INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT WILKERSON/STEPHEN FOSTER BY OBED MEDINA

ICARUS TAKES FLIGHT AT HOLLYWOOD FRINGE: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CREATIVE/ARTISTIC TEAM OF SCOTT WILKERSON’S SEVEN DREAMS OF FALLING (PART I)
· by LABlackBoxExperience (Obed Medina) · in Hollywood Fringe. ·

I’m sure the Greek gods must have regretted the creation of man. From the very start, these mere mortals have made every effort to overcome their mortal limits, often ending in severe punishment for this hubris. There is a lesson in humility and learning to live within our own limits… That’s what these God would want you to believe. And, while it holds some truth, it’s a one-sided view of the whole complex issue.

In his new play, Seven Dreams of Falling, a comic and thought-provoking retelling of Icarus’s brush with the sun and inevitable crash and burn, playwright Scott Wilkerson breaks those boundaries and re-imagines a new tale that makes it possible to ask: Should we be resigned to living within our own limits?

I sat down with the playwright and the cast to get some insight into this exciting new play opening on Thursday, June 13 at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Scott Wilkerson and Stephen Foster were on hand to answer some questions.

Can you tell me a little about what this play is all about?

Scott: The play is called Seven Dreams of Falling and it’s a retelling of the myth of Icarus (Stephen Foster.) The whole problem of adapting a story – an existing story – is that it is based on a historic precedence. It’s a matter of factual history. This play is a more important mission or idea because the existing text is a fictional text. I’m adapting a story, which is not factually true, but it is true in every other important sense. Obviously, Icarus is not a real person; he didn’t fly towards the sun. But that’s only true in the most superficial way. In every other way, it is true because Icarus is part of all of us that wants to fly away.

Stephen: It’s the search for something better, even if it means failure. The character of Icarus with his father issues and going against the establishment – is very fascinating to me as an artist and as a person because the whole story is about Icarus becoming his own man. It’s about breaking away from what is expected of you. The play is about breaking patterns.

Scott: It’s about reclaiming your own identity. This is a play about ideas but more perhaps fundamentally about doing something with those ideas. It’s about moving beyond mere ideas. Stephen said that this is a play about being your own man. I also say it’s about being your own man, whether you are a man or a woman, gay or straight, or if you’re Republican or Democrat, whatever. Just be your own man. That is the important idea.

How did you, Stephen, become involved?

Stephen: I don’t know how much of it he had already written, but he said, “I have this idea for a show about Icarus.” I love working with him on the stuff we’ve done before and I said, “Is it modern or is it something set in Crete and is it like an old poem cluster?” He said, “It’s modern and the characters have been doing this ritual for 6,000 years and Icarus is tired of playing the game. “ Immediately I said, “Scott, I am absolutely riveted by this idea.” I’ve been working on a movie project called “Off-Hollywood,” which is a movie that I am a lead in and it’s been filming for about 5 years. Early in the process of working with the director, with whom I’ve been working closely, he would talk to me about Icarus in regards to my approach to this other character I’m portraying in the film. He would talk about me not playing him to high or too low and he would mention the myth of Icarus. So when Scott approached me with this I said, “Scott, I really have a lot of Icarus issues. I really think I will understand this character.” He presented me with bits of text from the play and I would read them and I loved it!

It sounds epic.

Scott: Because we have an intimate setting at the Hollywood Fringe, the complex textures of the dialogue and Stephen’s performance stand out. In a way, it would not be the case if we had a big stage and lots of effects. It’s about the performance. It’s all about this guy (pointing to Stephen) tearing up that stage.

Stephen: As an actor, you look for rich material. You seek material that speaks to you and characters that you can sink your teeth into. This play has it all. Those projects are few and far between.

Should we expect a tragedy? After all, in the Greek tragedy, Icarus fails.

Scott: Certainly, it is about his over ambition to escape, to fly too close to the sun and fall into the sea. But in our story, he’s become exhausted and weary of this repetition. So this is where the power play kicks in.

What was the process of writing the play from idea to page?

Scott: Stephen Foster. We’ve been friends for seventeen years since we first met here in Los Angeles. I lived here a long time ago and now I live in Georgia. We were just talking about collaboration. I knew I wanted to write this play. But I couldn’t find the essential missing component, step, gate or door. Sometimes it’s just something falling into place. So, there was a middle piece or element missing. Of course, I knew that if I wanted to write this piece, I had to find the proper voice and that voice was that of Stephen Foster’s. I wrote every line (even lines not written for him) in the context of my experience with Stephen. He is the kind of actor whose sheer range and depth of talent deserves the text that will push against him. I didn’t want to write a piece that he has already done. I wanted to show the Stephen Foster I know that shows the capacity that he has.

Stephen: What Scott does as a writer is not superficial. A lot of people will write something and it will be one-dimensional. Scott writes so that one character’s dialogue will not fit with another character’s dialogue. There is range in his writing.

Do you rewrite often?

Scott: Yes. Like any writer, I miss steps and I knew whenever I made a right step. If Stephen liked it, then I know I made the right step. I’m not talking about approval. If it spoke to Stephen’s sense of the character, then I knew it was right.

Stephen: I think that’s what all artists are seeking. To have your own thing, your own niche and to know what that nice his. That’s what’s so rewarding. I’m a unique character. A unique actor. That requires unique material.

What are your thoughts on collaboration?

Stephen: If the collaboration is real and true there is no compromise of anyone’s integrity ever.

Scott: I’ve been watching the rehearsal over Skype from the very first rehearsal, which began in April or May. I just arrived in town last week. I’ve been an intimate observer, but I believe that part of the collaborative effort is knowing when not to fuck another artist’s specialty. Thomas Anwalt is our talented director and I trust what I have asked him to do.

Stephen: That’s what I mean when I say that we don’t want to compromise anyone’s integrity. When the collaborative process is real, you have to trust the people that you cast and the people that you hire to bring that mission off.

Scott: In a way, our story is about family. All the characters in the play are related, directly or indirectly. But, like all theatre companies, they become a family, whether a dysfunctional one or a happy functional one. Ours is a happy, functional, loving family.

Scott: When it comes to the question of ownership, yes, it’s true: there’s some line of text that says Carey Scott Wilkerson wrote this play. But the truth is: Carey Scott Wilkerson, Stephen Foster, Charlotte Gulezian, Kerr Lordygan, Mo Kanekoa, and Chuck Pelletier, and Thomas Anawalt wrote this play. I can’t say that enough. That’s what collaboration is.

CHECK BACK ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12 FOR THE CONCLUSION OF THIS INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT WILKERSON, STEPHEN FOSTER AND THE REST OR THE CAST.

Seven Dreams of Flying
By Scott Wilkerson
Directed by Thomas Anawalt
At the Elephant Stages’ Elephant Studio
The Lillian Theatre
1076 Lillian Way
Los Angeles CA 90038
For tickets: visit www.hollywoodfringe.com/projects/1147
Runs: Thursday, June 13 and June 15 @ 7 PM
Friday, June 14 @ 2 PM