Howdy! This week, please check out the reading of a brand spankin’ new play by my good friend Jonathan Goldberg, with whom I had a lively Q&A (below). First, here’s the info on the play:
MY FATHER IS A TETRIS GAME
by Jonathan A. Goldberg
Directed by: Alexis Poledouris
January 20th @ 8PM
The New Dixon Place
161 Chrystie Street (between Rivington & Delancey www.dixonplace.org for info and tickets.
Jonathan and I went to grad school at NYU together, and he is simply one of the best writers - and best people - I know. His play “The Jew and the Demon” is a masterwork, and I hope everyone, everywhere, has the chance to see it someday soon.
Now, I haven’t yet seen or read “My Father is a Tetris Game. But if I know Jonathan, this play will be highly theatrical, smart (but not daunting!) - and altogether a very enjoyable ride. But you’ll gather that from this following Q&A with J. So... Enjoy!
Seven Questions for JONATHAN GOLDBERG.
1) ED VALENTINE: Jonathan, IS your father actually a Tetris game? If not, isn't your title false advertising? What does it have to do with the play?
JONATHAN GOLDBERG: My father? No he’s the mayor of a small town in New Jersey. The main character of the play Jotti Szillo, that’s another story. The play is set in the late 1980’s. After her father dies she starts to see codes in her Tetris game that she believes are messages from him. She tries to decode them, but decides that she needs help. So she goes to Russia and vanishes. The play is a surrealist exploration of what happened to Jotti, her father, and her lost years in the Soviet Union. The play uses video game logic, dream time, and complex images to weave the story of Jotti’s loss and grief.
2) ED: Did the Muse just kick you in the head with the idea for this play, or did you discover the idea in a Cave of Secrets, or what?
JONATHAN: Growing up playing video games definitely helped shaped the story. One character Gemma Gamer hosts a public access TV show about video games. She compares Pac-Man to someone with an eating disorder and drug addiction and can’t get enough of the zen that pong. Overall the play deals with grief and loss - and even if you haven’t played video games you can understand what it means to feel alone in the world.
3) ED: Is your lead character based on Mamie Eisenhower? If not, why not?
JONATHAN: No more than most of my characters are. However, Hilary Clinton is a character. In the late 90’s, she travels to Russia to try and find out what happened to Jotti Szillo. In the world of the play Jotti becomes a famous missing person like Amelia Earhart. So, Mrs. Clinton as the new First Lady travels to Russia and finds . . . well, that would be the play and Jotti wouldn’t want me to give it away. Not Jotti. Not Jotti Z…. sorry, got Sondheimed there for a moment.
4) ED: Does anyone blind a horse in this play? If not, what gets blinded?
JONATHAN: No horses were harmed in the creation of MY FATHER IS A TETRIS GAME, but there is the presence of a red, red, light. And instead of getting blinded we find out that on his historic trip to China, Nixon’s brain was removed and transferred into a peasant woman so Kissinger could run the government. Oh and Nixon - or Girl Nixon - is pissed about it.
5) ED: Your work balances the otherworldly and the very very real. What's otherworldly about this play? And what's at its core?
JONATHAN: At the core of the play is grief. And how we handle death. Not just the death of our loved ones but our own death. When we play video games we “die” all the time. It’s the one inescapable reality that we all have to face. What’s attractive about people who “disappear” like Jotti or Amilia Earhart is that they never really died. They just stop existing. The idea that there’s an alternate path.
The play jumps around in time and space and sometimes scenes bleed into each other. Jotti will be trying to stop Nixon in the Artic and suddenly she’s in her living room back in New Jersey. I think I’m always trying to explore how people are connected in life by random chance, odd coincidences, and similar taste.
6) ED: How did you get so goddamned sexy?
JONATHAN: By never saying “no” to cheese steaks.
7) ED : What specific moment of this play will make me embarrass myself aloud in the audience?
JONATHAN: I think you’d love the visuals of the play. There is a lot of projects and neat effects that a full production would have. Scenes from video games that comment on the action. People in Stalin Masks singing a Talking Heads song. Or maybe Jotti throwing handfuls of ash and dirt in Hillary’s face. Oh, and there are gun shots - you don’t like those do you? Yeah, so Girl Nixon firing an AK47 saying “Nobody fucks with Nixon!” would probably send you scurrying under your seat. Luckily, I put a candy bar under there, so… enjoy.
ED: Okay, then! That’s 7 Questions. Anything else you wanna say?
JONATHAN: Ultimately I hope people come and see the play. My director Alexis Poledouris is brilliant and she can really take the complex imagery and surreal story and give a passion and life that resonates. The actors all have a handle on the nature of who they are playing and what they need to do to bring the story to life.
The play, while surreal for us, is real and important and life altering for the characters on stage. I think ultimately it has a message that anyone open to it will find. It’s not an easy straightforward play, but where’s the fun in that. So yeah, it’s also really funny at times.
So . . . come see it! And also thanks to The New Dixon Place for taking a chance on it. And if you want to see it all gussied up with full effects see the reading and tell them to give it a full production. Or just... write on the walls with blood: MY FATHER IS A TETRIS GAME. (Note: if anyone does do this it’s all Ed’s fault, not mine.)
ED'S NOTE: Jonathan’s kidding about the blood. NO BLOOD WRITING! But please DO go hear the reading.
