Jamespeak: Interview With Hot Young Playwright

INTERVIEWER: I’m talking here with a hot young playwright, the co-founder of Nosedive Productions and author of The Adventures of Nervous Boy (A Penny Dreadful), which opens in nearly two weeks at the Gene Frankel Underground on 24 Bond Street in New York and runs for three weeks in June. Now then, Mister…? I’m sorry, how do you pronounce…?

PLAYWRIGHT: KUM-twah. The ‘s’ is silent.

INTERVIEWER: Okay, I see, I see.

PLAYWRIGHT: No problem.

INTERVIEWER: That’s French, right?

PLAYWRIGHT: Uh, yeah.

INTERVIEWER: Well, Mr. Comtois, you must all be so excited for this one, this is, what, the tenth original play of yours your company Nosedive Productions has staged?

PLAYWRIGHT: Well, tenth or eleventh, depending on if you count our two productions of Christmas Carol once or twice.

INTERVIEWER: Fabulous. Now, what can you tell me about this show?

PLAYWRIGHT: Well, I guess in a nutshell, it’s a satire of our current culture, a culture run amok.

INTERVIEWER: I see.

PLAYWRIGHT: And we follow the day-to-day travails of a guy trapped inside his own head who’s slowly losing his mind…

INTERVIEWER: Uh-huh.

PLAYWRIGHT: This alienated New Yorker, named Nervous Boy, wanders around our fair city and comes across New Yorkers of every kind…

INTERVIEWER: Such as…?

PLAYWRIGHT: Well, you name it. From rude cell phone users, belligerent alcoholics, pretentious academics, screaming couples, demons from the underworld, brain-dead zombies…

INTERVIEWER: What the hell kind of play is this?

PLAYWRIGHT: What? Oh. I thought you were given a copy of the script before we—

INTERVIEWER: —I’ve only read parts.

PLAYWRIGHT: Oh.

INTERVIEWER: Now, why do you continue to write plays with such graphic material?

PLAYWRIGHT: Oh, I don’t know. I mean, I grew up reading and watching horror novels and movies, I think they’re a lot of fun. Plus, horror, like comedy, can serve as a good barometer for what people can or can’t tolerate—

INTERVIEWER: —I wonder why anyone would want to engage in such socially deviant behavior.

PLAYWRIGHT: Well, uh…I mean, I don’t know if—

INTERVIEWER: —There’s just so much hostility you display towards your audience.

PLAYWRIGHT: Well, it’s just a play. I think saying that just the act of writing a play is engaging in socially deviant behavior…

INTERVIEWER: I’m wondering if this is coming from a deep-rooted pathological desire to hurt based on some repressed childhood trauma?

PLAYWRIGHT: What…?

INTERVIEWER: Possibly related to your potty training?

PLAYWRIGHT: Uhhhh…

INTERVIEWER: Because I have to say, Mister Kumtwas, I really think that Nosedive Productions could be a major voice within independent theatre if you stopped displaying such active aggression towards the theatergoing public. After all, it really isn’t our fault that your mother didn’t hug you enough during your infancy, is it?

PLAYWRIGHT: …

INTERVIEWER: Final question. What’s up next for you and your company?

PLAYWRIGHT: Uhh…a comedy about suburbia?

INTERVIEWER: Terrific, terrific.

* * *

The Adventures of Nervous Boy (A Penny Dreadful)

a new play by James Comtois, directed by Pete Boisvert

June 8-10, 15-17, 22-24 (Thursdays through Saturdays)

The Gene Frankel Underground at 24 Bond Street (between Bowery and Lafayette)

All shows are at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.

For tickets visit www.theatermania.com or click here.

Adults only