Review Fix Exclusive: Casey Wimpee Talks ‘Butcher Holler Here We Come’

July 11, 2015 Patrick Hickey Jr. Theatre 0

Review Fix chats with writer Casey Wimpee, who discusses his new production, “Butcher Holler Here We Come.”

Trapped in a 1973 Virginia coal mine, the show is lit only by the actor’s headlamps and they set the action around the audience. The show has been said to fuse the horror of The Shining with the tension of Mamet’s American Buffalo.

Butcher Holler plays July 24 through August 2nd at The Tank. For more information on the production. click here.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this production? 

Casey Wimpee: The inspiration came from a night I spent living in Austin 10 years ago. I ate some ketamine with a girlfriend, and we listened to Loretta Lynn til sunrise, so naturally the idea of a telling some trippy coal mining story just stuck with me. Specifically, being trapped in a mine as analogous to being trapped in one’s own mind, and all that dissociation and sensory deprivation, but with a Dolly Parton soundtrack. 

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Wimpee: I do a lot of research. In Butcher’s case, it was mostly period stuff about Appalachia in the ’60s- Irene McKinney, Louise McNeill, Breece Pancake. On the subject of coal mines, the best writers are almost always women, because of their ability to perceive and process and express such complex emotional and physical conditions in their community, when the men in their families are all busy dying underground.

Review Fix: What makes you different from other playwrights?

Wimpee: I didn’t do college. I like to tell folks I wrote my first play in jail, which isn’t true- I’d penned a couple scripts before that. But the year I spent in jail, which happened to coincide with the year most of my friends were graduating, was edifying in ways no creative writing program could have touched.   

Review Fix: What makes this production special?

Wimpee: I wrote the script for the Cincinnati Fringe, and since then we’ve taken it on the road to many other cities. But we all live in NYC, and have yet to produce it here, so it’s immensely satisfying to finally bring it all back home, and share it with friends.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14267 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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