[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre interview with Aditya Putcha on J-P Theatre Productions’ original sci-fi/horror anthology, A Haunting Revue, directed by Richard Page at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival.
I had previously reviewed this production in April for its first iteration at The Sherry Theater in NoHo. https://nohoartsdistrict.com/a-haunting-revue-review/
A Haunting Revue now makes its Hollywood Fringe debut and while its producer Aditya Putcha tells us there have been changes to all three plays for Fringe, we had some questions for him about the plays, his actors and the choices he made to bring A Haunting Revue to the stage.
Hello Aditya, thank you for all your continued hard work in bringing A Haunting Revue and all your theatre productions to audiences in NoHo and now in Hollywood for Fringe!
How did you select these three plays for A Haunting Revue?
La Mano del Mono – I had long considered The Monkey’s Paw my favorite short story ever, and contemplated writing an anthology full of adaptations. Eventually, I got a great idea for one – make the couple thirtysomethings instead of elderly people, make their child a preteen instead of a young adult, make her a girl, and make the mom Hispanic while keeping the dad white so cultural differences in child discipline play a huge role in the themes.
Oh, and also, make the person who brings the paw from India an actual Indian instead of a British imperialist – and cast myself in the role. 😏️
The Inheritance of Dracula – A board member of my theatre company, Ari, said, “90% as a joke”, that he should do a Dracula monologue since he looks like Dracula. As a horror fanatic, I then 100% seriously said he had to do it. He then asked another board member, Richard, to write it for him but Richard instead got the idea to write a play where young Christopher Lee meets dying Bela Lugosi upon taking over the Hungarian’s signature role.
Birds of a Feather – I am in a Twilight Zone improv troupe at Impro Theatre and, in one of my first scenes, the prompt was a family reunion and my scene partner endowed himself an old man so I endowed myself as his adult son peeved over always being the unfavorite, despite my countless attempts to love him. I then came up with the Twilight Zone “portal”, as the instructor describes it – my character, despite his filial devotion, was mistreated because he was an extraterrestrial.
I told Richard we should make a play out of this. Richard first suggested it be about the alien and his human younger sister instead of human father, and then he thought there should be both a human little sister AND human big brother for the alien. Essentially, E.T. and Elliott combined into one (which the movie made a big deal out of them basically doing anyway) but then spent decades having intense sibling rivalry with Gertie and Michael.
How did your team form and what inspired you to cast your actors?
As I discussed, Richard wrote one segment, I wrote another, and we co-wrote the third. He would direct and I would produce, as is often the case with our company’s shows nowadays.
As far as casting, I have the part in La Mano del Mono I mentioned. That made it fair to give Richard the role of the host – essentially Rod Serling, because someone gave me the idea to do the whole show Night Gallery-style. Our board member Brendan plays another role in La Mano del Mono, Ari plays Christopher Lee, a regular collaborator of our company’s plays Bela Lugosi, one of my oldest and best friends plays the brother in Birds of a Feather, a brand new friend of mine plays the sister in Birds of a Feather, and the remaining four roles are played by wonderful actors I found on Breakdown Services.
Also, our remaining board member is stage manager, another regular collaborator of ours is fight choreographer, and I’m lucky enough that a frequent collaborator of mine at Impro is tech manager.
The entertainment industry is rapidly changing, where does live theatre sit in all this chaos?
Hot take, but more notably than ever. This is one thing that can never be replaced by AI.
How do you feel inspired to continue creating theatre?
I basically practice writing all day, every day, just jotting down ideas and seeing where the stories go. My creative juices are constantly flowing and, while on-camera work can be nice, it’s just not the same as the stage, where you have the adrenaline from engaging the audience live and not getting a redo. For me happiness is being on stage – whether it’s through scripted theatre, at Impro, at The Magic Castle (where I am on track to successfully audition for membership soon), or at the amphitheatre in Coldwater Canyon Park, where I run my Midnight Society (you can read about it on MeetUp).
You have had several Fringe productions over the years. What is so special about the Hollywood Fringe for you?
There is no better way in Los Angeles to completely immerse yourself in theatre – not even close.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers and theatre producers?
If you want to be involved in a stage production somehow, get your butt out there and DO IT. There are plenty of ways, most notably Fringe.
Is there something you’d like our readers to know?
I’m infinitely more into live theatre than I was just three years ago, when I produced a play called Mother Grace, which I poured every last ounce of my heart into writing, at Fringe. A lot of the increased passion for theatre is because Mother Grace was such an incredible experience, I wanted to work with my director, Stephen Juhl, endlessly. I even gave our partnership a nickname – J-P Theatre Productions.
When Stephen abruptly died in his sleep at the age of 40 last year, his girlfriend, when writing the obituary, asked the name of our company. Seeing as how she treated it like a real company, I decided to actually make it a real theatre company. I invited several of our regular actors, also devastated by his loss, to form a board of directors with me. We plan to do shows year-round, including Fringe every year, and I love, as the surviving founder of the company, to be the hub who keeps bringing in new talent. The 14 of us cast and crew members part of this year’s show are clicking beautifully, and you will have an amazing time when you come watch us!
Thank you, Aditya!
You can see A Haunting Revue as part of the Hollywood Fringe this year!
When:
Monday, June 9 at 6:30 PM – Preview
Sunday, June 15 at 5:00 PM
Thursday, June 19 at 10:30 PM
Thursda,y June 26 at 5:30 PM
Sunday, June 29 at 7:30 PM
Where:
Stephanie Feury Studio
5636 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038
Tickets:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/12153?tab=tickets
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