Job: The Hip-Hop Musical: Not totally Bible.
Job: The Hip-Hop Musical: Not totally Bible.
Details
The Seattle Fringe Theatre Festival
Wed., Sept. 17Wed., Oct. 1
At various venues on Capitol Hill. Call 206-322-2018 or visit
www.seattlefringe.org for more information and complete listings.
More About
SEATTLE PLAYRIGHT Melissa Grinley explains the sociopolitics of Deli! The Musical.
Seattle Weekly: Looking at the history of American musicals, theres a clear lack of food- service themes. Is that a void that needed filling?
Oh, definitely. I think its something a lot of people, especially in my generationsort of the twenty- and thirtysomethingscan relate to. I mean, most of the people Ive encountered in my life have worked a job like that, and we really wanted to accurately get at the sort of emotions that go with working a job where people treat you like a second-class citizen, and where youre, you know, basically acting as someones psychiatrist as well as making their food. So I think it has a wide appeal in that way.
How realistic is the show?
We have an artist doing the set who does more caricature-type art, so its somewhat realistic, but because its a musical, the whole play is not realistic. There are fantasy sequences that spring up out of nowhere, and people burst into song.
The people that are playing the customers actually are very talented improv actors, so a lot of the light part comes from just the customer interactions and the cartoonlike caricatures of people. At the same time, there is sort of a heavier story line going on, yet its not dealt with in a really heavy way. We have one character whos dealing with his partner, who is HIVpositive and sick, and we dont really know very much about whether hes OK, because the character is living in denial. Hes very light and very animated about his life, yet at the same time we know that this dark thing is going on. And he does come to terms with it, in his way.
Local 4-F writer/producer/director J.D. Lloyd has created a punk musical about dodging the draft in 1969.
Why a punk musical?
The person I collaborated with is an old punk rocker, and the story behind 4-F is based on his experiences back in 1969 in getting drafted and trying to get out of the draft. It leans towards the satiric. It certainly has some moments of seriousness and pathos, but I think what we tried to do is to be historically accurate, but we also want to comment on whats happening now, without it being obvious, of course. Four actors are inductees, and two of us are playing authority figures and other roles and doubling up that way. The music comes from a punk basis, but there are certain songs that try to quote the music of the timesone has a Beatles kind of flavor, one has a touch of Ravi Shankar. But for the most part, the beat and the way the songs are delivered are in a basic, three-piece punk combo.
Seattles Kristina Sutherland directs GameGirl, the story of three women who work in a medical office and are totally obsessed with video games.
Do you have to be an expert in video games to relate to this show?
Its pretty accessible. Theres no tech-heavy language. Its sort of like listening in on a couple of geeky people talking about their games, which I always find very funnyintense gamers talking about gaming. Theres a lot of dark humor in it: The opening is [actress/writer] Jennifer [Pratt] talking about how she cant control anything in her life and why these games are a salvation for her [as] one of the working poor because she can kill people. Theres a lunch date in the middle of the play, and the date also becomes a gamethey pause the date, which will start it over again.
So theres no political stance here?
No, its mostly very fun. Were not taking a use these games to empower yourself kind of a stance. Its more just about the fact that women play them, and that its not just a male-dominated genre, and that there are women who like to pretend to crawl under things and jump over stuff. Its a fun play to watchits really fast-paced, they do a lot of fight choreography, theres dance in it. Its just a roller-coaster ride.
Simon Neale directs the Fremont Players through a traditional English pantomime in Jack and the Beanstalk.
What do we get at an English pantomime?
Audience interactionit is unlike a normal play where people are expected to be quiet. We encourage people to respond to the actors, to scream out, Look behind you! We want them to boo at the bad guy and cheer for the good guy.
What kind of special effects do you have in the show?
We have a growing beanstalk. Its made up of rubberized latex leaves, and they get bigger as the beanstalk grows. The stalks for the leaves are made from fishing wire. The whole thing goes on a set of rollers and actually grows while Jack is climbing it, and then the scenery behind it changes into the clouds as he climbs. Its the only piece of scenery Ive ever heard get a round of applause. And we have a giant puppet. Hes a 10-foot giant, and he has individually moving fingers, he has moving eyes, a mouth, cheeks, eyebrowsthats really something to see.
