SPARKING SOMETHING DIFFERENT: AN INTERVIEW WITH MUGS JOHNSON
FAVORITE PART:
My favorite part of the process so far is the gift of getting to be with the cast before you have to jump in with them. It’s something I didn’t expect but that I really enjoy. So often putting on a play is “Result. Result. Result.” I had anticipated that I would be able to sit down with the text over a longer stretch of time - and that’s awesome - but somehow I hadn’t considered that that would then apply to my cast too. Over this time, it’s been so great to be able to develop relationships outside of the work. It’s a gift to get to be in a safe space and that the safe space is built before we have to work in it. That has been awesome to me.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE:
Something that has been a challenge to me: when you have an instrument you know you have to practice it. And you know you have to practice it, because if you don’t then you don’t get better. So often with plays, there’s such a time constraint on it, like you know: “In three weeks we’re going up!” You have no choice but to practice when you’re at rehearsal every night. You know you’re going to practice it. So when we are in this process time, these longer stretches of time before we dive into rehearsals, it’s really cool to stretch that muscle in my brain thinking: “this is discipline in addition to an art.” I’m very conscious that art benefits from discipline. How cool and fruitful it can be when you’re in a space thinking: “I’m excited because I get to work on this!” rather than “I have to work on this” because we’re running out of time. It just sparks something different.
COLLEGE AND A SHOW:
Balancing school and outside shows is always a little crazy. What’s going to be interesting is that when we go into tech for Amerikin, I’ll be starting a show at school. We’re doing Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov and I’m playing Chebutykin. These characters have two very different dynamics. We don’t get a chance to do a ton of Chekhov work typically, so to do a bunch of Michael Chekhov work here and then get to do an Anton Chekhov show is going to be really cool. It will certainly get interesting I’m tech-ing Amerikin and then starting rehearsals during the week while having shows on the weekend. Honestly, I think I’ve gotten used to figuring out how to do both school and outside artistic opportunities. BW tries really hard to give everyone an opportunity to be onstage, but there’s something special about getting to practice what you’re learning with projects outside of school.
POOT AND THE WORLD OF THE PLAY:
When it came to the World of the Play exploration…well, my Pinterest is CRAZY - it has always been crazy. Ya know… sometimes when you get into a weird spot, you just go there. That’s what Pinterest is for. Also - during the pandemic, there was this period on tiktok where everyone was obsessed with aesthetics and how far they could possibly push an aesthetic. When it came time for this assignment, I knew just where to go because I had this whole back catalogue of weird images and stuff.
I’m also very into the Punk scene and the Indie music scene. Do you know the Midwest Emo scene? It’s this genre of music that vibes on people being depressed in the Midwest. That’s the whole vibe. It’s a really specific aesthetic and small niche kind of genre. Even though the show is not in the Midwest, when I read it, it gave me a very similar feeling of this strong yearning and decrepit-ness that you can sense in Midwest Emo. I immediately thought of that genre and started looking for images that had that sort of a feel. As I was looking, I got more and more literal until I was looking up “rotting”. Initially I was thinking about houses rotting and decaying, but then I thought about decay in general, and eventually, I got to the fruit. It was so pure…it almost felt Biblical.
To get a feel for Midwest Emo music, the first thing that comes to mind is “Two Beers In” by Freethrow or anything by Pine Grove
