When playwright and director Dan Brown first envisioned The Gritarer Verde, he likely didn’t anticipate the serendipitous partnership that would arise with actress Molly Gazay. The one-woman, one-act play, originally crafted as a monologue, has become a wonderful collaboration for the pair, who premiered the play at the Spark Theater Festival last fall to much acclaim, followed by the SOOP to Nuts Short Play Festival, and will be at the New York Theater Festival in February.
A Journey Through Creative Mediums
Dan’s path to theater has been as multifaceted as the art form itself. “I went to school for filmmaking and studied screenwriting at the School of Visual Arts,” he explains. From there, his creative ventures spanned journalism, music, stand-up comedy, and short story writing. It wasn’t until four years ago that he pivoted to stage productions. “I published a book of writings, monologues, and short stories in 2021, then transitioned some pieces to the stage. This play grew from that process.”
When it comes to casting, Dan takes a less common approach and turns to social media to find actors he feels best fit his vision. “Rather than having a bunch of people come and audition I just go searching and contact them and see if they would be interested,” he explained. “I checked out Molly’s reel and stuff and just by looking at that I knew we had the right person there.”
Molly’s career and creative journey is just as multi-faceted, having worked on stage and onscreen, in voiceover, producing and directing short films, hosting her own podcast The Living Album and releasing her own EP Manic, available to stream now.
Rising to the Challenge of a Solo Performance
For Molly, The Gritarer Verde presented a new kind of challenge. “I’ve never done a one-person show before,” she admits. “I love working in ensembles, but this was all on me. So it better be tight, because if it’s not tight, there’s no fall back on on stage, like ‘what’s the line?’” she laughed.
The role required Molly to shift gears constantly, going through emotional highs and lows, anger, calm, and humor, all in the span of 20 minutes. “it has been really rewarding and very challenging to have to jump through all these different emotions within the span of 20 minutes,” she explained. “I actually have really enjoyed it in terms of like, isolating how I can go from 10 to 1 to 3 to 5.
Dan’s direction helped her navigate the complexity. “Dan directing and really coming up with some really beautiful imagery to help me along the way, it really did start to come to life in my mind,” she went on. “I think the collaboration between the two of us really helped.
The Magic of Live Theater
Both Dan and Molly agree that live theater holds a unique power that other creative mediums do not. “[This experience] confirmed how much I love live theater. With a one-person play, it’s very minimal with the set and the design and all. And it’s just somebody out there telling a story,” he shared. “In theater, it’s about creating a world onstage. The actor’s imagination becomes the audience’s reality. Getting that immediate reaction of the reveal or the different things that happen in this crazy story and hearing the audience react to it. I just love that!
Lessons for Their Younger Selves
Reflecting on their journeys, both Dan and Molly have advice for their younger counterparts that should be taken by young actors today. “Don’t take life so seriously,” Molly advises. “I was so determined to just get out of a small town that I really missed out on some really fun opportunities to kind of explore and be silly and goofy and have fun.”
Dan echoes a similar sentiment. “Stop being your own worst enemy,” he says. “Sometimes people will come to me and say ‘boy, I wish I could do that. I wish I could write.’. But the reason they can’t is because they tell themselves they can’t.”
“One of the benefits of getting older, and I look forward to this, is that you don’t care anymore,” he laughed. “It’s like you see old people will say anything. And I’m coming to that place in my life. So I don’t really worry about it. Just don’t be the reason you don’t succeed.”
You can watch our full conversation above, or tune in on your favorite podcast platform.
The Gritarer Verde can be seen next at the New York Theater Festival in February. You can find more information here: https://newyorktheaterfestival.com/the-gritarer-verde/