November 14, 2024 • 20 mins
Join Brett Cullum of BROADWAY WORLD for an illuminating, inspiring, and incredible conversation with Brian Jucha, a visionary artist reshaping the Houston theater scene through his groundbreaking work with Catastrophic Theatre. Brian studied with Anne Bogart and artistically directed the VIA THEATRE in NYC. Dive into his latest creation, "Love Bomb," a dynamic musical inspired by the legendary musician Melanie, who ruled the charts in the early 1970s. Discover how Jucha's teenage admiration of Melanie's music has blossomed into a unique interdisciplinary dance theater production, where cabaret-style performances invite audiences to interpret the narrative in their own way. The show features the concept of "taxi dancers" - folks who, in the 30s and 40s, danced with you in dancehalls for a nickel.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
In 10, 9, 8, 7, 6.
Culminating and forming ViaTheatre, which he took over as
(00:26):
artistic director and became apart of the downtown New York
City performance landscape ofthe 90s.
And Via Theatre produced two tothree original works a year.
It's amazing.
You go back, you look at NewYork Times interviews and their
raves and everybody loves it.
But in Houston we get toexperience Brian's work through
Catastrophic Theatre and LoveBomb opens on November 15th at
the Match Facility in Midtownand runs into early December.
(00:48):
This will be his fifthcollaboration with Catastrophic
and its four-runner InfernalBridegroom Productions,
including they Do Not Move,toast, last Rites and we have
Some Planes.
And we have Some Planes has aspecific history to it because
it landed Yuka and theCatastrophic IBP Ensemble on the
cover of American TheatreMagazine, which they still talk
(01:10):
about.
So welcome to Queer Voices,brian.
Yuka, thank you Happy to behere.
I'm excited to have you becauseobviously I mean from this
introduction you've done a lotand you're definitely an artist
of note and you definitely madean impact here on the Houston
scene.
And Love Bomb, the most recentwork it's touted as a conceptual
(01:31):
musical about taxi dancers, setto the tunes of Melanie, the
girl from Woodstock whoeverybody knows because of that
dang song about roller skatesLove Bomb obviously.
Now I have been a theater criticfor 10 years and I missed we
have some planes.
It was before my tenure ofdoing that.
For some reason, anotherbroadway role writer took the
(01:52):
assignment for every othercollaboration that you've done
with catastrophic.
So I'm I am coming in fresh.
What can I expect from love?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
oh boy, what I do is interdisciplinary dance theater
that has a loose narrative thatcan be interpreted differently
from one audience member to thenext.
Text in my work is not theprimary source of the experience
(02:22):
.
The text is as important as themusic, as the movement, as the
gestures, as the dance, as thesongs, as what is happening
between actors relationship-wisefrom one to the other.
And, as I say, the funny thingabout we have Some Plans.
(02:43):
There were eight companymembers in that and we had some
people come back and see iteight times so they could just
watch each person Because,honestly, if you, you know,
depending on who you lom onto atany given moment, you're
experiencing something different.
So it's not just to be clear,it is not.
(03:04):
It is not size specific, it isnot interactive, it is not
audience participation.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Melanie is a connection that we probably have
, because I'm a big fan ofMelanie as an artist.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, I heard that, which I think is crazy.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
It is kind of crazy.
And she is the musical muse forthis show.
What made you want to do apiece exclusively with her music
?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Okay, I was a teenage , melanie Groupie.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, I saw pictures Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I discovered her when I was 10.
And I went to see her inconcert for the first time when
I was 11.
Between the ages of 11 and 20,I probably saw her 40 times
maybe.
And then the joke is, I thenwent from Melanie to Patti Smith
.
That was my grouping status.
(03:53):
But so I mean I have known herforever and for ages.
I have always wanted to do apiece using her songs.
I was planning to do this lastsummer.
I never anticipated that shewould pass away, which she
passed away in January, so Iactually never got around to
(04:14):
asking her if it was okay withher.
I have gotten the approval andthe blessing of her family and
her children and her recordcompany and manager, so, but I
think she would have beenpleased.
You know what I love about herand if you and her record
company and manager, so, but Ithink she would have been
pleased.
You know what I love about herand if you know her stuff, most
people who know of her know herhit and have this conception of
her as this.
You know, flower child, hippiegirl.
(04:35):
Her first two albums are verythere.
You know they were veryinspired by Berthold Brecht and
Kurt Weill.
They're gems of songs aboutrelationships you know and
falling in love and stuff likethat and falling out of love.
Most of what we are using aresongs from her very, very early
career which were written mostlywhen she was a teenager.
(04:57):
So I've wanted to do this for avery long time and I'm finally
happy to get around to it.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Apparently, since you were 10.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yes, apparently since I was 10.
You know the way that it'sbeing structured is that in our
dance hall the taxi dancers alsowork as cabaret performers.
So the Melanie songs are beingperformed as cabaret songs, as
opposed to having a book thatthe songs inform one way or the
(05:26):
other.
So they are informing thecharacters, but they're not
unlike a traditional musical.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
The songs are not motivating the action of the
play it's more like a cabaretpresentation and actually,
ironically, the play cabaretsometimes has these musical
numbers that are just presentedas performances, which is uh
kind of an interesting dichotomythere.
But do you have like a favoritemelanie song?
I just was really curious.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I know it's like choosing sophie's choice, but
well, you know, it's really,really weird because I would
have answered that differentlysix weeks ago, but because of
the seven, because of the sevensongs that we are doing, I've
fallen back in love with some ofthe early ones that I had kind
of forgotten about, including Idon't even know if I should name
(06:13):
them or not.
One of them was suggested bymelanie's manager and it has
turned out to work out sobrilliantly.
The song is called take me home, which I had kind of forgotten
about, and he was like youshould consider take me home.
And I was, and I was, like youknow, went and listened to it
and I was like, oh my God,that's perfect.
One of my favorite songs isLeftover Emotion, which we are
doing, which was written in herlater years but wasn't really
(06:36):
didn't get the recording duethat it should have gotten when
she was younger.
She did record it several times, you know, in her later years,
but it didn't make it on any ofthe you know, big albums in the
70s.
The album Photograph is myfavorite.
I think that that's her work ofgenius that didn't get the do
it deserved.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Probably one of my favorite songs is Leftover Wine,
which I have a feeling probablywouldn't be in the show, but it
never happens, and I alsoreally like Lay Down.
Yeah, that's not in the showeither.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You're killing me, and neither is.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Brand New Key that I'm fine with.
To me Brand New Key was alwayslike the gateway drug to Melanie
for people I felt like you knowpeople kind of it was the hit
that you knew, but it really waskind of this novelty hit kind
of thing and she did some thingswith her voice on it and it was
a little bit it wasn't myfavorite of hers.
I think it's a cute kooky song,very catchy and obviously used
(07:34):
a great effect in film andcommercials and everything else
now and part of our pop culture.
But I do think there are somany more wonderful.
As you said, she's kind of thetaylor swift of her time as far
as like breakup songs and youknow she was, I mean, and
interesting.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I I mean I honestly do feel like she didn't get her
due, because in 70, 71, 72 shewas, like you know, billboard's
top female vocalist and I meanshe started her own record
company when she had a fallingout with Buddha.
So she's the first woman thatdid that Started.
I mean imagine a woman in 1971starting her own record company,
like that was completelyunheard of.
(08:12):
But then, you know, by 78, shewas kind of like gone, you know.
And also she will say wanted tohave children.
So know, by 78 she was kind oflike gone, you know.
And also she will say wanted tohave children.
So she had three beautifulchildren and that was more
important to her than her career.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
I think now you mentioned a term going back to
love bomb that some listenersmay not be familiar with taxi
dancer.
What exactly is a taxi dancer?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
well, a taxi dancer is a term for okay.
It was something that happenedin the 30s and 40s, before, you
know, around the war time period, there would be clubs where and
it's largely thought that it'smostly men going to women, but
it also was women going to menwhere you could go and pay
(08:53):
someone to dance with you andthey were called taxi dancers
because then afterwardseverybody would get in their
taxis and go home.
But it's basically what SweetCharity is based on.
Sweet Charity is a taxi dancer.
You look at the number, bigSpender.
That is completely about taxidancers.
I found it I first heard it withan interview with Rudolph
(09:15):
Valentino, because apparently hewas a taxi dancer before he was
famous and of course he impliedthat it was more than just
being a taxi dancer, that it ledinto prostitution.
I just found it veryinteresting in you know, in
terms of a dance hall place,that people would go to dance
with somebody and pay them fivecents or, you know, a nickel for
(09:38):
a dance.
So I think it's a great premisefor human interaction.
You know, I would do it now.
I'm gonna be honest.
You would go pay someone for adance sure, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I see nothing wrong.
We should bring this back maybewe should have a night after the
show where we just taxi downgenius, let's do it all right
yeah so I have heard urban myth,whatever, but that you often
come to houston with a conceptand maybe you have a beginning,
(10:13):
maybe you have an end.
You get together with the cast,the catastrophic, catastrophic
artists, you collaborate andcreate this whole show kind of
organically.
Tell me a little bit about yourprocess and how you kind of
differ from somebody that comesin with a fully realized script,
like a Michael Marr that haseverything already done.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Normally I have themes, I have ideas for things
that will happen.
There might be a structure thatwe play off of, like last
rights, we played off of Ritesof Spring Stravinsky's ballet.
We have some places really easy, because it was text from the
morning of September 11th.
So we literally use that as thestructure.
(10:54):
They said the text at the timethat the text was said.
You know that morning the actor.
We will do composition workwhere the actors will create
original characters.
What they do is what becomesthe basis for what the audience
sees.
We also use something calledviewpoint improv work, which
goes way back, which youmentioned earlier.
(11:15):
But I did study with Ann Bogartand Mary Overly in 78 and 79 at
NYU's Experimental Theater Wing, and also Wendell Beavers, who
was Mary's husband at the time,and so we use the viewpoint
method of improv to reallycreate the human interactions
that happen.
We have pulled found texts fromplaces.
(11:37):
Occasionally we will have thebasis for a text but, like even
even with love bomb, I tried notto have a text but I found that
to put it together in fourweeks we needed something
structurally to ground it.
I won't say what it is.
(11:57):
Some people may recognize it andsome people may not, but it
does have something to do withserial killers.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I love you catastrophic artists, because
you always come to me with thiskind of thing.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
What the heck.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Go back and listen to my interview with Walt
Zipperman about Sarah Kane'scleanse.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
He would not tell me a thing, Well, you know, part of
it is you also want people tobe surprised and you don't want
people to come in with apreconceived notion Toast.
We use the script of Alien, ofthe movie Alien.
Now, if I said that to peoplebefore, they came okay, and that
was just one thing.
You know, there was a lot ofother texts with it.
If I said to people, we'redoing the script of Alien, well,
(12:41):
you would think that that'swhat you.
You would think that we weredoing Alien, which is not what
we were doing.
So that's why I don't want tosay what the text is from,
because it would lead people tothink one thing rather than
experiencing it for themselves.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
This blows my mind because obviously I told you you
know, I've been a theatercritic for 10 years and I've
been an actor for a lot longer,and I don't want to admit that
how long I think about this andI'm like, if you wanted to
restage, like we have someplanes, it would be a different
show, wouldn't it?
I mean, even if you cast thesame people, they probably would
come up with different things,or I mean what in this process?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I think it would be interesting and I kind of would
love to restage we have someplans, because so many people
were afraid of it, because wedid that in like march of 2002,
I believe that the actors wouldhave to learn what the actor's
original score was, and thenthey could make changes to some
extent, but you'd still have tohonor what the person originally
(13:39):
did.
So, yeah, I mean there's onlybeen one piece that I remounted
and it pretty much we ended uphaving two or three actors
replace the original cast, andit was pretty much the same.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
So you just go through this process once and
then, if you ever do it again,you've got kind of the basis.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Well, yeah, actually, we don't have the history of
that because we haven't reallydone it.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
if I do anything again, previously when I talked
with jason he was saying thatyou kind of work with them
exclusively now or are you stillworking with via what's?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
no, via disbanded I mean yeah, viabanded, you know,
in the early aughts.
You know, via Theatre wasoriginally a company that was
created for Anne Bogart toproduce her work in New York and
she wanted to open it up toother directors.
So we did and we were doingthat and I was the first, and
(14:35):
then we all went to Trinity Repfor a year where she was given
the artistic directorship andthen when we came back a lot of
the Trinity Rep performers kindof became the Via Theatre
Company.
I kind of took it over becauseAnne was moving in other
directions.
You know and listen, I meanthis is my hats off to
Catastrophic.
(14:56):
The administrative horror showof raising money to do theater
in the United States isincredibly draining.
So you know, after 15 years ofVia Theater, you know, every
time we did a show we were$10,000 in debt.
This for 30 years is justphenomenal and phenomenal that
(15:18):
so many of the same people arethere.
You know, to think that peoplethat I did the shows with in,
you know, 1997 are still a partof the company is just that's
nuts, you know, or that you know, of the seven people that are
doing Love Bob, six of them havedone other shows with me before
.
You know some of them have donethree or four.
(15:38):
So Tamri Cooper has done allfive.
So you know it's just amazingthat they're, because I so
strongly believe in the conceptof company and I think that what
a company of actors can do, youknow there's a shorthand that
just doesn't exist, I think,with you know you have to like
get through that period with anew group of actors that when
you have a company they justfall right into some kind of a
(16:02):
pattern and pace that is justvenous.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Well, I've always had the perspective that
Catastrophic is definitely oneof the jewels of the Houston
theater scene because they dostuff that nobody would touch.
Your larger companies are nevergoing to do it.
They're not going to take achance with experimental theater
, they're going to run away fromit shrieking because they've
got christmas carol and they'vegot wicked and they've got
(16:28):
phantom of the opera.
That's going to make them tonsof money.
So you know, putting on amusical with melanie songs about
taxi dancers is not on theirbucket list or whatever.
And I love the viewpoint thatthey bring, the fact that they
do have this longevity and theydo have this history.
And you do feel that as aaudience member even you can
feel that connection betweensome of their company and the
(16:51):
through line of coming andseeing them over again and
different iterations ofthemselves and watching them
grow as actors and all of thatkind of stuff.
It's a neat feeling, I think,and it's one that I think is
unique not only to Houston butto Catastrophic itself.
I mean, I have not seen verymany companies like this around
the country and so often we getartists that can't do business,
(17:14):
and that's one of the problemswith our industry is.
It's hard to fund these thingsbecause we're not financial
people.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
That's why the theater system has managing
directors.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
So it's interesting and Houston really embraces
Catastrophic, which I think iswonderful and definitely anytime
that you come to town it'salways a big event.
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
And I have moved here .
Have you, I have you, I havemoved here.
Yes, yeah, the story of thiswas I had done the first two
shows with infernal bridegroomand then jason was asking me
every year if I would come anddo a show and I kept saying I
wasn't ready.
Plus, my mother was very sickand I was taking care of her and
blah, blah, blah and I had, youknow, getting away from new
(17:57):
york for six and I'm veryunusual because I like to go to
every performance.
So it drives me crazy if I havea show running and I can't go.
(18:19):
No-transcript.
But no, the idea was beforeCOVID, I was going to look for a
place down here and snowbirdCOVID and people working from
home and stuff like that, not tomention as somebody who lives
in Manhattan trying to find aproperty in Manhattan, I mean.
So basically, I found a condoin Houston.
The bedroom is the size of whatI could afford in Manhattan
(18:42):
alone and I was just like youknow, I don't need to be there
anymore.
Well, welcome to Houston as aresident?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Absolutely yes, and that's exciting.
Does that mean that we're goingto see more collaborations with
Catastrophic?
on a more regular basis or Well,we hope All right.
Well, brian Yuka Love Bombopens November 15th at the Match
Facility in Midtown.
It runs into early December.
You guys are in the traditionalspace, match 3, I believe, kind
of the Catastrophic home mostof the time.
Sometimes they drift into 4,but I think 3 is typically
(19:14):
theirs and of course you've gotdifferent nights and things like
that.
Are there any special eventswith this one?
I know that.
Is there going to be a talkback with you?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
there will be a talk back, there will be an industry
night.
Obviously we're not doing ashow on thanksgiving, because
you know we are.
But listen, let me tell you, weare the ultimate christmas
holiday entertainment he'sthinking, thinking Love Bomb.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, I'm really not Take the whole family.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I said to the company last week that we should sing
one of Melanie's Christmas songsas an encore, because her
Christmas stuff is great too.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Well, one thing that you guys do is you do free beer
Fridays, so every Friday you canenjoy a canned beverage with
the company of Love Bomb andapparently Brian, because it
sounds like you're at everysingle performance.
In 10, 9, 8, 7, 6.
Culminating and forming ViaTheatre, which he took over as
(00:26):
artistic director and became apart of the downtown New York
City performance landscape ofthe 90s.
And Via Theatre produced two tothree original works a year.
It's amazing.
You go back, you look at NewYork Times interviews and their
raves and everybody loves it.
But in Houston we get toexperience Brian's work through
Catastrophic Theatre and LoveBomb opens on November 15th at
the Match Facility in Midtownand runs into early December.
(00:48):
This will be his fifthcollaboration with Catastrophic
and its four-runner InfernalBridegroom Productions,
including they Do Not Move,toast, last Rites and we have
Some Planes.
And we have Some Planes has aspecific history to it because
it landed Yuka and theCatastrophic IBP Ensemble on the
cover of American TheatreMagazine, which they still talk
(01:10):
about.
So welcome to Queer Voices,brian.
Yuka, thank you Happy to behere.
I'm excited to have you becauseobviously I mean from this
introduction you've done a lotand you're definitely an artist
of note and you definitely madean impact here on the Houston
scene.
And Love Bomb, the most recentwork it's touted as a conceptual
(01:31):
musical about taxi dancers, setto the tunes of Melanie, the
girl from Woodstock whoeverybody knows because of that
dang song about roller skatesLove Bomb obviously.
Now I have been a theater criticfor 10 years and I missed we
have some planes.
It was before my tenure ofdoing that.
For some reason, anotherbroadway role writer took the
(01:52):
assignment for every othercollaboration that you've done
with catastrophic.
So I'm I am coming in fresh.
What can I expect from love?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
oh boy, what I do is interdisciplinary dance theater
that has a loose narrative thatcan be interpreted differently
from one audience member to thenext.
Text in my work is not theprimary source of the experience
(02:22):
.
The text is as important as themusic, as the movement, as the
gestures, as the dance, as thesongs, as what is happening
between actors relationship-wisefrom one to the other.
And, as I say, the funny thingabout we have Some Plans.
(02:43):
There were eight companymembers in that and we had some
people come back and see iteight times so they could just
watch each person Because,honestly, if you, you know,
depending on who you lom onto atany given moment, you're
experiencing something different.
So it's not just to be clear,it is not.
(03:04):
It is not size specific, it isnot interactive, it is not
audience participation.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Melanie is a connection that we probably have
, because I'm a big fan ofMelanie as an artist.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, I heard that, which I think is crazy.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
It is kind of crazy.
And she is the musical muse forthis show.
What made you want to do apiece exclusively with her music
?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Okay, I was a teenage , melanie Groupie.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, I saw pictures Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I discovered her when I was 10.
And I went to see her inconcert for the first time when
I was 11.
Between the ages of 11 and 20,I probably saw her 40 times
maybe.
And then the joke is, I thenwent from Melanie to Patti Smith
.
That was my grouping status.
(03:53):
But so I mean I have known herforever and for ages.
I have always wanted to do apiece using her songs.
I was planning to do this lastsummer.
I never anticipated that shewould pass away, which she
passed away in January, so Iactually never got around to
(04:14):
asking her if it was okay withher.
I have gotten the approval andthe blessing of her family and
her children and her recordcompany and manager, so, but I
think she would have beenpleased.
You know what I love about herand if you and her record
company and manager, so, but Ithink she would have been
pleased.
You know what I love about herand if you know her stuff, most
people who know of her know herhit and have this conception of
her as this.
You know, flower child, hippiegirl.
(04:35):
Her first two albums are verythere.
You know they were veryinspired by Berthold Brecht and
Kurt Weill.
They're gems of songs aboutrelationships you know and
falling in love and stuff likethat and falling out of love.
Most of what we are using aresongs from her very, very early
career which were written mostlywhen she was a teenager.
(04:57):
So I've wanted to do this for avery long time and I'm finally
happy to get around to it.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Apparently, since you were 10.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yes, apparently since I was 10.
You know the way that it'sbeing structured is that in our
dance hall the taxi dancers alsowork as cabaret performers.
So the Melanie songs are beingperformed as cabaret songs, as
opposed to having a book thatthe songs inform one way or the
(05:26):
other.
So they are informing thecharacters, but they're not
unlike a traditional musical.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
The songs are not motivating the action of the
play it's more like a cabaretpresentation and actually,
ironically, the play cabaretsometimes has these musical
numbers that are just presentedas performances, which is uh
kind of an interesting dichotomythere.
But do you have like a favoritemelanie song?
I just was really curious.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I know it's like choosing sophie's choice, but
well, you know, it's really,really weird because I would
have answered that differentlysix weeks ago, but because of
the seven, because of the sevensongs that we are doing, I've
fallen back in love with some ofthe early ones that I had kind
of forgotten about, including Idon't even know if I should name
(06:13):
them or not.
One of them was suggested bymelanie's manager and it has
turned out to work out sobrilliantly.
The song is called take me home, which I had kind of forgotten
about, and he was like youshould consider take me home.
And I was, and I was, like youknow, went and listened to it
and I was like, oh my God,that's perfect.
One of my favorite songs isLeftover Emotion, which we are
doing, which was written in herlater years but wasn't really
(06:36):
didn't get the recording duethat it should have gotten when
she was younger.
She did record it several times, you know, in her later years,
but it didn't make it on any ofthe you know, big albums in the
70s.
The album Photograph is myfavorite.
I think that that's her work ofgenius that didn't get the do
it deserved.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Probably one of my favorite songs is Leftover Wine,
which I have a feeling probablywouldn't be in the show, but it
never happens, and I alsoreally like Lay Down.
Yeah, that's not in the showeither.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You're killing me, and neither is.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Brand New Key that I'm fine with.
To me Brand New Key was alwayslike the gateway drug to Melanie
for people I felt like you knowpeople kind of it was the hit
that you knew, but it really waskind of this novelty hit kind
of thing and she did some thingswith her voice on it and it was
a little bit it wasn't myfavorite of hers.
I think it's a cute kooky song,very catchy and obviously used
(07:34):
a great effect in film andcommercials and everything else
now and part of our pop culture.
But I do think there are somany more wonderful.
As you said, she's kind of thetaylor swift of her time as far
as like breakup songs and youknow she was, I mean, and
interesting.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I I mean I honestly do feel like she didn't get her
due, because in 70, 71, 72 shewas, like you know, billboard's
top female vocalist and I meanshe started her own record
company when she had a fallingout with Buddha.
So she's the first woman thatdid that Started.
I mean imagine a woman in 1971starting her own record company,
like that was completelyunheard of.
(08:12):
But then, you know, by 78, shewas kind of like gone, you know.
And also she will say wanted tohave children.
So know, by 78 she was kind oflike gone, you know.
And also she will say wanted tohave children.
So she had three beautifulchildren and that was more
important to her than her career.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
I think now you mentioned a term going back to
love bomb that some listenersmay not be familiar with taxi
dancer.
What exactly is a taxi dancer?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
well, a taxi dancer is a term for okay.
It was something that happenedin the 30s and 40s, before, you
know, around the war time period, there would be clubs where and
it's largely thought that it'smostly men going to women, but
it also was women going to menwhere you could go and pay
(08:53):
someone to dance with you andthey were called taxi dancers
because then afterwardseverybody would get in their
taxis and go home.
But it's basically what SweetCharity is based on.
Sweet Charity is a taxi dancer.
You look at the number, bigSpender.
That is completely about taxidancers.
I found it I first heard it withan interview with Rudolph
(09:15):
Valentino, because apparently hewas a taxi dancer before he was
famous and of course he impliedthat it was more than just
being a taxi dancer, that it ledinto prostitution.
I just found it veryinteresting in you know, in
terms of a dance hall place,that people would go to dance
with somebody and pay them fivecents or, you know, a nickel for
(09:38):
a dance.
So I think it's a great premisefor human interaction.
You know, I would do it now.
I'm gonna be honest.
You would go pay someone for adance sure, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I see nothing wrong.
We should bring this back maybewe should have a night after the
show where we just taxi downgenius, let's do it all right
yeah so I have heard urban myth,whatever, but that you often
come to houston with a conceptand maybe you have a beginning,
(10:13):
maybe you have an end.
You get together with the cast,the catastrophic, catastrophic
artists, you collaborate andcreate this whole show kind of
organically.
Tell me a little bit about yourprocess and how you kind of
differ from somebody that comesin with a fully realized script,
like a Michael Marr that haseverything already done.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Normally I have themes, I have ideas for things
that will happen.
There might be a structure thatwe play off of, like last
rights, we played off of Ritesof Spring Stravinsky's ballet.
We have some places really easy, because it was text from the
morning of September 11th.
So we literally use that as thestructure.
(10:54):
They said the text at the timethat the text was said.
You know that morning the actor.
We will do composition workwhere the actors will create
original characters.
What they do is what becomesthe basis for what the audience
sees.
We also use something calledviewpoint improv work, which
goes way back, which youmentioned earlier.
(11:15):
But I did study with Ann Bogartand Mary Overly in 78 and 79 at
NYU's Experimental Theater Wing, and also Wendell Beavers, who
was Mary's husband at the time,and so we use the viewpoint
method of improv to reallycreate the human interactions
that happen.
We have pulled found texts fromplaces.
(11:37):
Occasionally we will have thebasis for a text but, like even
even with love bomb, I tried notto have a text but I found that
to put it together in fourweeks we needed something
structurally to ground it.
I won't say what it is.
(11:57):
Some people may recognize it andsome people may not, but it
does have something to do withserial killers.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I love you catastrophic artists, because
you always come to me with thiskind of thing.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
What the heck.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Go back and listen to my interview with Walt
Zipperman about Sarah Kane'scleanse.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
He would not tell me a thing, Well, you know, part of
it is you also want people tobe surprised and you don't want
people to come in with apreconceived notion Toast.
We use the script of Alien, ofthe movie Alien.
Now, if I said that to peoplebefore, they came okay, and that
was just one thing.
You know, there was a lot ofother texts with it.
If I said to people, we'redoing the script of Alien, well,
(12:41):
you would think that that'swhat you.
You would think that we weredoing Alien, which is not what
we were doing.
So that's why I don't want tosay what the text is from,
because it would lead people tothink one thing rather than
experiencing it for themselves.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
This blows my mind because obviously I told you you
know, I've been a theatercritic for 10 years and I've
been an actor for a lot longer,and I don't want to admit that
how long I think about this andI'm like, if you wanted to
restage, like we have someplanes, it would be a different
show, wouldn't it?
I mean, even if you cast thesame people, they probably would
come up with different things,or I mean what in this process?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I think it would be interesting and I kind of would
love to restage we have someplans, because so many people
were afraid of it, because wedid that in like march of 2002,
I believe that the actors wouldhave to learn what the actor's
original score was, and thenthey could make changes to some
extent, but you'd still have tohonor what the person originally
(13:39):
did.
So, yeah, I mean there's onlybeen one piece that I remounted
and it pretty much we ended uphaving two or three actors
replace the original cast, andit was pretty much the same.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
So you just go through this process once and
then, if you ever do it again,you've got kind of the basis.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Well, yeah, actually, we don't have the history of
that because we haven't reallydone it.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
if I do anything again, previously when I talked
with jason he was saying thatyou kind of work with them
exclusively now or are you stillworking with via what's?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
no, via disbanded I mean yeah, viabanded, you know,
in the early aughts.
You know, via Theatre wasoriginally a company that was
created for Anne Bogart toproduce her work in New York and
she wanted to open it up toother directors.
So we did and we were doingthat and I was the first, and
(14:35):
then we all went to Trinity Repfor a year where she was given
the artistic directorship andthen when we came back a lot of
the Trinity Rep performers kindof became the Via Theatre
Company.
I kind of took it over becauseAnne was moving in other
directions.
You know and listen, I meanthis is my hats off to
Catastrophic.
(14:56):
The administrative horror showof raising money to do theater
in the United States isincredibly draining.
So you know, after 15 years ofVia Theater, you know, every
time we did a show we were$10,000 in debt.
This for 30 years is justphenomenal and phenomenal that
(15:18):
so many of the same people arethere.
You know, to think that peoplethat I did the shows with in,
you know, 1997 are still a partof the company is just that's
nuts, you know, or that you know, of the seven people that are
doing Love Bob, six of them havedone other shows with me before
.
You know some of them have donethree or four.
(15:38):
So Tamri Cooper has done allfive.
So you know it's just amazingthat they're, because I so
strongly believe in the conceptof company and I think that what
a company of actors can do, youknow there's a shorthand that
just doesn't exist, I think,with you know you have to like
get through that period with anew group of actors that when
you have a company they justfall right into some kind of a
(16:02):
pattern and pace that is justvenous.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Well, I've always had the perspective that
Catastrophic is definitely oneof the jewels of the Houston
theater scene because they dostuff that nobody would touch.
Your larger companies are nevergoing to do it.
They're not going to take achance with experimental theater
, they're going to run away fromit shrieking because they've
got christmas carol and they'vegot wicked and they've got
(16:28):
phantom of the opera.
That's going to make them tonsof money.
So you know, putting on amusical with melanie songs about
taxi dancers is not on theirbucket list or whatever.
And I love the viewpoint thatthey bring, the fact that they
do have this longevity and theydo have this history.
And you do feel that as aaudience member even you can
feel that connection betweensome of their company and the
(16:51):
through line of coming andseeing them over again and
different iterations ofthemselves and watching them
grow as actors and all of thatkind of stuff.
It's a neat feeling, I think,and it's one that I think is
unique not only to Houston butto Catastrophic itself.
I mean, I have not seen verymany companies like this around
the country and so often we getartists that can't do business,
(17:14):
and that's one of the problemswith our industry is.
It's hard to fund these thingsbecause we're not financial
people.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
That's why the theater system has managing
directors.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
So it's interesting and Houston really embraces
Catastrophic, which I think iswonderful and definitely anytime
that you come to town it'salways a big event.
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
And I have moved here .
Have you, I have you, I havemoved here.
Yes, yeah, the story of thiswas I had done the first two
shows with infernal bridegroomand then jason was asking me
every year if I would come anddo a show and I kept saying I
wasn't ready.
Plus, my mother was very sickand I was taking care of her and
blah, blah, blah and I had, youknow, getting away from new
(17:57):
york for six and I'm veryunusual because I like to go to
every performance.
So it drives me crazy if I havea show running and I can't go.
(18:19):
No-transcript.
But no, the idea was beforeCOVID, I was going to look for a
place down here and snowbirdCOVID and people working from
home and stuff like that, not tomention as somebody who lives
in Manhattan trying to find aproperty in Manhattan, I mean.
So basically, I found a condoin Houston.
The bedroom is the size of whatI could afford in Manhattan
(18:42):
alone and I was just like youknow, I don't need to be there
anymore.
Well, welcome to Houston as aresident?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Absolutely yes, and that's exciting.
Does that mean that we're goingto see more collaborations with
Catastrophic?
on a more regular basis or Well,we hope All right.
Well, brian Yuka Love Bombopens November 15th at the Match
Facility in Midtown.
It runs into early December.
You guys are in the traditionalspace, match 3, I believe, kind
of the Catastrophic home mostof the time.
Sometimes they drift into 4,but I think 3 is typically
(19:14):
theirs and of course you've gotdifferent nights and things like
that.
Are there any special eventswith this one?
I know that.
Is there going to be a talkback with you?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
there will be a talk back, there will be an industry
night.
Obviously we're not doing ashow on thanksgiving, because
you know we are.
But listen, let me tell you, weare the ultimate christmas
holiday entertainment he'sthinking, thinking Love Bomb.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, I'm really not Take the whole family.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I said to the company last week that we should sing
one of Melanie's Christmas songsas an encore, because her
Christmas stuff is great too.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Well, one thing that you guys do is you do free beer
Fridays, so every Friday you canenjoy a canned beverage with
the company of Love Bomb andapparently Brian, because it
sounds like you're at everysingle performance.
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