Review Fix Exclusive: Inside Relentlessly Pleasant

Review Fix chats with Jake Lipman (producer, director, and playwright), who discusses her new production, Relentlessly Pleasant, detailing its creative process, goals and more.

About the Production:

Relentlessly Pleasant written & directed by Jake Lipman

A comedy about women at work, and knowing when to lean in.

Tickets: https://relentlesslypleasant.brownpapertickets.com/

14 performances: October 10-27, 2018

Theatre 54 @ Shetler Studios, 244 W. 54th Street, 12th Floor, NYC

More here: www.tictheater.com

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this project?

Jake Lipman: When Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election, I was so demoralized. If she, with all her experience and education and public service  couldn’t achieve her goal, who could?

I wrote RELENTLESSLY PLEASANT to explore what ambitious women, succeeding looks like — and it evolved into a workplace comedy about the many power dynamics and ways in which women have to “be” to get ahead.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Lipman: I had this idea to write a play with driven, dynamic women, and I wanted it to be comedic but also thought-provoking.  

But I also had only my own personal work experience to draw from, so I called up a group of talented women artists who I admire and asked them to tell me their experiences with ambition and getting ahead. We improvised, I wrote drafts, I had them read the drafts aloud, and with time, the play took shape.

It’s been about 10 months in the making, and I can’t believe it’s going to premiere on October 10!

Review Fix: What makes this different or special from other plays of this subject matter?

Lipman: RELENTLESSLY PLEASANT delves into the gray areas of women, sexuality, money, ambition, and how we interact with people to get what we want out of our lives. 

I want to show a spectrum of kinds of women at work, and I hope everyone who sees it identifies with one of their stories.

Review Fix: What did I learn about myself through this process?

Lipman: That I am a prolific writer! I worked closely with Jessica Ammirati, a dramaturg, on shaping the play.

Every time we spoke or met, I was surprised by and happy to see that I was capable of going back to the drawing board and write a lot, very quickly. And there was always something good and new in those subsequent drafts. 

Review Fix: What are my goals for this production?

Lipman: First and foremost: for people to come see our 14-show run of RELENTLESSLY PLEASANT, Oct. 10-27, 2018 at Theatre 54 @ Shetler Studios. And then, I hope that people see it and love it and tell their friends and co-workers about it. 

I am working on adapting the play into a TV script and would like to shoot a pilot in the months following the fall production, and then of course, have it turned into a TV series.

And, I want to take RELENTLESSLY PLEASANT into the workplace, as an engaging alternative to  people instead of the boring “anti-harassment” training videos and presentations. 

Because it’s a story about a workplace, a lot of real-life conflicts arise and I think a corporate audience would be able to talk about the issues in the play with a bit more comfort than their own particulars.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Lipman: We open October 10 and run for 14 performances — get your tickets at www.tictheater.com.

And then, TV script development, and shooting a pilot!