INTERVIEW: Gianmarco Soresi gets personal in 59E59’s ‘Less Than 50%’
Photo: Gianmarco Soresi and Hannah Hale star in Less Than 50% at 59E59 Theaters. Photo courtesy of Hunter Canning / @huntercanning / Provided with permission.
Less Than 50%, the new show at 59E59 Theaters in New York City, is a boundary-pushing theatrical experience that includes a little bit standup comedy, a little bit breaking of the fourth wall and a little bit “un-romance.” The play is the brainchild of Gianmarco Soresi, an actor and comedian who brings his own life and experiences to the stage in Midtown Manhattan.
“I was in a long college relationship,” Soresi said in a recent phone interview. “We were also acting partners. We did a lot of shows together, and I wanted to write a play for us to do in the Fringe Festival in New York City. … What happened is the relationship was coming to a close after graduation. I come from a very heavily divorced family, so my life track wasn’t going to be getting married young. … I wanted us to stay friends and stay acting partners, creative partners, artistic partners, so I wrote this play for us to do in the Fringe Festival that was about us, kind of like our Annie Hall. And then the Fringe happened. It got optioned, and I’ve been working on it the last four or five years. And now it’s going to be off-Broadway.”
Soresi was a bit cagey about what the play looks like today because there are many mysteries and unexpected turns that he prefers the audience experience firsthand at 59E59. However, he definitely believes theatergoers should expect an Annie Hall-type comedy. The Woody Allen and Diane Keaton film was a great influence.
“The reason I always think about Annie Hall is it’s about someone who wrote a play about their relationship, and he ended up using Diane Keaton, who was his ex,” Soresi said. “So I’m kind of the narrator of the show. I talk to the audience throughout. I guide them through the show. If you took a traditional romantic comedy, but then you had the narrator talk about why he wrote that romantic comedy, so it’s like Annie Hall told by Charlie Kaufman in a way. It’s kind of like a snake eating its tail, in that the play ends up becoming about itself, and I bring the audience along that journey with me.”
Make no mistake about it: Less Than 50% has plenty of comedy. Audience members should not expect a teary-eyed romance with star-crossed lovers. Soresi said the show has silliness and humorous commentary on the traditions of marriage and divorce.
“There’s a lot of humor in the traditions that we have and the way we tackle them,” he said. “It’s definitely a comedy. The play was born out of my own standup where I got to share my thoughts on relationships and breakups and staying in touch and marriage and people posting their anniversaries on Facebook for everyone to see.”
Sharing personal details on stage has always been part of Soresi’s act. He called himself an open book, and whenever he might hesitate to offer a story to the public, he realizes the content is probably worth sharing.
“I think I’ve had to dig deeper and reveal my own demons and my faults, especially when you’re looking at a relationship because it’s so easy to paint oneself as the hero of the relationship or the one that wasn’t to blame,” the actor said. “Because of the play is about itself, I try to address the ways that artists edit their own lives to hide their faults. We certainly have seen all sorts of artists that have hidden things about themselves or told lies, and I’m trying to dig as deep as I can to show people the truth, even if it is within the artifice of theater.”
Audience members, some of whom may be happily married and some of whom may be recently divorced, will have various reactions to Less Than 50%, which continues through Sept. 1 at 59E59. Soresi said, with a joke, that he would love the play to result in one divorce and one marriage.
“I want people to think about those institutions,” he said. “The play doesn’t end with marriage is a stupid diatribe. That might be what the main character thinks. … So I hope people walk away thinking about the difficulties of making that decision and how some people enter marriage, even if they don’t fully believe in it and then the problems with that, but then you have to go along with institutions you don’t believe in because you believe more in the relationship with that person. I don’t think any play worth its salt has a firm message because life is complicated. Every relationship has its own path and its own end, but I think it’s just people walking away thinking about what does it mean to get married. What does it mean to have kids because I also really think the two main characters come from divorce, and I think I’m part of a generation that has a lot of divorce. I don’t know when exactly the peak was, but that number, less than 50 percent, is based off the marriage success rate.”
Joining Soresi on stage is Hannah Hale, and the two are directed by Jen Wineman. Together, the three have pondered these issues for many weeks, and each night is a further exploration into the themes of the show.
“Marriage is still thriving, but my generation, the Millennial generation, has a very different relationship to marriage, and part of it is growing up with divorced parents, seeing divorce all around us,” he said. “What does this institution mean now? What does it mean if it’s not permanent? What exactly are we declaring by holding this ceremony? Is it worth it to have that kind of ceremony? But then without it, how do you sustain a relationship? What kind of relationship are you trying to achieve? I think it’s the battle between being a romantic and being a cynic or a realist depending on where you’re coming at it from, and I think that’s the struggle. You want these relationships, but if you grow up in a world where you see them fall apart, how do you believe in them?”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Less Than 50%, starring and written by Gianmarco Soresi, continues through Sept. 1 at 59E59 Theaters in Midtown Manhattan. The play also stars Hannah Hale and is directed by Jen Wineman. Click here for more information and tickets.
