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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > August > 06
Thursday, August 6, 2009
‘House of Several Stories’ — Comedy or absurdist tragedy?
Austin playwright John Boulanger netted a playwriting from the Kennedy Center before the ink dried on his MFA in playingwriting from Texas State University.
You can read a feature story about that here.
Now, that award-winning script, ‘House of Several Stories,’ is getting a fresh production with a stellar line-up of Austin actors. The show opens this weekend at Austin Playhouse. We caught up with Boulanger, who recently co-founded a new theater company, Imagine That Production.
austin360: Tell us about the ‘House of Several Stories.’ How did you conceive of the storyline and characters?
Boulanger: House of Several Stories was written to fulfill a playwriting course at Texas State in Fall 2007, eventually becoming my thesis project towards my masters degree in playwriting, which I received in May 2009. I wrote the play in three weeks, accidentally, while trying to write my initial thesis idea, ‘Durang is Dead!,’ an homage to the very much living playwright, Chrisopher Durang, which still has not seen the light of page.
I’m not exactly sure from where the storyline came, writing it was a blur, but like all of my scripts, it sprung forth from a single line of dialogue, which in turn had to be answered. It’s not until about 20 pages into a script that I know who occupies the story and the roles they will choose to play in the plotline, but I do remember typing the words “The End” on page 141 and feeling that I had created something special — if only to me. This play had by far surpassed my previous scripts both in scope and style.
The script was initially a three-act comedy (ouch) and has since become what I call a “tragedy” (in two acts of nonsense), with the help of a workshop reading, a Texas State production and the helpful advice from professionals. After receiving the workshop reading directed by Isaac Byrne of Working Man’s Clothes (NYC), it was put on the Texas State 2008-9 season, and directed by Jeremy Torres of Search Party (Austin). It was invited to show at the Region VI Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival last February, and after being judged by a national panel, it was invited to perform in Washington, DC, to close the weeklong festival at the Kennedy Center in April. The script won the National Student Playwriting Award, garnering me an observership at this summer’s Sundance Theatre Lab.
The play has a simple set up, whereby three adult family members come together for the Thanksgiving holiday. But what ensues is far from a blissful family reunion — something with which most audience members can identify. Stories are a huge part of this family’s lives, but perhaps at the expense of not facing reality, not making familial connections or even connections with the outside world. The play is about death, loss, and dysfunction — three feel-good subjects to make up any comedy — and it explores how stories can either abet the hurt or aid in the healing needed to cope with painful subjects or occutrences in the characters’ (or our) lives.
The play’s two acts each have a different feel or mood, which contrast greatly from one another, but I liken it to any visit home for Thanksgiving. What appears to be a well-intended trip invariably has the possibility of cataclysmic results — and yet we return home year after year, sometimes wondering “Why do I do this to myself?” That being said, I LOVE my family, and look forward to the visits each year. But every reunion starts off with the telling of the same stories from our pasts, each person having their own version — each person choosing his/her own memories, which through stories become “truths” — perhaps at the expense of addressing realities. I think this is a universal occurrence — on varying scales.
It’s in no way autobiographical, but several elements of my personal life (the lighter ones) are mentioned throughout the play. Facts have been distilled, as art should be selective, and then amplified greatly to create what I hope to be a fun (sometimes scary) theatrical event.
austin360.com: What kind of plans do you have for your theater company, Imagine That Productions?
Boulanger: Everything that has happened thus far for Imagine That, which has definitely been enough to be extremely grateful for, has all occured from what I feel are happy accidents, or nothing short of constellation alignment. When I graduated in May, I knew no one was going to be on the other side of the stage, waiting to hand me a mapped out strategy for a theater career, neatly tucked inside my diploma cover, though that would’ve been nice. And I had no concrete plans as to what I was going to do the day after graduation. But somehow a few days before graduating, I reconnected with my now production manager, Shannon Richey, who I had not seen in almost a year. We made plans to reconnect for a “catch-up-on-life” date, which, looking back, is the inception of Imagine That.
We had no agenda other than to share chronicles from our lives and maybe to gossip, which is always fun, but by the end of the four-hour play date, we had somehow scribbled out a raw “budget” on a Polvo’s napkin—we even borrowed the waiter’s pen to do so. We “imagined” what it would cost to mount a professional production of my latest play, HOSS, since I had no plans for the summer, and all reunions with theatre friends should be about dreaming. The budget was not nearly complete, and I’m not all too sure we knew the other was even serious—it seemed more like a game than anything, but a few days later, the “ideal” of the situation started to become a reality. Literally, nine days after Polvo’s, we had amassed two-thirds of a design team, secured Austin Playhouse, held auditions, and cast a stellar ensemble of actors.
Between that time, not knowing where the money was going to come from (still uncertain on that—ha!), I had connected with people I truly admire in Austin theater. The advice I’ve received from John Fleming, Ann Ciccolella, and Barbara Chisholm (to name a few) gave me an insight on producing — pros and cons and cons and cons — providing me a clearer direction in which to go, while trying to maneuver through the beast known as play production.
One thing I’ve learned from my recent travels to Washington, DC (Kennedy Center), Independence, Kansas (William Inge Festival), and Sundance, Utah (Sundance Theatre Lab), is the importance of networking and the importance of finding your tribe. I’m now working with a production team that includes upwards of 10 Texas State alumni; our costume and set designers; house manager; production assistants; as well as marketing and dramaturg; carpentar and ushers — all from my university. This was not planned. Simply another set of happy accidents.
We have several new scripts from emerging writers which are primed for a premiere, and we have hopes to mount a follow-up production as early as October. (yikes!) We haven’t chosen a script, yet, but members of our team are evaluating each to find the one which is best suited for our resources. Nothing set in stone — but our imaginations are stirring.
We are always looking for more members to share in the fun. And that is truly what this experience has been, and what it should be — fun.
austin360: You’ve got quite an experienced cast including Lauren Lane, Meredith McCall and Martin Burke.
Boulanger: I feel extremely fortunate to be working with the cast that I have. Once again, the stars have aligned. And I feel that they are bringing to the table exactly what I’d hoped they would — professionalism without egos, talent with a need to be challenged, a work ethic with a sense of play and a need to tell a good story. Devoid of this production, I consider Martin, Meredith and Laura to be friends having worked with all three in different capacities in the past.
I also think the younger cast members, Kelli Schultz and Adam Pearson, match, if not their experience, their professionalism and fervor. And even though we are all friends first, I’ve never felt anyone involved with this project was in any way doing a friendly favor — and who has time for those these days? Without it sounding like a self-gratifying plug, I think Laura, Meredith, and Martin (each in their own way) simply responded to the text, at least enough to throw their hats in the ring. They auditioned, accepted the roles, and have treated it as any other job they’d done in the past. Although, I do have to say that with this cast, along with the entire production team, it doesn’t feel like going to work every evening. It’s more like being in a kiddie-day camp, but with adult, and at night. It’s just a heck of a lot of fun.
‘House of Several Stories’ plays 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 5 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 23. Austin Playhouse, Penn Field, 3601 S. Congress, Building C. $15-$20. 476-0084. www.it-productions.org
Images: John Boulanger (top); actor Martin Burke (bottom)
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