Man-about-town 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!
BEING SUPER IN NOWHERE-LAND
Most recently
you might have seen Johnny Smith fall in love and die about five or six times
in The Last Plot in Revenge with BRAT
Productions. And the day after that closes, he’s going to invite you into his
bedroom. No, really. Join him. You might not get another chance - this is My Last Trip to Nowhere-Land, Smith’s
first SoLow work. Burning with questions, we happily caught up with Johnny to
rap about Nowhere-Land, superheroes, and fear.
Was there a specific events or series of events which
inspired you to create this show?
The
series of events that led to this piece would be my life. I'll be drawing from
different time periods, so it's a little scattered, but I'm focusing on events
that majorly affected my outlook on life, and how I've begun to make
breakthroughs in changing that perspective.
Tell us a little about your previous work.
My
previous work includes a lot of Shakespeare, sketch comedy and musicals. I've
worked around Philly at various theatres (including Philly Shakespeare, The
Walnut, BRAT, EgoPo, Quintessence and others.)
What are you doing in this show that you never would
have done if not for the SoLow Fest?
I
never would have staged a show in my bedroom before.
Have you done any solo work before? What are you
learning from the experience?
I
did a little solo work for a Devised class in college, but people have always
told me I should put my life stories into a one man show, so that's what I'm
trying to do with this. I'm learning that this type of work takes a lot of
courage, especially when you're focusing on issues that make you feel
vulnerable.
Will there be any kind of fun, theatrical trickery
involved - that you can tell us about without blowing any surprises?
I'm
not sure about trickery, but I do plan to challenge the audience a bit. The
space is very intimate, being that it's in my bedroom, and I plan to share some
intimate details so you've got to be open to that. Also, I don't want to give
away too much, but I will be asking audience members to adopt the personas of
some of my favorite superhero friends.
What challenges,
fears, triumphs, horrors, excitements etc. have you experienced in putting
together this show?
All
kinds of emotions are going through me right now. It's going to be a very
personal piece. I'm excited to be working on something solo, I feel challenged
by my budgetary and spatial limitations (though I'm embracing them as well),
and I fear the audience might pass some judgement on me as a person but that's
kind of the main point of me doing this: to get over the fear!
My
Last Trip to Nowhere-Land plays June 30
at 6, 7 & 8pm, in Johnny Smith’s home at 6th & Dickenson. Reservations:
johneredd17@yahoo.com.
Julius Ferraro is a Philly freelancer. He writes regularly for Art Attack and his blog, Notes on Words.