[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre interview with Anthony Montes, writer and performer of Out of The Darkness and Into The Light at Whitefire Theatre’s Solofest. 

When:

Sunday, March 5 at 7pm

Where:

Whitefire Theatre
13500 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks

Tickets:

https://whitefire.stagey.net/projects/9403?tab=details

Anthony Montes’s semi-autobiographical solo show, a personal reflection on the very human struggle with suicide, light and dark, life and death, connection and isolation, is a part of this year’s Solofest at the Whitefire Theatre.  I was very fortunate to see this beautiful and semi-improvised play a couple of years ago during the first throws of Covid and I can’t tell you how impactful it was…especially considering all that was falling apart around us. 

Here’s the NoHo Arts theatre review>>

This play is a nontraditional solo show…if there is such a thing. It opens with the glorious voice of Elizabeth Frohlich busking in the subway, just before Montes takes his fateful leap. The rest of the show plays like a courtroom drama, with the audience as the jury and a bingo drum full of moments from Montes’s life adding the improvisational aspect.  Each withdrawal from the tumbled drum a question to be answered or a story to be told…

Whether the audience will judge him worthy of another chance at life is all a gamble. It’s a brilliant concept and Montes is a gifted storyteller.

I wanted to know more about the show and how it came to be, so we asked Anthony about his process.

Hi Anthony, Out of The Darkness and Into The Light has a really interesting format. How did you find your way to this confessional, in the bardo between life and death? This play is semi-autobiographical, why did you want to share what happened to you?

From my earliest childhood memories, I have always felt that we were being watched. I imagined that when we died we would have to watch the movie of our life with everyone we ever met in our lifetime. I was aware that I wanted to have a good movie at the end of my life so, I would always do a little extra, something a bit more interesting, something funny. I guess I’ve always been working on my reel. I’ve always been a storyteller and I’ve wanted to a one-man show for the longest time, but I couldn’t figure out the format. Over the years as an acting teacher, I helped others to tell their stories but, with my own I was stuck. Most of my life I had struggled with depression and I had used my sense of humor to mask my pain. It all came to a head on July 4th, 1983. I was living in New York, working three jobs just to pay my rent, lonely and not getting any closer to realizing my dream of becoming a working actor. I was done. While waiting for the train, I decided to end it and I jump onto the tracks on the elevated in Queens. As soon as I hit the tracks I thought of my mother, and I know that I couldn’t do that to her, so I jumped to the side and squeezed in between the fence and the train but, the train clipped my arm, fracturing it. I was lucky, so many are not. Over the years since, I’ve learned a lot about life. Whenever I hear about someone who has committed suicide, my heart is broken. Over the years, I’ve known six people who have committed suicide. I decided to tell my story to give hope to others.

You chose to dramatize the story for the stage, were you drawn to any other format? Music? Novella? Film?

I am looking to shoot my play and have it play on a streaming service like, Derek DelGaudio’s: In & Of Itself. I would like to do it on college campuses, involve their theatrical department and more importantly, their mental health department during my Q&A. This way when the students are having trouble they’ll know exactly who to go to. I am developing it into a TV series and looking into traveling with the play both in the states and overseas. 

How has this journey from a story to the stage changed you?

I’ve always felt that art was a search for the self. I’ve wondered, “Why am I here and what is my purpose?” Through my play I am answering those questions for myself. The way that it has affected the audience and the difference it has made in people’s lives has been very humbling. It has been very gratifying to take the darkest period of my life and turn it into something positive. 

Who helped you create this play?

Because of the personal nature of the piece, it was something I needed to develop myself. When I shoot it, I will have someone direct me and take it to the next level. 

How would you advise someone who has a story they want to share?

I believe everyone has a story to tell and I enjoy helping others to do just that. Every actor that wants to have a life in this business and doesn’t want to be typecast has to write and create their own opportunities. I’m, looking into using my play to do workshops, where I will help others to tell their stories. The best way to write is to pick up a pen, or sit at your keyboard and begin. 

Finally, please tell us where you are now in your life and what you have planned creatively.

Today I am at a great place in my life. My son Matthew has graduated from UCSC with a degree in Ecology and Evolution and is doing a paid internship with Tree People and living with me and I couldn’t be happier. I am teaching acting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and at Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory as well as teaching my own classes. I have nine completed screenplays that I am looking for the money to make. I am looking forward to beginning my overseas acting workshops. My mental health is in a great place due to the tools that I have picked up along the way to with life’s more difficult moments. 

Thank you, Anthony, and congratulations on this beautiful and poignant show. 

“Out of The Darkness and Into The Light”  plays on March 5th, 7pm, Whitefire Theatre Solofest, 13500 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks

Get your tickets here!