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Exclusive: Cynthia Nixon & Staceyann Chin Give Sneak Peek of Culture Project's MOTHERSTRUCK!
Nov 7, 2022
From the producers of NIRBHAYA, The Exonerated, Guantanamo and Sarah Jones' Bridge andamp; Tunnel, Culture Project along with Rosie O'Donnell will present the world premiere of MotherStruck written and performed by Staceyann Chin and directed by Cynthia Nixon, beginning Thursday, September 24th, 2015 at Culture Project's Lynn RedgraveTheater. Opening Night is set for Wednesday, October 7th.
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. Mother Struck is the new autobiographical one-woman show by Stacey Ann Chin
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Under the direction of Cynthia Nixon, it will begin performances on September 24th in the Lynn Redgrave Theater here at the Culture Project, where we dropped by for a chat
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What a wonderful way to kick off your 20th season. How did it all start for you
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So when we moved here 15 years ago, 16 years ago, one of the first artists that I was exposed to downtown
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was Stacey Ann in a slam poetry event. And her work was so thrilling to me
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that I really had chills down my spine when I heard her
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And I said, this is an artist whose voice we want to have
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as part of our way of contributing to the way we define the civil society going forward
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It needs a larger context than slam poetry in order for that to happen
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And so I begged her for a period of time to come in and talk about creating a theatrical piece
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And we did, you know, we'd done two of her shows already. and to really bring this into a full theatrical context
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I just don't think there's anybody better than Cynthia Nixon to help to realize that because she's so smart
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and she's so hip in her own way that she gets Stacey Ann, really
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and they've been working like demons together to bring this forward. and it a source of great joy and pride for us to be a part of that So take me back to the beginning why you wanted to be a part of this and what excited you about this Well I like you have been a fan of Stacey Ann for quite a while since 2001 2002 I think
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And every time I see her perform or every time I read something that she's written
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it just grabs me by the lapels and it doesn't let go. And this story perhaps even more than anything I've ever seen her do, because it's so intensely personal
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personal. It's so intensely personal about her her deep desire to be a mother
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the quest to try and make that happen, and also then once she became a mother
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how it made her, you know, re-examine her whole childhood and the hard things
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that that happened to her growing up. So it's so central to to everything
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that she is as a person, as an art as an artist. You know she was saying early on
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like in the middle of the night you just started as a blog and she sends you this stuff. Can you help me hone this? What was it like taking all these pieces together and putting it
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you know, into one cohesive piece? Well, you know, what's interesting is she and I have been working
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on it for about a year and a half. And of course, you know, when you're writing the story of your
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life, your life continues. So when I came on board, it was much more about the quest to get pregnant
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And then I feel like I have been here more for the part that I've contributed more to is the part
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after her daughter actually comes and the struggle to... You think when you want to have a baby
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and you don't know if you're going to be able to, getting pregnant and getting that baby here safely
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seems like the hardest thing in the world until they put that baby in your arms
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and you realize that everything that just happened was like a walk in the park compared to what you have in front of you This is such an important piece Everything you go after like you made your directorial debut of course at New Group with Rashida Speaking You look for very specific things Social
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consciousness, don't you, with the piece that you look for? You know, I look for a piece that I respond to because I feel if I'm going to respond to it
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a lot of other people are going to respond to it. I look for things that move me, that make me cry
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that make me laugh, and that make me see the world in a different way than I've ever seen it before
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And that's certainly true of Motherstruck. Tell me how you came about to write this piece
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I'm a memoir writer. I write about things that are happening in my life. And sometimes the thing is very interesting and sometimes not so much
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But whatever it is, I write about it. And so I had a kid
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I went on this journey to try and become a mom. And it was such a crazy up and down, like crazy, crazy, crazy journey that I started blogging for the Huffington Post to get through it
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And then those blogs became so well read and so kind of cliffhanger in the way that they were unfolding
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That when the baby arrived, I thought to myself, I have to do something with them
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So I put them together and tried to make sense of it. and then more stuff happened and then here we are
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I've done other shows here at The Culture Project, but I think this one is particularly interesting
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because it's such a universal story. It's about, you know, mommyhood and parenthood
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and how do you keep living after this kid arrives and how do you keep being interesting
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and how do you make the right choice for yourself and for the kid and, you know, what experts do you listen to
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and how do you go about having a kid when you haven really been focused on having a kid your whole life And then you look up and you like oh my goodness it at least a ten and a half hour
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And then you're like, oh, my God, I have to get this done. Well, let's talk about your collaboration with Cynthia Nixon
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What that's been like working with her. Collaborations are so special. What's it been like for you two
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Well, Cynthia has a hard, you know, pace to keep. I'm trying to start the rumor that she never, ever sleeps
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but she's a hard worker and she cares very much about the stories
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that she gets involved with and I think she cares very much about this story
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and I think she's been an incredible person with the script we've been working at the script together
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for a really long time and now we're working at the making the script leap off the page
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and I think she's definitely moved me from a person who just has presence on stage
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and has a good story to someone who's maybe a little bit more aware
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of how technique informs how you do what you do on stage
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She has such a passion. She can really let go of a moment and step into almost any reality that she's jogging you
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And so she's very inspiring to work with because she doesn't ask you to do anything
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that, one, she isn't inclined to do or two, she isn't afraid of looking silly doing it
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And that really allows you to at least try the thing, even that you're saying like
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oh God, I would never want to do that. She asks you and you're like, okay, unwillingly
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but you try it and you often things open up and it becomes amazing
#Women's Health
#Parenting