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.â€
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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