Welcome back and everyone to a fabulous new Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper.We are continuing to bring you coverage of this amazing series that we've had the privilege of covering, the Neurodivergent New Play series.
And we are bringing you the final show of this year's reading.And to talk about the show, we are joined by the playwright Daniel Priliman and the director Anika Nelson.
They are joining us to talk about their show Altitude, which, as I mentioned, is part of the NeuroVirgin New Play series, and it's having its reading on Sunday, November 17th at 2 p.m.at ART New York, South Oxford Street Space.
Tickets and more information are available at anthonyjpicheon.com. It is always so wonderful to speak with these amazing artists that make up this new play series.And I cannot wait to talk more about this great piece we have, Altitude, today.
So with that, let's welcome on our guest, Danielle Anika.Welcome into Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper.
Yes, thank you for having us.
Thank you both so much for joining me today and for bringing with you this wonderful piece, Altitude.Daniel, why don't we start first with you as the playwright.Have you tell us a little bit about what this play is about.
Sure, it's about a lot of things, but the word that was in my mind foremost while messing around with it and sort of bringing it to life in the form that it is now is control.
Because 2020 happened and, you know, a lot of people are dealing with feelings of not having any control and it got me just sort of gelling on, you know, how we act when we have it, how we act when we don't have it, recognizing
the difference between those two things and also how some people go through life needing a lot of control.Some people go through life being okay with not having a lot of it or, you know, approach life a little bit differently.
So it was, it came about by sort of, it was my 2020 play.I'm sure everyone's got one, but you know, it began as starting to put just a couple of fun characters in a blender and see what happens.
when we're all met by things that are a little bit outside of our ability to individually impact.It's a play about waiting.
I love that.Love that.So you've kind of already touched on this, but I'd love to dive a little further in and ask, you know, what exactly inspired you to pen this particular piece?
So a little bit of it is drawn from personal experiences.You know, like there's a, I would be lying if I said that part of this play wasn't inspired by a personal panic attack or a very special panic attack in my life.
But also the two characters, Casper and Denton, who are, the play opens with the two of them dressed very snazzily beside a broken down car on the side of a cornfield on the side of the road.
And that image of just having two people in a broken down car was also something that coalesced and kick-started the play a little bit.So, okay, that's the play, that's the image, that's the set, basically.It's just this car and this corn and...
Where are they going?Why are they going there?They're certainly not going to get there now.What does that mean?
And so we dive into sort of gradually revealing a little bit of information about where they were going, what they were doing, and what happens to them as they encounter two other people who are a little more local to the area and not.
That is fabulous.I mean, not necessarily fabulous, but you know, what a great place to get inspiration, I should say. Annika, tell me as the director, how is it you came upon this piece?
So I was reading through a database of like 200 something odd plays, and I read through like the first half of about 30, maybe a couple more, and none of them like grabbed me in the way like I wanted to keep reading until I found this one.
Like even just from the description I read the description I was like that sounds like a great time and like starting to read it, I was like kind of going into it the same way as I did with all the others, but it was just like as I started reading it, it just kind of felt like.
the energy and the dialogue came like right out of my brain.Like it was just, I understood it immediately.And in reading that, like the humor was exactly the kind of humor that I understand.And I was like, I can play around with this.
This feels like something I can do a lot with.And just a story, like I also have anxiety.So like seeing that on stage was something that I was like, this is really important.I feel like this, a lot of people get a lot out of seeing this on stage.
That's a lovely thought.I love it.
Annika, sticking with you at the time of this recording, we are just under three weeks, if memory serves me right, under three weeks away from the show going up.So what has it been like developing the piece?
It's been really fun so far.We've had, I think, four rehearsals so far.And for the first couple, we had some scheduling stuff.So we didn't have everybody in the room all at once for a while.
But we finally, like the last two weeks, have everybody in the room have been working through everything piece by piece and really developing each person's relationship, like the characters and just the actors within themselves.
And it's been really fun just like discovering new things every single time.
Like each time I reread a scene and I find a new piece, new sentence or something that's like, oh, okay, that links to the rest of this play, that links to an emotion that like will change the entire ending of the show if we do it one way or the other way.
And so playing with the actors and letting them, giving them a lot of free space to discover their characters in themselves as they go, has been really interesting for me.
And kind of just watching how each actor discovers those things in themselves and the characters as they go, because everybody does it differently.
And it's really cool to watch such different people, like in reality and in the show, just all come together and find their own relationships.
That is so wonderful.Amazing.
Daniel, coming back to you, I am really curious to know, with this, you know, with the play coming from such a profound place, with the story being so relatable, is there a particular message or thought you hope that audiences take away from this piece?
Yeah, I'll be the first to admit part of, and one of the reasons I like this show so much is that it is,
I'm not gonna say that it doesn't have a plot, it definitely does, but it is one show of mine where it's a lot more vibes than it may have a sequence of dramatic events, or rather the show finds one of those things more important.
But I think for me, one of the things that I hope people would just take away from it is, especially in these turbulent times we find ourselves still living in,
One of the things that we can do as individuals is at least make the most of the moments we find ourselves in.
No matter how much we control we have over them if we can, it's you know saying that it's going to be easier said than done sometimes but if we
continue to be present in every moment and be in the moments that we find ourselves in, we can get through, whether that's leaning on friends, family, whoever you can, yourself if you need to, but it's a matter of overcoming the internal battle within yourself to sort of step up.
That is so fantastic. I love that idea.And that's going to lead to my final question for this first part, which Anika, I'm going to send it your way and ask, who are you hoping have access to this piece?
I feel everybody should have access to this piece.I feel like it's a very universal, a lot of universal themes that even if you're not neurodivergent, even if you don't smoke weed, even if you don't have like,
a lot of the feelings and things that these characters have.It's something like there's a piece in it for everybody.There's something everyone can relate to.
Like there's a moment between Denton and Shitrat where these characters are just, I feel like they've just had a lot of struggles finding connection in humans and just having people who understand them.And the two of them are very individual people.
And when they discover each other, they have a lot of the same, like a lot of the same vibes.Like they just go off of,
the flow of life they don't really know how to like how to find genuine human connection in the people around them so when they find each other it's kind of really interesting to just see them have human like platonic friendship and just something that a lot of people don't get to see on stage a lot of the time it's romance and like these deep deep feelings that sometimes people have felt and sometimes people haven't but there's a moment like really special moment just between the two of them where it's just like
genuine connection and not needing to worry about what they think, what the world thinks.They're just there together and appreciating each other's company. And that happens multiple times throughout the show.
And I think it's just really beautiful to see.But even if people who smoke can come see it and find some connection to the actors in the story and be like, oh, hey, I feel a little bit seen in this.
Or the people who don't may just leave having a better understanding of people who do and just connecting perspectives a little bit.
Well, for the second part of our shows, 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 want to start with my regular first question, which is what or who inspires you?
What playwrights, composers, or shows have inspired you in the past or are just some of your favorites?And Annika, let's kick the second half off with you, if we may.
Sure.I mean, I, growing up was always a big musical theater person.I wasn't really, I didn't really get into plays until pretty recently, probably around college is when I started actually appreciating them.
So growing up, a lot of like my musical influences were like Sara Bareilles, Waitress, just the, just the soundtrack is just so good.But like, yeah, Sara Bareilles is a big musical inspiration.
But one of my favorite plays I think is Thinner Than Water by Melissa Ross. is just like so intricate and complicated family dynamics and something like, I have a weird family life.
So seeing something like that on stage was really cool to just see the different, like just how all the different personalities interact with each other and like build relationships throughout the show is really cool.
Those are my two favorites at the moment.
I love that.I love that.Daniel, what about you?
What or who inspires you?
Yeah, I had a sort of similar journey where I did a lot of musicals in grade school growing up and didn't get into plays more until college age and sort of discovered absurdism. So like my favorite play is probably Rhinoceros by Eugenia Nesko.
And I had a lot of influence from Beckett and Pinter and things like that.Also a huge contemporary influence on me are probably Annie Baker's plays and the way she tackles just existence and how unafraid of silence she is in most things.So a large
portion of what I write are horror and just genre on stage because I like trying to put that on stage from, you know, that's that's mom's fault.Making me, you know, watching Are You Afraid of the Dark and Goosebumps as a kid and stuff like that.But
learning that theater you could also do that stuff in theater it didn't have to be just like living room plays or memory plays not that hating on those at all but learning that you could do so much more that theater could truly be anything a large portion of
Learning that at that age really pushed me in a direction of seeing how people realistically react to dramatically unrealistic or supernatural situations.That always fascinates me.And so that's a large portion of what I play around with and explore.
Or I at least find fun to write.
I love that though.There's some wonderful, wonderful names on that list.Sounds like you and my wife would be BFFs. Let me ask the two of you, what is your favorite part about working in the theater?And Daniel, let's start first with you.
To me, my favorite part is honestly probably just meeting the people.Because theater artists, gig artists, we have so much more of a vagabond-ish life compared to most, because we're
we leave our families to sort of go do these jobs on various contracts, you know, we get housed at various places or we move around a lot and at the same time you're meeting so many cool people, most talented people who are dedicated just like you to just telling stories and learning more about their craft.
You're always learning and you're meeting so many cool people and it's, you sort of form
a gigantic family over the course of your tenure, your career, because you meet this really cool person in this place, you meet this really cool person in this place, and you know, some people you stay in touch with a little more than others, but you're really sort of like one big giant family.
And the theater world is much smaller than it actually seems.Like you can go into a contract and work with somebody who knows this other person that you met.
So you're building a network of just really cool, talented people who all have like-minded goals with just telling cool, awesome, badass stories that make you think and connect you a little bit more to other humans.
And I think that is probably my favorite part.
I love that answer.That is absolutely the perfect description of what being in a theater is like.Annika, what about you?What is your favorite part about working in the theater?
I mean, a lot of it's the same, it's the people.I feel like the theater industry just has a lot of really good people and like the brains.
Everyone is just so unique in the way that they express themselves and the way that they want the world to see them and that they choose to see the world.
And I think it's really cool to just work with people from so many different places with so many different perspectives.I mean, another, I guess another part of like,
the best part is just the connections, but it's also just being able to create work, create art that makes people think, because I feel like there's just not enough, I mean there's so much good art in the world, but a lot of it's gone so mainstream these days, and it's so pal- like they make it palatable to wider audiences, so it's never as deep, it's never quite as intricate as I personally want it to be, and I feel like there's just so much good parts about theater
like new theater coming up these past couple of years, especially since 2020, like just people rediscovering how to share their voices and share their stories because everybody had such a unique experience during COVID, but everybody had the exact same experience at the same time.
So just finding those connections between your experience and others and being able to just see the world from everybody else's perspectives is really cool.
What a fabulous thought.I love all that.And that all leads to my favorite question to ask guests, which is, what is your favorite theater memory?
I don't know if I have a favorite because there's just so many.And also that question can always just make me go, uh, I don't know.I have to remember parts of my life now.
I the easy answer is meeting my wife on contract five years ago at Cedar Point.We did an interactive experience where we're basically running around as characters all day.
It was a little bit like a Ren Faire, but it was a frontier town designed where we're basically like Westworld hosts.
You know, you can come up, interact with us, we'll give you like things to do or write notes to you, ask you to sort of like, you know, okay, can you deliver this to somebody else for me, but for families without the murder, because it was a theme park.
But if you're asking like favorite story or like mishap, I've got one.It was in a musical that shall remain unnamed, very large cast.And there's a sequence where we're singing a very sad song.
And somebody amongst the ensemble has a small flute solo in it.And they forgot their flute one show.And so instead of playing the flute, they whistled the solo or hummed it and oohed it.
And the amount of people, this is like 40 or 50 people, realizing what is happening in real time and trying to keep from laughing
is still one of the most hysterical things that has stuck with me to this day because everybody is singing a very sad song a dirge about living a very poor life and not being able to it's it was it was hilarious not for the right reasons but what an incredible memory i'm literally picturing that and the moment of do i laugh but also what is going on
Can I just turn around or will people notice?
Business, business, business.Look at all this business I have.That is a fabulous memory.Thank you for sharing that.Anika, how about you?
Yeah, I mean, I had the same reaction to the questions.Now I have to remember things.
It's hard to remember things.
It is.They just, they pop out most of the time.I mean, so many good ones, so many bad ones, but so many good ones.I was in a production of Heathers in high school, and which is like famously one of the darkest shows in musical theater.
But like, it was, It was really weird because coming into that experience, I'd really only had like youth theater things before then.And so it was kind of like very unprofessional vibes.
Everyone's just kind of there to have fun, not really to get the job done.But in this specific production, for some reason, like it was just the most
the most caring environment I'd ever been in and like having an entire cast and crew built entirely of people who cared and wanted to be there and all were like friends with each not like close friends but we all just wanted to be there and friendly for each other like there wasn't a single bad seed in the entire cast like everybody was on the same page we all just had fun and loved the material
And I've never had, like, since that show, I've never had an experience from start to end that was just that wonderful.Like, cast and vibes and performance, like everybody just wanted to do so well.And they did.
And it was just such a good experience and just really good people in that production.
Oh, I love that.Both of you, thank you so much for sharing those.Those were wonderful.
Well, as we wrap things up, I would love to know, do either of you have any other projects or productions coming on the pipeline that we might be able to plug for you?
Yeah, I got a couple.I've got one short play.It's like a 10 minute about a small boy in a monastery encountering a vampire Viking during a raid, which is happening in Chicago at Bump in the Night Theater Company in late October.
No, not October, sorry, late November and early December.
And then I also have upcoming in February of 2025, the Inkwell Theatre in LA is doing a workshop of my play Pit, which is about two people who are being held captive in a pit, but they're fine with it.It's totally cool.
You know, they're, they're making do with everything.But then a third person gets dumped in and sort of ruins the vibes and it's just awkward to be around.
So it's, it's sort of a, it's about the microcosm of dealing with change and sudden intrusion in complacency and whatnot.So that's me.
That sounds incredible.I love it.Anika, anything for you?That's awesome.
I have nothing, no other dates set, but lots of things like coming down just in the idea board.I have my own theater company, so we're doing
a couple like cabaret performances to end this year and start next year and then my goal is by spring next this spring 2025 is to have a new play or musical produced through my theater company so that's going to be super fun but nothing's set in stone yet.
What's the name of the company?
Nameless Theater Company which
Yeah.I'm sorry, we were asking for the name of the theater.
No, no, but it sounds like both of you have some great things coming out of the pipeline that we need to stay tuned for.
And that leads to my final question, which is if our listeners would like more information about Altitude or about either of you, perhaps they'd like to reach out to you.How can they do so?
Yeah.So the about altitude there, any of the neurodivergent new play series links should have all the info.There's a graphic that you can find on our website that I think has got like a QR code for tickets as well.
And I believe also it's a live streamed event that should be like, so if you're not in person in Brooklyn. on the day, you can still watch it.For myself, I am on NPX, which is the new play exchange.
If you've got an account there, there's hundreds, thousands of plays uploaded on there, sort of like a giant cloud based database where you can find new work all the time.
And then I also have a website myself, which is just Daniel Priliman at not I was giving away my email www.danielpriliman.com.And you can also find all my plays there.You can download them all for free and look at them with your eyeballs.
I'm on Instagram.My website is just annikabeth.com.My Instagram is the same thing, annikabeth21.And Nameless Theatre Company is namelesstheatreco on Instagram, and the same for the website.
Well, wonderful.Well, Daniel, Annika, thank you both so, so much for taking the time this morning to speak with me, for sharing this amazing work.
As I've mentioned, I can't wait to see where this goes next, when we get to see a fully realized production, but this show sounds amazing.So congrats to you both, and thank you so much for your time today.
Thank you, this was so much fun.
Yeah, thanks again for having us.It was a blast.
My guests today have been two incredible artists, the playwright Daniel Priliman and the director Anika Nelson, who joined me to talk about their new work, Altitude.
This is part of the NeuroDivergent new play series, and they're having a live reading on Sunday, November 17th at 2pm. at the ART New York South Oxford Street Space, and also live stream.
You can get your tickets and more information by visiting anthonyjpincheon.com.And 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 right now, head over to anthonyjpincheon.com.Get your tickets, whether you're going to be in person or live stream.And this is the final reading. for the series in 2024, so you're not gonna wanna miss it.
Once again, it's Altitude on Sunday, November 17th at 2 p.m.So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez reminding you to turn off your cell phones, unwrap your candies.Keep talking about the theater.
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