Review Fix Exclusive Midtown International Theatre Festival Coverage: Bear Kosik Talks Between Panic And Desire

Review Fix chats with Bear Kosik, who discusses his upcoming production, Between Panic And Desire

About the Production:

What would you do if you found yourself between panic and desire?

Nevil has learned to handle his psychological trauma or at least recognize when it has been triggered. He has come to rely on his sisters Esperanza and Caridad. More than anyone imagined. It takes a new psychiatrist to delve into the darkest part of Nevil’s mind to see just what kind of coping mechanisms he has forged.

Bear Kosik’s star as a playwright is burning brightly these days but it might have been. “If I had not acquired multiple disabling conditions forcing me to leave work in my early fifties, I might not have been able to explore the gift for writing that I abandoned in my teens.”

BETWEEN PANIC AND DESIRE is a world premiere.

About the MITF:

The Midtown International Theatre Festival returns for another summer of quality stage works. New York’s oldest continuing theater festival will present 100 plays in 23 days.

One of the leading reasons to visit New York in the summer is the theater – from Shakespeare in the Park to the best of Broadway. New York is also known for its amazing theater festivals. This year, the venerable Midtown International Theatre Festival takes its place as the oldest continuing summer arts festival in New York. To usher in this honor, producer John Chatterton presents nearly 100 new and fascinating live stage works – plays, musicals, variety acts, short plays, solo projects, and so much more. Visit www.midtownfestival.org for further info.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Bear Kosik: A premise or title strikes me as worthwhile. I sit with it for days or years while doing other things. Suddenly, the idea demands that I sit down and write. Sometimes I get it all out; other times I get to a point and have to leave it. Once I am done, it’s a matter of finding a home for the finished piece. In this case, I saw the road sign for two towns named Panic and Desire on Route 119N in Pennsylvania in 2008. The first time I saw the sign, I knew there was a story. It took me almost nine years to discover the story.

Review Fix: What makes this different or special?

Kosik: I am trying to write some full-length pieces with fewer than five characters. This is one where I have gotten only so far and found a way to close it out so it seems like an ending. I have trouble with endings, so it is nice to have one that feels solid.

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

Kosik: I was more connected to my emotions while I wrote this. That allowed the characters to express themselves in a more natural way in the longer speeches.

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

Kosik: It’s great to share the adventure with a lot of other creatives. So much of writing is solitary.

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

Kosik: This is only the second time someone is directing one of my plays other than me. I hope the results give me confidence in collaborating with directors in the future. I want to move on to have a full-length work produced. That will definitely require working with a director rather than wearing all the hats myself.

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

Kosik: If the actors play the roles straight, the audience will find what the characters are saying seriously to be hysterically funny.


Review Fix: What’s next?

Kosik: I am participating in a writers’ group and a producers’ group to figure out how to get  a jukebox musical set at a gay rodeo event from the page to the stage. “Gay rodeo musical,” I am told, sounds fresh enough to attract support. The question is whether the book, which tracks the arcs of several relationships over three days, does the job. To find that out, I need to organize a reading.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13820 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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