INTERVIEW: ‘Entangled’ focuses on loss, survival after mass violence
Photo: Entangled stars Naomi Lorrain and James Kautz. Photo courtesy of Travis Emery Hackett / Provided by DARR Publicity with permission.
It’s all too common in society: An individual decides to take the life of another person, or several people. Families are left distraught, and funerals are planned for the victims. Violence is pervasive and grabs the headlines day after day after day …
The Amoralists, an innovative theatrical company focused on the pressing issues of the day, is trying to explore this theme of violence and perhaps offer some thoughts on loss and survival. The company’s latest work is Entangled, co-written by Charly Evon Simpson and Gabriel Jason Dean, both members of the company’s ‘Wright Club.
In the show, which is directed by Kate Moore Heaney, the black mother of a victim makes a connection with the white brother of the shooter in the aftermath of a mass shooting. The play is actually the fourth show in the Amoralists anthology about surviving an “American Epidemic,” named RICOCHET.
Performances of Entangled run through May 11 at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres in Midtown Manhattan.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Simpson and Dean. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What does this play say about violence in the United States?
Dean: In Entangled, Charly and I tell the story through soliloquies and unanswered instant messages between the characters of Bradley, the brother of a mass shooter, and Greta, the mother of one of Bradley’s victims. We hope this structure gives the audience the chance to live intimately inside the hearts and minds of people they’d otherwise only experience filtered through news media as soundbytes. This structure also helps us amplify the major dramatic tension between the audience and the play itself. Hopefully, the audience longs for Bradley and Greta to communicate face to face versus the stark reality of their impasse. Ultimately, we want the piece to demonstrate that mass shootings are an inevitable result of the United States’ long-standing allegiance to white supremacy and toxic masculinity.
Simpson: I would add that something I am interested in is how there are different types of violence. Sometimes writing a letter, reaching out, inserting oneself into someone else’s story is a type of violence.
Dean: Exactly, which Bradley does in the play. And I guess one of the things I like most about this narrative we’ve made is that it is complex. Bradley is also a survivor of the tragedy. He lost someone, too. And when he reaches out to Greta, it’s both an act of unexamined aggression and also a deep, personal need to heal and attempt to right the wrongs of his brother.
What does this play say about survival in the United States?
Dean: I think the characters of Bradley and Greta are saying different things about surviving in the United States. To quote Charly’s excellent line that Greta says, ‘I wonder a lot about who thinks they must survive the trauma / And who thinks they must cause it in order to survive.’
Simpson: For sure, I think Greta is highlighting how people of color (and really anyone who doesn’t identify as a white cis heterosexual male) have had to think of survival differently and how even in the aftermath of a mass shooting have to think about survival differently. I think the play also shows how sometimes we like to assume we are experiencing things similarly or will need the same things in the aftermath of something traumatic. And that’s just not true.
Has the RICOCHET project been a rewarding one?
Simpson: I think this project allowed me to explore both topics I was comfortable with and not. I’m not sure if I would have written plays that focused on someone trying to come to terms with having experienced and lost someone in a mass shooting had I not been selected to participate in this project. The plays and the process pushed me in different ways, and for that I am grateful.
Dean: It’s been rewarding to work on this with the team and especially Charly over the course of 18 months. Our conversations have been the most rewarding. This is the first time I’ve done something so collaborative with a straight play. And I feel the work is a lot deeper and more examined as a result. This has also been an outlet for me to continue to explore why/how we put stories about mass shootings on stage, work that I started with The Civilians in 2015 with the musical, Our New Town — an interview-based, immersive narrative which imagines a mass shooting on a college campus during a production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.
Simpson: Yes, working with Gabriel was a godsend. Not only because we have been able to dive into this work together in a deep and rewarding way, but also because of his experience researching and writing about the topic.
How involved are you in the rehearsal process with the director and cast?
Simpson: Due to a bunch of things personal and professional, I haven’t been able to be as involved in person as I would have liked. I’ve been to a handful of rehearsals, but luckily Kate Moore Heaney, our director (and also the director of Stained), is amazingly communicative. So I feel as though I’ve had a good sense of how the process is going. In the days leading up to previews, Gabriel and I have had more opportunities to be in the room, and those have been incredibly helpful to strengthening the script.
Dean: Both of us have had the good fortune to have several projects going on across the country during this writing and rehearsal process. I’ve been physically in rehearsal at least once a week and checked in every day via phone or Skype. The conversation around the script has remained really active and productive, and changes big and small are being made every day as a result of the team’s feedback. Like Charly said, we’re lucky to have Kate directing. We both have a shorthand with her since she’s been part of the RICOCHET process from the beginning. We also have a deeply committed and intuitive cast with Naomi Lorrain and James Kautz. And Katie Premus, our dramaturg, who is new to the RICOCHET process, has jumped in with both feet as well.
What was the writing process like for you two?
Simpson: Honestly it felt a bit crazy at first, haha! I wasn’t sure how we were going to do this — especially since Gabriel and I were balancing a number of other projects. But once we found what we were trying to do, it became easier. And as we relaxed into the characters, it became easier to respond to each other. We wrote on a Google Doc and were able to respond to each other, leaving notes and ideas for the other. The process we were experiencing related itself nicely to the structure of the play we were creating. Greta is the main character from my play Stained, which was play two in RICOCHET. This process allowed me to further explore Greta and her different expressions of grief. It allowed me to present different sides of her.
Dean: I definitely want to echo that it felt crazy! There was a long while when we didn’t really know how to start. We had both individually penned a play in the series already, and when it came time to tackle the collaborative fourth play, I can say that I felt emotionally exhausted and wondered if I had anything to say beyond what I already wrote in Triggered. But once we figured out the structure of the piece and I made the switch to write about a new character, it flowed pretty well. Personally, I did something new with this piece. I recorded myself improvising monologues as Bradley. Most of it ended up being crappy and unusable, but there were some nuggets that remain in the play. I’ll probably try that method again if I ever do another monologue play.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Amoralists presents Entangled, the fourth play in their RICOCHET anthology. The play, written by Charly Evon Simpson and Gabriel Jason Dean, is playing through May 11 at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres in Midtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
