Theater Around The Bay: An Interview With Rem Myers

Meghan Trowbridge interviews Rem Myers, director of t. gondii presents the lovesickness circus, currently playing at Theater Pub.

MT: Where do you hail from and what brought you to the Bay Area?

RM: I’m originally from the East Coast but I’ve been living in SF for almost four years now. My cousin used to act out here and she recommended I come check it out. I moved here site unseen and I’ve been here since!

MT: You obviously direct – any other sides of theater you dabble in?

RM: Not really? I’ll dramaturg and produce. I used to act in college, but I haven’t since then. Sometimes I miss performing, but I’m pretty content to work behind the scenes.

MT: Are there advantages or disadvantages to directing in a bar?

RM: I enjoy directing shows in non-traditional spaces. It’s fun to work in a bar and have the actors pop out of unexpected places. Of course, working in a bar also means difficultly in finding times to rehearse in the space!

MT: What attracted you to t. gondii presents the lovesickness circus?

RM: I’ve known Kat Sherman for a few years and love her plays. I was looking for a short play to direct for Theater Pub and she sent me lovesickness. I love Kat’s language and poetry and was psyched to do a 30 minute play of hers.

MT: What advice would you give to future directors of Theater Pub shows?

RM: Cast awesome actors like I did. A week is a short time to rehearse and Jeunee, Marlene, and Soren really stepped up their game to bring nuanced and clear performances in this short period of time. It’s really all on them.

MT: What’s the show you’re dying to direct?

RM: I have a few newer plays I’m interested in working on, but I won’t name the playwrights here 😉

MT: What’s next for you?

RM: A break!

MT: Any shout-outs to other Bay Area theater/performance stuff going on?

RM: Not yet!

t. gondii presents the lovesickness circus has two more shows, tonight and tomorrow. Don’t miss it!

Theater Around The Bay: An Interview With Katharine Sherman

t. gondii presents the lovesickness circus opens tonight! If you’re not excited yet, we hope this interview with playwright Katharine Sherman does the trick!

Who are you, in a 100 words or less?

KS: I am a writer dazzled by the musicality of language; I like my theater to make a mess. My work is blurry when it comes to genre, I write in verse but not one that makes sense, I’m interested in structure as story and art that calls into question the nature of reality. Right now I’m working on a first draft of a young adult novel and a play based on Ovid that may or may not have dancing. I’m part of a new company making multi-disciplinary performance work in the Twin Cities, check us out – http://www.collectiveunconsciousperformance.com.

Any influences or inspiration you find particularly impactful, in regards to your work as a whole and this piece specifically?

KS: I’m an avid reader of mythology, and I’m always interested in adaptation and reimagining – in new spins on old stories where the interpretation and the original are kind of sitting side by side at the same time – even though they’re not – as if, by adapting, you’re creating the tension between the adaptation and the original. This piece specifically was inspired by a natural phenomenon in the animal kingdom.

So… what is this play about? And what’s the meaning behind the intriguing title?

KS: The play is about a cat, a rat, and a parasite. But it’s also about connection and depression and drunkenness and despair. It’s tricky to describe! Go see it!

How did you and Rem Myers, the director, get connected, and how’d he convince you Theater Pub was a good place for this piece?

KS: I met Rem in 2014 at the Cutting Ball Theater! We’ve worked together on two readings for Risk is this…, a new play reading series at Cutting Ball, and one of those plays, ONDINE, was just there in January. We’ve got a good shorthand! And I thought Theater Pub sounded like a great venue! I feel like this play is actually perfect for a different kind of venue.

Is having a show done in a bar exciting for you? Terrifying? Mixed? Why?

KS: It’s exciting! I think being in a bar raises the stakes of the performance in a way but also gives it a sense of freedom, paradoxically? Honestly I have no idea! I’ve done shows in bars before though and it always seems like it’s a blast!

Did you have to do any revisions or retooling of the piece to fit these unusual circumstances?

KS: I didn’t, actually! But I feel like it can definitely work – it’s a casual, flippant weirdo of a show with a bunch of direct address and finger puppets.

How involved do you tend to be once a show goes into rehearsal? How involved do you plan to be in this process?

KS: I’m in Minneapolis, so my contributions so far have been changing a few words and getting texts of awesome actors in animal ears from Rem!

Any history around this play? Past productions or development?

KS: Nope, this is the first!

What are you top three pieces of advice to other playwrights looking to get work done in the Bay Area?

KS: Be nice, be yourself, have fun. Go see your friends’ shows. Be in awe of your collaborators and want to make your work better for them. Take walks.

Any shout-outs to other theater/performance stuff going on in the Bay Area?

KS: A Dreamplay opens at Cutting Ball on May 20th – directed by Rob Melrose, in a new translation by Paul Walsh. Don’t miss that one, it’s going to be amazing! Also, go see my friend Kenny in The Heir Apparent at the Aurora! And this is a posthumous plug but Rem and Andrew Saito just finished Stegosaurus (or) Three Cheers for Climate Change with the Faultline Theater, and I wanted to shout out that I love that show (so I hope you got to see it)!

Don’t miss Katharine Sherman’s t. gondii presents the lovesickness circus, opening tonight at Theater Pub!

Theater Around The Bay: Announcing Our Next Show!

San Francisco Theater Pub Presents
t. gondii presents the lovesickness circus

A cat and a rat attend a circus hosted by a parasite.
A typical Monday night, am I right?

Come see this exciting new play by Bay Area playwright Katharine Sherman and directed by Rem Myers!

t. gondii presents the lovesickness circus plays four performances at PIANOFIGHT (144 Taylor Street):

Monday, April 18 @ 8:00pm
Tuesday, April 19 @ 8:00pm
Monday, April 25 @ 8:00pm
Tuesday, April 26 @ 8:00pm

As always, admission is FREE, with a $10 donation suggested at the door. No reservations required, but we suggest getting there early to get a good seat and remember to show your appreciation to our hosts at the bar!

See you at the Pub!

Get there early to enjoy PianoFight’s full bar and menu!

Theater Around The Bay: We Open Tonight!

Opening Tonight: On the Spot, a night of 10 minute plays written in 24 hours! Six playwrights will be selected on March 5th, and put “on the spot” the morning of March 13th to write a 10 minute play that must include a line of dialogue, prop, and set piece all provided by Theater Pub. Their scripts are due the morning of March 14th. Six teams of actors and a director will rehearse and stage these brand new works at PIANOFIGHT the last two Mondays and Tuesdays of March.

Our six playwrights (five, plus one team of two!) for the evening are Jake Arky, Gabriel Bellman & Sara Judge, Rachel Bublitz, Barry Eitel, Seanan Palmero, and Madeline Puccioni!

Our six directors are Mike Fatum, Neil Higgins, Christine Keating, Charles Lewis III, Rem Myers, and Sam Tillis!

Our fabulous acting company is Xanadu Bruggers, Andrew Chung, AJ Davenport, Jan Gilbert, Annabelle King, Michelle Navarrete, Annette Roman, Carole Swann, Jess Thomas, Meg Trowbridge, Steven Widow!

The show plays four performances at PIANOFIGHT (144 Taylor Street):

Monday, March 23 @ 8:00pm
Tuesday, March 24 @ 8:00pm
Monday, March 30 @ 8:00pm
Tuesday, March 31 @ 8:00pm

As always, admission is FREE, with a $5 donation suggested at the door. No reservations required, but we suggest getting there early to get a good seat and remember to show your appreciation to our hosts at the bar!

Come early to PIANOFIGHT to try out their great new dinner menu!

See you at the Pub!

Theater Around The Bay: Writers, Directors and Casts Are In For On The Spot!

Coming to Theater Pub this March: On the Spot, a night of 10 minute plays written in 24 hours! Six playwrights will be selected on March 5th, and put “on the spot” the morning of March 13th to write a 10 minute play that must include a line of dialogue, prop, and set piece all provided by Theater Pub. Their scripts are due the morning of March 14th. Six teams of actors and a director will rehearse and stage these brand new works at PIANOFIGHT the last two Mondays and Tuesdays of March.

Our six playwrights (five, plus one team of two!) for the evening are Jake Arky, Gabriel Bellman & Sara Judge, Rachel Bublitz, Barry Eitel, Seanan Palmero, and Madeline Puccioni!

Our six directors are Mike Fatum, Neil Higgins, Christine Keating, Charles Lewis III, Rem Myers, and Sam Tillis!

Our fabulous acting company is Xanadu Bruggers, Andrew Chung, Steven Danz, AJ Davenport, Jan Gilbert, Annabelle King, Michelle Navarrete, Annette Roman, Carole Swann, Jess Thomas, Meg Trowbridge!

The show plays four performances at PIANOFIGHT (144 Taylor Street):

Monday, March 23 @ 8:00pm
Tuesday, March 24 @ 8:00pm
Monday, March 30 @ 8:00pm
Tuesday, March 31 @ 8:00pm

As always, admission is FREE, with a $5 donation suggested at the door. No reservations required, but we suggest getting there early to get a good seat and remember to show your appreciation to our hosts at the bar!

Come early to PIANOFIGHT to try out their great new dinner menu!

See you at the Pub!

Theater Around The Bay: Announcing Playwrights and Directors for On The Spot!

We are excited to announce the playwright selection process has been made for On the Spot! We had a lot of great playwrights interested in participating, but these are the lucky seven (two of whom are a writing team) who were drawn to participate:

Jake Arky
Gabriel Bellman & Sara Judge
Rachel Bublitz
Barry Eitel
Seanan Palmero
Madeline Puccioni

These playwrights will receive the prompts (one line of dialogue, one prop and one set piece) on the morning of March 13, and by the morning of March 14, they will submit their scripts to be rehearsed that day!

Leading those rehearsals, is our fantastic directing team:

Mike Fatum
Neil Higgins
Christine Keating
Charles Lewis III
Rem Myers
Sam Tillis

The show plays four performances at PIANOFIGHT (144 Taylor Street):

Monday, March 23 @ 8:00pm
Tuesday, March 24 @ 8:00pm
Monday, March 30 @ 8:00pm
Tuesday, March 31 @ 8:00pm

As always, admission is FREE, with a $5 donation suggested at the door. No reservations required, but we suggest getting there early to get a good seat and remember to show your appreciation to our hosts at the bar!

It’s fast-and-loose theater, people! Come along for the ride!