Theatre
A few years ago I decided that I needed an advanced degree to complement my BFA in Film from NYU. Instead of an MFA in Film, I thought it would be smarter to get a degree in some other artistic field. Since I had acting education from the Lee Strasberg Institute and theatre experience as a young actor, it made perfect sense for me to choose Theatre.
After two years and eight months I finally received my MA in Theatre Arts from Hunter College and I never learnt so much about theatre history, theory and criticism in my entire life! I also got the itch to write plays and two of my shorts were produced by the Factory NYC in association with Hunter College. Here's some information and video links to Thespis and Nothing Could Surprise Me Now. Thespis and another play Moroccan Sardines were also published by the Olivetree Review (pages 16 & 107).
THESPIS
16 Minutes - 2012
The story behind Thespis, a short musical romp about the first actor in Western Theatre.
The guy in the line all the way to the right is also the author - what a ham that clown is... Photo: Christophe Durand
I describe my play as a historically accurate dramatization of recently discovered documentary footage from 534 B.C.E. of the tipping point moment when Thespis made a revolutionary choice that changed the course of Western Theatre: to step out of the Greek Chorus and recite his lines as a separate character thus inventing dialogue...
Thespis
Sophocles: Peter Sanzone
Aristophanes: Michael Lewis
Thespis: Ethan Applegate
The Chorus: Bryon Azouly, Matt Blank, P. Tyler Britt, Alain G. Cloarec, Kyle Doherty, Devin Heater, Kevin Maloof, Andrew Pichardo, Jonathan Harper Schlieman, Kyle Stevens, Brett Warwick
Playwright: Alain G. Cloarec
Director: Joel Bassin
Choreographer: Jillian Stevens
Produced at the Factory NYC 2012
Thespis on YouTube
Nothing Could Surprise Me Now
10 Minutes - 2013
This absurd little play came about after having studied so many plays during my Masters in Theatre. I realized that almost all plays had been written in the present tense to be performed in the present. Even though some plays use flashback scenes (The Glass Menagerie), others start at the end and work their way backwards (Betrayal ), and others still have no time at all or a jumbled time (Hamletmachine), they all take place with the characters speaking in the present tense. I then asked myself, "why not do something different?" What if characters in a play lived in the present of the story but could only speak in the past tense? This seemed like something new and so I wrote Nothing Could Surprise Me Now. What really surprised me was the fact that 1) it was actually produced and that 2) it seemed to work as audiences enthusiastically responded to it!
The Opera Diva (Audra Hans) makes her entrance.
Photo: Alain G. Cloarec
Nothing Could Surprise Me Now
Synopsis: A group of people are stuck in the past tense.
A short play by Alain G. Cloarec Directed by Joel Bassin.
Featuring a cast of thousands...well, hundreds... well dozens... at least... including all these great actors and actresses: Joshua Marmer, Peter Sanzone, Guiliana Gonzales, Audra Hans, Esther Ko, Kyle Stevens, Kristina Acheampong, Rolando Chusan, Harry Miller, Roxanne Almond, Elle Sherman, Giovanna Zaccaro, Jahnesha Huertas, John Gille, Julia, Lina, Kenny, Sajda, and who knows how many more!...
Nothing Could Surprise Me Now on Youtube