The Pipeline premier reading of Matt Barbot’s Princess Clara of Loisaida, directed by Nelson Eusebio, is coming up July 14, 7:30PM, as part of our Bonfire Series. Check out our interview with Matt below to learn more about how this very personal, highly imaginative play, came to be.
And reserve your seat now for Princess Clara of Loisaida, July 14, 7:30PM, South Oxford Space (138 S. Oxford St., Brooklyn).
Pipeline Theatre Company: What do you want us to know about your play?
Matt Barbot: It is simultaneously my most personal play and also a play that takes place half in a video game world with fairy soldiers.
PTC: When and where did you decide to start writing this play?
MB: Why I decided to start writing this play as part of an exercise in Kelly Stuart’s class at Columbia University. I think the prompt was something like “Write a scene in which a character tells another character a story to make a point.” Or something. Anyway, the scene took shape the way it did because it struck me that characters of color don’t often get to be imaginative.
PTC: What excites you most about this project?
MB: I’ve lived with these characters for a while on the page, so I’m excited to see them borrow some actors’ bodies and speak.
PTC: In one sentence, tell us something strange that happens in your play.
MB: The main characters’ father communicates entirely in classic sitcom theme songs.
PTC: Are you working on anything else? What?
MB: Oh man. I’m currently shuttling back and forth from LA trying to make some cool TV stuff happen, and preparing for a production of my play El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom this November.
PTC: Two truths and a lie, go:
MB: I haven’t seen Hamilton yet.
I’ll probably never get to see Hamilton.
I’ve seen Hamilton.
PTC: What’s next for you?
MB: I’ve got an exciting residency in August that I’m, unfortunately, not at liberty to talk about yet!
About Princess Clara of Loisaida
by Matt Barbot | directed by Nelson Eusebio
Thursday, July 14, 7:30PM
Reserve Your Seat
When José finds out the tales he’s been telling his little sister Clara might be true – that she’s really a princess from a distant land – he is forced to fight a magical battle for her destiny.
