Miami, FLA.

What do you think about it?:

My affinities to Miami are: family, cafe con leche, croquettes, tostadas and cumulonimbus clouds.

What is Wreckio?:

A group of friends that like playing together.

What makes Wreckio provocative?:

We take risks in our work, in each stage of development and performance. We offer each other the opportunity to explore all artistic facets of ourselves. Even if it’s a first for someone, we all jump off the cliff together. We’ve been around for over nine years and each process is completely different. At first, this was unsettling, but we’ve accepted that we are constantly changing and that works for us.

Explain your roles with Wreckio:

Each Co-Artistic Director takes on multiple roles. We each have strengths in different areas of the organization. I’m a Co-Artistic Director, playwright, actor (hanging it up for a while to solely focus on writing, but I’m sure I’ll hit it again), board member, friend, fundraiser, grant writer, light hanger, set builder, but mostly whatever I need to be in the moment to get things done.

Favorite painter:

I can’t think of a painter. Gregory Crewdson’s photography stimulates my imagination.

Favorite band:

Radiohead is my favorite group of musicians. I love that they are unafraid of taking risks in their work. Each album is an evolution and almost a rebellion of their previous work like, “We didn’t find the answer here! Dig deeper!” They always find something, explode it and move on.

What inspires your work?:

Usually hopelessness, but I’m becoming more mindful of the kind of energy I put out into the universe. My next play is still pretty dark, but there is hope.

Why so hopeless?:

I’ve always been sensitive; every emotion/thought is magnified and all consuming. I had apocalyptic dreams when I was growing up, I still do. I’ve spent the last eight years numbing and shielding myself with cynicism in order to cope with my crappy outlook. I’m done with that. I figure the more energy I give to those thoughts, the less likely I’ll turn out to be the person I see making a positive contribution in the world.

Best “I’m an artist and I’m broke” moment:

I’m adding an ‘n’ at the end of “broke?” I broke as an artist watching opening night of a play that I wrote and directed. It was my first attempt at both and I bit off way more than I could chew. The second to last scene began to unravel and I watched in horror as I realized how I should have ended it and that it was too late to change. I finally understood the desperate need to be swallowed by a vortex and never return.

Which play broke you?:

Gravediggers was a tremendous undertaking. I was actually in the process of writing Rooftops (one of the fifty versions of it) and then Bush was reelected. That night, I went into a tailspin of despair. I thought, as Americans, we’re all digging our graves and eureka, I started writing Gravediggers. Gravediggers embodied my disgust with politics, of my own apathy, and humanity. I look back on that time and I was extremely depressed, I mourned my loss of courage and what I thought we lost as Americans. As far as seeing my vision come to fruition…I had too many ideas I wanted to explode. It was my first attempt at directing and my first solo effort at a full-length play. I hadn’t finished writing the piece and we were about to go into tech. The actors surrounded me one night and were like “You need to finish the play,” so I went home and wrote all night and “finished” it. The next day we read it and we were all excited to have an ending, then I was supposed to direct it, needless to say I had no idea what I was doing. I knew the ending wasn’t right, but I felt like I couldn’t change it again because I would push the cast to a breaking point. I knew the one saving grace for the piece was the acting. The ensemble was extraordinary. As difficult as it was, it was a remarkable learning experience for me and the company. Since I’ve had time away from it, I am able to experience it with a great pride.

Okay but seriously…BROKE moment:

A few years ago I was working at Starbucks in Barnes and Noble, one of the many many many mind-numbing jobs that I’ve had in NYC. It was a real shitty.  We were in rehearsal/production of our first collaboratively written piece, Wrestling Porcelain. Rehearsals would usually go til about 10p or so. I would wake up at 4:30 to open the cafe at 6am. I would steal a sesame bagel every morning and house it in the back area. If I would have been caught, I would have been fired, which was perposterous to me because they only paid us $7.25 an hour. I’d drink my tall, double-shot caramel soy macchiato in defiance as my manager would turn her back, real brave-like.  It was around 2PM when there was this angry mob of CEOs demanding their grande, triple-shot lattes with a hit of vanilla and I just froze. An earth-shattering scream was ringing in my head, it was a real Stephen King ‘Carrie’ moment. I would look at those fuckers and try to blast them away with my stare, but of course I started crying . “What the fuck am I doing?!” kept ringing in my head…I’m pretty sure that was one of the last weeks I worked there, but it wasn’t the last time that I cried in front of customers at some crappy job.

A secret you’re willing to admit:

I peed my pants a little when I saw Radiohead in concert. It was towards the end of the show, Thom Yorke was sitting on the speaker, the lights were on the audience, eveyone was up and he just took everyone in…he held the mic out and we all sang so hard. He looked like he was really enjoying the moment…how could I leave to pee?

Wreckio’s (wreckio.com) current production Bail Out the Musical is directed by Kimberlea Kressal; Dec. 9- 12, 17-19 at 8PM, Under St. Marks, 94 St. Marks Place, New York, NY (btn 1st Ave and Ave A), $20, Purchase at Smarttix.