Review Fix Midtown International Theatre Festival Coverage: Bill Holland Talks ‘The Tenants’

Review Fix chats with playwright Bill Holland, who discusses his production “The Tenants,” at this year’s Midtown International Theatre Festival.

About “The Tenants”:

THE TENANTS by Bill Holland, directed by Mark Cirnigliaro. This is a mostly true story and you’ll laugh at Bob’s misery. (Dramatic Comedy)

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this project?

Bill Holland: Everything that happens in the play is completely true. It’s based on an experience my sister had renting out the upstairs of her house and all the craziness that happens when you let strangers into your home.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Holland: Most of my work is based on actual happenings throughout my life. Certainly the inspirations for the pieces are. I’m 87! That’s a lot of experiences. But mostly I just write. I write all the time. I never stop writing. I’ve always got a play in the works. They may never see the light of day, but they get written all the same.

Review Fix: What makes this different or special?

Holland: Well, a lot of my work tends to push serious, or dramatic with hints of comedy. This piece is the opposite of that (hopefully).

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

Holland: That I’ve still got a lot left in me. I’m not done writing.

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

Holland: Well I’ve done a lot of festivals. Festivals are the new NY theatre experiment houses. It’s always a chance to take a risk, write something and give it a simplistic production to see what works and what doesn’t, strictly from page to stage, without any bells and whistles covering up possible blemishes. You’re  totally  naked and it whether works or it doesn’t.

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

Holland: Well I haven’t written a straight comedy in a while. So I’m interested to see if it  works! But for the future I think there may be more to explore between these people and this situation. Maybe I’ll make it a full length.

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

Holland: The fact that it’s only 30 minutes! No, I’m kidding. Hopefully, they will be able to see the natural humor in a sticky subject.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Holland: Straying from my formula a little. Writing a piece that’s inspired by Bernie Madoff. It has some of me in it, but it’s really being driven by what our culture and society have created with these sort of financial monsters.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 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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