ELLIOT WEGMAN has done his fair share of improv and sketch at the Coalition - from Da Vinci, to the Rehappening, to announcing in AIPW, or playing Adam Sandler - but it was time for something different. So, Elliot Wegman wrote a play. To celebrate the closing night of Unbecoming we asked some Q's to Mr. Wegman about his experience taking his work from paper to stage. Here are his A's.
Get your tickets for Unbecoming's final performance on Friday, Dec 6th at 8pm.
"What inspired you to write Unbecoming?" - Anthony Brazeau
ELLIOT: "I wanted to push myself, I wanted to bring a different demographic into the Coalition, and was just looking for something different to do"
"How long did it take you to write this from start to finish?" -Jonathan Mostowy
ELLIOT: I wrote almost all of it in a couple weeks while in Florida at Casey’s parents house. However that’s because I had been outlining it for a year and a half.
"Coalition is known mostly for presenting improv, stand-up, and sketch shows, but Unbecoming is a traditional stage play. Did you run into any challenges with the space during the writing and rehearsal process? Did you notice any benefits to staging a play at Coalition that you might not find at more “conventional” theaters?" - Dan Felarca
ELLIOT: "Staging has been a challenge as you could probably guess, it is definitely tight up there with the furniture. However my play is about people that are uncomfortable around each other so the tightness serves that well. My familiarity with the space and the projectors, tech, etc I think saved me a lot of headaches I would run into learning a new system. But the ultimate benefit is that Matt and Katie trusted me with the keys to this and I have had TOTAL control over every aspect of this thing for better or worse. I don’t think I’d get that elsewhere."
"What have been some of the challenges in directing your first play? Some of the highlights?" - Patrick Allen
ELLIOT: "I would say the biggest challenge has been believing in myself. I am prone to feeling like a quack, a fraud, an undeserving dabbler. So just from a morale perspective I feel I could’ve done way better for my cast by acting like a leader rather than a chicken with its head cut off at times. The highlight has 100% been working with this cast. They’ve worked their asses off and I’m proud of them."
"How much of the Scarf family dynamic was inspired by your own personal life? How do you think your family would react if you won the lottery jackpot?" - Dan Felarca
ELLIOT: "The first scene involving fighting over the lottery scratcher is based on something that happened in my family. There’s a ton of me and my New England family in this play. If I won the lottery I think my family would be way chiller than the scarfs are, probably just some minor resentment and asking for favors."
"Do you have an idea of what's next for Unbecoming after Dec 6th?" -David Pijor
ELLIOT: "No plans! I’ve got some ideas I’ve kicked around but nothing concrete."
"Were there any specific plays or playwrights that inspired you during the writing process? What about other influences?" -Joe Mack
ELLIOT: "The only conscious influences were the royal tenenbaums and arrested development. In terms of playwrights I recently read The Homecoming by Harold Pinter which I loved and Woyzeck by Georg Büchner but I don’t think you’ll find much of them in my play. I am a big Shakespeare fan which will become obvious as soon as the lights come up. Other unconscious influences are the show Search Party and the many works of Vincent Kennedy McMahon."
"What was the final push for you to say, you know what, this play is going to happen and it is going to happen now?" -Michelle Murgia
ELLIOT "I made a new years' resolution to finish it in 2018! I finished the first draft the last week of December. As far as directing and staging this thing I just decided to get the space and the green light first and figure out the rest later because if I thought about how big of an undertaking this would be I'd probably find a way out of doing it. Glad I did it!"
"With one show left, how has it been seeing all the parts come together? Any surprises - both good and bad?" -David Pijor
ELLIOT: "It’s been a joy! I still laugh at stuff I’ve seen 100 times. The best surprise is that all kinds of people have enjoyed it; I was worried that this would appeal to a 25-35 year old white audience and wouldn’t connect elsewhere. Bad? Nothing I can think of other than my failure to sleep more than 5 hours over the last month."