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- Sunday, February 23, 2014
I had the great fortune to interview ambitious Tennessee playwright Harrison Young. Online Fighting and A Cocaine Comedy are his first plays to be produced on the stage, but he plans to do even more to give the people what they want—and some of what they didn't know they wanted. His work has tickled the funny bone of audiences from Knoxville, Tenn., to Manhattan, and now through the internet via interview. Without further ado, Mr. Young.
Aaron: Let's get straight to it: A/S/L?
Harrison: (laugh) 28. M. Brooklyn.
A: Where did you grow up and attend college?
H: Well, I grew up in Celina, Tennessee. It is a small town. I was in the first graduating class of Clay County High School in 2004. Just so you have an idea of how big a school it is, we had a big class of 77.
A: Very large.
H: Oh yeah, it's humongous. So after graduating I moved to Knoxville with three classmates, to the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in the fall of 2004, where I would eventually graduate in 2009.
A: Awesome. So, what drew you to playwriting?
H: I enjoyed writing in various ways growing up, but I never really knew how to use it. I tried doing little children’s novels as an 8-year-old. Didn’t work out too well. I wrote a little bit of poetry in high school.
A: What kind of poetry?
H: Sonnets.
A: (laughs)
H: What? I like the sonnet format.
A: Were they addressed to anyone?
H: They weren’t, “To you, from me,” kind of things, but you know, I’d have someone in mind when I wrote my sonnets. It didn’t work too well, but maybe you have a line or two that works and go from there.
As far as getting into playwriting, it was in college whenever I took a playwriting class with Kali Meister. I got to write a little bit of sketch stuff before 2008 but as far as just focusing on, “This is how you write a beginning, a middle, and an end, strong introductions,” any number of things like that, it was that one month workshop that did it. It was non-credit by the way but it did as much for my career as most classes at UT (University of Tennessee).
A: That’s pretty damn interesting.
The work you are known for so far is comedic writing. What are some of the influences that made you want to take that route?
H: Comedy is a wonderful filter for life. I think I come from a funny family. I think of my dad growing up. He had one of the first jokes I can remember: “My son is pretty good when he’s asleep. He just can’t sleep enough.”
A and H: (share a laugh)
H: I enjoyed that joke so much that I would finish the joke for him even with it going against me. I just loved the idea of humor enlightening one’s life. My brother is probably the funniest person in the family. He’s in the Navy, so you can guess what kind of jokes those are. My mother has a wonderful sense of wordplay too.
Also, I enjoyed comedy stand up as an art form. I think the first album I listened to was Jeff Foxworthy’s You Might Be a Redneck If… album.
A: The classic, of course.
H: Later on, my friend introduced me to bootleg copies of the audio files—not the video—of some Comedy Central Presents episodes. That way we could listen to them in the car.
A: Oh, this is before YouTube took over.
H: Yeah, this is before iPods. Before you could purchase the entire discography and listen to it a few minutes later. Like, “Oh look! Someone has Windows 98! Wow! Oh man, and a burnable disc drive! I just hope I have enough batteries to enjoy this thing.” So I would listen to Jim Gaffigan, Dave Attell, Pablo Francisco, whoever else we could get a copy of. It was a blast to enjoy that with friends.
So basically, I’ve always had a comedic filter and have enjoyed exploring that through whatever means.
A: It definitely shows.
The two plays that you have had produced so far are about niche topics: cocaine and video games. Are you aware of any other stage productions that have centered around either one?
H: For video games, yes. When I moved to Brooklyn, I learned about the Video Game Festival at the Brick Theater. That really caught me off guard, because in Knoxville everyone said (about Online Fighting), “This is so original.” A really nice woman said, “This is the most creative play the Tennessee Stage Company has ever done.” That was very nice. But a year a half later, I move to Brooklyn and there’s an entire festival dedicated to plays about video games. And here I am thinking I’m some big guy because I had one. It was a nice way to bring me back down to earth.
As far as cocaine goes, there’s a play called This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan, one of my favorite playwrights. The play deals similarly with coming across somebody else’s cocaine that they were planning to sell. It’s been done before, but I hope to one day join their ranks because I admire the work that’s come before my own.
A: That’s totally new to me. I did not know about This Is Our Youth.
H: It’s real life, man.
A: Indeed it is. Although that is stranger than fiction.
So moving on to your first play, Online Fighting. Would you mind giving a quick blurb on what the show is all about?
H: Sure. It’s about two old friends who rekindle a feud. The play begins when a system glitch unblocks gamertags for their online console accounts, and they are forced to talk to each other. We later learn that one of them won a national video game tournament and took the loser’s girlfriend, which led to the bad blood between them.
A: That will definitely make you salty. You already got your ass whooped, and then he takes you girl too. It certainly ups the stakes a bit.
H: There is salt all over this play.
A: Maybe you should ask for a sponsorship from Morton.
H: I think we can arrange something. Salt Presents Online Fighting by Harrison Young.
A: The characters from Online Fighting, are they based on anyone you know in real life?
H: Not particularly, is going to be my answer.
There is a mom character in the play. She’s not my mom, but there are similarities and correlations because I have a mom. The mom in the play has alcoholic tendencies, but I don’t think of my mom that way. She’s seen the show and I’ve reassured her that I don’t think she’s like that.
A: That’s one of the many tensions between an artist and the art itself.
Who would you say will have the most fun watching Online Fighting?
H: Video gamers, but I feel fortunate that audiences of all kinds have enjoyed it so far. Video gamers will get the Easter eggs, like when someone says, “Objection!” or the Konami code. That’s not so important for mothers who didn’t really play games. I think the reason they enjoy it is because they hadn’t been exposed to the world of video games and the excitement that comes from it. They’re getting to see something in a different way that friends and family enjoy. Seeing it in a more linear fashion through theatre could make it easier to understand. I think everyone gets something a little different from it.
A: That makes sense.
Your second show, A Cocaine Comedy, covers the worst case scenario for someone trying cocaine for the first time. How did you come up with the idea?
H: I was offered cocaine for the first time at some point in college. I declined because I heard all my life, “Just say no,” "Crack is whack," and all of that stuff you are supposed to say. Even though I said “no” and felt good about that decision, I still wondered what it was like, who would find out about my use, stuff like that. I finally reached the question, “What’s the worst that could happen?” Instead of finding out by trying it, I decided to write a play about peer pressure which goes back to the comedy filter.
Fear is a very real emotion. Comedy sometimes benefits from that, like laughing while nervous. A Cocaine Comedy plays off that. When Richard fails to stand up to the peer pressure and tries cocaine, two police officers kick in the door and arrest him. That is the first scene of the play.
A: Spoilers!
H: Oh yeah, spoilers.
A: Well, the first scene is also the last scene of the first act. It’s a pretty neat way of doing things.
H: I think of Breaking Bad’s pilot episode in particular with the way that intro begins. I won’t spoil the first episode of Breaking Bad. But it’s fun as a viewer to see something the second time around that you didn’t notice before.
A: Yeah, let’s not do that for the two people in America who haven’t seen it yet.
A Cocaine Comedy received positive audience feedback during a table reading at the PIT Theatre in Manhattan on December 23, 2013. How do you think it will be received in Tennessee, a place with a more conservative attitude towards drug use?
H: The Tennessee Stage Company is having three readings of the play for their new play festival. The first reading was well received. I got a Facebook post—which we know is as good as a New York Times review—from an elderly lady saying very kind things, so I feel much better than I did before. But the concern is always there because the title is strong. Most people who are going to be offended by this won’t come. And the ones they do and are willing to leave in the middle of a show probably will probably do so after the first six pages.
A: Are you referring to the testicle stomping?
H: Yeah, absolutely. Tank Gates, the governor of Texas, stomps on them in the name of self defense for America. I hope this part of the interview is safe for work.
A: Unless you work for the Miami Dolphins, probably not.
Last question, and then I’m going to let you go. Officer Mondragon is a police officer in the play who takes on the role of bad cop/hype man. Please explain what that means.
H: There’s a good cop, bad cop team in the show. Officer Mondragon is a bad cop. Early on, we learn that their police techniques have not been working. Tank is framing people to give the impression that his task force is cracking down on crime, but needs the police duo to to find real results because an election is coming up. That plants the seed. The police have to try something new. The two cops decide that bad cop/hype man is the way to go.
Mondragon intimidates suspects with various hip hop references. I believe there are over 40 references in the process of doing his job. For example, a suspect might ask if Mondragon is going to hurt him. Mondragon would respond with, "My mind’s telling me, 'No,' but my body is telling me, 'Yes!'"
A: It's so unfortunate that readers can’t hear the enthusiasm you have for that R. Kelly reference.
H: You could use all caps.
A: The editors will shoot down all caps, but we’ll find a way to make it clear.
H: But yeah, it’s just a lot of fun references to relatively popular lines in rap. Not just throwing them in like Family Guy, but using them to tell a better overall story.
A: I definitely think that after reading this, people will be excited to see more from you. We will see how things go.
A recording of a stage reading for Online Fighting can be found at the end of the post for this interview, which I recommend everyone take some time to watch. We will be closing for now. Thanks to Fanboys Anonymous for the opportunity to do this, and to you for making time.
H: Handshake.
A: Handshake.
H: My pleasure.
What a guy, huh? I had a lot of fun doing the interview, and I hope you all had as much fun reading it. Please take a moment to share your thoughts with Fanboys Anonymous in the comments section, and take a look at the stage reading of Online Fighting below. Thanks for reading.
Posted by
Fellonius Munch
Drop your linen and stop your grinnin', fanboys, this year Marvel is bringing a summer crossover event that promises to blow your minds all over the walls!
The truth behind Captain America's history. A "forgotten" Spider-man. These are just a couple of things teased so far in the uncovering of Marvel's Original Sin. This latest storyline is being brought to us by prolific Marvel writer Jason Aaron, who begins his epic tale with the shocking murder of the Watcher—the mysterious alien being that has been monitoring activity on and around Earth for longer than I can remember.
How the story is being pitched so far: As seen above, the Watcher is found dead on Earth's moon. His eyes are gone and nobody quite knows what that means at first. But what it does mean is that whoever has his eyes holds all the secrets to everything the Watcher has ever seen. You know the drama of Marvel heroes behind their public images. This could be catastrophic to some, potentially Captain America above all.
Executive Editor Tom Brevoort cleverly added:
This guy knows where bodies are buried [that] we didn't even know were buried. Captain America will also learn that somebody close to him has tampered with his memories, with his mind. Readers will also learn that somebody else was bitten by the same radioactive spider that led to the origin of Spidey.
So, I'm massively intrigued right now. After the events of Infinity last year, we were left with a sense of foreboding dread. Discovering that the Earth's time was now extremely limited, that the universe itself was on borrowed time, all gives Original Sin the potential to be essential Marvel reading, leaving us wondering if we're headed for some serious heartbreak in the near future.
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| "Not Deadpool... anyone but Deadpool..." |
Marvel's Original Sin will be released this May with a prologue in April, and more news hopefully to follow before then. So sound off, fanboys! Who's excited for this? Who do you think our Secret Spidey is? Comments below, and thanks for reading.
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Anonymous
- Saturday, February 22, 2014
Does the name Tara Cardinal sound familiar? If not, you may as well familiarize yourself with it. Her rise is inevitable. What does she do? Oh, just film, books, comics, everything we love. This fangirl is an indie everything, and she's quite good at it. Tara Cardinal is an actress, director, martial artist, sword master, and humanitarian. A saddening but also triumphant fact is that her work is based on her own childhood struggles, and her story delivers a strong message about female empowerment. She became one of the first women to write, produce, direct, and star in a fantasy action franchise—and she performs her own stunts. She's an actress actively seeking empowering roles in movies of all genres.
This young lady's first film, The Legend of the Red Reaper, written, directed and played by her, begins with our heroine, the daughter of a demon and a human witch. She's traded to the demon father for nothing more than a bottle of his evil enchanted blood, probably to be used as an aging deterrent. In this demon's care, she is beaten, used, and torn down every day for years until her rescue. Beyond her torment, she is groomed to become the female, medieval, demon version of Blade, the vampire slayer. The prophesying of her witch mother, a family talent, has foretold her future as Red Reaper, deliverer of the humans from the terrible demons. The question is, will she be able to live up to that fantasy? I'd love to divulge the answer, but will do my best not to.
In my opinion, it was mad fun—diabolically fantastic. Whenever I review an indie fantasy/dark fantasy film, I always like to compare it, quality wise, to Earth Sea, a small-budget favorite of mine, because I love the Earth Sea story and the filmmakers did quite well with what they had. My favorite thing about Tara Cardinal's film is that the music never stops, the action rarely stops, and the story never gets boring. If that isn't enough, Tara Cardinal seems like she's pretty skilled with the sword, and the film has, possibly, my favorite ending quote of all time.
That's not the end of it, though. Tara Cardinal is everywhere. Her debut novel, Sword Sisters: A Red Reaper Novel, is a fantastic read, packed with action. The book is set before the film and fills in all the details you might have felt like you were missing. My biggest question was, "What was Aella doing before she set herself on a warpath with the demons who were supposed to be dead?" The book answers that question, and it does it with an impossibly better story than the film offers.
Sword Sisters smacks our heroine between a rock and a hard place, fighting for room to breathe from her klan elders and her foretold responsibility as the last reaper—The Red Reaper—but longing for the freedom to choose. Retaliating against all the pressure and running from her responsibility, the young woman treks into the wilderness in hopes of finding a caring soul who once helped her out, perhaps someone she can trust and someone she might even love.
Instead of the man from her dreams, Aella runs into a young woman with a knack for insulting others and, soon enough you find, a knack for getting into trouble. Set in such an old time, these qualities in young independent women are not something of which local men are fond. However, Aella, being a strong feminist warrior, takes to the young woman, and they kindle a friendship bound in battle. They meet not a moment too soon, because Amelia, the young woman, is to be the village's next virgin sacrifice to the god who supposedly lives in a cavern nearby.
Upon further inspection, they find that someone or something is definitely living in the cave and definitely is not an average human; whether it is a god or not remains to be seen. This read is epic! The book is loaded with beasts and packed with action, and the heroine's inner dialogue is pretty funny and seemingly realistic as far as thoughts go. I give it an instant 5/5 stars.
Generally, at this point, I like to explain my grading and offer my two cents, if it's even worth that to anyone. As a matter of opinion, Tara Cardinal and her cowriter, Alex Bledsoe, should change nothing. I'm told it's difficult to improve upon perfection, and it's few and far between that I find books I wouldn't change for the world. So you must know I'm ecstatic to report that I think Sword Sisters is perfect, and I wouldn't change it for the world. The entire Red Reaper series will be gold, I'm sure, and I can't wait to read the next. Until then, it's on to the comic series. Let me know what you think downstairs!
Indy ComicCreators/Authors/Filmmakers get reviewed HERE.
Make sure you join the Legend of the Red Reaper team for a high-tech streaming event. Anyone that has an internet connection and a computer can watch the movie while it's screening at the Florida Renaissance Festival, join the Q&A via webchat, and participate in the tweetathon on Twitter. This is the last screening before the big DVD release. If you can't wait until April 15th to pick up the DVD and don't want to pay the $15 per movie theater ticket, you can join the screening for only $8 per household and find out what the critics have been raving about—before the movie is released.
PLUS—you'll be sent a special link where you can JOIN the Q&A and ask your own questions of actress/writer/director/sword guru TARA CARDINAL, legendary comic book artist GEORGE PEREZ, actress/singer/best selling author SHAYNE LEIGHTON, martial artist/exec producer SEAN WYN, and composer/disc jockey JOSHUA PARISH GOMEZ (son of Taboo from The Black Eyed Peas).
PLUS—you can tweet with the cast, crew, and Renaissance Festival audience! #RedReaper #Girlpower or tweet @theredreaper. Send your comments, questions, and opinions!
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Fellonius Munch
Saturday, February 22, in Liverpool, England, local fans of AMC's The Walking Dead were in for a real treat as The Governor himself, actor David Morrisey, dropped into Forbidden Planet to sign books for a charity fundraising event!
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| "Well, that went swimmingly..." |
Actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Morrissey is a native of our northwestern city, born, raised and finding his dramatic roots in Liverpool. To be a Walking Dead fan from Liverpool is a huge reason to be proud of Morrissey, so fans were keen to make the Guv feel at home.
One such fellow Scouser was local doorman Delroy Naif, who had to attend Forbidden Planet alone, although his girlfriend had been looking forward to meeting her idol. So Del paid to meet Woodbury's finest one-eyed psycho in honor of his lady and found Morrissey to be what we call an absolute legend.
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| Governor David Morrissey with fan Delroy Naif. |
Morrissey was more than obliging to engage in conversation with Del, just as he did with the excited little boy before him, and not because Del's a doorman and knows how to manhandle people. He also took a photo with Del to take home to his lady and engaged in conversation about what exactly brought him back home.
Proving that the man behind the now-deceased Governor, the best thing to happen to The Walking Dead since sliced walkers (nudge-nudge wink-wink), is as far removed from the tyrant as you could imagine, Morrissey is back home on a fundraising mission to provide a minibus for the Friends of the Observatory School, a project dedicated to raising funds for activities to broaden the horizons of children with special needs such as disabilities, social adversities, and emotional and behavioral problems.
Meanwhile (previously on AMC's The Walking Dead), the rest of Woodbury dies on a schoolbus…uncanny! Cue us a song!
Sound off, Fanboys and Fangirls! How awesome was this? Check the link on Friends of the Observatory School. It's a huge deal. What's easier and more fun than meeting your heroes for a small charitable fee? Comments below and thanks for reading.
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Fellonius Munch
Hey guys, whatcha doin' today? Nice Saturday so far, right? I don't suppose you heard that Ragnarok is coming? In Nordic, that's also known as the "Twilight of the Gods," aka the end of everything. Yep, that's today, Saturday 22nd of February!
The Allfather only knows why we haven't heard anything up until now. Maybe because we're too busy here in the United Kingdom stirring up a frenzy of news about the weather, the Olympics in Sochi, and football's latest, but according to some, the Viking calendar warns us that today is when the world shall end. Ye Gods!
Legend has it that when there are three freezing winters, with no summers in between, the world will turn its toes up. Down in York, England, the annual Viking Festival has just reached its finale at the Jorvik Viking Centre, where director Danielle Daglan claims that the god Heimdallr (yes, that particular guardian of the Bifrost), blew the Gjallerhorn last year, signalling the onset of Ragnarok.
All gods, including the Allfather Odin, Thor, Loki and Freja, the goddess of love, will go to war. After the battle, the world will "sink beneath the waves," and none shall survive but for two humans. Those two, Liv and Livtrasir (Life and Lust) will come up from the underworld to repopulate Earth. Sounds exhausting.
So, fans of Marvel's Thor, and the rest of those familiar with such world-ending tales as Fear Itself, what do you make of this surprise party? I mean, if this was signaled last year, that actually means that the Viking calendar wasn't so different from the Mayan calendar. Two "end of the world" predictions from two entirely different races is a little disconcerting.
Also, take a look at the events of the past few years: summers full of terrible freak weather, flooding worldwide, civil war, mass protesting. Right now, a great deal of England's countryside and many towns are submerged in freezing cold waters after being battered by a solid month of heavily destructive storms.
At least it's not all bad…
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| "I get around-round-get-around-I-get-around..." |
Don't forget that the United States is riding the icy tail of a polar vortex. Even if you don't believe in all this, the timing is still good enough to send a chill down your spine. It would be cool to see the residents of Asgard burning down the house, though, right?
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| Dat ass! |
Sound off, Fanboys and Fangirls! What say ye? Comments below and thanks for reading.
Posted by
Fellonius Munch
- Friday, February 21, 2014
Probably because it was a slow week for news other than the weather, Sir Patrick Stewart was incorrectly outed as gay by British newspaper The Guardian after he congratulated Ellen Page on her speech at the LGBT human rights convention last weekend!
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| Sir Patrick Stewart comes out... of the bath! |
The legendary actor of theater, television, and film, who became a domestic name in the late '80s with Star Trek: The Next Generation, was glad to take to Twitter to explain himself:
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| And they prove their masculinity with drunken one-armed pushups. |
Sir Patrick Stewart's fantastic reaction toward The Guardian's random assumption continued with him stating that it was a nice change from people assuming he was dead, AGAIN! After all, I suppose it's an easy mistake to make when investigative journalism comes down to pulling an educated guess out of your arse.
Stewart is a strong advocate for human rights, aside from being the coolest knight in the kingdom. The fact that he's been outed as gay because he hangs out with fellow actors—such as his best friend, the sometimes Liberace-level gay Sir Ian McKellen (the coolest knight in gaydom?)—and believes in equality for LGBT people doesn't mean that he married his wife last September for shits and giggles.
His final tweet on the matter put the icing on the cake...
The Guardian later corrected their mistake but did not confirm whether they were indeed mistaking Stewart with McKellen, who is openly gay, or just blindly fumbling for skeletons around their own closet.
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| Muppet sandwich action with Stewart & McKellen (sounds like a TV special). |
Sound off, Fanboys! Not that we needed to clarify Sir Patrick Stewart's awesomeness anymore, but what do you make of this "mistake?" Comments below and thanks again for reading.
I had the great fortune to interview ambitious Tennessee playwright Harrison Young. Online Fighting and A Cocaine Comedy are his first plays to be produced on the stage, but he plans to do even more to give the people what they want—and some of what they didn't know they wanted. His work has tickled the funny bone of audiences from Knoxville, Tenn., to Manhattan, and now through the internet via interview. Without further ado, Mr. Young.
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