BWW Blog: Laura Minadeo and Alexander Rotella - THE SEVEN STAGES OF GRIEF! (Our Experience at The New York International Fringe Festival)

by Laura Minadeo and Alexander Rotella

In April of 2015 our play PICKLES was officially selected to be part of The New York International Fringe Festival and that's about the time our seven stages of grief started to manifest. The following is a look into our journey...

"OMG, they've chosen PICKLES! There is no flipping way, re-read the email."

Our first stage on the grief list is SHOCK & DENIAL. There was a weird rejection thing that happened in our brains when we were accepted into FringeNYC. I mean, we wrote a play that has a superhero's girlfriend calling him out for wearing Lycra spandex. Granted, she makes a valid point, but we never expected our show to be chosen by the festival. PICKLES was written because of a late night conversation when Alex asked "What would you do if I was a vigilante and came home beat up one night?" to which the only logical answer is "beat you up again for doing something that dangerous." That can't be a good enough reason to write a show in the eyes of THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL, or is it? Wait a second, PICKLES is much more than just Superman jokes and purple nurples. It's a show about what happens when a female breaks out of her comic book shackles and rises up from the damsel in distress stereotype. One of the best things about the character of Annie is that she is just as important as her male counterpoint. Everyman, the superhero boyfriend, has way more depth than a just being a hunk of muscles or a useless sex object (although he does look good in a onesie). PICKLES is for anyone and everyone who loves adventure. Regardless of age, sex, taste in Britney Spears music, or love of toilet jokes, PICKLES is a fun show about real people and that was our goal from day one. Our show made it into the festival and we have the email as evidence... I think we're ready to move to the next step.

"Eek that joke stinks, did we really write that?" and "What if our friends audition and we can't cast them..."

PAIN & GUILT how we loathe you, but of course you are the second stage of grief. Now that we have re-read our email a million times, cried tears of joy, and called everyone we have ever met (including that ex that said we'd never make it) we are full speed ahead. CASTING TIME! Thank gosh for the Academy Players in Rhode Island for letting us use their beautiful auditorium. As we get ready to see our characters come alive the stress starts to seep in. We are both actors; we've spent very little time on the other side of the casting table. "What if our show doesn't make sense when it's read out loud by strangers, what if our friends auditioned and we don't have parts for them?" Pain and guilt are tricky things; they can keep you up at night, take over your brain, even if there's no good reason for it. Audition days were electric. There was so much talent that walked through those doors. Many of which were friends, and the amazing part was they were supportive regardless if they were cast or not. HOW DID WE GET SO LUCKY?! As for the pain part... oh there was pain, there was LOTS of painful moments. For example, when we realized some jokes stunk worse than a fish market's dumpster. All of which was thankfully fixable! After all that repair work, we could now ease on down the road to our third stage!

"WE CAN'T AFFORD THE NAME BRAND CEREAL ANYMORE!" and "We will watch your children for life if you donate."

PICKLES is edited, there's a cast/crew, and we have a rehearsal space with many thanks to Centre Stage of Rhode Island. Now the hard part; MONEY! Oh hello ANGER & BARGAINING you're just in time. FringeNYC helps their participants so much it's actually flabbergasting. They hook you up with these incredible opportunities to market your show and make it possible for even productions from little ol' Rhode Island find an audience in the Big Apple. However, those audiences would enjoy seeing a show... with costumes, and a set. How much do those things cost? That's the question we asked ourselves over and over again until we finally came up with the conclusion they cost more than we had. Every penny was now being watched and cut into little pennies to be watched closer. Countless arguments erupted in our apartment. Anger is a step we wish to never visit again but it did bring with it something positive. After one particularly nasty fight involving cereal, we decided we couldn't make this dream happen on our own. With the help of Cory Santilli and Rhys Santa Maria of JAWDOC Productions we launched an Indiegogo and spread the word! We called in every favor we had and bargained until our brains broke. I am pretty sure we will both be washing cars and babysitting terrible... err... TERRIFIC children for the next 15 years, but we honestly couldn't have created the incredible world of PICKLES in time without everyone's help. We then realized every production we'd ever been in must have gone through this same "rip your hair out because we're broke moment" and in that second we wanted to hug each and every director, writer, producer and actor we'd ever met and let them know the struggle is real and they had our respect.

"What if no one sees our show?"

We can't express how many times we've sat back after an unbelievable rehearsal, where we all KILLED our lines, blocking, found new interesting nuances, had marvelous production meetings, and thought... "what if no one sees our show?" DEPRESSION is the worst. It slinks in like a snake undetected and takes you down like a sack of potatoes when you're sitting up in the clouds. It's very different to be in a production as an actor and you don't sell out every night. You just accept it, give the same powerhouse performance and tell more friends to come the next night. It's very different to write, direct, and act in something that means this much to you. PICKLES is more than just a comedy show it's a reflection our relationship and values. Annie and Everyman (two of our main characters) butt heads continuously, but working through things forces them to create an incredibly strong bond. PICKLES is filled with so many important messages like: women are just as strong as men, and standing up for what's right, not hiding in the shadows, and most importantly... coffee is truly the drink of GODS! We need to keep promoting our show, trusting that people will see it, and hoping that they connect with it as much as our team does. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR DOUBT! (Please see our show!)

"WE HAVE OUR SHOW DATES!"

The fifth stage is a good one; it is the stage of UPWARD TURN! On July 7th it all became real! We now have an official venue, The Flamboyan Theatre at the Clemente and official show dates (see bottom of article). Costumes and props are done, the set is built, our actors are ready to go, and people want to buy tickets. Is this real life? Are we actually getting ready to perform PICKLES at FringeNYC along a myriad of other amazing shows (check them out at fringenyc.org). We sit down with our cast and crew to thank them for all of their hard work and dedication and also for being a part of something that was concocted out of a crazy late night conversation and our private lives. This is what the last five stages of grief were for, to make us strong enough to handle all the amazing fun we are about to have!

"Our set won't fit through the doors..."

We'll keep this stage short. Reconstruction and working through problems are indeed necessary steps on the path of grief. There is nothing more terrifying than finding out that your beautiful set is a little too large for the venue. But with the quick thinking and incredible talents of our technical director Branigan Duguay we passed through this stage relatively unscathed. Not only has he been great from day one, but his work ethic and calm demeanor has made our jobs so much easier. It's amazing for us to have so many wonderful people working tirelessly to make something we've been dreaming of for so long come to life. Thanks to all of that incredible help, we're on to our last and final stage.

"PICKLES' first show is August 20 in THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL!"

Oh ACCEPTANCE, of all the stages we love you the most! There is NOTHING like having a show you've written perform in New York. Surrounded by electric energy and intoxicating art, we can't help but feel blessed to be part of The New York International Fringe Festival, and to have such a tremendous cast and crew alongside of us. We are so thankful for Elena Holy and the entire staff of FringeNYC, The Flamboyan Theatre and its wonderful crew, everyone who has helped us to make this dream a reality; especially Bert Silverberg who introduced us to FringeNYC and of course to everyone who supported us when we said, "hey we wrote a play about an evil woman stealing caffeine in the city, come see it". We can't wait to share our work with the world so if you're in New York and you want to see a fun, comedic play with a lot of heart behind it, check out PICKLES!

Get your tickets today at www.fringenyc.org

August 20, 2:00 PM, August 22, 7:15 PM, August 25, 2:30 PM, August 27, 8:45 PM, August 29, 2:45 PM