6 Questions: Rolls Andre and Elena McGhee

Rolls Andre and Elena McGhee are up next in our 6 Questions with the cast of SEAGULLMACHINE. Now in its second week at The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa, SEAGULLMACHINE is a mashup of Chechov's The Seagull and Heiner Müller's Hamletmachine.  Don't miss this epic production by The Assembly, now through May 5th only.

1. Who do you play in SEAGULLMACHINE? 

Rolls: Shamrayev...the lead...but ssshhh don't tell Arkadina...
Elena: Paulina 

2. The play asks “What’s the good of making theater anyway?”  How would you answer that? 

Rolls: Theatre is a place where ideas can be debated, explored and challenged. We HAVE to make theatre. Theatre entertains and provokes us.
Elena: The good in making theatre is that we gather as a live community, and we are sorely lacking in direct contact with other people. Social media is an oxymoron, more isolation is happening as a result of social online contact. 

3. Do you have a preference: Anton Chekhov or Heiner Müller?

Rolls: I'm a Chekhov guy for sure but there's no need to choose between the two. hamletmachine is an amazing piece of work.
Elena: Chekhov.

4. Do you have a “dream role” or a favorite role you've played?

Rolls: Uncle Vanya...Falstaff...Lear in that order...
Elena: Lady in Orpheus Descending, Mary Queen of Scots 

Any role in a Churchill play 

5. What is the last good book/play/film/art exhibit you’ve seen/read?

Rolls: "The FerventYears" by Harold Clurman. One of my biggest inspirations as a theatre artist...I re-read it every few years.
Elena: film: Moonlight 

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

Rolls: It feels good to be playing in a theatre that is such a big part of NYC theatre history. Like my character in the Seagull...I'm a big theatre history buff. I'm so excited!!!

Elena: It means being a part of a Tradition of experimental theatre history that embraces cultures world wide. 

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La MaMa in association with

The Assembly presents 

SEAGULLMACHINE 

Created by The Assembly 

Conceived by Nick Benacerraf 

Co-directed by Jess Chayes & Nick Benacerraf 

Text by Anton Chekhov, Heiner Müller, and The Assembly 

 April 14 - May 5, 2018 

The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa 

66 East 4th Street 

(between Bowery and Second Avenue) 

New York, NY 10003 

Tickets: $30 Adults; $25 Students/Seniors; first ten tickets to every performance available for $10 each, advance sales only, as part of La MaMa 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative 

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 Questions: Christopher Hurt

Christopher Hurt of SEAGULLMACHINE is up next in our 6 Questions series. Christopher talks making theater, his favorite role and working at La MaMa. Come see SEAGULLMACHINE to see Christopher and the rest of this amazing ensemble at work. SEAGULLMACHINE runs through May 5th at The Ellen Stewart Theater at La MaMa.

1. Who do you play in SEAGULLMACHINE?

Doctor Yevgeny Sergeyevich Dorn (55 years old)​

2. The play asks “What’s the good of making theater anyway?”  How would you answer that?

​Making theater is a wholesome, welcoming, celebratory, interpretive, social craft driven by curiosity, imagination, creativity, intellect, emotion, and morality. What's not to like? Other than high ticket prices?

3. Do you have a preference: Anton Chekhov or Heiner Müller?

​Chekhov is easy, Müller is hard. It depends what you're in the mood for, I guess.​

4. Do you have a “dream role” or a favorite role you've played?

​I played Crow in "The Tooth of Crime" many years ago; I hope I get a chance to play Hoss before too long.​

5. What is the last good book/play/film/art exhibit you’ve seen/read?

​The Tennessee Williams exhibit at the Morgan was wonderful; and I finally got around to reading "The God of Small Things" last month, and it's the best book I have read in a long time.​

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

​I have waited a long time since first visiting La MaMa in 1982 then moving to the East Village​ in 1988 to finally work my way onto this stage. It's the Jupiter in my solar system!

_____

La MaMa in association with

The Assembly presents 

SEAGULLMACHINE 

Created by The Assembly 

Conceived by Nick Benacerraf 

Co-directed by Jess Chayes & Nick Benacerraf 

Text by Anton Chekhov, Heiner Müller, and The Assembly 

 April 14 - May 5, 2018 

The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa 

66 East 4th Street 

(between Bowery and Second Avenue) 

New York, NY 10003 

Tickets: $30 Adults; $25 Students/Seniors; first ten tickets to every performance available for $10 each, advance sales only, as part of La MaMa 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative 

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

BroadwayWorld: La MaMa & The Assembly Extend SEAGULLMACHINE

La MaMa & The Assembly Extend SEAGULLMACHINE World Premiere

"La MaMa, in association with The Assembly, announced today that the world premiere of SEAGULLMACHINE will extend through May 5, 2018. SEAGULLMACHINE is created by The Assembly, conceived by Nick Benacerraf, co-directed by Jess Chayes"

Click here to read the full article on BroadwayWorld

____

La MaMa in association with

The Assembly presents 

SEAGULLMACHINE 

Created by The Assembly 

Conceived by Nick Benacerraf 

Co-directed by Jess Chayes & Nick Benacerraf 

Text by Anton Chekhov, Heiner Müller, and The Assembly 

 April 14 - May 5, 2018 

The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa 

66 East 4th Street 

(between Bowery and Second Avenue) 

New York, NY 10003 

Tickets: $30 Adults; $25 Students/Seniors; first ten tickets to every performance available for $10 each, advance sales only, as part of La MaMa 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative 

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 Questions: Edward Bauer

Photo by Marina McClure

Edward Bauer is part of the cast of The Assembly's SEAGULLMACHINE and took time out from rehearsals to answer our 6 Questions about making theater, his dream role and working at La MaMa. SEAGULLMACHINE begins performance Saturday, April 14th and now runs through May 5th.

1. Who do you play in SEAGULLMACHINE?

Medvedenko, Chekhov's downtrodden and oft-forgotten peasant schoolmaster.

2. The play asks “What’s the good of making theater anyway?”  How would you answer that?

-I tend to think, at this point, that tightly knit and empathetic communities are the only things at all likely to save us from the currently overwhelming torrent of consumerist and technological alienation that we live and breathe in cities like New York and L.A. I've never been a part of any community as rich, creative, and caring as the ones that emerge out of theater's creation.

3. Do you have a preference: Anton Chekhov or Heiner Müller?

It hardly seems fair (to either playwright) to pick an arbitrary favorite. If you'll forgive the cliché, it's like comparing apples and orange paint peeling off the bathroom walls of a Crimean apartment complex -- peeling imperceptibly, at first, then sloughing off in great viscous gobs, sweating and slipping and cold. You are the paint. The General peers through his sighting-glasses, finger hovering over the switch. You are the paint, UND DIE FARBE WAR NIE WIRKLICH ORANGE, DU WIRST ZUSTIMMEN. Sorry, what was the question?

4. Do you have a “dream role” or a favorite role you've played?

I've always wanted to play Tupolski, in Martin McDonagh's THE PILLOWMAN.

5. What is the last good book/play/film/art exhibit you’ve seen/read?

I recently had the joy of seeing my fellow cast member Ben Beckley in the national tour of SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, all the way across the country in L.A.! It was a funny, surprising, deeply humane piece of art, stuffed full of joy and pain and achingly loud silences.

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

It's a real joy to be working in such a locus of theatrical history.

_______

La MaMa in association with 
The Assembly presents 

SEAGULLMACHINE 

Created by The Assembly 
Conceived by Nick Benacerraf 
Co-directed by Jess Chayes & Nick Benacerraf 
Text by Anton Chekhov, Heiner Müller, and The Assembly 

 April 14 - May 5, 2018 

The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa 
66 East 4th Street 
(between Bowery and Second Avenue) 
New York, NY 10003 

Tickets: $30 Adults; $25 Students/Seniors; first ten tickets to every performance available for $10 each, advance sales only, as part of La MaMa 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative 

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 Questions: Anna Abhau Elliott

Photo by Kate Fry

Up next in our 6 Questions with the cast of SEAGULLMACHINE is Anna Abhau Elliott. Anna took a break from rehearsals to talk about making theater, Chekhov vs. Müller and working at La MaMa. SEAGULLMACHINE begins performances on Saturday, April 14th in The Ellen Stewart Theatre. Don't miss this exciting mashup of two iconic riffs on the Hamlet story – Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull and Heiner Muller’s Hamletmachine.

___

1. Who do you play in SEAGULLMACHINE?

The wonderful Masha.

2. The play asks “What’s the good of making theater anyway?”  How would you answer that?

Depends on the day, of course. But today it's because it's extremely difficult and fun to make a play and to watch one. Having fun in a group of people creates a social space where we all make it work together. It's good practice for other parts of life, where being creative, honest and kind isn't always welcome.

3. Do you have a preference: Anton Chekhov or Heiner Müller?

Anton and I go way back. I was so captivated by Russian history, literature and theater that I studied abroad at the Moscow Art Theatre, where it all went down. Heiner is new to me, and also so devilishly opaque that it can be disorienting to read his text. But actually, the more I learn, the more it cracks me up, and the more fun it becomes.

4. Do you have a “dream role” or a favorite role you've played?

Osric.

5. What is the last good book/play/film/art exhibit you’ve seen/read?

Fred Armisen's "Standup for Drummers" special. It was deeply honest, surprising, and didn't force any laughs.

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

It's been on the bucket list since college, baby! I'm very proud to join a long wonderful list of experimenters. Thanks for having me.

_____

La MaMa in association with 
The Assembly presents 

SEAGULLMACHINE 

Created by The Assembly 
Conceived by Nick Benacerraf 
Co-directed by Jess Chayes & Nick Benacerraf 
Text by Anton Chekhov, Heiner Müller, and The Assembly 

 April 14 - 29, 2018 

The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa 
66 East 4th Street 
(between Bowery and Second Avenue) 
New York, NY 10003 

Tickets: $30 Adults; $25 Students/Seniors; first ten tickets to every performance available for $10 each, advance sales only, as part of La MaMa 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 Questions: Jax Jackson

Photo by Marina McClure

We caught up with Jax Jackson, one of the stars of The Assembly's SEAGULLMACHINE, and Jax took a stab at our 6 Questions. SEAGULLMACHINE is a mashup of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull and Heiner Muller’s Hamletmachine and begins performances on Saturday, April 14th in the Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa.

1. Who do you play in SEAGULLMACHINE?

I play Konstantin in The Seagull, then in Hamletmachine I'm Hamlet, the Actor Who Plays Hamlet, and Ophelia as well. The layers of performance make this a more complicated question than it is with many shows. I can say I'm the actor who plays the actor who plays Konstantinhamlet.

2. The play asks “What’s the good of making theater anyway?”  How would you answer that?

I hope it isn't the kind of thing that, once you name why it's important, it isn't important anymore. I think it has something to do with how we dream. I've heard that we dream to 'rehearse' scenarios in our nervous system without the consequences of waking life. I've also heard that we can imagine what we perceive others experiencing in ourselves. If these are both true, I suppose that theatre is kind of like dreaming on someone else's behalf, to offer them a chance to rehearse a different life without subjecting them to the consequences of that world. I think that's important, because if we can imagine ourselves in another reality, we can appreciate what is salvageable or dismissible from our own, and create ways to make it better. Right now we need as many tools as we can to make this reality better, to see the good in the world, and to come together in shared space and time without fear.

3. Do you have a preference: Anton Chekhov or Heiner Müller?

Neither? Don't get me wrong, they've both got a lot of fascinating elements that are fun to pick through and play around with, but they both also have problems that I don't especially want to be committed to.

4. Do you have a “dream role” or a favorite role you've played?

I enjoy surprises so I don't exactly have dream roles. More like dream circumstances, where I'm challenged and cared for. I also call myself a "devising actor"; I like crafting new roles collaboratively, so this role in SEAGULLMACHINE feels pretty special.

5. What is the last good book/play/film/art exhibit you’ve seen/read?

-I saw Is God Is at Soho Rep and was blown away.

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

I've seen many pieces of work at La MaMa that exploded my mind. I treasure this space, the programs, most of all the community that's built around this questioning, this openness. I feel honored to add myself to that community as a performer for the first time.

_____

La MaMa in association with 
The Assembly presents 

SEAGULLMACHINE 

Created by The Assembly 
Conceived by Nick Benacerraf 
Co-directed by Jess Chayes & Nick Benacerraf 
Text by Anton Chekhov, Heiner Müller, and The Assembly 

 April 14 - 29, 2018 

The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa 
66 East 4th Street 
(between Bowery and Second Avenue) 
New York, NY 10003 

Tickets: $30 Adults; $25 Students/Seniors; first ten tickets to every performance available for $10 each, advance sales only, as part of La MaMa 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 Questions: Nehassaiu deGannes & Ben Beckley

Photo by Marina McClure

Nehassaiu deGannes and Ben Beckley are two of the cast members of the upcoming SEAGULLMACHINE by The Assembly Theater. Nehassaiu and Ben took time out from rehearsals to answer our 6 Questions about the show, their dream roles and working at La MaMa. SEAGULLMACHINE begins performances on April 14th, 2018 in The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa - a handful of $10 are still available.

1. Who do you play in SEAGULLMACHINE?

Nehassaiu: "Arkadina” and “as cast”

Ben: Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin

2. The play asks “What’s the good of making theater anyway?” How would you answer that? 

Nehassaiu: Go make theatre for the same good reason one makes bread - for sustenance, for pleasure, to have something to chew on, for the patient rigorous work of it, to break it and share it with others, for the feast, for the communion.

Ben: Theater brings people together in a room -- audience and actors -- to share a little space and time in the service of a story or experience that unfolds no more quickly than it needs to. It's a challenging proposition nowadays, because it's more convenient to find the nearest screen and retreat into the internet's vast and dizzying array of solitary (and generally more-or-less shallow) activities. Theater matters, though, because it's challenging, and it's challenging because it matters.

3. Do you have a preference: Anton Chekhov or Heiner Müller?

Nehassaiu: Why compare the two? They were up to totally different experiments, writing in very different contexts and responding to quite different socio-political and aesthetic urgencies. Since both Seagull & Hamletmachine are in part responses to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, it does seem exciting to mash them together... To see what results from the conversation... or should I say, the combustion!

Ben: A playwright once told me writing a scene with half-a-dozen characters is like keeping half-a-dozen plates spinning in the air. If that's true, then Anton Chekhov is a goddamn three-ring circus. Nobody is sharper with subtext or character. Nobody knows better how to negotiate a middle path between comedy and tragedy. Nobody understands more clearly the awesomely difficult art of appearing artless. That said, Heiner Müller is a brilliant, fearless motherfucker, relentlessly, brutally confrontational in a way that still feels raw and surprising a quarter century after his death.

4. Do you have a “dream role” or a favorite role you've played?

Nehassaiu: These last few years, I’ve had the incredible good luck of fulfilling some roles on my wish list: “Cordelia” in King Lear at Chicago Shakes, “Prudence” in Danai Gurira’s The Convert, “Esther” in Intimate Apparel, along with playing a bunch of roles I didn’t even know I was dreaming to play. I’ve been secretly hoping to do Chekhov (and came close once or twice,) so The Assembly’s invitation to play “Arkadina” is definitely a dream come true. I was assigned the bandage scene in grad school and guess my acting teacher must have seen a glimmer of “Arkadina” in me then. Now that I’ve played “Gertrude,” a role most certainly in Arkadina’s repertory, I may be ready to take her on. Let’s see!

Ben: I tend to play two types of roles: shy guys with good intentions (like Ned in SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS) and brutal, brooding, melancholy men with unplumbed depths (like the title role in SWEENEY TODD). Trigorin, happily, sort of falls into both categories.

5. What is the last good book/play/film/art exhibit you’ve seen/read?

Nehassaiu: Good books I’ve read this past year include: Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad, Zadie Smith’s Swing Time, David Chariandy’s Brother and Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give, which I read with my niece over Christmas break. My current reading is all source material for “Arkadina:” Maupassant’s On The Water (in translation,) Camille by Alexandre Dumas, fils - both the novel and the play (also in translation,) and so on... I’ve been acting steadily since last May and am looking forward to museum going this spring! I’d love to make it to the David Bowie exhibit at The Brooklyn Museum. Tracy K. Smith’s Life on Mars remains one of my favorite poetry collections.

Ben: I'm reading Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism.

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

Nehassaiu: Wow, when I was studying poetry at Brown U and acting in the MFA Playwrights’ plays, and in that way being catapulted into a life in the theatre, I would walk by La MaMa posters and announcements stapled to various bulletin boards. My mentors championed plays by playwrights whose work had been shepherded by Ellen Stewart. I was drawn to this Black woman, visionary, experimentalist, with a theater in NY and a lab in Italy. I would dream of one day working with her. I sadly never met Ms. Stewart, but I’ve had the privilege of working with and being taught by artists who honed their craft at her anvil. It was exciting to perform at LaMaMa ETC with Theatre of The Two-Headed Calf, and now to be in The Ellen Stewart Theatre for the first time is SWEET!

Ben: In 2013, I saw GOOD PERSON OF SZECHWAN at La MaMa -- the most riveting Brecht production I've ever seen. Last December, working at ACT in San Francisco, I came across Cindy Rosenthal's Ellen Stewart Presents: Fifty Years of La MaMa Experimental Theater in the window of City Lights Bookstore. Earlier this week, I caught a show at Broadway's Circle in the Square, where "Six From La MaMa" (including original works by Sam Shepard and Jean-Claude van Itallie) transferred in 1966. La MaMa has been and will continue to be one of the most exciting theatrical venues in NYC. 

_____

La MaMa in association with 
The Assembly presents 

SEAGULLMACHINE 

Created by The Assembly 
Conceived by Nick Benacerraf 
Co-directed by Jess Chayes & Nick Benacerraf 
Text by Anton Chekhov, Heiner Müller, and The Assembly 

 April 14 - May 5, 2018 

The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa 
66 East 4th Street 
(between Bowery and Second Avenue) 
New York, NY 10003 

Tickets: $30 Adults; $25 Students/Seniors; first ten tickets to every performance available for $10 each, advance sales only, as part of La MaMa 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative 

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE