Hello, everyone, and welcome back into a fabulous new Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper.We are heading to one of our favorite off-Broadway venues here in New York, 59E-59 Theaters, for today's show.
And we have three amazing artists to talk about the piece today.
Joining us we have the playwright Michelle Coles Brooks, the actress Annabel Gurwitch, and the director Sarah Norris, all who are here to speak to us about New Light Theatre's presentation of Room 1214.
The show is played November 15th through December 8th at 59E59 Theatres, and you can get your tickets and more information by visiting 59E59.org. Very, very excited about this show.Cannot wait to learn more and to share it with you.
So let us not waste any more time.Let us welcome in our guest, Michelle, Annabel, and Sarah.Welcome into Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisperer.Thank you for having us.
I am thrilled to see all of you here, fresh off of a rehearsal, as I understand, and getting ready for this premiere that's coming in just about three weeks, if my brain's working right.So, Michelle, I want to come to you first as the playwright.
Can you tell us a little bit about what Room 1214 is about?
Yes.Room 1214 is based on an interview that I did with a teacher at Marjory Stonem Douglas High School.She was there during the Parkland shooting and was teaching a Holocaust history class at the time when that kid shot into her classroom with
swastikas etched onto his bullets and his boots.They were literally doing reports on hate crimes when this shooting happened.And I happened to meet this woman quite by accident.
And I had always wanted to do something about gun violence, but, you know, the world of it is so absurd.I didn't know how to, how I could say anything on the stage, you know, that could match the absurdity and the theatricality of the real world.
But I met this incredible woman who, even though she had survived the shooting and had managed to keep her humanity and her sense of humor, which was very important, and her love and her perspective.
And I just thought that she was a really interesting person to talk to and try to build a conversation around.To be able to talk about gun violence,
for lack of a better term, sort of hitting anybody over the head with it and to talk about just the nature of hate and what leads to it.
And I know it all sounds very, very dark and heavy, but there is a real beauty in these characters and a real humor in these characters too that can make us connect to them and feel their full humanity and not just their tragedy.
That, wow. Wow.That is amazing.Wow.What a story to be telling.Michelle, I mean, you mentioned this incredibly devastating, devastating event that the story is about.But what exactly inspired you to pen this show?
You know, it was one of those things where as soon as I heard this woman speaking, I went to a, it was over lockdown and I went to a virtual meeting about, it was Moms Demand Action, I think, about gun violence.
And when I saw this woman speak, I just thought, this is my way in to talk about why this resonates with me so deeply.As somebody who, I'm very fortunate,
I have not had a real direct connection with gun violence, but as a parent, it's something that would terrify me with my kid going into school.
And as a matter of fact, when my kid was applying to colleges, my very first rule, when I would look at schools with him, I would look at where I do I think he's least likely to get shot.I mean, it's a terrible, terrible way to look at the world.
And I've just had so much anger and anxiety about it.And as I think we all do.
And somehow talking to this woman unlocked something in me that made me able to write about it in a way that I think, and I hope feels different than some of the gun violence stuff that we see.
And that goes beyond reporting and gets to know these people. And I have worked with Sarah on two other shows.
And I knew that the theatricality of the world that needed to be created for this, that she was like exactly the person that would know how to calibrate all that.So it was just something so deep inside of me that had to get done.
And I have to say that when I finished, I was sort of in a sweat when I finished it.And I thought, no one's ever gonna wanna do this. But at least I said what I had to say.And I felt a little bit better in the world.
I felt like I had just done something that I needed to do.And I've been very happy and fortunate that people have responded to it.And also to get an actress like Annabelle to take an interest in it is just an absolute dream.Absolute dream.
That is wonderful.And actually, I want to bring in our other two voices here, starting with you, Sarah.I'd love to know more about how you came upon this piece.
Well, I'm a huge Michelle Kolos Brooks fan.I have worked, like Michelle said, I've worked on a couple of her other plays.And they're always so different, and there's
such heavy subject matter that's the launching off point of the stories, but she finds such an interesting way to weave humor throughout, which really taps into humanity, which I think makes us feel even more because she's, it's sad, but she also finds a way to make us laugh, which I think then makes us cry and it's,
It's a special gift of hers.So during lockdown, she reached out and said she wrote a new play, and would I be interested in reading it?And my gut response was, yes, of course, always.And then she said, it's about gun violence.
And I was like, oh, oh, why?No. too much too much i can't take it anymore it's nothing ever happens it's just but because i'm a big fan and believe in her as a writer i read the play and i can't remember the last time i finished a script and just i
I didn't have any words.I didn't even know how to respond to her about the script and it had to wait a day.It just filled me up the emotions of it.Just I could see it on stage.It's so theatrical, it's so moving.
And I knew immediately that whether I was directing or not, I wanted to produce it.I wanted to see it on stage because it's,
what I think theater should do, which is challenge an audience, create a space where an audience feels community and hopefully feels moved to do something after experiencing something.And yeah, I just, I, I said, yes, and here we are.
And very, very excited to keep building the play with our incredible cast and our design team, because it is very theatrical and very large in scope.
Yeah.That's wonderful.Annabelle, what about you?You are the star of the show.How did you come upon the piece?
Well, I Andrew and I'm so happy to tell you this little story.You know, I live in Los Angeles and I spend my time writing, you know, I've come from the.
I did my first play in New York, my first professional play at the Henry Street Playhouse in 1981, playing a 14-year-old girl whose grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, played by Wendy Kesselman.
and but and after working for many years in the theater and I still try to work in the theater when I can in California.
I've done world premieres of Donald Margulies's work and David Greenspan's work, Wendy MacLeod's work, but I spend most of my time writing.I I have five books of essays that have been published.
I'm working on my sixth book that comes out this 2025 in the fall.I write for the New York Times and New Yorker, Washington Post.But I was in New York.
Was it, was it last year when I, a friend of mine, wonderful actress Alicia Reiner invited me to come and see War Words by Michelle, directed by Sarah at 59, East 59th.
And I came and I reached out, I asked Alicia to put me in touch with Michelle afterwards, because I was so moved by the production, by the language, the staging was also a play that had journalistic roots of it was Michelle's play.
That play was based on testimonies of soldiers, American soldiers who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I hope I'm getting that right, those two areas. I was so moved.I just reached out to say, can I help you at all?
Is there any connection I can make to help you get this play around?I just fell in love with the play itself.And Sarah's staging was so inventive and imaginative.I was like, who are these people?
Then I went to see another collaboration of theirs, Hitler's Tasters in Los Angeles.And again, I went insane for this production.It was so inventive.I was a super fan.I reached out to Michelle.I realized I knew her husband.
We had some people in common. Again, she said, do you want to have lunch or drink?I was like, no, I'm just your super fan.I don't really have time to get together personally.And this isn't a social reach out.I just want to support your work.
Such a fan of this ensemble work that these two were creating in sort of the new light mission.
So out of the blue, when I was approached about doing this play, I probably had the same reaction, like, oh, I don't, the subject matter, but Michelle sent me the play.
And just as a coincidence, a very close friend of mine, Jeff Vespa, has been making documentaries with people who've survived, students and teachers who survived Columbine and Parkland.And I have been, I am an activist for a number of different
causes and different associated with different issues like housing insecurity, which I have been involved with for many years now and in particular, I volunteer. with young people who are experiencing homelessness, who are unhoused.
And I do a project called the Campfire Project with Jessica Hecht.It was originally founded by Broadway Cares.We create theater all over the world with youth who have experienced the trauma of war and gun violence.
So this issue has been really close to my heart, but I have never had any Ability to connect with that in a way that connects you know art and activism together and this play.I thought was so moving and imaginative and.
was a way of contributing my voice.And I couldn't not do this play.
This is the last thing I had on my mind was coming to New York right now, working on a new book, but there was no way I could let this play happen and not be a part of it and not try to approach
contributing in some small way, a chance to empower people through this storytelling and experience collectively.What that means when we look at really difficult things and the play asks us some hard questions.Why are we terrified of victims?Why
Why do conspiracy theorists, what are they so afraid of?And I think, you know, part of the, it's a question that's being answered.And I mean, that's being asked.And part of the answer is that it's terrifying to feel so vulnerable.
And this play asks us to collectively experience vulnerability.And it asks us,
to take a nod from this real teacher who was teaching, even though it's an imagination, and the play is not, you know, the play is, in some sense, we're telling a lot of stories, but, you know, based on this one particular incident, but we're asking people to contemplate
and connect that message from World War II and the experience of the Jewish Holocaust of never forget.What does that mean?How do we live with that?What does never forget require us to do if we in fact live with that?And
I think Michelle and Sarah together are collaborators whose goal and my goal in it is to find a way that we can share this experience and still live with joy.How do we live with this kind of grief?What do we have to do to continue living with joy
if we acknowledge this grief, fully acknowledge this grief?And that's a really interesting question.And I don't know that we have answers, but we ask the question and we leave the audience with that question.
That is fantastic.Sarah, coming back to you as the director, what has it been like developing the piece and getting it up on its feet?
It's been a lot of pre-rehearsal work.You always put in a little bit of pre-rehearsal work, but the play calls for projections.The play calls for this theatrical lighting design, scenic design.It's really asking a lot of the designers.
So there's been, we've been in communication all summer.
The projection designer has been creating animation work and it just, there's so much work leading up to this point that I can't remember the last time I've been so excited to start because I feel like I've been talking about it with people forever and ever.
And so bringing in and welcoming the cast this week has been, I just started to learn so much and think about the play in different ways.I feel challenged in a great and exciting way.
It's, you know, you're starting to put it all together and feeling, and there, Michelle creates different, what are the rules of this play?I don't wanna give too much away, but there's reality, there's,
fantasy there's kind of somewhere in between and there's a lot of directly talking to the audience and breaking that fourth wall so I really, I believe in a collaborative experience.I believe in ensemble work.
And so to really welcome in these thoughtful artists and discover some of these rules as we go, I just, it's been a exciting process.And our first preview is three weeks from today when we're recording this Zoom.
So I think there was a little panic in the room today when we realized that, but yeah, it's, it's all starting to come together.
That is splendid to hear.Nonetheless, it was fabulous.Michelle, with, like I keep saying, this is heartbreaking, this devastating subject matter.Is there a particular message or thought you hope that the audience will take away from this piece?
You know, it is hard subject matter. I guess I'm hoping that I understand why people want to turn away from it.I want to turn away from it, but I don't think that we can.
I hope that people will be activated to at the very least not turn away and to maybe do something to get involved in my perfect, you know, deep in my hippie heart.That's what I hope is that people will feel moved to.
do whatever little thing they can do, because it is by these little steps that we get work done.And gun violence in this country is not something that we're going to solve through one play.
But the thing about it, and the reasons I wanted to write it, is this is a man-made problem, right?It's not a hurricane. It's not an act of God.We created guns.We use guns.We make more guns.We shoot more people.
We have thoughts and prayers, and then we do it again.It's a man-made problem.And therefore, I believe men and women, and however you identify, can fix it.
And so I hope that we can all feel energized to do whatever little thing that we can do, even if it's just paying attention a little bit more.
Even if it's just maybe not turning the channel when we see another school shooting happening, because those are somebody's kids and those are teachers that we know and love.
And, you know, I actually have this in my playwright statement, but I have a friend who edited a book about gun violence.
And she said this thing to me that just haunts me, which is that at some point in our lives, we, we get to a point where we, we all know.
Everybody we know has been touched by cancer in some way, whether it's us personally or family members or friends. We all are touched by it at a certain point.She said, pretty soon at the rate we're going, that's gonna be true of gun violence.
So let's get on top of this nonsense now, if we can, right?Let's at least do what we can.Let's not feel so hopeless about it because when we feel hopeless, nothing can be done.And I also, I just wanna honor the people who have
come through this, the people whose lives have been touched by it, it must feel very lonely, no matter how much support you get from your family and your friends to know that the world is turning away, must be an incredibly lonely and hopeless feeling.
And so I hope to, I don't know. put out that that that psychic support somehow.I don't know, you know, it's all very out in the air.And I just I just hope we can all be better.I just wanted to all be better.
And I also feel very strongly that if you're putting something on the stage, it also has to be entertaining. You know, it's, it's, I think that's the, that's the first rule.
If you're going to ask people to sit in a theater and to hear what you have to say, you have to be meaningful and you have to be entertaining.And so, so those are, those are also my goals.
I love that.I love that.Sarah, I want to bring my final question to you because I would love to know who do you hope have access to room 1214?
I hope everybody has access to 1214.I mean, I think I've talked about this with the company.I mean, I do think the audience, the people coming to the play are going to be people that
probably feel very similarly to us, that there should be stronger laws in place to handle gun violence.
And I think that's okay, because what we need them to do is leave the play and take those small steps and quit ignoring the problem, because we're the people that could affect change.
The people that love their guns, that are gonna wanna keep their guns, I don't think a play is going to change their mind. But I think the people that know it's a problem, that feel so frustrated.
I mean, I think that's why I didn't wanna read the play at first.I was like, I'm just so frustrated by the, nothing's gonna happen.And I think this play is saying, no, no, no, you can't, you're too privileged to have that response to it.
We have to keep talking about it.We have to keep, we can't ignore it.We have to keep coming together to do something about it.
And I hope that the people that come to see it, if it's more theater people, if it's liberal-minded friends, if it's all, I want them to feel that they're gonna leave the play, they're gonna remember the play, and they're gonna start taking steps to just little steps, take little steps to just keep pushing
Keeping this subject at the center of focus, that we need to do something.We can't keep ignoring it.That's who I hope will hook the people that will take the next step to try to activate some kind of change.
On the second part of our interviews, we love giving our listeners a chance to get to know our guests a little bit better.Pull the curtain back, if you will.
And I know we're a little short on time, but I can't let you all go without asking my favorite question to Ask S, which is, what is your favorite theater memory?
I have a favorite theater memory. I'd have to Google to figure out what year this was, but I was fortunate enough to be cast in the 20th anniversary production of Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein here in New York at Second Stage.
and we were performing at the Lucille Lortel.And this was the first really commercial play that I had ever done.
I came up in the very avant-garde world with Anne Bogart and Richard Schechner and this, you know, background I had started in experimental theater wing at NYU.And that was my whole goal.
I didn't want to do anything that was popular entertainment because I just didn't see, wasn't exciting enough for me.
that play was sold out every production every day and it was my first experience that where I thought what like people could in their you know Wendy wrote you know, very thought-provoking theater.It was also really fun.
And I thought, you could have fun in a theater.You didn't just have to suffer through a very dark existential German, some kind of suffering, but it was really kind of an eye-opening experience to think about the kind of joy
and also amazing experience of having people actually really love your work.And now I am as big a fan of the En Garde Arts production of The Wind in the Rain, which everyone should go and see.Hopefully they will be extending.
That's a vineyard theater and En Garde Arts production.As much as I loved Once Upon a Time on a Mattress with Sutton Foster, I, you know,
I, and I, but I don't think I was open to that till I got to do a Wendy Wasserstein play and understand the value of joy, bringing joy in the theater.What a fabulous memory.Thank you for that.
Who would like to share next?
Who can jump in?I think maybe one of the more formative experiences I've had involving the theater.I was just out of college, just very new to New York.This is decades ago.
And I had the privilege of being the production assistant on the off-Broadway play, I Am My Own Wife. And sitting in a room every day with Moises Kaufman, Doug Wright, and Jefferson Mays, I really felt this idea of collaboration and ensemble work.
And they would sit at a table, and they would talk. all voices were welcome.And I just, I kind of knew that's how I wanted to shape myself as an artist.And so I just, I have strong visual, physical, just overwhelming memories of that process.
And I'm really so grateful for that experience.So yeah, I am my own wife.Great playwright, director, and actor.
That is a fabulous memory and a wonderful show.I was riveted when I read it.I was on the subway.So anybody who was with me when I was reading it probably loved looking at my face and being like... Thank you so much for that.
Michelle, bring us home on this.What is your favorite theater memory?
Oh, there's so... It's hard to choose a favorite.
But I maybe I'll just tell you about something recently, which has just been living, which has been living with me and just giving me so much joy to reflect on in that my my play war words that that Annabelle was talking about earlier, it was in New York last year, and then just
A month ago, Sarah, was just about a month ago, War Words was asked to come do an event at the Library of Congress for the Veterans History Project invited us to the most of most of the cast from New York actually came and did it.
And it's a very big cast.It's like 14 people.And everybody Everybody felt so connected to the work that we had done on this play that everybody kind of brought themselves out and came to DC.
And we all got a private tour of the library of Congress, which I had never been to, which was just breathtakingly beautiful.And we got to perform on the stage there and there were Congress people
And other politicians and veterans and also just people who came to events at the Library of Congress, and it was, it was really magical and you know for me as a writer. Even though when I'm running for the stage, it can be very lonely.
Suddenly, I just looked around and saw all the tentacles that had gone out from all the people that I had interviewed, that had opened up my world in such an extraordinary way to the people who inhabited this world.
to going to this great place in our nation's capital and connecting to these politicians.And I just felt part of something bigger instead of just being little old me in my room by myself.And it just, it filled me up in this really beautiful way.
And I thought, well, if I never have another theater experience again, my entire life, like, this is a pretty good, this is a pretty good one to, to be able to go back to and to remember.
That is a wonderful, wonderful and incredible memory.All of you.Thank you all so much for those memories that you've shared.Those are fabulous.
As we wrap things up, I would love to know, do any of you have any other projects or productions coming down the pipeline that we might be able to plug for you?
Well, in 2025, in the winter, my new book, The End of My Life is Killing Me.This will be my sixth collection of essays will come out.So try it. Wish me good juju as I'm working and editing it now.
It's that lonely writer's life that I am leading at night after rehearsals.
That is exciting, though.Can't wait.Sarah, Michelle, anything for you?
New Light, we're just actively putting together our next season.So I don't have specific details yet.Nothing has been announced.
maybe check out New Light Theater Project if you haven't already and follow us and do all the liking and things that people do.Love to get to know you.So yeah, a general plug for New Light Theater Project.
Well, for me, I just want to encourage people to check out the work of New Light Theatre Project and also Annabelle's books.They're all fantastic.I love the work that New Light does.And for me, I've just been in a
completely enmeshed in this play and some other things that were happening, other productions that happened this year.And after this, for me, it goes a little bit quiet and I'll be starting work on a new play, but nothing to promote just yet.
Oh, well, listen, some great things still to stay tuned to.And that leads to my final question, which is if our listeners would like more information about Room 1214 or about any of you, maybe they'd like to reach out to you.How can they do so?
Well, you can always visit newlighttheaterproject.com.And I'm pretty sure we have website links for, I know, for myself, Michelle, Annabelle, you can go directly to their websites to learn more.
But Michelle and Annabelle, if you want to throw out your websites, I don't know them, but I know they're linked on the New Light page.
For me, yeah, go to New Light Theater Project page if you want to connect to my website, because my last name is always hard to spell and it's easier if you just go to that.But it's michellecolesbrooks.com.
Buy me first go to New Light so you can learn all about them and then click on my website.I'm sure it's linked there or just put my name in, but I'd love to send people to the New Light Workshop, New Light Theater webpage, I mean.
Well, wonderful.Well, Michelle, Annabelle, Sarah, thank you all so much for joining me today and for sharing this powerful piece of theater and all your wonderful insight.This has been such a joy.So thank you so much for your time.
Thank you, Andrew.It was so nice talking to you.
Thank you, Andrew.I love your enthusiasm for theater.Congrats on the baby.
And maybe we'll see you tomorrow night.
We'll see you tomorrow night.
My guests today have been three amazing artists.The playwright, Michelle Colas Brooks, the actress, Annabel Gurwitch, and the director, Sarah Norris, who all of these incredible artists are part of New Light Theater's presentation of Room 1214.
It's playing November 15th through December 8th at 59E59 Theaters, and you can get your tickets and more information by visiting 59E59.org.
We also have some contact information for our guests, which will be posted on our episode description, as well as on our social media posts.But hurry and get your tickets now.Head to 59EA59.org.
Show up, support, and keep this great conversation going.Again, the show is Room 1214, playing November 15th through December 8th. So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez reminding you to turn off your cell phones.
Unwrap your candies.And keep talking about the theater.
In a stage whisper.Thank you.
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