarnations, metamorphoses, gender roles, that sort of thing. I don’t want to give too much away but there will be brain freezes.

Q:  What else are you working on now?

A:  A couple of secret plays. One is about an Alaskan radio station. It’s called THE PIONEERS. Another one is actually about secrets. Top Secrets. It’s called NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. Oh and also a young adult novel about an opossum. Because that’s what the youth is clamoring for, you know?

Q:  Tell me a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a person or a writer.

A:  I have a twin sister. We both used to lucid dream. I thought it was just how everyone dreamed: with total and complete control. And I distinctly remember sitting with my sister in the back of our Subaru and having this philosophical debate about how to wake up. Since that was always a struggle, and frankly, sorta terrifying. We decided the solution could only be to fall asleep within the dream.

That night, I ended up in our local supermarket. I wanted to test our theory. So I lay down in the middle of the cereal aisle, right by the eggs, and closed my eyes. All of these shoppers came up to me and asked what I was doing. I tried to explain but they told me I was crazy, this wasn’t a dream, and who did I think I was lying down next to the eggs. And I swear to god I can picture all of these sneakers and grocery cart wheels moving around me. It took forever. But I was patient. I woke up.

Q:  If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?

A:  The price of tickets. My god. It’s no wonder the audience is all gray hair.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  There are so many. Caryl Churchill, Thorton Wilder, Wallace Shawn, Spading Gray, Suzan Lori-Parks. And, you know, Chekhov. Shakespeare. And all of my teachers: Paula Vogel, Amy Herzog, Donald Margulies, Deb Margolin, Marc Robinson. And really anyone who persists in writing plays.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theater that's not a sitcom with curtains. Theater that acknowledges and plays with time. Theater that’s got a real voice, iridescent and surprising. Cause that’s all plays are, really: people speaking. I want to hear words in a way that forces me to listen.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Amoralfest! Seven readings by seven writers over the next two weekends. Come on out.

PARABOLA
Written by Sarah DeLappe
Directed by Stefanie Abel Horowitz
Featuring Penny Bittone, Judy Merrick and Haley Sullivan
Sunday March 16 at 4 pm
Walkerspace at 46 Walker St

RSVP here: http://www.theamoralists.com/amoralfest2014

And here’s the whole bunch:

Saturday, 3/8

4:00 pm: FAT CAT KILLERS
Written by Adam Szymkowicz
Directed by Jay Stull
Featuring Wade Dunham, Matthew Pilieci & Mark Roberts

After getting laid off, Michael and Steve decide to kidnap the CEO of the company that gave them the boot.

Sunday, 3/9

8:00 pm: THE LUCKY LADIES
Written by Dominic Finocchiaro
Directed by Jeremy Duncan Pape
Featuring Jennifer Fouche, Janette Johnston, Kat Murphy & Vanessa Vaché

Cindy, Dina, and Gina are contestants on America's longest-running and most beloved reality television dating show. However, when the camera crew stops showing up and their Prince Charming is suddenly nowhere to be found, the girls are forced to ask themselves: how long am I willing to wait for love? And just what am I willing to lose?

Monday, 3/10

2:00 pm: NYLON
Written by Sofia Alvarez
Directed by Jess Chayes
Featuring Luke Forbes, Elena McGhee, Nick Lawson, Anna Stromberg & Kelley Swindall

An estranged couple, Anna and Matthew, meet for the first time in four years. Throughout the evening, their joint history is dredged to the surface in a way that threatens to damage their individual futures as well as those of everyone around them.

8:00 pm: TRIPLE BEAM WET DREAM
Written by Ian Daniel
Directed by Mia Rovegno
Featuring Byron Anthony, Danielle Davenport, Matthew-Lee Erlbach, Nick Lawson, Cassandra Paras, Matthew Pilieci & Jordan Tisdale

Speed freaks. Hustlers. Star-fuckers. Down-and-outs. Everyone at the Jack in the Box on Sunset Boulevard is looking for a way out. A drug-dealing street shaman named Candy is convinced that she’s got the fix that will set them free. But, what price are these Hollywood outcasts willing to pay to get their hands on the ultimate high? A play of hallucinations, booty grinds, and cheesy fries in the dark underbelly of the City of Angels.

Sunday, 3/16

4:00 pm: PARABOLA
Written by Sarah DeLappe
Directed by Stefanie Abel Horowitz
Featuring Penny Bittone, Judy Merrick & Haley Sullivan

Leta uncovers a conspiracy in the Coliseum. Dolly hitchhikes across the USA. Mediatrix fulfills a man-child's every bawdy and bodily need. Follow one woman, one man, and one inanimate object on a gonzo journey (in three parts) through gender roles and popular culture.

8:00 pm: DEATH FOR SYDNEY BLACK
Written by Leah Nanako Winkler
Directed by Kip Fagan

Three women are trapped in a narrative that degrades them. A dark comedy about six teenage girls navigating the treacherous landscape of Northeast Valley High. When the new girl, Nancy, comes to town she must channel her entire self-worth into overthrowing the most popular girl at school: Sydney Black. As she takes this journey, led by her quirky Asian sidekick Jen, she discovers both the overt and covert girl-on-girl violence perpetrated throughout the school.

Monday, 3/17

8:00 pm: BETWEEN THE SANDBAR AND THE SHORE
Written by Brian Otaño
Directed by Jay Stull
Featuring Byron Anthony, Reuben Barsky, Kim Gambino, Sarah Lemp, Emma Meltzer, Cassandra Paras, Jim Rees, Will Sarratt & Dale Soules

1981.

Jack and Linda return home to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn after a disastrous turn living as punks on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. They find unlikely friends in Oscar and Gertie, their new neighbors. Life on the grid is sweet— the two couples botch renovations, burn dinner, play records, light bottle rockets, dub video cassettes, drink Budweiser, sneak joints on their back porches and raise their kids as best as they can. Some years later, a tragedy strikes on Dooley Street that forces the two young families to face down the pull of their addictions, the ghosts that plague their love nests and in the end, the fatal lengths two mothers will go to for the sake of protecting their young.

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