The Noir Before Christmas, written by John Minigan and directed by Rodney Smith, with cinematography by Brooks Wallace is one of the pieces being performed in our next production, Getting Through the HoliDaze!
This virtual showing will feature short films based around holiday themes, selected from submissions by writers around the country. Directed by Jessica Johnson, Katie Jones, and Rodney Smith, and hosted by George Awad. These performances will make you laugh, make you cry, and will most certainly get you into the spirit of the season.
We reached out to the cast and playwright with a few questions about this production and to tell us a little bit about themselves.
John Minigan (Playwright)
1. What is your favorite holiday and why?
Probably Thanksgiving. Great family time, great food, and not a lot of stress.
2. What's your favorite line in the piece you're working on? Why?
Long, lonely sleigh rides with nothing but the moonlight, the sound of sleigh bells, staring at the sleek haunches of an octet of concupiscent caribou sexpots?
3. What's your favorite holiday season movie or play?
It's a Wonderful Life -- love that it's heart-warming and also rings so many noir bells
4. How did you get into theatre?
I was a second-year high school math teacher also writing poetry and fiction, when the drama director at the school asked me if I wanted to help with the theater program. Since I always liked going to plays, I said yes. Within a few weeks, I had switched to playwriting and submitted my applications to theater grad programs.
5. Do you have any upcoming projects that we should check out?
Since it's one of my noir pieces happening at The Magnetic, there are a couple of productions of my full-length comedy, Noir Hamlet scheduled that you might want to check out. One is of the radio version coming from Raven Theatre in California, but I don't know the dates. Pegasus Theatre in Dallas is producing it in August 2021 (COVID-willing), though that may be kind of a distance to "check out."
Biography
John Minigan (Playwright) - John Minigan is a 2019-2020 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing. His full-length Queen of Sad Mischance is a 2020 winner of the New American Voices Festival and a 2019 Clauder Competition Gold Prize winner. Full-length Noir Hamlet was an EDGEMedia Best of Boston Theater 2018 selection, a 2019 Elliot Norton nominee for Outstanding New Script, and was produced at Scotland’s Edinburgh Fringe in 2019. His work has been included in the Best American Short Plays, Best Ten-Minute Short Plays, and New England New Plays anthologies. John is a Dramatists Guild Ambassador for Eastern New England. Johnminigan.com
Jeff Catanese
1. What is your favorite holiday and why?
My birthday, because it's MY day and I do what I want!
2. What's your favorite holiday season movie or play?
Die Hard. Are we counting that?
3. What makes this experience special for you?
Working with some of my favorite people and some who I hate with a blistering heat. I won't say which is which.
4. What's your favorite winter beverage?
Coffee.
5. How did you get into theatre?
Cast by my 6th-grade teacher as the lead in our class play.
6. How is working with The Magnetic different from working with other theatres?
I don't have ME to deal with.
Biography
Jeff is an actor and director. He is Artistic Director of Attic Salt Theatre Company. He has had the Covids.
Carin Metzger
1. What is your favorite holiday and why?
I'm pretty rubbish at preparing for holidays, but Halloween is one that I get very stressed about figuring out a costume and then love seeing the weird wonderful things folks come up with. Always dig a good pun costume.
2. Do you relate to your character? How similar/different are you?
I would say I related to her sense of urgency and immediacy in asking a friend for help. Woe to my friends who have helped me move once, for they will forever be asked again.
3. What's your favorite line in the piece you're working on? Why?
"If anybody was wishing him harm, it’d be her. You have to help me, Jack. Think of the children. All those visions of sugar plums shattered like a dropped candy cane." I liked it mostly because we created a lot of fun physical bits around a very short scene, and when I stuck a fake candy cane in my mouth in the middle of talking, my co-star couldn't keep it together. It's never the intention to make your co-star break, but when Rodney, our director, really let us play, we had a ton of fun bringing a lot of ridiculousness to a fun script.
4. What's your favorite holiday season movie or play?
The Muppet Christmas Carol. Muppets. Songs. Michael Caine. For goodness sake, Fozzi Bear is Mr FOZZIWIG. It's perfection - except for Belle's ballad in the middle that we always fast forwarded through. I played her on a national tour of A Christmas Carol and I still can't stand to watch the song.
5. What are the challenges of performing for a filmed show versus a live one?
You have to think of getting the shot, the angles, making sure it can be edited into one coherent scene, and the struggles of having only one day to put it together meant we had to really lean into our instincts, play and trust that the awesome team would work their side of the magic.
6. What makes this experience special for you?
Collaboration. The joy of bringing ideas together, making each other laugh, and hoping that the in-the-moment joy translates on screen.
7. What's your favorite winter beverage?
Mulled wine. Heavy on the Clove, light on the cinnamon. sorry- had to reference another dear Holiday movie, It's A Wonderful Life.
8. How did you get into theatre?
I was really in ballet as a young'n. Although I struggled with the technique (cursed with inflexibility and tight hips), when my ballet teacher told everyone else to run towards the emotion in the music, she always told me I was a bit OTT - over the top! She encouraged me to go into theatre.
9. How is working with The Magnetic different from working with other theatres?
I think there is a make-it-work attitude in a positive way, that is inclusive of creative problem solving in ways that I haven't seen with many theatres. Because they are constantly working with playwrights on new work, there is a lot of comfort in taking risks, and connecting with audiences that are willing to take that risk too. There is also a concerted effort to make every person involved feel appreciated for their very important role from the page to the stage.
10. Do you have any upcoming projects that we should check out?
Have a music video filmed in Asheville making the rounds of the Comedy Film Festival Circuit. See it on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJqJ1QWKf5U
Biography
Carin Metzger (Mary Claus) - Carin Metzger is grateful to be a part of this Magnetic Theatre Production. Asheville appearances include NC Stage’s Jeeves at Sea (Stella Vanderley), Frost/Nixon (Caroline Cushing), Jeeves Takes a Bow (u/s Viviene Duckworth) and the Ensemble’s As You Like It (Rosalind), Immediate Theatre Project’s Live from WVL Radio Theatre: It’s a Wonderful Life (Kitty ’15, Evelyn ’17), as well as starring world premieres with The Magnetic Theatre’s The Legacy of Amelia Aldean (Amelia) and Sublime Theatre’s Goodnight, Troublemaker (Goodnight.) Other past professional credits include The Nebraska Theatre Caravan’s national tour of A Christmas Carol (Belle), tours with National Theatre for Children, and Bright Star Touring Theatre. She is also a performer with LaZoom Comedy Bus Tours, and with various sketch and improv teams.
Sonia D’Andrea
1. What is your favorite holiday and why?
Christmas! It's shiny and cozy and there are treats!
2. What's your favorite holiday season movie or play?
Dr. Seuss' "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" holds up every year. An eternal classic.
3. What are the challenges of performing for a filmed show versus a live one?
The perfectionist in me appreciates the opportunity to have multiple takes and present the viewers with a polished final edit. With that said, it's hard to replace the unique potency of live theatre and the energy shared with a live audience.
4. What makes this experience special for you?
For all of us in the performing arts, being abruptly barred from coming together to play and create was a painful adjustment. It's been an honor to be part of figuring out what shapes theatre can take at present, until we can play in person again.
5. What's your favorite winter beverage?
Eggnog all the way!
Biography
Sonia has been performing in Asheville for twenty years. Favorite roles include Aufidius in Coriolanus 2020 (Nemesis Theatre Co.), Desdemona in Othello, and Flavius in Timon of Athens (Montford Park Players). Thank you for supporting the arts!
Getting through the HoliDaze is streaming virtually from The Magnetic Theatre in Asheville, NC December 17th-19th at 7:30pm! Grab your tickets here: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=119167