"I never planned to start a theatre company," insists Madi Distefano, founding artistic director of Brat Productions, and recent Barrymore Award nominee.

Yet, about nine years ago, Distefano, who also fronted a rock band at the time, decided to concentrate on theatre exclusively. She credits the birth of her daughter for the initial decision. At that point, she noted, "I figured, I had to pick rock and roll or theatre."

She laughs at the inevitable response. "Neither one of those are safe career choices, right?" But wishing for a way to combine the two, she continues, "I went into theatre and so I kind of always thought of myself as running a rock and roll theatre."

In many ways, Brat Productions' first performance recalled the rock and roll ethos with which Madi was familiar. Charging only five dollars a head, Distefano and her friends, a group of unemployed actors, covered an "irreverent" version of A Midsummer Night's Dream in her Queen Village courtyard. Even this early on, with very limited funding, they managed an innovative take on the Shakespearean comedy. For one, the set was outside at night and illuminated with flashlights. Then there were the fairies, whimsically interpreted as "gay men with boas." What really set this group apart, though, was the contrast between the limited budget and talent of the actors themselves. "They were professional actors and really good," Distefano notes with pride, adding, "It was kind of like, 'quality, but budget'."

Inspired by this success, she penned Brat's first original work, Eye-95, succinctly categorized by Distefano as a "punk rock white trash musical." The ensemble was not prepared for such a warm reception. Not only were they invited to perform in the New York International Fringe Festival, but they also received glowing reviews in the New York Times. "It was so weird because it was the first play we ever did," Distefano recalls. Shortly thereafter, she and her group applied for grants to continue their work on a larger scale, and eventually incorporated. Thus was Brat Productions, named for Distefano who had been an "army brat," officially born.

Since then, Brat Productions has performed both original work and the shaggy-dog narratives of some of Distefano's favorite playwrights: Conor McPherson, Mark O'Rowe, and Eugene O'Brien. It was while she was directing these productions that she became determined to write one of her own. The end result, Popsicle's Departure, 1989, earned Distefano a nomination for a Barrymore Award for best leading actress in a play and outstanding new play, and the show was featured prominently in the Live Arts/Philly Fringe festival this past September. Though written in the storytelling tradition of Conor McPherson, this newest work is itself a departure from anything Distefano had done before.

At the behest of director Matt Pfeiffer, Distefano is the sole performer of the two-character play She remembers her incredulity after Pfeiffer insisted she play the role of 27-year old Jeremy as well as his girlfriend, 19-year old Dido. After an initial reading of the work-in-progress at the Walt Whitman Center, however, Distefano realized the brilliance of Pfeiffer's decision. A narrative piece, Popsicle presents two different points of view of the same events. "It's kind of a different thing… because I wrote it, it's like I'm this storyteller, sharing a big story."

Perhaps it's no accident, then, that Distefano often hears from the audience that watching Popsicle is like reading a book. The set consists solely of a chair, a pole, and a large, warehouse-style window. Yet it is the characters' vivid descriptions of the scenes that render these sparse items into an office, a subway, a street in south Boston, and a crowded warehouse concert.

Occupying an unheated warehouse in South Boston, Dido and Jeremy often refer to the bone-chilling conditions. According to Distefano, "Popsicle" in the title refers to the cold Boston winter, but this is only part of the story. "It's kind of a long story, where the title came from. I actually started with the title, before I decided to write about Boston, before I decided to write about 1989, before I decided to write about the punk rock scene, before anything. It's about a girl who's cold, who's leaving."

This is a story of two departures, or two different versions of the same departure. It suggests the irreconcilable differences between the two characters. When she discovers that Jeremy has been cheating on her, Dido threatens to leave, but secretly has no idea where she would go. With two different endings or versions that could not possibly exist simultaneously, the audience is forced to decide which is the "real" final scenario: the showdown between Jeremy and Dido that ends with Dido's departure by death; or Jeremy watching from the platform as Dido departs by train. The "red halo of blood" in Dido's version and the red glow of the exit sign in Jeremy's version mark the moment of Dido's departure.

Distefano has her own take on which "departure" is more authentic.

"I think that while [Dido's] ending is this climactic fantasy, [Jeremy's] ending is the tragedy, his ending is the truth. It's so much truer to sit on a bench and eat a doughnut and watch the love of your life go away on a train, than…(Distefano is now imitating Dido) 'The blood spinning around my black hair on the floor!'"

While Distefano has no definite plans regarding when or where she will perform PD'89 again, she would love to see someone else's interpretation. She even envisions her piece performed with two characters instead of one.

"The possibilities of how to produce this piece are endless," she remarks, excitedly. "I don't think that "ours is the right one" and everyone else's is wrong." She is also entertaining the idea of turning Popsicle into a screenplay, imagining her oeuvre to be something in between Trainspotting, and Harmony Korine's Kids.

Madi agrees there's truth to be found in the hype and hyperbole of the tall tale. It's a medium that validates the fantastic, the absurd, the surreal:

"Sometimes I think, the more outrageous something is, the realer it is. I mean, life is pretty freakin' outrageous."

Popsicle's Departure, 1989 was performed in repertory from 16 to 18 September as part of the Live Arts Festival. Brat Productions' new season begins in January. For information on upcoming shows, visit www.bratproductions.org.

Copyright 2004 | Contact Us | Submission Guidelines | Staff | Obtain a Copy | Home