{"id":9142,"date":"2021-05-11T13:08:58","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T20:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohoproductions.org\/old\/?p=9142"},"modified":"2021-05-12T08:56:25","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T15:56:25","slug":"an-interview-with-chris-gonzales-creator-of-ok-abner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohoproductions.org\/old\/onstage\/an-interview-with-chris-gonzales-creator-of-ok-abner\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with Chris Gonzalez, Creator of OK, Abner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Morgan Clark-Gaynor<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Chris began our phone call with a warning that he would be dipping in and out of Fred Meyer. With a good-natured chuckle, he said \u201cI don\u2019t mean to be disrespectfully double tasking, but I am on break and I need to get milk.\u201d He needed something to drink with his pop tarts, something I think we can all empathize with. \u201c\u2018Cause, what am I supposed to do with the pop tarts? Just eat them dry? Like what is that even?\u201d I assured him that I understood his predicament, and he assured me that he would be present in our interview despite his mission. Throughout our interview, Chris was able to balance focus and distraction beautifully, exhibiting a paradoxical intrigue also inherent to his art. From his early inspirations to his current work, Chris utilizes dialectic to capture holistic complexity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chris is a resident artist at the CoHo Lab. His latest work, OK Abner, <\/em>is scheduled to be streamed to general audiences on May 16th on the CoHo YouTube channel<\/a>. Amongst other proclivities, Chris moonlights as a poet, playwright, physical theatre teacher, and director. I had a genuine blast talking with him for our interview, and I am excited to relay his charm, passion, and dynamic dissonance to you now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re intuiting the truth. But you also have no idea what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris immediately struck me as a particularly delightful person to chat with. Even though the interview was about him, he began our conversation with a check-in, flipping the tables and asking how I was. \u201cOh yeah, I\u2019m good!\u201d I responded. Chris went on to ask how I was connected to CoHo, and we took some time to get to know each other. I looked out the window of my home office as we settled into our energetic back-and-forth on the phone. I watched bluebirds bathe themselves in my neighbor\u2019s gutters and eventually asked him if he was ready to begin the interview. He responded, \u201cI\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chris Gonzalez in the lighting booth at CoHo Productions<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I began with a simple question, a nice and easy slowball. I just wanted to know what his relationship is to the entirety of the performing arts. Chris responded, \u201cI\u2019m involved in teaching. I teach devised physical theater, I like devised theater. Did you ever do any of that shit?\u201d I told him that I had done a year-long intensive in devised theater; he noted that a year to focus on art is a great gift. \u201cIn the UK, before COVID, you could spend two years on a show and get paid full wages and shit like that because they subsidize the arts there.\u201d In a manner that became consistent throughout our discussion, Chris brought in an extremely clear awareness of the larger socio-political context in which the arts are situated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving forward from this macro-scale analysis, he smoothly returned to the details of his personal artistic identity. \u201cI teach, which I really enjoy because I can use the students and the teaching relationship to develop my own ideas.\u201d He explained that the classroom offers him the resources he needs to test and develop new ideas. After being inspired to teach physical theatre by a company in Ipswich, England called Gecko<\/em>, Chris taught at The School of Contemporary Dance and Thought<\/a><\/em> in Massachusetts and Portland Playhouse<\/a> <\/em>here in Oregon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Through his experimentation, Chris discovered that he\u2019s a bit of a paradox. He is both a lover and hater of words, making his art complex and flexible. The use of gesture, choreography, and movement to communicate fascinates him. He adores mime, clown, and dance as non-verbal languages of the stage. Simultaneously, as a poet and playwright, he absolutely loves the written word. As he put it, \u201cAs much as I\u2019m like \u2018don\u2019t put any words in it\u2019 I\u2019m also on the opposite side like \u2018I want all <\/em>words\u2019 too.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris\u2019 love of words landed him a job as an arts critic. He wrote reviews in the Willamette Week, Portland Mercury, the Oregon Arts Watch, and the Oregonian where he relayed the latest theatrical experiments to the broader Portland community. This job satisfied his deep nerdhood for theatre, \u201cI love the history of theatre… talking about theatre… hating theatre.\u201d Though he loved to hate some<\/em> theatre, he never demolished anyone\u2019s work. \u201cThe whole point of the reviews was to support theatre because I know how much of a miracle it is to even get five people in a room. I was trying to uplift local theater makers with the reviews.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zoom Rehearsal for OK, Abner<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Laughing, he said that hating some theatre was also a language of love. \u201cYou\u2019ll see that one show that totally redeems all the shitty shows, and it\u2019ll change your life. Do you have a show like that? Where after you saw it, basically the course of your life was different?\u201d Of course I had a show like that. I told him about an expressive dance placed right in the middle of a Third Rail Production of<\/a> Arlington: (A Love Story)<\/a><\/em> by Enda Walsh. I told Chris how my friend and I were both viscerally connected to the meaning inside that dance, though these meanings were completely independent from each other. He responded, \u201cVisceral is a good word to describe what you can get from that non-verbal communication. That immediate perception of like, \u2018Woah, I know this.\u2019 It\u2019s incredible, it can be the most beautiful thing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He referred to a show that Gecko<\/em> had put on, with many languages utilized all at once. Like non-verbal theatre, this tactic also achieved universality. \u201cIt kind of brought me into a dream world where you know what\u2019s going on, you\u2019re totally intuiting the truth, but you also have no idea what\u2019s going on. I love it when that\u2019s done right and it\u2019s perfectly baked, perfectly cooked – it\u2019s the best. It\u2019s transporting. It\u2019s transcendent.\u201d Through his many lives as an actor, deviser, and writer, Chris has developed a keen sense of how to reach people\u2019s capacity for empathy and perception. He has honed this skill by leaning persistently into, and fearlessly away from language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFuckin\u2019 launch off the earth.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Pina Bausch, 1966Photography by\u00a0Walter Vogel<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When I asked Chris which disciplines and inspirations have been pivotal to his development as an artist, he cited influences that taught him the principles of transcendence. He loves Gecko<\/em> for their rigorous approach, and for this same reason, he loves Pina Bausch. Both of these sources showed Chris what performers were truly capable of and what can happen when you push them there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We forged ahead and dug into Chris\u2019 artistic aesthetic, the common thread between his many passions and projects. In both his writing and movement work, Chris likes things that are accessible and enjoyable to watch, \u201cI like things that are conversational, I like things that are colloquial. I\u2019m not a heightened language guy, I\u2019m not enigmatic.\u201d He likes performance that\u2019s relaxed, and writing that is clear. He wants his audiences to be able to fully receive his work. However, in a similarly complex paradox to his relationship with words, Chris also loves truly difficult performance. \u201cI like rigor, like when an actor goes out there and it\u2019s just rigorous as fuck. Like the actor has a fuckin\u2019 thrity page monolouge and they just have to fuckin\u2019 do it!\u201d He wants actors to be able to really sink their teeth into a play, \u201cAnd then they can fuckin\u2019 get in gear, and then they can just fuckin\u2019 launch off the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I want the fucking people on stage to be actually breathing really<\/em> hard! You know what I mean? I want them to be actually<\/em> out of breath, not just acting! Because then that breath becomes almost ritualistic. They\u2019re taking you somewhere because they\u2019re putting in fucked up amounts of effort, it\u2019s so intricate. [Pina Bausch and Gecko<\/em>] showed me that rigor helps you get to transcendence.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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William Shakespeare<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Chris then swung to the verbal side of his creative pendulum and called on Shakespeare as a major influence. Shakespeare taught him that he can write living characters into existence, characters that transcend the play. \u201cWhen you think about Macbeth, you don\u2019t fucking think about Macbeth. You think about Lady Macbeth! I want to see a play where it\u2019s just Lady Macbeth, going ham for like an hour. That would be everything.\u201d Through the power of words and movement, Chris aims to push audiences and performers into a pivotal experience that extends beyond closing night and into our everyday lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt can\u2019t just be someone spewing their trauma.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In classic Chris fashion, he reflected on his experience studying Shakespeare in college with an awareness of the larger context. In a funny mock nasal tone, he impersonated the very common, myopic style of Shakespearian study, \u201cIf there\u2019s a capital T, you\u2019re supposed to do this<\/em>! If there\u2019s a space, you\u2019re supposed to do that<\/em>!\u2019\u201d Though he appreciated this approach for a time, he soon realized its limitations and got invested in the actual storylines Shakespeare was formulating. In his fascination with the bard, Chris developed a theory for Shakespeare\u2019s transcendent characters: \u201cThere are different ideals at odds within the characters- different philosophies, different kinds of politics, different kinds of belief systems that exist within individual characters.\u201d He decided to apply this rule to his own writing. \u201cI try to find characters and then put antithetical political\/psychological tendencies or tensions within them.\u201d As his characters struggle with ambiguity and reveal their capacity for both love and hate, they become acutely interesting to watch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Black and white faded photo of O’Neill sitting on grass in striped bathrobe, holding book in left hand. Possibly taken by Carlotta. Given to Robert Sisk by Carlotta. NPS Photo<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To complement his adoration of William Shakespeare, Chris calls upon the works of Eugene O\u2019Neill. O\u2019Neill introduced Chris to the idea that one could combine rigor and words into a very long, intensive, ethically, and emotionally confusing monologue. \u201cEugene O’Neill was so narcissistic and just a bad person, but<\/em> he wrote these fucking incredible solo pieces where a character could go on for twenty pages. And it was fire! It was fire the whole time. That shit was crazy!\u201d He appreciates the intentional craft behind O\u2019Niell\u2019s portrayal of messiness, exhibiting yet another intriguing paradox within his own style: structure paired politely with absolute chaos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris compared writing a monologue to prepare a solo piece for a cello performance. \u201cIt can\u2019t just be someone spewing their own trauma. It has to be structured.\u201d This is a delicate art form mastered by O’Neill. Chris admires how O\u2019Neill was able to give shape to pandemonium in order to reveal the relentless complexity of human relationships. \u201cI love how deep he would go. I love how his characters would just get shitfaced and go into that ambiguity of \u2018I love you\u2026 but I hate you…I forgive you\u2026.but I still resent you.\u2019 And his characters were the first ones I ever heard say shit like that to each other.\u201d Inspired by O\u2019Neill\u2019s ability to wrangle chaos, Chris strives to write characters with deeply human dissonance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chris Gonzalez shooting with Malcolm McClinton as Abner<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe play is about apologies.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When describing the basic plot of his latest piece, Chris let me into a secret: \u201cIt\u2019s semi-somewhat autobiographical.\u201d OK, Abner<\/em> deals with a white father living in rural Oregon, and his adoptive Black daughter living in Portland. Abner, the father, gives his daughter a \u201cwhiter\u201d name in order to conceal her Blackness. Though he knew this was wrong, he thought it was the right thing to do in order to \u201cprotect\u201d her. This misjudgment is a result of the father\u2019s childhood, riddled with abuse from his own father. As Abner tries to apologize to his daughter for his mistake, he relays his childhood trauma in a disorienting mix of dismissal and vulnerability. \u201cSo, then, where in that is an acceptable apology for wrongdoing? Is that an apology worth accepting?\u201d Chris explained that his first reaction to that question was no, because such an apology isn\u2019t legitimately taking accountability. But at the same time, \u201cThe play tries to show that when someone apologizes by mainly talking about how they were hurt, this can sometimes be genuine and sincere trying and effort.\u201d OK, Abner<\/em> empathizes with the ambiguity of intergenerational trauma and the struggle to own your piece of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the set with Chris Gonzalez and Leah Hartzell as Ashley<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Chris combines the styles of O’Neill and Pina Bausch to dream up realities wherein filial accountability can be attempted. \u201cIn order for Abner to fully understand his daughter\u2019s experience, he has to face his own. And most parents aren\u2019t gonna suddenly start being an introspective powerhouse.\u201d Abner\u2019s ability to reflect on his parenting and the damage he has caused is a step beyond what most people get from their family. \u201cI\u2019m using theatre to write realities that I wished were my own and could never be. My parents could never do what this character is capable of.\u201d With O\u2019Neillian artfulness, Chris structures the chaos of shitty parenting into a catharsis that we can all understand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStandup Tragedy.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid interview, I heard a baby screaming in the background buzz. Chris says to me \u201cI\u2019m also about the leave Fred Meyer, by the way\u2026 ok leaving Fred Meyer.” Then to the kid, \u201cOh yeah, homie,\u201d then back to me, \u201cThat was just a child\u2026 ok we\u2019re in the clear.\u201d Once he\u2019d exited the store and we\u2019d laughed at the absurdity of this interview, I asked if he could describe his show with sensory language. And then, right on cue, his grocery bag broke. \u201cRight as I got home the handle bag broke. That\u2019s perfect.\u201d Pushing past the madness, he spun together one of the most intriguing descriptions I\u2019ve heard: \u201cThis play is horror, meets stand up comedy, meets documentary interview. I\u2019ve also called it standup tragedy, which I love.\u201d I asked if this was his tagline, and he said no- that was \u201cwolves, whales, aliens, and intergenerational trauma.\u201d Obviously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chris Gonozalez, Tamera Lyn, Malcolm McClinton, and Leah Hartzell in rehearsal<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ok, Abner <\/em>is the first in a series of monologues that focus on Oregon lore. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you ever heard of the time they blew up the whale on Florence beach? They had a beached whale and they blew it up. That figures really heavily into my play.\u201d Drawing on our socio-political context again, he added, \u201cThere\u2019s a bunch of shit in Oregon between conservationists and people who live in rural areas.\u201d For instance, city dwellers will pass legislation to conserve the wolves, but then rural folks have to clean up the mess when their sheep are eaten. On top of natural predators, rural Oregonians also have to contend with mystical gore. \u201cThere were these really interesting cattle mutilations. Some people were like \u2018oh, it\u2019s a cult\u2019 others were like \u2018no, it\u2019s aliens\u2019 other people were like \u2018no it\u2019s the farmers themselves.\u2019\u201d Apparently, cows in the outskirts of Oregon have been subject to bewildering, surgically specific mutilations for a while now. The mystery of these incidents remains unsolved. Chris uses these issues to study Oregon\u2019s city-rural divide, and in doing so reveals how tangled in confusion we all are. This confusion is reflected in our intimate relationships, resulting in tragic missteps and intergenerational violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo me that\u2019s the best thing ever, like what the fuck?! That\u2019s what words can do! Words can do that!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Screen capture of OK, Abner<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In a stunning fractal of paradoxes, Chris manages to knit together a very human story. Utilizing his love of non-verbal universality and complicating verbiage, he has effectively created a piece of profoundly resonant ambiguity. It was an absolute pleasure to hear his authentic passion for theatre and the work he is cooking up in the lab. Tickets to <\/a>Ok, Abner <\/a><\/em>are available now.<\/a> All tickets are Pay-What-You-Can, so find a price point that feels right and reserve your virtual seat to this standup tragedy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

RESERVE TICKETS HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for tuning in for Chris\u2019 spotlight on the CoHo blog. It\u2019s been inspiring to watch our residents\u2019 projects grow over these last three weeks and I can\u2019t wait to see them come to life on a virtual screen. We are eternally grateful for your support of these fantastic local artists. See you in the chatroom!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morgan Clark-Gaynor<\/strong>
Theatre Maker
Improviser and Deviser
Operations Assistant with Coho Productions<\/em><\/p>\n

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