By Gary Wien
originally published: 03/01/2006
What is SAMURAIZATION all about?
...Having my sushi and eating it, too! It's about getting happy - and about celebrating being alive - which means facing the fact that we're all going to be not alive at some point. The show's inspired by a Japanese writer named Yukio Mishima who was deeply into the Samurai culture - which stressed the importance of making bold, clear choices... (you don't see images of whiny, wishy-washy Samurai warriors..."Do I chop off his head now? or now?"). I feel like lots of people - including myself - struggle with how to get the most out of life. The show explores doing that by getting clear about what life is (or can be): an intense, finite experience of calculated risks.
Audiences say the show's hilarious and uplifting -- and hearing everyone laughing, I guess you wouldn't think it's a show about death -- but it is. I've had people tell me that they see the show being about facing fear, about making the right choices, about feeling good. I can agree with all of these.
You've performed one-woman plays before, do you like the challenge of being alone on stage?
I'm thrilled by performing solo on stage - I'm alive and buzzing when I'm out there with the audience. I've been called a 'stand-up poet' - which is some kind of hybrid of stand-up comic and performance poet - and there's accuracy to that statement, I think. Every show is different because of the audience and that makes the whole ride worth taking.
What's the most difficult thing about a one person show? What's the most rewarding?
The most difficult thing for me is rehearsing. It can be really lonely because my whole show rides on the relationship with the audience --- which is the most rewarding thing --- making the connection with the audience.
I notice that you sometimes move back and forth between your works (like going from Fear Junkie to Samuraization) - do you ever find your characters morphing by accident? How do you keep the works straight?
Fun question! I don't actually - it's really fortunate that, for some reason, the pieces are caught in different parts of my brain, I guess... That'd be really fun, though, to see Yukio Mishima show up in the middle of my therapy session for Fear Junkie!
Tell me a little about the Out of the Box series you co-host in North Brunswick.
Oh, yes!! Thank you for asking! OUT OF THE BOX is an open-mic series for performers of all types. We've been running for three years now at the Pride Center in North Brunswick. Each month we have a featured artist - now they're coming in from around the nation - Arizona, Washington DC, Chicago. About 40-55 folks show up each month to listen and share. It's a really special space - where people actually listen and are there to support each other. I couldn't be prouder of this event.
Gary Wien has been covering the arts since 2001 and has had work published with Jersey Arts, Upstage Magazine, Elmore Magazine, Princeton Magazine, Backstreets and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Asbury Music Award for Top Music Journalist and the author of
Beyond the Palace (the first book on the history of rock and roll in Asbury Park) and
Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. In addition, he runs New Jersey Stage and the online radio station
The Penguin Rocks. He can be contacted at
gary@newjerseystage.com.
Advertise with New Jersey Stage for $50-$100 per month, click here for info
FEATURED EVENTS
The Park Players presents "Jane Eyre: The Musical"
Friday, April 26, 2024 @ 8:00pm
The Church Of The Good Shepherd
1576 Palisade Avenue, Fort Lee, NJ 07024
category: theatre
Click here for full description
George Street Playhouse presents "Tick, Tick... BOOM!"
Friday, April 26, 2024 @ 8:00pm
New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC)
11 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
category: theatre
Click here for full description
Vivid Stage presents "Kodachrome"
Friday, April 26, 2024 @ 8:00pm
Oakes Center
120 Morris Avenue, Summit, NJ 07901
category: theatre
Click here for full description
Click here for more events
Listings are available for $10 and included with our banner ad packages.
Click here for more info.
LATEST NEWS
Luna Stage presents "Queen of the Night"
(WEST ORANGE, NJ) -- Luna Stage presents Queen of the Night by travis tate, directed by Lucas Pinner, running Thursdays-Sundays May 16 to June 9, 2024. Billed as "a story of queerness, Blackness, masculinity and the challenges of camping with family," this honest, funny, heartwarming play explores themes of family, history, and reconciliation.
The Strollers presents the World Premiere of "Beethoven's Wrong Note: A Steampunk Opera"
Constantine Maroulis and Teal Wicks to Star in World Premiere of "East Carson Street"
Music Mountain Theatre presents "Tuck Everlasting"
Click here for more event previews
New Jersey Stage
© 2024 by Wine Time Media, LLC
PO Box 811, Belmar, NJ 07719
info@newjerseystage.com
Nobody covers the Arts
throughout the Garden State
like New Jersey Stage!