PLAYWRIGHT CONVERSES UP A “STORM”

Uranium Madhouse: Conversation Storm and The House of Cards

Rick Burkhardt discusses his inspiration for “Conversation Storm,” a Uranium Madhouse entry in the 2011 Hollywood Fringe Festival

Hollywood (May 30, 2011) – Playwright Rick Burkhardt, a veteran of the fringe festival movement, will again have his work “on the fringe” during the second annual Hollywood Fringe Festival. Andrew Utter, Founding Artistic Director of Uranium Madhouse, selected the play as the ideal debut piece for his new theater cabal and coincidentally, Utter’s performance schedule for the company’s premiere production perfectly aligned with the period of the 2011 Fringe Festival. “Conversation Storm,” as presented by Burkhardt’s Brooklyn-based The Nonsense Company, was voted “Best New Play” at the 2007 San Francisco Fringe Festival and “Best of Fest” for the 2008 NYC Frigid Fest.

In addition to being a founding member of The Nonsense Company, Mr. Burkhardt is also an Associate Artist with Uranium Madhouse.

In a 2009 interview by Michael Criscuolo, Burkhardt explained what drove him to write the three-character examination of torture and how the play’s unique structure evolved. An excerpt is re-posted here with permission from New York Theatre Experience Small Press:

“CONVERSATION STORM” IS A UNIQUE PIECE. WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR IT?

WELL UNFORTUNATELY, REALITY HELPED. IN RECENT YEARS, LISTENING TO VOICES IN THE U.S. MAINSTREAM HAVING A “CONVERSATION ABOUT TORTURE” FELT TO ME LIKE BEING TRAPPED IN A TRAIN CAR WITH A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO ARE HAVING A “CONVERSATION ABOUT CANNIBALISM.” OF COURSE, A THREAT OF VIOLENCE ISN’T REALLY A CONVERSATION, EITHER IN REALITY OR IN A “HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION” LIKE THE FAMOUS TICKING TIME BOMB SCENARIO (WHOSE RELATION TO REALITY IS STRAINED AND TENUOUS AT BEST), OR FOR THAT MATTER IN A PLAY.

I’VE THOUGHT FOR A LONG TIME IT’S FASCINATING THAT PEOPLE ADOPT HYPOTHETICAL PERSONAE IN ORDER TO HAVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WHAT THEY WOULD DO IN HYPOTHETICAL SITUATIONS — THEN, BASED ON THOSE HYPOTHETICAL SITUATIONS (WHICH ARE REALLY FICTIONAL STORIES), THEY REALLY ADOPT THE OPINIONS OF THOSE NON-EXISTENT, HYPOTHETICAL PEOPLE (WHO ARE REALLY FICTIONAL CHARACTERS). THE IMPLICATIONS FOR THEATRE ARE PARTICULARLY INTERESTING, BECAUSE ACTORS DO SOMETHING VERY SIMILAR — EXCEPT ACTORS ARE ABLE (IF ALL GOES WELL) TO SHED THOSE HYPOTHETICAL OPINIONS AND PERSONAE AT THE END OF A PLAY (OR AT ANY POINT IN THE PLAY, ACTUALLY), WHEREAS FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW THEY’RE ACTING IT’S NOT SO EASY TO SHED A PERSONA ONCE IT’S BEEN ADOPTED. PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO SAY ALL SORTS OF THINGS THEY DON’T BELIEVE IN ORDER TO APPEAR CONSISTENT WITH WHATEVER THEY SAID BEFORE.

THEN I READ A BOOK CALLED “A QUESTION OF TORTURE” BY ALFRED MCCOY, WHICH LAYS OUT A DECADES-LONG HISTORY OF THE TORTURE TECHNIQUES USED BY SOLDIERS AND PRIVATE MILITARY CONTRACTORS. MCCOY’S DESCRIPTIONS OF HOW A TORTURE VICTIM IS FORCED TO LOSE TRACK OF TIME, TO LOSE TRACK OF HIS/HER PERSONALITY, REMINDED ME OF SIMILAR TEMPORAL AND CHARACTER DISTORTIONS THAT TAKE PLACE IN THEATRE — SOMETIMES HIDDEN AND SOMETIMES (ESPECIALLY IN PLAYS THAT INTEREST ME) EXPLICITLY. IT SEEMED TO ME THAT CONVERSATION, WHICH WE ALL PARTICIPATE IN AND WHICH IS ONE OF THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF “REALISTIC” THEATRE, COULD BE SHOWN TO FUNCTION AS A KIND OF MILITARY OPERATION, PLANNED AND EXECUTED ACCORDING TO COMPETING STRATEGIES, COMPETING TIME-DISTORTIONS, WHICH NO PARTICIPANT IN THE CONVERSATION WAS ENTIRELY ABLE TO CONTROL. HENCE THE PLAY’S DISJUNCTIVE STRUCTURE (AND TITLE).

The complete interview with Mr. Burkhardt may be read at http://www.nytesmallpress.com/pp09/pp09int_burkhardt.php.

In addition, a podcast discussion with the playwright and members of The Nonsense Company can be heard here: http://www.nytheatre.com/podcast.aspx?p=270

The Uranium Madhouse production of “Conversation Storm” will be performed with a second short play, ‘The House of Cards” by Charles Mee. Fringe audiences will have a chance at a sneak peak with a June 9th preview performance. Additional Fringe performances will be June 16, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25 at 8 pm at the El Centro Theater in Hollywood, 804 N. El Centro Ave. Hollywood, CA 90038.

Tickets for the June 9th preview are available for $5. Tickets for regular performances are $18. Tickets are available through Fringe Festival ticketing at http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/502.

About Uranium Madhouse and Andrew Utter
Uranium Madhouse is a theater cabal, based in Los Angeles, founded in 2010 by Artistic Director Andrew Utter, founder of The Mother of Invention Acting School. Seeing the theater as a place for madness, Utter’s mission statement aspires to unleash chain reactions of personal and social transformation. For more information, visit http://uraniummadhouse.org.

Andrew Utter has an MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama and a Ph.D. in German Studies from Stanford University. In 2004, he founded the Mother of Invention Acting School in San Francisco, and expanded it to Los Angeles in 2008. Andrew has directed at venues such as Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, New York, and at New York’s Fordham University. Theater companies and institutions for which Andrew has worked, in various capacities, include: the Magic Theater, the Yale Repertory Theater, Manhattan Class Company, Syracuse Stage, Mabou Mines New York, Schaubuehne am Lehniner Platz, Arc-Light Repertory Theater SF, Yale Summer School Acting Program, Northwestern University’s National High School Institute, Emerging Artists (New York), The Flea (New York),Odyssey Theater Ensemble (Los Angeles), Fordham University, Fairfield University, and Clark University. He has directed productions of plays by William Shakespeare, Maria Irene Fornes, Peter Handke, Edward Albee, Eric Overmyer, Wallace Shawn, John Guare, John Webster, Kandor and Ebb, Liz Duffy Adams, Julie McKee, Robert Curtis, Jody McAuliffe and Brian Bauman, among others. For more information, see http://www.utteracting.com/

About Rick Burkhardt
“Rick Burkhardt is an Obie-award-winning playwright, performer, composer, and songwriter whose original chamber music, theater, and text pieces have been performed in over 40 US cities, as well as in Europe, Mexico, Canada, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. He is a founding member of the Nonsense Company, a touring experimental music / theater trio, and songwriter / accordionist for the Prince Myshkins, a political cabaret / folk duo. In 2011 he was listed as an “Off Off Broadway Innovator to Watch” by Time Out New York.” For more information, visit http://rickburkhardt.com/

About New York Theatre Experience
Founded in 1999, The New York Theatre Experience, Inc. (NYTE), is a nonprofit corporation that uses new and traditional media to provide tangible support and advocacy for the theatre community in New York City. Through three programs—nytheatre.com, NYTE Small Press, and Community Outreach—NYTE promotes and advances the work of thousands of theatre practitioners making groundbreaking and foundational art in New York City and around the US, and inform and grow theatre audiences.

NYTE Small Press publishes the Plays and Playwrights anthology series, an annual collection of new works from the indie theater community, written by never-before published playwrights. The objective of the publication program is to bring attention to worthy new works in American drama and their authors. Since the first volume, in 2000, NYTE Small Press has published 147 plays. NYTE Small Press also publishes the Plays and Playwrights Blog featuring updates of the latest news about our alumni playwrights, and other news of interest to playwrights. The blog is found at http://blog.nytesmallpress.com/

In 2010 NYTE Small Press entered the world of e-books with the publication of Plays and Playwrights for the New Millennium – the e-book. This is available on amazon’s kindle store, Barnes and Noble’s nook store, and Borders ebooks.

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