One of the greatest things about Interconnected is I can’t remember who did what. Karen and I sat there at Modern Times coffeehouse, a notebook with “Gratitude” on it’s front, passed back and forth between us urgently, as we took turns writing lines of dialogue. We both knew the characters, just not where they came from.
Speculating about that evening and its aftermath—still in full swing/bloom—is fun! Was it my idea to start writing? Was it your idea to use Google Docs? How did we find Artist’s Bloc anyway, for our workshop with Hunter Styles? At what point did Fringe seem like a miraculously good option? Who instilled in us the audacity to think we could pull this off?
Who did what doesn’t matter, but it’s those matterless conclusions that serve as divine distractions from life’s stresses.
We’d like to claim that the main influences for Interconnected were William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen and Annie Baker. But our inspiration probably more often stemmed from Winnie Holtzman, Darren Star and Anne Fletcher.
We were struggling for words to capture what Interconnected brings to an audience. Family dysfunction and exposed secrets both captured its truth, but not holistically. We wanted people to be able to come see a play, escape from the drama of their lives, and see complex characters they could relate to…while also feeling grateful their own families were (probably) not quite that f$%*ed up. J
Melodrama. Neither of us looked up the definition, but we both knew the feeling was right in all the wrong ways. Interconnected is messy. The characters are grappling with the invisible monster of grief, inconsistently dogging them and going for an emotional chokehold. Ironically, the characters have nothing stable to grab on to. “Heal me. Heal me. Heal me?” they ask. Yet some wounds have to heal on their own time. There’s no bacitracin for our inner scrapes.
Don’t worry, you’ll laugh. The tragedy of everyday life is hilarious. The characters of Interconnected learn—as we already know—that our overlapping whirlpools of thoughts don’t all empty out of the same drain. Wince, gape, point, stifle, erupt, repeat. That’s the pattern that somebody will draw when watching our Hot Mess of Melodrama. Won’t it be you? #HopeSo.
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July 9 — Aug 2, 2015
Interconnected is at Atlas Performing Arts Center
starting July 11
Capital Fringe 2015
1358-60 Florida Ave. NE
Washington, DC 20002
and other locations
Fringe details and Tickets
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Karen Snyder- Writer/Director. Karen is a photographer who also works at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA. She’s a graduate from Susquehanna University and The New England School of Photography. With a background in the arts, Karen is thrilled to be a part of the Capital Fringe Festival this summer. Her love of theater and collaboration with Brian, her co-writer/director and friend, on Interconnected has been an unforgettable experience.
Brian Schwartz – Writer/Director/Producer . Brian is a writer, performer and musician. His video work is compiled in a DVD of collected works. He is a former acting troupe member of Improbable Players in Boston. His debut CD, Man, was released in December and is available on CDBaby.com, Spotify, iTunes, and Amazon. Brian has written two feature–length screenplays, and is in the midst of finishing a third with DC poet, Tony Mancus. He holds a BA in Media Studies—film/video production from Pomona College, and an MA in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University.