Our friends at Panicked Productions get absurd!

Not to brag, but we have cool friends. Case in point, our former classmates/partners in theatre crime are producing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in the Midtown International Fringe Festival this month. And here is the twist- they are using an all female cast. Cool. Anyways. I wrangled Glenn De Kler, director of R&G away from rehearsal for five minutes and got the real answers on the show- Panicked's take on the modern classic, Stoppard's idea of "cool", and how The Big Lebowski and Shakespeare are related.

EA: R & G is a really difficult play. Just ask 10th grader Erin in English class. What themes or ideas in this play made you want to bring it to life?

GDK:I also read this play for the first time in High School. I remember I loved it right away, but it was purely for the rapid-fire comedic banter, and the farcical energy of the whole thing. It wasn’t until my slightly more brooding college years when I revisited it, that I really appreciated the existential layers. I've always been interested in the “absurdist” genre, which immediately appealed to me because of the name alone, and the idea that life and the whole pretentious intellectual pursuit of finding the ultimate meaning of life is, well, absurd.

EA: Gender role reversal. I love it. Were there obstacles in this directorial choice inherent in the script or was it smooth sexual identity sailing?

GDK: The identies in the play are so fluid already. The other characters confuse Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with each other, and they even get mixed up themselves. We're also having the Tragedians play all the Hamlet characters. So, there's a fair amount of identity confusion inherent in the show. I told all our actors at the beginning that I didn't want them to play men, we're going to keep all the same pronouns and play the parts naturally. When we first applied for the rights, I was a little concerned that we wouldn't get approved because of the gender reversal, even though I felt that it was still in the spirit of the play. In the end though, Mr. Stoppard felt the same way, or, at least his literary agent did.

EA: The great thing about absurdism is that it can be portrayed in so many styles, tones, etc. What kind of production should we expect to see from Panicked?

GDK: A quote that I came across when I was doing my first research for this show was an observation Tom Stoppard made. He said he'd seen numerous productions of this show and two of them were failures. Those two productions did not treat the show as a comedy. I want to stick close to what made me love this show the first time I encountered it, the Laurel & Hardy/Martin & Lewis energy of R & G. I mean I love the existentialist metaphors, but I don't want to focus on that. Those ideas are all inherent in the text, and those fans will get them. I want everyone to have a good time, so we're going to "keep the laughs coming too fast to ponder the nature of existence."

EA: R& G elaborates on two characters that we don't get to know too much about in Hamlet. What short lived or barely there characters come to mind in popular culture: movies, literature, plays, etc. that you would like to see star in an existential riff on their original brief roles?

GDK: Wow. I barely know where to begin. One of the first people that comes to mind is Donnie from The Big Lebowski. Now, most people would assume that he is a main character, but it isn't until his eulogy that I learned he was a surfer. I knew all along that he was a good bowler, and a good man, but what else didn't we know about Theodore Donald Kerabastos? Also Bluto from Animal House, again, someone that seems like a main character, and even delivers one of the most rousing calls to action in cinematic history, but in the end we're left wondering: "Who were you John Blutarsky?" Perhaps it would be more impressive for me to say I'd like to know more about Charles Foster Kane, but, there it is.

EA: Like many famous and successful actor/director duos, you are directing your wife: the lovely and talented Jessica De Kler. What is that process like?

GDK: Admittedly, I was a little concerned about what that would be like, but it's turned out to be a complete joy. She may not have the confidence in my organizational abilities, or my tidiness around the house, but she definitely knows how dedicated I am to storytelling and has confidence in my vision for the show. She was also a little apprehensive at making a return to the stage after nearly six years, but I had complete faith in her and campaigned for a few months for her to take on the role. She' gotten right back on the bike, like I knew she would, and she really shines It's been great to be able share in this thing that we both love so much.

EA: Tell us about Panicked Productions. Why the name? What is your mission? And what is next?

GDK: Panicked Productions was born in 2006 when we did a revival of Boys' Life at Ensemble Studio Theater, in a space that we got for free because it wasn't air conditioned. We came up with the name because we were feeling pretty panicked at the time, and it was originally going to be a placeholder until we thought of something else. But once we were finished we had all fallen in love with it, so it became the official name we registered. Panicked has and will always be dedicated to providing opportunities to emerging theater artists. That includes us at the moment, but when we inevitably become outrageously successful, we'll have to find another way to produce our works. Panicked will always be about cultivating the next generation of theater.

As for what's next, it's an exciting time because R&G is the first half of our first two show season. Coming in the fall is a show called Follow the Leader. We challenged six playwrights, including a couple, ahem, Flamingos, to create scenes based on the word "cult", leaving the interpretation entirely up to the playwright. The results have been really diverse and interesting, and we can't wait to launch into production right on the heels of this show.

For more information on Panicked Productions visit:http://www.panickedproductions.com/
To get tickets to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern visit: http://www.midtownfestival.org/