Review Fix Exclusive: Kaitlin Colombo Talks ‘The Choking Game’

Review Fix chats with playwright Kaitlin Colombo, who discusses her new production “The Choking Game,” which is set to premiere at the Brick Theater’s “F*ckfest” on Friday, June 19. Breaking down the inspiration for the production, as well as the case, Colombo gives us an inside look at what makes this one of the most intriguing Off-Off Broadway performances of 2015.

For more information on the play or to buy tickets, click here.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for the production? How did it all come together?

Kaitlin Colombo: It took about a year for me to write “The Choking Game.” I was working a 9-5 job I hated and then coming home and living in this very dark, very twisted, sad little world.  It’s a hell of a story to spend your time obsessing over, as a writer and as a director (in fact, I have the stress-related ulcer to prove it!) But it was the culmination of a very difficult period in my life: my manager and surrogate aunt, Caresse Henry, committed suicide in 2010. My grief sent me into a bit of a tailspin and I remember standing, looking over the edge of a nervous breakdown and deciding “either I can choose to completely spiral or I can do something constructive with my grief.”  I chose writing as it’s cheaper.

Review Fix: What do you think you’ve learned about yourself through this whole process?

Colombo: Though I’ve done a lot of theatrical directing, I come from the world of stand-up comedy.  I’m used to working where it’s just me, a mic and an audience – so my first instinct is always to do everything myself.  After all, if a joke succeeds, it’s on me.  If it fails, it’s on me.  However, the beauty of working in theater is the collaborative process involved in shepherding a new work.  You can’t mount a show if you don’t listen to the thoughts and advice of those around you.  It’s not me and a mic and I’m so incredibly grateful for that.  And I’m grateful that have a cast and crew who are brilliant and are so committed to bringing this story to life.

Review Fix: Who do you think will enjoy it the most?

Colombo: Let’s put it like this: if you enjoy the verbal acrobatics and emotional evisceration of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” but find yourself stroking your chin and thinking, “I would like the show better if George and Martha were hot 18-year olds in their underwear, running a live amateur internet pornography webcast” then this show is definitely for you.

Review Fix: Tell me about the cast. What makes them so special?

Colombo: Sara Ball and Cooper Lawrence.  Write down these names.  Yes, they’re phenomenal, sensitive, committed actors.  And yes, they look great in very little clothing.  But the most important thing for me, as director, is that they are completely and utterly fearless.  This play requires a lot from both of them — they have to make whiplash-inducing emotional turns while saying and doing uncomfortable, horrible things to one another. So for me, as director, to find two actors this young, this gifted and this intelligent – who you can sit down and have in-depth conversations with about everything from the deepest parts of their characters’ psyches to the Game of Thrones finale (still mad) – they are a gift to this production and I’m so excited for everyone to see how brilliant they are in these roles.

Review Fix: What’s your favorite element of the show?

Colombo: The audience’s reaction.  I love not telling people anything about the show if I can help it.  I love watching people discover what’s happening in real time.  Whenever we’ve done anything with this play – whether it’s a reading for an invited audience or a full-scale workshop production – the audience’s reactions are always nothing less than spectacular.  To see full-grown adult men walk out of the theater shaking and sobbing is the single biggest gift you can get as a writer or director.

Review Fix: Bottom Line. Why should someone see this show?

Colombo: It’s a scary play. There are moments where it’s very funny and very touching but ultimately, when I was writing it, I was trying to see if I could create a contained thriller on stage, in the vein of Rear Window or Paranormal Activity. The play takes place during an amateur internet pornography show so everything that the on-stage webcam sees is projected onto a giant screen behind the stage. The live audience will always see what the “webcam audience” would see. It happens in real-time – 90 minutes, no intermission. So when that curtain goes up, there’s nowhere to hide. It’s a play about sex and violence. It’s challenging, venomous and devastating.

Review Fix: How do you want the production to be remembered?

Colombo: I want this to be the production where I didn’t lose my keys.  No one got hit with a stage light.  And grown-ups walked out the theater shaking and sobbing.  I’ll happily settle for two out of three (where are my keys?).

Photo by Justin Davanzo