6 Questions for David Cerda of THE DRAG SEED

 

Photo by Joe Mazza - Brave Lux

David Cerda is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Hell in a Handbag Productions in Chicago. He’s also the resident playwright. Cerda has written SuperPussy Vixens, Go Faster! Kill!, SCARRIE-The Musical (1998, 2003, 2015), Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer (1997–2018), Joan Crawford Goes to Hell, Touched by Jayne Mansfield, The Birds (2001, 2014, 2015), Poseidon! An Upside Down Musical (2001, 2010, 2019), How ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane’ Happened, Caged Dames, The Rip Nelson Halloween Spooktacular, Lady X, and TROGG! A Musical, Sexy Baby, Scream, Queen, SCREAM!, Christmas Dearest, Lady X-The Musical, The Rip Nelson Holiday Spectacular, The Golden Girls-The Lost Episodes, Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, The Golden Girls Holiday Special 1 and 2, The Golden Girls Valentine Edition, The Golden Girls-BEA AFRAID, The Facts of Life-Satan’s School for Girls, and The Drag Seed.

There are 8 performances of The Drag Seed, directed by Cheryl Snodgrass, in the Downstairs Theatre from March 31–April 10. Tickets can be purchased here.

1. How would you describe your work?

Ridiculous and truthful. Smart and stupid, and camp—lots of it.

2. What inspired you to write The Drag Seed?

Being told I couldn't use cross gender casting by the staff who knew about the drag casting out there but could care less at Dramatist Guild when I looked into doing The Bad Seed.

3. What can audiences expect from these performances?

EXPECT TO SEE THE WAY THE SHOW SHOULD BE PERFORMED IN THIS MODERN AGE.

They should expect unflattering drool and snot out of the nose laughs.

To laugh so hard they might fart next to their date. They should expect to forget about a lot of the nonsense going on in the world.

4. How has the production developed since its premiere in 2019?

While the production is pretty much the same, the acceptance of Drag has skyrocketed because people have ways to monetize it, Drag has turned into a product for middle America which is why they look like OVER-SEXUALIZED Disney characters now. The world has caught up with the play, but fear not, we shall find new ways to assault their senses with a bucket of EXTRA CRISPY CAMP THAT NOT EVEN THE MOST Avant Garde Variety Types can resist!

5. It's Hell in a Handbag's 20th anniversary season! What are your upcoming plans for the rest of the season?

After New York, we're queering up Agatha Christie with A Fine Feathered Murdered-A Miss Marbled Mystery. The Fowler estate seems idyllic what with enormous cocks strutting about the place servicing all of the high society Mother Cluckers until biggest is found dead.

After, we plan going far away into outer space with I PROMISED MYSELF TO LIVE FASTER, a wild sci action space opera and love story by Gregory Moss and The Pig Iron Theatre Company.

You can also see Dorothy, Rose, Sophia, and Blanche performing as Miami's favorite seniors in the only critically acclaimed Golden Girls parody with original scripts. The world's first worldwide Golden Girls Convention—Thank you for Being a Fan at Navy Pier in Chicago.

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?

It still feels like a dream. Like I'm going to wake up from a coma, tell the nurse that I have to go—I'm doing a show at La MaMa—and they all laugh at me and say, "You got a light bulb stuck in your butt!" Then they keep laughing and laughing until I make them stop—don't ask.

It also feels like the culmination of 20 years of hard work, and it makes me proud fo be sharing the stage with the people who believed in me when I had trouble believing in myself.

ALL the feels, My character, Miss Charles is dedicated to the holy trinity of Charles Ludlum, Pierce, and Busch, who all performed in this sacred space. I'm grateful as hell.

Photo by Rick Aguilar Studios

La MaMa presents

The Drag Seed

Written by David Cerda

Directed by Cheryl Snodgrass

Hell in a Handbag Productions, Chicago

March 31 – April 10, 2022

The Downstairs 
66 East 4th Street, basement level
New York, NY 10003

Thursdays – Saturdays at 8PM
Sundays at 4PM

Tickets:

Adults: $25 in advance; $30 day of show
Students/Seniors: $20 in advance; $25 day of show

6 Questions for Sean Donovan of LEMON GIRLS OR ART FOR THE ARTLESS

Photo by Nicolas Calcott

Sean Donovan is an actor, dancer, writer, choreographer and director. His recent plays include Cabin (Bushwick Starr), and The Reception (HERE Arts). Sean has been nominated twice for BESSIE Awards for Outstanding Performer. He’s worked with Heather Christian, Faye Driscoll, Miguel Gutierrez, Jane Comfort, The Builders Association, Witness Relocation, John Jesurun, and many others.

Sean Donovan is the choreographer for Talking Band's Lemon Girls or Art for the Artless, written by OBIE and Drama Desk Award winning playwright and composer Ellen Maddow and directed by Paul Zimet. There are four more performances in the Downstairs Theatre this weekend from March 24–27. Tickets can be purchased here.

1. Who and what has inspired you?

I take inspiration from so many different places. I’m inspired by boundary pushing artists whose work defies easy categorization. I love choreographers like Miguel Gutierrez and Jack Ferver to name a few. I love music artists like Anohni and Justin Vivian Bond.  People who make me laugh but can also open a wound in your heart.

2. How would you describe your work as a choreographer?

I make choreography out of everyday social behavior, elevating the gestural language to a heightened state to call attention to its rhythm, timing, and emotion. And I use dance as a means of storytelling but break from traditions of musical theater or narrative dance, drawing on forms of postmodernism and contemporary performance.

3. How did you come to collaborate with Talking Band?

I had seen the Talking Band’s work for a number of years and has always been a huge fan. We came to work together when old friends and longtime collaborators Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone (Co-Artistic Directors of 600 Highwaymen) recommended me to Paul and Ellen of the Talking Band.  We were both familiar with each other’s work and after just one meeting I think we could tell it would be a great fit. 

4. What can audiences expect from these performances?

They can expect smart, profound, hilarious writing and direction from longtime experimental theater creators. They can expect to see older bodies invigorated with life and vitality and a story that tries to ask questions of personal value and how we process grief. And they can expect choreography that charts a journey of self-discovery and embodiment through both humor and earnestness. 

5. What are your upcoming plans for 2022?/What are you looking forward to?

I’m currently performing in Heather Christian’s incredible new music work entitled Oratorio For Living Things premiering at Ars Nova which I’m thrilled about. I’m also collaborating with Taylor Mac on Taylor’s newest work, Bark of Millions. And I’m writing a new play!

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?

It means so much to me. I’ve worked at La MaMa more than almost any other theater in New York going back 20 years from my days with the downtown dance theater company Witness Relocation. It’s very much an artistic home for me.

Photo by Craig Lowy

La MaMa presents

Lemon Girls or Art for the Artless

By Talking Band
Written by Ellen Maddow
Directed by Paul Zimet

March 11 – 27, 2022

The Downstairs 
66 East 4th Street, basement level
New York, NY 10003

Thursdays – Saturday at 8PM
Sunday at 4PM

Tickets:

Adults: $25 in advance; $30 day of show
Students/Seniors: $20 in advance; $25 day of show

Remake a World Gala — May 5, 2022

 

"Every human is the other human. We are one world."
—Ellen Stewart, La MaMa Founder

Thursday, May 5, 2022

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club

66 East 4th Street, 2nd Floor (between Bowery & 2nd Ave)

Cocktails at 6PM, Dinner at 7PM

Attire: Festive

Honorary Chair: Ping Chong

Honoring Cecile Guidote-Alvarez (Philippines), Richard Lanier (United States), Álvaro Restrepo (Colombia), Beka Vučo (The Balkans/United States), & Duk Hyung Yoo (South Korea)

The Remake a World Gala celebrates La MaMa's artists and audiences who have long been part of our One World Vision.

• Come celebrate La MaMa’s 60 years as a creative home for artists!
• Toast the newly renovated 74A reimagined for future generations of artists!
• See performances sharing new perspectives, practices, and rituals from artists around the world.
• Dine in the legendary Ellen Stewart Theatre as we pay tribute to five outstanding individuals whose work as global citizens embodies La MaMa’s One World Vision

Support this global event today - Remake A World!

Sponsorships and Tables

$60,000 Gala Title Sponsor
$30,000 Gala Co-Sponsor
$10,000 Table Sponsor
$5,000 Sponsor
$2,500 Committee Member

Onsite Tickets

$750
$500

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