Posted on Thu, Sep. 4, 2008
Inquirer: What was the biggest difficulty you had to resolve to get your piece from idea to performance?
Blicher/White: We performed this show back in March at Mum Puppettheatre so this run for the Philly Fringe is a remount. Because all of the acting and design elements had already been rehearsed and crafted together, the most difficult obstacle in bringing the show to the Philly Fringe was finding space. With so many shows going on simultaneously in the city and so few bonafide theater spaces to rent, this is a common struggle for Fringe Festival artists. Luckily, we were able to find a fabulous theater to house Have a Nice Life - the Prince Music Theater!
Q: Do you expect your work to have legs - is there life after LA/Fringe, or is most of what is created for the Festival destined to be seen only on the Fringe circuit?
A: The audience response to Have a Nice Life has been overwhelmingly positive. The show resonates with such a diverse audience that we can certainly envision further productions of this musical gem. In the midst of producing our season, we have planned to research other opportunities for future remounted productions. It’s a show that travels well in terms of the set and it’s just a blast to perform so if an opportunity arises, we wouldn’t soon pass it up.
Q: What’s the primary source of your concepts - music, literature, geopolitics, personal experience, global tragedies?
A: Have a Nice Life is a “therapeutic musical comedy.” The show examines six eccentric characters and their therapist during the course of their 90-minute group therapy session. So I’d say we have three primary sources: music (the show serves as an homage to American musical theater); personal experience and an exploration of the human condition, and the crazy and unheard concept of just having a great time and a few good laughs.
Q: How much does funding influence your choice of subject? Do you find that fear of losing funding dampens the political choices you make in your work?
A: We don’t make many political choices in this work in particular — in fact, the show often relishes in its lack of concern for being politically correct. So funding really doesn’t dictate the political choices made in this piece or really any other piece we’ve done in the past.
I think how you let funding influence your choices just really depends on how creative you are. If you are passionate about a piece of theater or a concept which you want to bring to life on stage, actually having a lack of funding forces you to be more creative with how you go about what you are doing. Creativity is the crux of theater and art so often, the less cash flow you have to work with, the more interesting your work.
That doesn’t mean that we don’t welcome future donors and philanthropists to offer us massive (tax-deductible) donations (hint hint!) — but, if you are allowing money to dictate your choice of subject in the theater, well - you’re in the wrong business!
Q: Is having an edge of political, social or community-based change important to your work, or is your sole goal the artistic outcome?
A: We don’t set out to send a particular message with any one of our plays. However the production is automatically more intriguing for an audience when the subject matter inspires conversation and debate that can last for hours and days afterwards. Most of our work is all in good fun and isn’t weighted in political or social change, but we are attracted to thought-provoking work that leaves the audience with something — and whether that is a changed social view or just a wicked good time, that depends on the audience member.
Q: How comfortable are you in expressing your work verbally -- to audiences, media, friends?
A: We’re thrilled by any opportunity to express our work verbally to audiences, media and friends. Opening our artistic sensibilities to dialogue, collaboration, or just for the sake of showcasing what we’ve created is hugely crucial to growing our audience base and our company in general. Plus, we’re theater people — don't you know we hate talking about ourselves!? :)
Show Details:
Nice People Theatre Company
Have a Nice Life
7 p.m., Sept. 4-6
10 p.m., Sept. 6
3 p.m. Sept. 7
Prince Music Theater, Independence Blackbox
1412 Chestnut St.
Web Links:
Festival show page: http://livearts-fringe.org/2008/details.cfm?id=4955
Artist website: http://www.nicepeopletheatre.org
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