Kpbs - Behind the scenes of ubu!

MICHAEL SCHWARTZ: Do I look at the camera or do I look at you. MICHAEL NIETO: Ubu is, the play is like as if you were watching Macbeth from a high tree and you fell out of the tree and hit your head and then wandered into a funhouse carnival. MICHAEL SCHWARTZ: Hi, I'm Michael Schwartz, I'm directing Ubu. It's a story, it's a love story, it's a story about how hard it is be king and queen when you want to kill everybody. UBU: Guilty! Yeah! TRACY mCDowell: Okay, this show is incredibly vibrant and zany, it's like nothing you have ever seen in San Diego. The costumes are incredible, the actors are incredible, the puppets are incredible, and you want to be here to throw something. MICHAEL SCHWARTZ: And word is out on the street, apparently, that you can bring things to throw if you get bored later on. ALDEN PHINNEY: Today, I'm gonna bring paper airplanes to give out to people in the crowd to throw at some point. ACTOR: What do I see? My brother's being chased by that Pa Ubu and his men. RUBY COUGLER: Okay, I'm Ruby Cougler, and I'm the director of Space 4 Art. MICHAEL SCHWARTZ: What's really exciting about doing it at Space 4 Art is the physical environment suits the play so well because it's not a traditional theatre environment. RUBY COUGLER: Whenever we can we share the space with the community, we didn't want it to be just an artist enclave. We anted it to be a place where people could come and try out new ideas. UBU: I have the noble hook, the noble sword, so send in the nobles. RUBY COUGLER: Maybe do things that don't get to be done other places. MICHAEL NIETO: [holding up eggplants] Which one has more personality? RUBY COUGLER: And this is exactly the kind of thing that doesn't get to happen other places. EGGPLANT: I am the prince of Podolia. MICHAEL NIETO: The audience is in the parking lot. Across the street, there's people putting on shows of their own to the unknown audience, when their medications are running low. MICHAEL SCHWARTZ: People on the street will scream out acting notes during runs. UBU: Guilty. [screams] MICHAEL SCHWARTZ: You can stand, you can dance in the back, we have some really cool rolling shopping cart welded art projects that you can roll around on. RUBY COUGLER: And it's been really exciting having it here, maybe a little on the chaotic side. TRACY McDOWELL: I help with costumes, I do the PR, I do, I've helped make the sets, I've run out and bought costumes, I mean anything that you could do for theater, I've essentially done but it's really fun. I love doing it. I love waking up in the morning and building a costume and then coming in assistant directing and calling a few people and doing marketing stuff and then jumping on stage and being a door. ACTOR: And being a door is the most challenging role of the production. ALDEN PHINNEY: I think it's a very dynamic show and I think that's what gives it energy because it is so malleable and all the people in it have all these great ideas, which really make it as good as it is. TRACY McDOWELL: I think that that's what theater should be is a complete ensemble thing where everyone is contributing and I love jumping in in all capacities so it's been really fun. MICHAEL NIETO: It's pretty wild. UBU: Guilty!