THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING
I'm on the school computers, and aol's being a bitch, so i can't email myself my 1/2 written report. So i'm posting it here until I can work on it at home.
Rebecca Mason-Wygal
THTR 340A - TR - 1:00 PM
10/12/06
American Theatre Wing Podcast Report #2
Downstage Center Interview
with Dan Fogler and Sarah Saltzberg
In January of this year I visited New York, where I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the much-hyped new musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The show was a thrill, in itself, in the performances, and also in the fact that at one point, my father was brought up onstage, to dance and spell with Tony Award winners. It was an event I will not soon forget (after he was dismissed from the stage for misspelling a word, he was given a consolatory juice box - which I still have). What was so unique about this show, among the myriad of spectacular Broadway musicals, was the powerful bond formed between the actors and the audience, through improvisation, audience participation, and characters based on universal themes of childhood.
After spending a good 15 minutes teasing Dan Fogler and Sarah Saltzberg about their inability to actually spell, our hosts jumped into the shows origins. I had heard of Crepuscule, the non-musical created in 2002 by Rebecca Feldman and her revolving-door improve troupe, “The Farm” (which consisted of her friends, including Fogler and Saltzberg, who had gone to High School and College with Feldman’s little sister, respectively), which Putnam County grew out of. Each of the characters were created by the actors. Fogler’s character, “William Barfee” has a familiar face - the super-genius “swimming in his own mucus” - but Fogler specified his performance by endowing him with all the allergies and memories he had as a child - even including a name complex, which relates back to his own oft-mispronounced name. Sarah Saltzberg’s character, “Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre”, was drawn directly from one of her students at P.S. 6, where she taught improv for grades K-5 - an over-achieving, adult of a little boy.
Rebecca Mason-Wygal
THTR 340A - TR - 1:00 PM
10/12/06
American Theatre Wing Podcast Report #2
Downstage Center Interview
with Dan Fogler and Sarah Saltzberg
In January of this year I visited New York, where I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the much-hyped new musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The show was a thrill, in itself, in the performances, and also in the fact that at one point, my father was brought up onstage, to dance and spell with Tony Award winners. It was an event I will not soon forget (after he was dismissed from the stage for misspelling a word, he was given a consolatory juice box - which I still have). What was so unique about this show, among the myriad of spectacular Broadway musicals, was the powerful bond formed between the actors and the audience, through improvisation, audience participation, and characters based on universal themes of childhood.
After spending a good 15 minutes teasing Dan Fogler and Sarah Saltzberg about their inability to actually spell, our hosts jumped into the shows origins. I had heard of Crepuscule, the non-musical created in 2002 by Rebecca Feldman and her revolving-door improve troupe, “The Farm” (which consisted of her friends, including Fogler and Saltzberg, who had gone to High School and College with Feldman’s little sister, respectively), which Putnam County grew out of. Each of the characters were created by the actors. Fogler’s character, “William Barfee” has a familiar face - the super-genius “swimming in his own mucus” - but Fogler specified his performance by endowing him with all the allergies and memories he had as a child - even including a name complex, which relates back to his own oft-mispronounced name. Sarah Saltzberg’s character, “Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre”, was drawn directly from one of her students at P.S. 6, where she taught improv for grades K-5 - an over-achieving, adult of a little boy.