Chatterbox Showcase, Episode 02

Most of us have had those moments where we feel like we are in a Woody Allen movie. By this I mean a situation that seems to be happening because of us but without our participation. The idea for “The Interview” came from several experiences. Obviously, a job interview — or, more precisely, an amalgamation of many of them. It also came from an observation that a lot of the time people are talking and talking and it is unclear if what they are saying is important or even making sense. Occasionally, this happens, and just as we feel that we understand something that is really complex and insightful, we realize that there is no substance. Kind of like this paragraph.

The experience of writing “The Interview” and then hearing it performed was one of the true highlights of my year. As we huddled behind a curtain in the back of a rehearsal hall, it felt kind of like we were up to something. As the Chatterbox project grows, I tend to believe that more and more, and I am happy to have been involved and hope to be involved more in the future.

—Jim Thompson

“The Prague Winter” is inspired by the writing of Milan Kundera. I am very much taken with the way in which Kundera expertly creates the dynamic between his male and female characters. Their relationships are often unhealthy, but the characters are incapable — or unwilling — to break out of the cycle.

—Rebecca Bates

I first encountered John Galsworthy’s short play “The Sun” while looking for longer projects we could adapt for Chatterbox. It didn’t fit our purposes at the time, but something about the scene stuck with me, and I started looking for opportunities to revisit it. To my mind, the play is a perfect little parable about the effects of war on the human psyche. In the eighty-plus years since Galsworthy wrote the piece, war has most certainly not gone away, and we still have the choice whether to let spark our savagery or our humanity.

Special thanks are due to the cast and crew of this production, who put up with my hare-brained idea of recording the scene outdoors, where we had to pause every few minutes (sometimes seconds) and wait out a passing plane or car. Next time, guys, I promise I’ll do some research on flight paths beforehand.

—Robert Arnold