The fabulous Julius Ferraro has been conducting interviews with some of our SoLow artists. We'll be featuring them here on the blog leading up to and through the Festival. Thank you Julius! And don't forget, you can view the entire lineup of artists in the full SoLow listings!
WE LOVE VAGINA JOKES
photo not representative of show.
Meghann
Williams is one of the Mayflower SoLowians; she’s been creating and performing
in SoLow since the first Fest in 2010, in bathrooms, on stairwells, etc. This
year, AT LAST!: The Play-at-Home Romance
Game Show promises a number of delights, including gastronomical prizes.
She talked to SoLow about body image, solo creation, and getting the audience a
bit drunk.
SoLow Fest: How is
this show different from previous ones you’ve created?
Meghann
Williams: Hilariously, the biggest difference is that I keep my clothes on in
this one! Oh, and that this is word-based instead of movement-based. Other than
that, in a lot of ways it's the same. AT
LAST!: The Play-at-Home Romance Game Show completes a sort of janky trilogy
of home plays I've developed over the past few years. The first one (during the
first SoLow) was called Pretty and
that one dealt with body image. It was in a bathroom, so there were only 3-4
audience members. Last year's was PEEPSHOW
and that one dealt with constructions of sexiness.
SF: What advice would
you give to someone putting on their first solo show?
MW:
Not to be all Nike about it, but just do it. Shut up that stupid voice that
follows you around saying, "This sucks. You suck. This is not art. This
does not matter." Just do something.
Then take a week or two weeks after it's done and don't think about it.
ONLY AFTER THAT sit yourself down with a glass of wine and evaluate. Solo work
is arguably more in service of the artist than the audience, so let yourself be
your own harshest critic. (And then let your best friend tell you that you are
a genius because you probably are and that's nice to hear.)
SF: There are a few
events this year with dinner included (yum!). What inspired you to put together
this experience?
MW:
So my friend (and hero for all time) Becky Wright has a philosophy that people
should be fed and watered at shows. I love this idea so much; it brings the
audience out of a passive role and gets them deeper into the experience of
being at a show. You can't be passive about food and drink, right? You have to
interact with that. In the case of AT
LAST!, audience members who answer our game show questions correctly
immediately receive beers and snacks as their prizes. But let's be honest, I'll
probably start giving out food and drink even if no one answers anything
correctly. I'm always a little bit funnier if the audience is drinking.
SF: What is your next
project after SoLow? Do you think you’ll do anything for FringeArts?
MW: Next up in July,
I am one of the directors for the One Minute Play Festival at InterAct.
Following that, YES! I will be in the fringe with Chlamydia dell'Arte: More Sex-Ed Burlesque. It's an all-new
installment of Chlamydia dell'Arte, the sex-ed burlesque I co-write and perform
with Gigi Naglak. Our original piece was a hit in the 2009 Philly Fringe, the
2010 DC Fringe, and the 2012 Vancouver Fringe. We love vagina jokes, so we
thought we'd write some more
AT LAST!: The Play-at-Home Romance Game Show takes place at Meg's apartment at 10th and McKean on June 21, 24,26, 27, 28 at 8 pm. Contact Meg at meghannw@gmail.com to reserve spot and obtain venue address. PWYC $10.
Julius Ferraro is a Philly freelancer. He writes regularly for Art Attack and his blog, Notes on Words.