The BDSM Bushwick Dominatrix Play
The Rug returns to the stage in the September Emerging Artist Festival at the Chain Theater. Starring Sam Besca and Balfour Clark, and directed by Lena Pepe, “The Rug,” by Electra Artemis mixes comedy and melancholy in the wake of a mother’s sudden death— under rather strange circumstances...
Amy:
Please don’t be funny right now. I’m already having too many conflicting emotions about this, and if I start to laugh, I might cry.
Liam:
Do you think that might be what you need?
Amy:
I don’t know, I haven’t read the guidebook.
Liam:
You mean you don’t have a copy of “Chicken Soup for the Soul— How to Cope with Suffocating Sex Work, semi-colon, Mommy, Murder, and Me?”
Amy:
No, all the late-20’s women who have suddenly discovered they can read Fairy smut in public have really skewed bookstore inventory.
Liam:
Those bitches.
A favorite of the company, this carefully reworked script gained greater depth and character development thanks to the broad perspectives from its production team. As every piece benefits from reshaping, this iteration of The Rug was well served by the collaboration of writer, director, and cast.
This isn’t the first time this piece has developed through creative collaboration. In its debut at The Tank over a year earlier, director Sydney Dennison put her own spin on the piece, adding humor and emotion that survive in the play’s new iteration. Lena Pepe was able to observe and further add to a piece that had already grown beyond the writer’s early drafts. The directors’ artful crafting opened the door for every beloved twist from all members of the production team (special shout-out to the talented Emily Yarney, who was not only a stellar stage director but also birthed the writer’s favorite bit in the show via a brilliantly chosen sound cue).
Every story is a little Frankenstein, stitched and puzzled together by the artists who pass it on. This piece is a perfect demonstration of how lighthearted charm and contemplative focus can evolve a story into something that will always be greater than it was before.
