Question: Is there a core group of people with whom you expect to work on most/all of your shows (whether actors, designers, directors, admin, etc.)?
BG: The core group so far is our Board of Directors: myself, Lance Bankerd as Artistic Director, Mandee Ferrier Roberts as Musical Director, Lisa Dickenson on grants and fundraising, Lorraine Imwold on admin and box office, Lenny [Wisniewski III, the Vice President], Heiko [Spieker, who assistant directed The Rocky Horror Show], Erika [Bankerd], Lee [Conderacci], Dennis [Jaworski], and the rest of the board of course. You will absolutely see most of our actors and actresses back from Rocky in increasingly interesting and different roles.
Question: What's been the most difficult part of the experience so far? The most surprising? The most fun?
BG: The most difficult part so far—and I dare to say the most difficult part for any business—is threefold: time, communication, and cash flow. I wouldn't at all hesitate to say that many if not all of our technical problems could have been easily solved had the potential problems and solutions had more time to flush themselves out, [had we] communicated better with the cast and crew to implement the said solution, [and had we had] the funds needed to do so. We need better mics, better lights, better everything. Imagine the costumes and set we could have had if we were better funded—as such, this now becomes our challenge. Musicals are just plain costly: musicians cost money, rights cost even more, rent, set, costumes, etc. To this end we are beginning our fundraising efforts in earnest to garner the funds we need to get our own space with the quality tools needed to firmly establish Factory Edge.
[As for] the most surprising and fun: WHAT A FUN CAST! I cannot tell you how many times the cast improvised and pulled an unannounced and unrehearsed practical joke on stage in the middle of the show—be it Riff using a sexual aid for a ray gun, Brad pulling out a stuffed porpoise from his robe, the band hilariously interacting with the cast unscripted from the pit—to the hundreds of ways Frank-n-Furtur chose to “die,” make fun of Columbia, combat overly vocal audience members … wow. It was a different experience every performance. It kept our audience coming back week after week, bringing more and more new fans of this classic with them.
The whole production was a blast from start to finish. The cast rocks and rocks well together. I am too proud just to have produced it.
Question: Is there anything else you’d like to emphasize?
BG: Factory Edge Theatre Works is here to stay. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation looking for a home, patrons, converts, believers, friends, and family. Come and see us next Tuesday at our fund raiser and we can start to realize our dreams as well as entertain you for years to come.
