The downtown theatre comedy The Sketchy Eastern European Show, a new play by Naren Weiss, directed by Vas Eli (formerly Vasile Flutur), is currently in performance through March 24th, 2024 at The Players Theatre. The piece, developed by Weiss during a residency at The Players Theatre, follows a Romanian comedian as he attempts to find his footing in an American industry that has seemingly forgotten all about “people like him.”
Recently, fellow playwright Peter Gil-Sheridan met up with Naren Weiss to discuss the work.
Peter Gil-Sheridan: It’s a pleasure to chat with you about your new piece, Naren. First, let me ask. Are you Romanian? Your collaborators? What brought you to these three characters?
Naren Weiss: I’m actually not Romanian, but this piece started because one of my closest friends, and the director/lead actor of this piece, is – he goes by Vas Eli now, but he was born Vasile Flutur. In our many conversations over the years, I realized that he was very much caught in no-man’s-land with regards to America’s Culture Wars. Outwardly, he is perceived as a white American – but he actually comes from a world that understands the depths of poverty that many of us who are Black or Brown (particularly those of us coming from developing nations) know to be our reality. I was curious about how this plays out on a daily basis. And, more importantly, that no one seems to be talking about people from such diasporas.
PG: For a lot of writers, it’s very scary to write outside of themselves. Can you talk about that, what it’s like to write outside of yourself? In what ways did your company guide you through that process? Did you feel vulnerable in doing it?
NW: Getting to the heart of what people like this go through wasn’t inherently difficult – again, it’s a world I understand. I’m South Asian, Indigenous (Kodava), and white American, which actually came in handy for something like this – it made it possible to attempt to view a world such as this from several different perspectives. I was also fortunate to have a dramaturg such as Vas in my corner. It allowed me to do my own research while also having an authentic voice in the room to help offer some of the more nuanced details that only a person from within such a community (one that is not my own) would have. The vulnerability was very much there but, at the end of the day, the concept of “bastardizing your own culture to get ahead” is not a new one in this country – I’d just never seen it done within an Eastern European context.
PG: So what is this company like? They seem like a deeply playful group who aren’t afraid to take the piss out of themselves. Is the piece firmly rooted in comedy or can we expect some twists and turns tonally?
NW: We’ve got a fairly eclectic group of individuals with us. Perri Yaniv is a downtown theatre stalwart and he was the first person I reached out to upon receiving the initial go-ahead from the theatre to put up this piece. Shortly thereafter, we found Lexie Shoaibi who agreed to jump in as our third actor. (Carolina Đỗ and Rebecca Jimenez – two theatre powerhouses – were also in our corner throughout the development of this piece.) They’re all extremely funny, talented people but – more than that – they are all wonderful human beings. And to tell a story such as this, you need good people first and foremost. It’s billed as a comedy but the reality of that billing is that this is just the mechanism we opted for in the hopes of softening people’s hearts to subsequently stab them with some harder truths by the end of it.
PG: Are you playing with the word Sketchy in your titling of the play: are these a series of sketches or are we hanging out with some sketchy folks for the evening? Or both?
NW: Both for sure. The earliest title played around with the subheading ‘A Tragedy in Six Sketches.’ The container, so to speak, is that the main character has a comedy show that he puts up in an attempt to get the attention of the industry – the establishment. He meets someone else from his world and thereafter enlists him in his final shot at “making it” in America. The sketches get progressively worse over the course of the play until every character in the show reaches their own breaking point.
PG: You recently produced Two Brown Porters with the Pool 3.0 and you’re on to producing more work not so long after. What are the challenges of producing two shows so closely together?
NW: Uff, so many. I think the best part of producing, though, is that you get to dictate the culture of the room. I think that’s important, particularly when we look at the American theatre through a sharper lens. For example, I don’t think actors should be asked to audition without paying them for their time and talents. It doesn’t have to be much (perhaps just the round trip of public transit in that city), but something to show these extraordinary artists that their work is truly valued. I’m proud to say I’ve only ever offered roles to actors (thereby putting the onus on me to get out there and find those diamonds in the rough), or – failing that – I’ve paid them stipends to audition. I also believe actors should get a cut of ticket sales (even if it’s just 10% of those sales disbursed evenly between the actors in question) – something I’m hoping to do with both this production as well as my next one this summer.
Producing is hard, but it also gives you the opportunity to remake the system (albeit at a very small scale) in a way that reflects your own core values.
PG: Finally, can I ask? With so much to see in NYC, why this show? I hate to be so bald about self-promoting but hey, nothing wrong with a bit of advertising appeal.
NW: Totally. We have so much extraordinary content in this city (and country) that it can be hard to decide where to put your money. Greater than that, though, is what to devote your time to. That’s a responsibility I take seriously. You don’t need to make a play three hours long to justify the cost of ticketing – it’s possible to tell good stories crisply (90 minutes or less will always be my goal). This piece is crisp, I think it’s pretty funny, and it’s a perspective most people don’t encounter. A patron recently referred to the piece as “absolutely genius” and, while that’s not for me to say, it’s something that reinforces that we’re on the right track with what we’re doing. Whether people love it or hate it, the one thing they cannot say about it is that it’s boring. So, hopefully, that entices people to get outta the house and come see something they might not normally head out to.
Leave a Reply