INTERVIEW: Amoralists devote new season to issue of gun violence

Photo: Charly Evon Simpson is the playwright of Stained, a new show from The Amoralists. Photo courtesy of Russ Rowland / Provided by show’s rep with permission.

The Amoralists have been developing new theater off-Broadway for a number of years, and now they are in the midst of their most expansive project yet. This season, the company will present a series of plays surrounding the theme of gun violence. The four shows add to the national conversation on gun control, and they stand alone and also intersect, providing different experiences for audience members who might catch one or all four.

The entire project is called RICOCHET: An Amoralists Anthology About Surviving an American Epidemic.

The company is about to debut its second show, Stained by Charly Evon Simpson. The playwright is part of the ‘Wright Club (the authors of each play in RICOCHET) and has been represented at Ars Nova, WP Club and Clubbed Thumb. Her new show is directed by Kate Moore Heaney of The Flea. The drama looks at a mother named Greta who is grieving the death of her daughter in a mass shooting.

Recently, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Simpson about Stained. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.

What can audiences expect from Stained?

Audiences can expect to see a woman dealing with losing her child. They can expect to see how grief and anger and race intertwine when dealing with gun violence in the United States.

What was the development process like with The Amoralists and the ‘Wright Club?

It was a different kind of process for me. I am not someone who does much outlining before writing a play, and this process required that. It required a bunch of us to come together and make choices that would then influence the story I would tell. At first, I was worried about such a process — I worried about being able to write a story that felt like it came from me even when many of the details might not have. Fortunately for me the play flowed out of me once I was tasked with writing it. My fellow writers were extremely helpful in giving feedback and helping me shape the story. This is my play, but it really does feel like one piece of a larger puzzle. One episode of a larger series.

Why is it important to address this issue in a theatrical setting?

I think theatre is a space and tool that we should use to tell and interrogate complicated stories. This is a complicated story and as such has a place on stage.

When did you realize you had a love and talent for playwrighting and theater?

My love of theater started when I was in middle school. One summer I decided to audition for a play at camp. The play was Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I played Snout the Tinker. Lucky for me my middle school did that play the following fall — and I, a pretty good memorizer, came into auditions overprepared. I was cast as Titania. And my love of acting began to grow.

It wasn’t until college that it hit me that people wrote plays. That there were people crafting worlds and characters. I had always loved writing, and so it seemed like a good thing for me to try. I was in my first playwriting class when I realized that my years of acting helped me understand how a play worked and how dialogue should feel and sound.

What do you hope the audience takes away in their minds after watching Stained?

I hope that the audience recognizes the complexities of experiences when it comes to gun violence and mass shootings. 

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Stained is part of The Amoralists’ current season called RICOCHET: An Amoralists Anthology About Surviving an American Epidemic. Performances run Oct. 4-7 at the New Ohio Theatre at 154 Christopher St. in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.