Review Fix Exclusive Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Coverage: Alexandra Siladi Talks ‘Two Sides’

Review Fix chats with Alexandra Siladi, who discusses her production “Two Sides” and what’s like to be a part of the 10th anniversary season of Planet Connections Theatre Festivity at the Theaters at the Clemente.

About the Production:

Alexandra Siladi weaves a powerful tale concerning a grieving woman at an impasse. Set in New York City in 1999, the end of the millennium and the loss of her mother forces Mimi, a young woman, to examine her life and purpose. Her reawakening puts her on a journey involving a dangerous love triangle. “Two Sides” and its modern noir setting offers up the question… can two sides ever tell the whole story?

Award-winning director Alexandra Siladi and Black Lodge Theater have a long and storied history in the arts. “Two Sides” epitomizes their canon of character-driven works.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this project?

Alexandra Siladi: The inspiration for “Two Sides” came from a vision I had in college of having a giant two-way mirror on the stage that would act as a window on one side and the reflective side of an interrogation room mirror on the other. The idea was that in one set of scenes, you bear witness to lives being lived through this pane of glass that is so typical of life in NYC, and one the other side, see yourself reflected as an observer of those events. This concept led to creation of a true noir play, that is a genre not usually found in the theater, with a picture of events leading up to a murder through two friends, versus a man and a detective trying to figure out what happened after the fact. As a director, I realized I was always trying to make plays fit into my conceptualization of them through a view of deconstruction, and thought it was time for me to get into writing to have full control of the story. This is the first play I’ve ever written (aside from one I wrote about a bully while in the fifth grade), while also serving as director.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Siladi: My creative process is very instinctual. I get inspiration from everything I see, hear, and feel. An idea could hit me really at any moment, so I try to make sure and take in all that I do as “research”. It could be watching Real Housewives episodes for hours where I get the flash of insight, or remembering a specific scene from a Bergman film that leads me to a major discovery. In terms of the rehearsal process, I’m like Declan Donnellan in that I don’t go into the room with any particular plan of action. I like seeing what feels right in the moment to come up with an exercise or conversation around ideas and motivations. I like to create an environment that is fluid and comfortable in the moment.

Review Fix: What makes this different or special?

Siladi: What makes “Two Sides” different is that it’s presenting a story from the noir genre (usually associated with film) and taking it from the cinema into the black box. I like using the language of film within the context of a play because it allows an audience a point of access that is more pedestrian. It’s a play that’s going to allow for an audience to take away their own interpretation of events, making for a lot of good conversation afterwards. It’s also a period piece in that it’s set in 1999, so the nostalgia and references from that time will be a lot of fun.

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

Siladi: Through the process of writing “Two Sides”, I learned not to be scared of writing. I’ve learned that I can take my experiences and have total freedom to create these characters that are so much a part of myself, yet exist completely outside of me. I also have learned my ability to multi-task exceeds what I thought was possible, and that writing isn’t so time consuming when you can edit things in real time as you’re rehearsing!

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

Siladi: My ultimate goal with “Two Sides” is to come away feeling like we had a really good time. I had stepped away from creating theater for a couple years because it was becoming so stressful and complicated to produce on my own. I wanted to use this piece as an experience to fully enjoy, and I hope that audiences will be entertained, even though the subject matter is somewhat dark. For the future, I only hope to keep that feeling going. We need some levity right now!

Review Fix:
What’s next?

Siladi: Who knows! But I’m excited for the ride.

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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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