Review Fix Exclusive: Duncan Pflaster Talks ‘A Touch of Cinema’


Review Fix chats with playwright Duncan Pflaster, who discusses his new production, “A Touch of Cinema.”

About the Production:

Playwright Duncan Pflaster and director Aliza Shane blur the lines of life and art in this play about a dinner party turned dark when the guests must hear a screenplay about the abduction and torture of a young filmmaker who made “seditious” movies. In a small country newly taken over by a dictator, filmmaker Dina Kummerspeck has been taken by the government and tortured for making supposedly seditious films. Now returned home under house arrest with an electric shackle on her ankle, she and her husband Tomas invite over their actor friends for a party, but unbeknownst to them, it’s going to be a secret reading of Dina’s new screenplay loosely based on her torture. Fact and fiction collide as the actors go back and forth between acting out her words and commenting on the art of it.

April 23 @ 8:00 pm; April 24 @ 8:30 pm; April 26 @ 5:00 pm; April 27 @ 8;30 pm
Part of the SPOTLIGHT-ON FESTIVAL at The Wild Project, 195 East 3rd Street, NYC.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Duncan Pflaster: I write whenever an idea strikes me, usually after work or on weekends. I have a Moleskine notebook that I carry around to jot down phrases and ideas to remember till I can get them down somewhere useful. I used to be much more disciplined, playing special music and lighting candles, making my writing desk a “sacred space” but I started to think that was a silly crutch, so I cut that out. Lately I’ve been experimenting with the ommwriter app, which is a simple text processor that blocks out distractions on your screen (I’m a bit of a Facebook addict) and plays soothing music and/or white noise, it’s been fun.

Review Fix: What makes this [play] different or special?

Pflaster: This one is 90 minutes in real time, which was a real challenge. It also is set in an unnamed country that isn’t America, so it was necessary to have subtle exposition throughout to make that seem real for the audience. This is a rather political play – I began writing it 2 years ago, inspired by the story of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, but with current American politics, it has become eerily prescient.

Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself through this process?

Pflaster: An ongoing process for me is learning how to relax and be less controlling when I’m not directing my own work. I have a great director and cast for this piece, so I’m getting better at not micromanaging.

Review Fix: How does it feel to be a part of something like this?

Pflaster: It feels really good to be making theatre that’s a bit more politically relevant – a lot of my work has things to say about social issues, but A Touch of Cinema tackles ideas of government censorship of artists and political torture in a way I hope is entertaining.

Review Fix: What are your ultimate goals for this production and for the future?

Pflaster: I would love for people to come see the show and the great actors and hopefully for other theatres to produce it down the line.

Review Fix: What do you think your audiences will enjoy the most?

Pflaster: There’s a lot to enjoy, the banter between the characters the most.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Pflaster: My first full-length screenplay “Strapped for Danger” is scheduled to shoot with Scorpio Film Releasing in Rhode Island this July. Very excited for that.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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