Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Rumpelstiltskin Weaves Some Magic

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

There are some new and exciting things happening on Barksdale Theatre's sister theatre's blog these days. You can check it out here!

One of these fun new things is (drum roll please...)

The new, improved(?) questionnaire has arrived! I have combined questions from James Lipton's adaptation of Pivot's questionnaire (featured on Inside the Actor's Studio), added several questions from Playbill.com's Cue & A, and decided to see how things play without pictures. I'm working toward creating a questionnaire completely (or relatively) unique to Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV, but for now it's fun to play around with others' ideas.

Our first interviewee is David Janeski who plays Rumpelstiltskin in the American premiere of Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter at Theatre IV (opening next Friday). David also appeared in Smoke on the Mountain (as Dennis, one of the twins; "[He's] the boy.") and Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap at Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern, as well as Mame in Barksdale Theatre's Signature Season.

So...on to the questionnaire!

Hometown: Haymarket, VA. It used to be nowhere. Now it’s where Disney got kicked out, now holds the title of first outpost of DC Traffic. Thank you over development without infrastructure. Grr.

Audition song: I should have one shouldn’t I? I don’t parade myself as a “musical theatre actor;” I think not having a song repertoire is my subconscious way of keeping that. I once sang 8 bars at a 16 bar audition. I offered to sing it twice. They declined.

Special skills: EVERYONE involved in a production has special skills. Skills like imagination, promptness, teamwork.

Favorite word: Whatever my line is :)

First show ever saw: It was a Langston Hughes something at the Kennedy Center

If you could go back in time and catch one show (Broadway or otherwise) what would it be?: Somewhat hesitantly I would go back and see a performance that happened in Richmond December 26th 1811 entitled Raymond and Agnes or The Bleeding Nun, during which the scenery overhead caught fire and burned the place to the ground in

Favorite show tune: Aw really? You know not all of us are in love with musicals. I’ll go with “Till There Was You,” the Beatles version.

Least favorite word: Words mispronounced. ie: Exspecially.

Favorite play: I think this answer for most of us is influenced by the latest plays we’ve read. In that regard I’ll say An Enemy Of The People Ibsen w/ Miller

Favorite musical: Ragtime

Most played song on your iPod (or CD player): Eisley, "Many Funerals." It’s the 1st song on their latest album entitled Combinations

.Last book you read: 1491 by Charles C. Mann. It explores the pre-Colombian societies in the Americas and how they rivaled and even surpassed those of Eurasia.

Sound or noise you love: The tearing of a perforated edge.

Must-see TV show: Frankly, none of them. Aside from a football or baseball game I don’t watch television.

Last good movie you saw: Stardust

Sound or noise you hate: Screeching brakes; I hope nothing serious happened.

Worst job you ever had: I worked as a surveyor for a couple of summers. I carried a compound bucket full of wooden stakes, a small sledge hammer, radio, 5’ metal pole for shooting topography, and drug it all through briars, bogs, and wherever else was still undeveloped in northern Virginia in the late 1990’s. A wasp stung my eyelid; an hour later it looked like I was hiding a golf ball under there. Woo fun!

First stage kiss: I played Romeo in college in a production directed by Richmonder Jack Parrish. That stands as my only stage kiss.

Worst costume ever: Worst as in didn’t fit the show, poorly constructed, I would never wear it but on stage? As Puck in college I wore fur overalls cut for a flood

What turns you on (creatively, spiritually, emotionally)?: Wit coupled with intelligence.

So have a looksey at the Theatre IV blog and bring your kids (or just yourself) to see the American premiere of Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter!

www.theatreiv.blogspot.com

1 comment:

Andrew Hamm said...

Excellent survey! That must have been a blast to fill out.