“Nobody’s trash opinion is worth being late to brunch over”: Interview with Brandon Monokian9/22/2018 By Tina Gill When I first met Brandon Monokian at the Arden to interview him about his play, THE LIVING DRAGON, part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, he wasn’t wearing any shoes. I thought this was some kind of political or artistic statement, but it turns out it was just because of the rain that day. Brandon didn’t want to be sloshing around in wet shoes. When I told him what I thought, he laughed, “Let’s go with that.” In this interview, he discusses growing up, Theatre Critic Trump—one of his publications–and his creative present and future. THE LIVING DRAGON was presented at the Arden Theatre on September 7-8, 2018 as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival Tina Gill: In THE LIVING DRAGON you satirized Sherlock Holmes, the Jersey Devil, and various situations. How did you get into satire? What is it about this genre that most appeals to you? Brandon Monokian: I’m a sarcastic and blunt person. That sort of attitude lends itself to satire. It wasn’t necessarily the kind of writing I wanted to do (I thought I’d write really beautiful, poetic things), but it’s definitely the thing that people respond to the best. My most widely seen creation has been the Theatre Critic Trump twitter which is a total satire of the theatre world and my film that got released globally is a musical theatre mockumentary called Happy Yummy Chicken. Tina: You said you felt you were being pushed to direct when you were younger. How did you meet or challenge the expectations that others set for you? Brandon: When I was in college, I was told by one professor in particular that my only talent was directing and that I was a horrible writer and actor. But as you go through life and especially a career in the arts, you see that people’s opinions can be subjective, and if one person doesn’t see your talents in one area it doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Having a career in the arts is really fucking difficult sometimes, so now I just do whatever I want and the people who like what I do, like it, and those who don’t, don’t—and that’s okay. Sometimes, it’s hard to not let people’s negative opinions of you bring you down, but nobody’s trash opinion is worth being late to brunch over. Tina: You mentioned Theatre Critic Trump was your way of dealing with the outcome of the 2016 election. What were your goals for this satirical booklet and what was the response to it so far? Brandon: It’s funny because Theatre Critic Trump is the thing I’ve put the least effort into but it has by far achieved the widest audience. After the 2016 election, I was in a super dark place, so this satire of not only the president but of the entertainment industry was a great way to put things I was terrified of in a humorous context. If I can laugh at the things I’m scared of, I can overcome them. The Theatre Critic Trump book is something I wrote in like a day. It’s short, but people seem to really like it. I’d like to maybe do another book. I’ve been talking about doing it as a live show. We’ll see, I can’t play the part. I’m not good at impersonating “The President.” Tina: The “party atmosphere” at the Arden Theatre, which you tried to promote, felt natural to me. Was this atmosphere something that evolved over time, or did you create it consciously? Brandon: When Katie Frazer and I started our own production company, Love Drunk Life, we knew that we were going to be working in multiple disciplines. So now, when we throw events, we try to integrate as many disciplines as possible. That’s why, when people come to our Philly Fringe show, we greet them with live music, and an invitation to shop a little at our “live Etsy” shop, and drink wine. We want audiences to come and have a live experience that is special to that day and time but also be able to shop and leave with something they can take home. I think as we continue as a company that party atmosphere and the types of art we present will just get bigger and better. Tina: What are your goals as a writer, actor, and stage and film director for the foreseeable future? Brandon: I want to work with good people and grow as a person and have that reflected in my art. Our company, Love Drunk Life, just released two short films: Self Tape, a pseudo-sequel to Happy Yummy Chicken, and Tree Time, an animated film—both part of the Digital Fringe. At the end of September, I’ll be acting in a new play in New York, That Feeling When You’re the County Sheriff, by Charlotte Lang, which I’m very excited about. Tina: Is there anything else you wish to share? Brandon: I want to do things that make me happy and make me learn more about myself and about the people surrounding me. [Arden Theatre, 40 N. 2nd. Street]September 7-8, 2018; fringearts.com/event/the-living-dragon This interview was originally published by Phindie on September 22, 2018.
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By Tina Gill Up-and-coming New Jersey native Brandon Monokian has worked as an actor, writer, director, producer, and popcorn sample distributor. He wrote and starred in the film Happy Yummy Chicken and co-founded the production company Love Drunk Life with Katie Frazer. Together they have produced plays, films, books, and, to support their creative work financially, a product line: lovedrunklife.com. Monokian received national attention through Revolutionary Readings (his TEDx talk at Princeton Library), which was used to fight the banning of the book Revolutionary Voices from two New Jersey libraries. I spoke with Brandon at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival where his play, The Living Dragon, was being presented at the Arden Theatre. A satire on Sherlock Holmes and film noir, Monokian puts a fresh spin on the Jersey Devil legend. In this interview, the playwright talks about growing up in New Jersey, his artistic struggles, and his creative present and future. Growing up in New Jersey You live in Ocean City but grew up in Lumberton, New Jersey where, as a kid, you often visited the Pine Barrens, home of the Jersey Devil, as legend has it. How did you feel about the Jersey Devil as a child? My grandmother would often take me to the Pine Barrens as a kid to go on hikes, and to go visit Batsto, which I still go to. The Jersey Devil was something I was always interested in. I thought it was cool, but it was also something I was scared of growing up. I definitely believed it was 100% real. Later, I knew I wanted to do a film noir style satire and thought creating the Jersey Devil the way we did for this play would help him stand out. The Jersey Devil in my play was made to be an opposite of what everyone thought he would be.
In one of your blogs, you discussed the banning of the book Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology from NJ public libraries, including your former high school—an event, which inspired you to work with others in developing Revolutionary Readings--a way of protesting the ban of such gay content. How important is queer representation to you, especially given our current social and political climate? When Rancocas Valley Regional High School, my H.S. in Mt. Holly, and, my former library, Burlington County Public Library, banned Revolutionary Voices, my friends and I got together and performed readings throughout New Jersey of the book. It was an out-of-print book that wasn’t being checked out too regularly. Funny enough, by them banning the book, it started to get a lot more attention and other NJ libraries, such as Princeton Public Library, started carrying the book where they hadn’t before. So because the censors had tried to silence minority members, suddenly gay voices were being heard louder and clearer than before. Our protest project, Revolutionary Readings, really just started because we were pissed off and wanted to take some action. So we put our theatre degrees to use and started doing theatrical readings of the book by any organization that would have us. We ended up getting invited by important places like Rutgers University and the New Jersey Library Association Conference among others. Artistic gain can also be a financial drain You said your film, Happy Yummy Chicken, was emotionally and financially draining. Finance in the arts can be draining in more ways than one, but I think it pushes you to discover fantastic things you never would have discovered otherwise. I directed a production of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice that had a small budget and the play called for a river to run through the set. We made a river out of recycled plastic bottles and people responded well to it. In Happy Yummy Chicken, a line that always gets a huge laugh is, “A lot of people that do shows here bring in incredible sets, but, we ran out of money so instead we just drew pictures of chickens.” If I had the budget, there would have been a big set, but we were broke so pictures of chickens it was! I’m glad, because the moment works so well and speaks honestly to the struggle of many art makers. There was some cool “merch” for sale at the show, which is used to pay for productions. Is the cost of producing the merchandise and the time involved worth the effort? We’re lucky because my family owns a laser etching store so they let us create all the products there for a good price. It helps the company financially but it also is fulfilling creatively because we get to create the kinds of products that we would want to use as artists. We have an Etsy page that is starting to do quite well, so we want to expand that and set up pop-up shop style sales with live performances like we did at the Philly Fringe. What are your creative plans for the future? At the end of September, I’ll be acting in a new play in New York by Charlotte Lang, which I’m very excited about. So, hopefully this momentum keeps going. I thought I was done creating things after doing Happy Yummy Chicken, so to feel the need to create again is a fantastic feeling. This interview was originally published by New Jersey Stage on September 19, 2018.
By Tina Gill As the daughter of Pakistani immigrants, I found Jon and Marissa Edelman’s powerful tragic-comic drama VILLAIN relevant to my own life and to the times in which we all live as Americans. The events take place in Clear Springs, a small town in 1930s America that is anything but clear. Immigrants called Villainians live in their own Villaintown close by. They dress much like the stereotypical villains in old silent films with top hats and mustaches twirling—hilarious types that would tie young women to the train tracks. Set against this outlandish and comical backdrop, the play captures the story of many immigrants — Ivo Talaka (played earnestly and with full conviction by Dan Faro), who comes to America from the country of Villainia for a better life, is faced with discrimination, bigotry, and injustice. Murder and corruption enter the plot when Ivo is accused of killing the mayor’s daughter. The bulk of this play takes place during the Ivo’s trial, which is less about his guilt or innocence than about the anti-immigrant sentiments of the people of Clear Springs, including the mayor and the judge overseeing the trial. Ivo’s passionate and witty defense lawyer (played powerfully by Russell Imwold) presented another buffer to the hard issues tackled in this drama through his sarcasm. What makes someone more American than someone else? Is it the number of years a person’s family has lived in the U.S.? Ivo’s prosecutor (Steve Norris Jr, convincing in his role as a mean-spirited ideologue) brags, “My family has been here for 200 years.” Ivo replies, “What about 200 years from now?” The prosecutor hits back, “Then mine would have been here for 400 years!” Ivo does not give up and addresses the plight of Native Americans, an act that causes outrage in the courtroom, stacked with Clear Springs-ians, while some people in the audience nodded their heads as if to agree with sad facts being presented about Native Americans. The actors on stage mouthed the poisonous prejudice against immigrants with great conviction: “Go back to your own country.” From the witness stand, Ivo says many Villainians came to America for a better life, asking if that is wrong? Almost imploring the audience to answer: “Why do certain people feel that some immigrants are not real Americans?” When Ivo is being attacked by the prosecutor, another Villainian can take it no more and shouts, “E pluribus unum, out of many one,”—the official motto on US currency—but the plea falls on deaf ears. Ivo’s wife (Taylor Rouillard’s scream at the verdict sent shivers down my spine) holds onto their little daughter for dear life as if even the little kid were on trial as well, an image reminiscent of those of children separated from their immigrant parents by this administration. Between scenes, the stage lights faded to black to allow for set changes, but this was also used for dramatic effect during gasp-worthy moments. These light changes allowed us to process, at least for a moment, what had happened. There was also narration during this time, which was sometimes hard to hear, especially during set changes, but the content and acting outweighed minor issues such as this one. The play could be taken as a thinly veiled take on Donald Trump’s America, but it goes beyond that. The persecution of immigrants has been a long-standing issue in U.S. After 9/11 many U.S. citizens openly expressed their anger and animosity toward anyone who looked as if they had come from Southeast Asia or the Middle East. Aggressive xenophobia goes back to the beginning of the U.S. when Native Americans were treated as outsiders and enemies. It would be easy to be cynical and have this play end on a note of indifference and divisiveness, but VILLAIN ends on a note of hope. The final scene fades to black as “This Land is Your Land” plays. It’s a tear-jerker. The serious message comes through the laughs and that is something I wasn’t expecting and something that made this play stand out. “As long as the stars shine in America,” Ivo writes, suggesting that there is a chance for a better future for everyone. That’s a sentiment all immigrants hope for. [Jon & Marissa Edelman at Philly Improv Theatre, Adrienne Theatre, 2030 Sansom Street] September 12-15, 2018; https://fringearts.com/event/villain; phitcomedy.com This review was originally published by Phindie on September 17, 2018.
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September 2018
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