FRINGE NYC 2012 // Interview with Sascha & Meghan from "Naked and Crazy"
There were 187 shows in Fringe NYC this year and 19 were chosen for the annual "Fringe Encores Series," a showcase of some of the best shows of the year. One of my favorite shows of the fest was sadly overlooked and that show is the powerhouse two woman show Naked and Crazy: True Stories from Meghan Gambling and Sascha Alexander (see my rave here). But I was lucky enough to get Meghan Gambling and Sascha Alexander, the writers and performers of the two woman show, to sit down and answer a few questions about their process, how they met, and what Naked and Crazy means to them.
MATEO MORENO, THE ARTSWIRE: When and how did you two meet?
MEGHAN GAMBLING: Sascha and I met when I was casting a short play of mine in our mutual friend’s living room in Beverly Hills in 2007. She showed up all bubbly and friendly, did an excellent audition and got cast. We’ve been friends ever since!
MATEO, THE ARTSWIRE: Was it immediate that you guys were going to collaborate together? Have you collaborated on projects with people in the past?
MEGHAN: I really enjoyed directing Sascha and thought we would definitely work together again. She’s such a strong actress and positive person, and, as it turns out, a great producer as well. In spring of 2011, I had all these blog stories I was trying to turn into a show, and she had all these experiences with food and body image that she was writing into a show and we just decided to work together on producing a double bill of solo shows. While we each wrote our own pieces it was awesome having another person there to bounce ideas off of. Naked and Crazy was a really positive experience for both of us.
SASCHA ALEXANDER: Meghan and I have always had a special creative relationship, but this was a different kind of collaboration for us. Before, we were just sorta mega-fans of each other. We’d be at each other’s readings, we’d audit each other’s classes, we’d attend each other’s performances. We’ve been to screenings together, given each other notes on various drafts, acted in each other’s sketches - we were mostly just huge supporters of each other’s careers. But Meghan and I teamed up on this project in particular, because as Meghan says, we both had these specific stories we really wanted to tell - it just seemed like an obvious match. Taking on a project like this can be so overwhelming on it’s own, it just made sense to team up. I knew that anything with Meghan’s name on it would be something I’d be proud to be a part of, and she already knew so much about me and my journey personally and creatively... it was sort of a duh.
MATEO, THE ARTSWIRE: One of the things I loved most about the two pieces was how different they were yet complimented each other beautifully. Were you aware of what each other was writing and how much of a conscious effort was it to not be repeating the same style of story?
SASCHA: Meghan and I were definitely aware of each other’s pieces during the writing process, but the differences in our shows was really a lovely accident. There wasn’t a conscious effort made to differentiate story-telling styles, we just had different stories to tell and different kinds of stories require different kinds of styles and structures. We also both knew the sort of content the other was aiming to create when we began, so I think the diversity of the styles was sort of built in. Meghan wanted to convert stories from her blog into a stage-able piece, and I wanted to write about women and bodies in LA. So you already know the pieces are going to look and feel very specific and distinct.
As far as process goes, we’d meet separately with our director throughout the week, and then we’d all three meet up once a weekend and do a full-read for each other. So I definitely felt like I always knew where Meghan was and what she was working on, but I also wasn’t right there writing alongside her. There was sorta a separate-but-equal thing going on. I definitely felt like I could contribute if she opened the door for that, and vice versa, but writing your own piece comes with some much baggage around ownership and voice that that stuff can be really sensitive. We both gave each other a lot of space to stumble into our stories on our own, and then we’d come together to support and sometimes help shape stuff.
MATEO, THE ARTSWIRE: Both of you are clearly gifted actresses as well as comedians, but in addition to that you both reveal very personal information about yourselves, sort of the “good and the bad.” Were there things that were completely off the table to talk about or were everything fair game? If there were things off the table, what was the dividing line of what you wanted to share?
MEGHAN: I think, regardless of where you are from, many people are raised with a certain amount of shame. A certain amount of unhealthy concern for what others may or may not be thinking. Part of both of our goals was to present honest experiences that reflected more on us than other people. Yes, we, especially me, present some off color characters, but really, what I’m saying is, these are the people I chose to have in my life and these are the things I chose to do at the time, and maybe they weren’t the smartest decisions, but they were mine. Sascha and I are both interested in telling something that is true, something that will present the sides of ourselves that are a bit more controversial, a bit more interesting.
MATEO, THE ARTSWIRE: Naked and Crazy originally performed in Los Angeles and was really successful. Why did you decide to bring it to NYC?
SASCHA: Well, Naked and Crazy LA was just SO exciting! We were blown away by what a success it was. We closed the sold-out extension after a sold-out run and still had people asking when the next run would be. It was such a a high. So of course, I think both of us immediately started thinking about who else we could reach and where else we could go. We also ended up closing right when we both started to get into the groove. Performing by yourself for an hour is... completely different than anything either of us had ever done. It’s totally its own thing. And we clearly had so much more to learn. The show was getting better and better right when we closed it. There were a lot of reasons to keep going. But I don’t think either of us knew exactly where to take it and how. We were both exhausted and needed to get back to our dayjobs. But it was always in the back of my mind. Fringe NYC presented itself as a great option. Meghan had been to Fringe twice before and was familiar with the application process, and early in 2012, she asked me super casually if I’d be excited to apply. She was basically like, split the application fee with me and I’ll send our stuff in and see what happens. I didn’t think that much of it at the time, but when we got in in May; I literally screamed for two hours. I couldn’t believe how intense my reaction was. I think I called everyone I knew. I had no idea how much I wanted to perform the show again until I found out I was going to be able to. I’ll never forget Meghan’s little voice on my answering machine: “I hope you like New York, Sascha....” I freaked. This project was just so special to us.
MEGHAN: Also, for me, I had continually rewritten my piece so it was a chance for me to keep working on it, as it wasn’t really until NYC that I felt content with both the writing and the performance.
MM, THE ARTSWIRE: Watching your show it never felt catered to one demographic or one gender, as I related to both stories in very personal ways. Do you find your show is appreciated more by one gender or the other and is your aim at one gender, or both?
SASCHA: Oh wow, we love hearing that! Meghan and I both feel like the show is SO woman-y! haha!! Yes, we always hoped it would have broad appeal and always feared that it wouldn’t. I, in particular really did write with women in mind, so opening the show for the first time there was a huge question mark around that. One of the great wonders of doing that first LA run was discovering that our stories, our really female-specific stories, were deeply felt by all kinds of audience members. I was incredibly moved by that, and continue to be. I was shocked and amazed to find that something I assumed would only resonate with women, was really resonating with everyone. I think that despite incredible progress in feminism and gender equality in America, we’re still not told that women’s stories are valid very often. Look at Sex and the City. One of the most successful TV shows of all time, and it’s still written-off as flip, shallow, or a “guilty pleasure”... just because it’s about women. No one’s calling “Game of Thrones” a guilty pleasure, even though it’s just as provocative and at times, gratuitous. What’s so great about “Naked and Crazy” to me, is that it’s two women talking about women-stuff and making women AND men laugh and cry. I believe that’s really special.
But of course, fears remain. I still worry that we may alienate men in the audience some of the time, although none of them seem to tell us they felt that way. We actually had an audience at Fringe that was only 12 people and practically ALL male. It was sort of a bizarre experience for both of us. I remember feeling how quiet everyone was, and consciously wondering if anything was hitting at all. But afterwards, we were approached by three or four men, each of us. They told us how much they appreciated the pieces, and how moved they were, and how they were going to tell their friends. Nothing is more awesome than that.
MATEO, THE ARTSWIRE: One interesting aspect that happened during the performance I attended was during your piece Meghan, a man in the front row yelled something out and it caught your attention. I actually was worried it would go farther but it didn’t. Since you speak directly to the audience, have there been any moments of audience actions or reactions that have changed what was going on in the show?
MEGHAN: At first, if the audience didn’t respond to certain things, it would throw me off, which, had a lot to do with experience too. Sascha is a professional actress. She takes class, books roles, goes on auditions, and gets up infront of people constantly so she’s more equipped to deal with different reactions. I really had to learn on the job. My second show last year was every actor’s nightmare come true. The opening show had been amazing. The second night comes along and the audience is virtually silent through my piece. In the middle of a story I just blanked out. I stopped. I just stood there. I decided they all hated me. You could hear a pin drop. Finally I yelled to our director “Elissa, where am I?” A moment later Sascha fired back my line, from somewhere backstage and I lugged myself back into gear. We’ve done the show about 20 times, and I’ve implemented about a million rewrites, and I still think about that moment every time I’m about to walk onstage. I tell myself. “Well, it can’t get any worse than that.” Although I mentioned this to my sister last night who was in the audience at the time and she was like, ‘What, it was no big deal, it worked for the piece. You just got the line and kept going. It was funny. I was hoping you’d keep it in the show.’ So, it’s quite possible my experience of the whole thing was a bit more dramatic for me than the audience.
MATEO, THE ARTSWIRE: Were you able to catch any FringeNYC shows while you were in town? Any favorites?
SASCHA: UGH I wanted to see SO many and wasn’t able to. It’s crazy how much work it is to be a part of the festival! Meghan and I were super busy! I did catch two productions that my friends were in. One was <the invisible draft> a gorgeous performance art piece by my beautiful friend Claire Moodey, and the other was LOLpera, which our AMAZING stage manager and lighting designer Chrstina Covarrubias was also working on. Christina was hustling back and forth between both shows while she was here in NYC. She was just like, ballin’ all over the East Village. What a badass.
MATEO, THE ARTSWIRE: What are the future plans for Naked and Crazy and what’s next for the both of you beyond this?
SASCHA: It’s so funny because Meghan and I both came home and were like: PHEW! WE MADE IT now we can “shelve” that for a while! And then immediately we were like: “Hm... Fringe extension? Another run...?” Haha! We love this project! There’s a couple things we’ve considered. There’s interest in a Seattle run of the show, and interest in putting it up in LA again. We’ve spoken to Katya Lidsky Friedman, another FringeNYC’er about running “Naked and Crazy” alongside her show “I’m Sorry” once she’s back in LA again, too. We’d love to go back to New York for a longer run again as well... but Meghan and I both feel like we really want a producer to come on board before we perform again. Solo performance is already so exhausting, and add to that ticketing, marketing, publicity, venue rental, fundraising, concessions, oh man. We’ve done this four times in a year. I still can’t believe we even pulled it off once. I’m also working on converting my show into a screenplay for a movie adaptation, and Meghan’s working on like, a bazillion scripts as always. That girl is workin’ it. But I know somehow somewhere “Naked and Crazy” will ride again! We’ll see!!
*** To keep informed on Meghan and Sacha's latest and greatest, check them out at http://www.nakedandcrazy2012.com/
