By Richard Schultz, March 2016 Issue.
This season, Stray Cat Theatre continues its vagabond season with an evocative play, Stupid Fucking Bird, which will be staged at the Black Theater Troupe performance space in Phoenix from March 12-26.
On the grounds of a country estate, two generations of Russians mope, love, hate and make a lot of bird-based metaphors. Sound familiar? It’s Anton Chekhov versus the modern world in Aaron Posner’s ballsy smash hit.
An aspiring young director rampages against the art created by his mother’s generation. A nubile young actress wrestles with an aging Hollywood star for the affections of a renowned novelist. And everyone discovers just how disappointing love, art, and growing up can be.
This heartbreakingly hilarious sort-of adaptation of The Seagull takes a baseball bat to one of theater’s most famous works, resulting in a timeless battle between young and old, past and present, in search of the true meaning of it all.
Echo spoke with Ron May (pictured), Stray Cat Theatre’s founding artistic director, who’s at the helm of this production, about
Echo: Since this is an irreverent update of Chekhov’s The Seagull, how much time did you and the cast spend with the original work?
May: Collectively, not a whole lot. The show stands on its own independent of The Seagull. As irreverent as it may be, it’s actually astonishing how it manages to do much of what Chekhov was trying to do with The Seagull.
Echo: Chekhov is often considered the father of the modern form of dramedy. Do you see a correlation of this genre with this play?
May: Sure, it’s an angry play and certainly has its moments of drama. And it’s funny as hell. So dramedy is pretty apt.
Echo: What surprised you the most in preparing for the show?
May: How weirdly misunderstood Chekhov seems to be. Reading it now, away from “academics,” I find it to be a lot more primal, more honest and more genuinely funny than I think I had ever learned. The plays really revolted against everything that was happening in theater at that time. Of course, soon after, the paradigm completely shifted, so the plays themselves now seem kind of “quaint.” Stupid Fucking Bird kind of recaptures the “rage against the machine” that The Seagull did initially.
Echo: What message will resonate with audiences?
May: I think honestly anyone bored with going to the theater, especially going to contemporary plays, will get a huge kick out of the skewering of the nonprofit attitude towards its audiences. On another level, the ideas of unrequited love, existential crises [and] what the hell the meaning of “love” is, are there with a whole host of thematic threads straight out of The Seagull – that really forms the heart of the piece.
Echo: Do you have a favorite moment or scene in the show?
May: Each character has a kind of emotional freefall scene where they get stripped to their cores and just unload the most vulnerable, aching truths lying underneath everything. Those scenes are really what gave me goosebumps when I read it. They’re just beautiful and haunting and lovely and everything you want when you see a play.
Echo: Tell us about your cast.
May: This was the largest turnout we’ve ever had for an audition. Courtney Weir, who plays Nina; Louis Farber, who plays Dev; and Shari Watts, who plays Emma are the only three cast members we’ve had on our boards before. We have four new faces in the cast, but audiences may have certainly seen them around the Valley. Charles Sohn is like local theater royalty so I was beside myself when he showed up. Wyatt Kent and Melody Knudson are currently over at Southwest Shakespeare. Phillip Herrington has done some amazing work over at iTheatre Collaborative and Black Theatre Troupe. It’s a really stellar group.
Stupid Fucking Bird
March 12-26
Stray Cat Theatre
Helen K. Mason Center for the Performing Arts
1333 E. Washington St., Phoenix
Tickets: $30-$35; 480-227-1766
