The headline could have read: Tangelico and A Cube With A View take the world by storm! But Dave Charest had a different idea: “Let's call it, Mare may…or may…not make it through this interview!” he quipped during his interview with Sterling and me. We talked with him via Skype on Thursday, January 21st. Before we started taping I warned Dave that I might lose power during our conversation because Phoenix was in the middle of a violent storm. In fact two tornadoes touched down within the city limits. Crazy! Sterling and Dave had great fun with this notion. They assured me that in the event of any catastrophe, they would carry on without me even though I wouldn’t be able to defend myself – in my memory of course.
Sterling and I shared the story of how we came to work together by noting our early encounters on Twittter. Dave witnessed, what I refer to as “the sealing of our doom”. On no particular weekday morning, I posted the first two lines of Jumpin’ Jack Flash and within minutes, Sterling added the next two lines. Dave said, “I saw that and I thought, isn’t that cute?”
We talked with Dave about the amazing access Twitter, and all social media, affords artists and the opportunities for collaboration. Sterling remarked that maybe two, for sure five, years ago our production would have been categorically impossible. Because of social media, the historical production process is finally flattening and widening to include opportunities previously unreachable to artists all over the world.
We had a hilarious conversation. I give Dave a lot of credit - it's hard to wrangle Sterling and me. A bit like herding cats. Dave was a gracious and thoughtful host. Thanks so much, Dave! Give a listen on Fuzzbucket. Here are examples of the feedback I've heard already: "I learned a lot about Twitter. Now I get it." "It was fun hearing how you guys wrote the plays." "This is so cool! Is anyone else doing this?" You can follow the three of us on Twitter at: @DaveCharest, @MareBiddle, and @SterlingLynch.
For the record, Sterling is right about one thing: if we met at a cocktail party we would’ve had a big fight and never spoken again. It will be a hoot to meet in person for the first time at out premiere in Phoenix. Sterling will be in town for the closing performance on February 27th.
And finally, I'd like to say that in writing this post, and looking back over all of the ground we covered, I think my favorite part was when we talked about how brilliant I am. Nice.
Production photos courtesy of Michael Markowsky, Phoenix, AZ 2010
