Robin Rothstein
The Game Boy

A nytheatre voices cyber-interview

Robin Rothstein is a prolific playwright whose work has been seen at many venues in New York and around the country. She also wrote and performed for several years with a sketch comedy group. This is Robin's first children's musical. The Game Boy is at the McGinn Cazale Theatre through April 22, 2007. Read more about The Game Boy here.

Your new musical, The Game Boy will be shown at Vital Childrens Theatre. Can you tell us a bit about the play and how you decided to write a musical for children?

Not long before I started working on The Game Boy I was really noticing how hand-held electronic games, and computer games in general, had permeated our culture. It's a phenomenon I find potentially troublesome, particularly as it relates to kids because of the way these games can isolate people from each other and the world. It was a theme I was interested in exploring, so when Stephen Sunderlin, the Artistic Director of Vital Theatre Company asked me last summer if I wanted to write a children's musical for their upcoming season, I jumped at the opportunity. The main character in The Game Boy is a popular, athletic boy named Chase, who revels in being the best at all kinds of sports and is admired by all the other kids. An exceptionally smart new girl named Lucy shows up in class though, shaking Chase's self-confidence, so when he discovers an exciting, new hand-held electronic game called "Marathon To Mars" that can also help him learn about outer space, he sees an opportunity to out-shine Lucy and regain his status. However, it isn't long before Chase ends up devoting more time to playing the game and an unknown opponent, than playing with his friends, and focusing on his schoolwork.

You are a prolific playwright. How different is it to write book and lyrics for a musical than to write a straight play and what is in your background that prepared you for this?

I found a lot of similarities between writing book and lyrics for a musical and writing a straight play. When I began writing The Game Boy I decided to proceed as if I were writing a play, and then when I instinctually felt I had arrived at a crisis point in the story, that's where I sensed a song might go. When writing lyrics I thought about rhymes and rhythm, but first and foremost I thought of the songs as monologues or dialogues, so the words and phrasing stayed true to the characters voices. If I discovered two words that rhymed well, but one of the words was not something that character would say, I would keep searching until I found something better. It was a very time-consuming process, but I enjoyed the challenge. Before The Game Boy, I hadn't had much background in writing a musical beyond writing some songs for a sketch comedy group I had been in, but then I was fortunate to be selected by Jane Abramson, Masi Asare and Laura Penney to write for their Raw Impressions Music Theatre (RIMT) marathon here in New York last year. I was required to write book and lyrics for a ten minute musical in a matter of just a few days, which was then performed to the general public for three evenings. That experience without question enabled me to gain the confidence I needed to work on The Game Boy.

In addition to play writing you have also written and performed sketch comedy. Could you tell us a bit about how you got involved with this and what its like to be part of performing in a sketch comedy group?

The sketch comedy group I was in was a project of New Georges called Kinda Personal. We were an all-female troupe that wrote and performed our work together for four years at comedy clubs all over the city like Caroline's and Gotham Comedy Club. Being in Kinda Personal was great fun and the experience taught me a lot about writing humor. While working on The Game Boy I concentrated a great deal on making sure there were elements of humor that both kids and adults could enjoy.

When you and Matt Gandolfo work together on a musical which comes first, music or lyrics and because you are both credited with writing the lyrics, how do you decide who will write which lyrics?

I feel really fortunate to have met Matthew. Steve knew Matt and admired his work and suggested that we work together. In addition to being a terrific composer, Matt's also a very strong lyricist and has worked on many children's musicals. The way we worked was I would write a first draft of a song containing all the ideas and intentions I wanted to get across, then I'd pass it along to Matthew, who did not begin composing until after he got my first draft lyrics. Depending on what kind of music he was hearing in his head, he would keep anywhere from very little to all of what I wrote. Then as the script developed, we'd discuss tweaks we felt needed to happen in the songs so that they would better match the story, or character's state of mind. Matt's musical style is very fun and imaginative, so he was a perfect match for The Game Boy.

You have worked with Vital Theatre before. What is it about this theatre that makes you want to return with new work and what type of environment is most pleasant for you, as a playwright, to work within?

I've read lots of articles in which playwrights talk about a theater that's like a second home for them. I hate to repeat the cliché, but I feel the same way about Vital and the artistic team there. They love theater, they love new work, and they love making new artistic relationships happen. Besides the shiddach Steve made between me and Matthew, the other key player who has made The Game Boy come to life in ways that far exceeded my expectations is the show's director, Mary Catherine Burke. Mary Kate had directed plays at Vital before and Steve thought she would make a good match with me and this project, and his instincts were right on. Mary Kate is a very smart and sensitive person who possesses amazing dramaturgical skills. She helped a great deal in making the script of The Game Boy even stronger. Matthew, Mary Kate and I worked really well as a team and the strength of our collaboration behind the scenes definitely shows on stage. What also shows on stage is the incredible talent of the dedicated team of designers that Mary Kate assembled for this project. Vital attracts great artists and I feel really lucky to have met some of them through The Game Boy.

What are your plans for the near future? Well, I have several plays in various stages that I had to put aside while working on The Game Boy, so I'm really looking forward to diving back into those. However, my very next project will be writing my maid of honor speech for my sister's wedding next month. I¹m just hoping that won't be as challenging as writing a children's musical.

Friday, March 9, 2007

This page updated Saturday, March 10, 2007 9:04:50 AM
Copyright ©2007 The New York Theatre Experience, Inc. All rights reserved.

www.theatermania.com

JOIN THE VITAL THEATRE COMPANY  MAILING LIST