Eric Samuelsen

Eric Samuelsen’s plays MIASMA, AMERIGO and BORDERLANDS received their world premieres at Plan-B Theatre Company. His translation of Henrik Ibsen’s GHOSTS received a large-scale staged reading as part of the SCRIPT-IN-HAND SERIES. This is his 8th SLAM.

I live in Provo. When I write for SLAM, I drive to Salt Lake, learn who my actors are going to be, and my play title and the other information I’ll use in writing, and then drive back to Provo to write. That forty-five minute drive is immensely important. I like driving, and I use that time to think about the play. Usually, by the time I make it home, I’ve got at least an idea to work with, and sometimes, I have the whole play mapped out in my head; at least a rough draft of it. Of course, over the course of the night, I’ll usually put the play through two or three more drafts, but generally, the drive south is crucial.

MIASMA, which began as THE BUTCHER, THE BEGGAR AND THE BEDTIME BUDDY (SLAM 2004)

My first year [the first year, 2004], I had no idea what to expect. My title was THE BUTCHER, THE BEGGAR AND THE BEDTIME BUDDY, and driving home, the only thing I could come up with was this: three actors to work with; three possible characters in the title. So I came up with a ‘butcher,’ an elderly wealthy rancher; a daughter who kept ‘begging’ him for money for her siblings; and a ‘bed-time buddy,’ his mistress. The play had monologues, was very repetitive — I was told it was a memorization nightmare. But my actors [Stephanie Howell, Tony Larimer, Kay Shean] pulled it off. I was eventually able to expand it to full-length, with a new title: MIASMA, which Plan-B later produced [in 2006].

Rehearsal for Eric Samuelsen's SPOILED CHEESE (SLAM 2005)

The next year [2005], my title was SPOILED CHEESE. My mind went straight to a post-apocalyptic scenario, with an Adam and Eve, now ejected from the Garden, ruefully remembering various cheeses they recall having eaten. The play ended up intriguing but incoherent. Re-reading it today, it’s still intriguing but incoherent. I still have no idea what was going on, but my actors [Jayceen Craven, Colleen Lewis and Kim Weiss] saved the day.

We generally draw SLAM titles from a hat, so I have no one to blame but myself for another food related title the next year [2006]: BLOOD PUDDING. With a cast of three women. Driving home, I wondered it might be intriguing to explore the aftermath of a robbery. I thought of three employees at a restaurant, locked in the meat locker; two tough girls, and their older, ineffectual manager. The girls have been robbed many times before, and are mostly concerned that they’ll get paid for this one—one of them, turns out, used to date the robber. One of my actors was Colleen Lewis, a wonderful actor, but hardly anyone’s idea of a mean, ornery tough chick. But she played the role beautifully.

Artwork created by Greg Ragland as the projected background for BEHIND THE BLUE DOOR (SLAM 2007)

I finally got away from food-related titles when I drew BEHIND THE BLUE DOOR the following year [2007]. Driving home, I wondered if I could do something Iraq-war related, perhaps something metaphorical. What I ended up with was a knight in shining armor, his fair maiden, and Jesper the Self-Loathing Jester, a part I got to write specifically for my old friend Jason Tatom. The play shifted back and forth from fantasy to nightmare—knights and dragons, to Iraq, and back again. Daisy Blake and Paul Mulder were terrific, as was Jason, who, as Jesper, also got to tell a number of exceptionally tasteless jokes I found on a website that night. It remains one of my favorite SLAM pieces.

BURNING DESIRE (SLAM 2008)

The next season, a major SLAM change — we went from three actors to five. I liked it, personally — liked the opportunity to tell more complex stories. I’m sure it was also easier on the actors; memorization is always a challenge. Anyway, my title was BURNING DESIRE, and we had a set to work with that I also found provocative; really mysterious and gothic. I had a great cast too, Jayne Luke, who I’ve always admired from afar but had never worked with, plus Jay Perry, Tracie Merrill, Nancy McAffee and Nick O’Donnell. I got to create a scenario in which Jayne played a dying older woman, and Tracie played the same woman forty years earlier, in the pivotal moment of her life, when she rejected and kicked out her son, Jay. Jay and his father, her husband (Nick) have pre-deceased her, and wait in an anteroom of the afterlife, while Nancy played an Angel of Death. We were able to move back and forth in time, in a story about regret and loss and forgiveness. I also gave Jay some comic lines to play with, all of which he nailed, of course.

CONTROL_ALT_DELETE (SLAM 2011)

I then got sick, had to take two years off. When I came back, we were back to three actors, and the playwrights had been thrown another curve — we all got the same title. CONTROL_ALT_DELETE. I had been reading MOBY DUCK, a book about bath toys that washed off a cargo ship and were floating all over the world. I thought of environmentalism, about the possibility of going Control_Alt_Delete and basically starting over with our poor beleaguered planet. I liked everything about the play that resulted [performed by Joe Debevc, John Graham and Christy Summerhays] except the ending, which just sort of fizzled out.

GAMING THE DMV (SLAM 2012)

The next year, we got the biggest curveball yet: no title at all. I would have thought that this would be freeing, but it turned out to be anything but. Drove me crazy, not having a direction. But the set — just some benches — gave me something to work with, and I finally thought it might be fun to just do a comedy, set in a DMV. Called it GAMING THE DMV. I liked the play, but afterwards, I realized it wasn’t as funny as it could have been — I kept coming up with jokes I wished I could have thought of in time.

I really love SLAM. It’s terrifying, exhilarating, uncomfortable, exciting. It gets my adrenaline flowing like nothing else. Theatre without a safety net. I can’t wait to see how the Plan-B leadership tortures us this year.

Plan-B Theatre Company’s 10th Anniversary SLAM – where we create, rehearse and perform five 10-minute plays in 24 hours – is Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 8pm.  Click here for tickets, video and additional information.

Christy Summerhays with Joe Debevc in CONTROL_ALT_DELETE by Eric Samuelsen (SLAM 2011)

Christy Summerhays has appeared in Plan-B’s AMERIKA, MESA VERDE and the Script-In-Hand Series reading of THE NORMAL HEART. Most recently she directed the Plan-B/Gina Bachauer elementary school tour of PETER AND THE WOLF.

I have been involved with SLAM from the very beginning. I’m directing this year, but that first year I was one of the actors. I thought it would be new and different and a challenge. If I’m honest, I would have to admit that I never would have agreed to do it if I had known just how challenging it was going to be. Ignorance can sometimes be our friend, and in this case it certainly was.  It may seem an exaggeration to say that that first SLAM changed my life, and maybe it would be, but not by far. My first experience acting in a SLAM play was truly – and this time I do not exaggerate at all – one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. But what happens when you successfully survive such terror is an exhilaration that really cannot be described.

And here’s the “how SLAM changed my life” part. Very soon after I had successfully survived my first SLAM I found myself in a very, very intimidating situation that would normally paralyze me, and guess what? It didn’t. This is what happened instead: I looked around the room at all the intimidating people and thought, “You don’t know what I just did. I just acted in SLAM . . . you people can’t scare me!” This strange empowerment lasted for months and in subtle, but real ways, affected the course of my life. I guess that’s what can happen when you allow yourself to do something really hard.

Kirt Bateman and Anita Booher in TERMS OF USE by Matthew Ivan Bennett and directed by Christy Summerhays (SLAM 2009)

Now, I’m a SLAM veteran. I can’t even remember how many I’ve directed and acted in . . . probably 3 or 4 in each category. It’s still terrifying and it’s still exhilarating, every single time. It’s the pure magic of theatre condensed into a 24-hour period. The energy it requires and incites in the amazing group of artists that assembles is inspiring to be a part of. It tends to bring out the best in everyone and magnifies the spirit of collaboration that is typically found in the theatre. Now, as I anticipate another ride on the SLAM train, I can’t help but wonder . . . how will it change my life this time?

Plan-B Theatre Company’s 10th Anniversary SLAM – where we create, rehearse and perform five 10-minute plays in 24 hours – is Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 8pm.  Click here for tickets, video and additional information.

Daisy Blake Perry in the Script-In-Hand Series reading of THE NORMAL HEART by Larry Kramer (2010)

Daisy Blake Perry has previously appeared in Plan-B’s Script-In-Hand Series readings of THE NORMAL HEART and 8.

SLAM is . . . an all-you-can-eat buffet of fear for me. Let’s just put this on the table, yes, I act, but I also have OCD, a hard time with change and a strong dislike of the unknown. Oh yes, and this year I started having panic attacks.

And that’s exactly why I’m doing SLAM for the fourth time. To walk through the fire. Every time I finish, I resolve that this will be my last one, and then enough time elapses that you think “Oh, this’ll be fun, a good challenge, face my fears!” Then about two months before, life turns into BS and AS – suddenly you’re on a countdown to the day, reminding yourself when every other little challenge that comes along: “Well at least this isn’t as scary as SLAM!” I know this might sound like I’m being dramatic, but at the beginning of the last SLAM I did in 2010, my only reassurance when I went on stage was literally, “Well, I know the first line.” I wasn’t sure any of the rest of it was in my head at all.

Oh, and the OTHER thing this year is because it’s the ten-year anniversary, Jerry says there are some “surprises” in store, “but don’t try to guess, you won’t.” Don’t try to guess, are you kidding me? I’ve come up with a whole list. My favorites are that this year, SLAM will be either improv or mime, but I somehow don’t think that’s going to happen.

For the first time, the whole team is meeting on Friday, May 3 (my birthday) to talk about the “surprises.” Most people know the normal drill by now; the writers get random titles, and the headshots of the actors they are writing for, at 8 p.m. on a Friday night, then turn them in at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning. The actors and directors come at 9 a.m. on Saturday and then the show goes up at 8 p.m. The pieces are around ten minutes long, which works out to around ten pages. THINK OF ALL THE LINES THAT IS! A lot.

I am very thankful that I’ve had absolutely wonderful writers, directors and fellow actors each time who have propped me up and made me believe I could do it.

My first SLAM was in 2006. The piece was written by Eric Samuelsen, directed by Christy Summerhays and featuring Jason Tatom and Paul Mulder. This line-up were just all super cool-cats, never confessing their fear and saying they were confident on lines, so I was carried along in a little boat full of bravery, a voice in my head saying, “I will NOT be the one to fuck it up.” And guess what? I wasn’t! That was the first year I experienced the SLAM high when I finished too – there is really nothing like it.

Which led me to say yes to SLAM again in 2008, when it moved into the 500-seat Jeanne Wagner Theatre and there were five people in each piece. Mine was written by Matthew Ivan Bennett, directed by Susan Dolan and featuring Aaron Anderson, Kirt Bateman, Tobin Atkinson and Teri Cowan. This one was more like being in a little ship on a slightly choppy sea. I got lucky and was the girlfriend, who got to go stomping on and off, in the meantime grabbing my script, perusing it madly, banging my head against a curtain, then forging ahead. Aaron had to carry the whole thing, and he was quite nervous, but nailed it, and I found out that year that Kirt, Tobin and Teri are like rocks you can cling to, making you feel like there’s no chance of you going under.

Daisy Blake Perry (background) with Colleen Baum in MoTube by Tim Slover (SLAM 2010)

And boy I needed that in the last SLAM I did, which was in 2010. My step-dad died in September of that year. He had cancer, and the months leading up to his death were hard. We didn’t know the timeline. He wasn’t doing very well around SLAM time, and I talked to Jerry about not doing it, ‘cos I was a basket case. Jerry said he’d prefer me in it, which I’m so glad he did. So I prayed to a God I’m not sure if I believe in that I would get a small, manageable, non-pivotal role. I think again what got me through that year were having rocks all around me; Tim Slover writing, Kevin Doyle directing, and Kirt Bateman and Colleen Baum acting with me. When I got the script I knew it would be a walk through fire; it was written as a game show, with me as the host, I had big chunky paragraphs and drove the action forward. I was too nervous to eat all day then right before we went on got so light-headed. I thought I was going to pass out and had to run down to the dressing room and mainline Fererro Rocher. That was the one that I went on stage clinging on to the fact that I knew the first line. But for some reason, that script stayed in my head, and that was the last time my step-dad saw me on stage, and he really liked it.

So since my last SLAM, I’ve done an all-consuming job and lost that job, played roller derby for two+ years, and had a few more huge family losses and changes. I don’t feel any more confident in my abilities on-stage, but I do feel, touch wood, that if I can handle life, I can handle SLAM.

Plan-B Theatre Company’s 10th Anniversary SLAM – where we create, rehearse and perform five 10-minute plays in 24 hours – is Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 8pm.  Click here for tickets, video and additional information.

Kalyn West (right) with Claire Wilson in GAMING THE DMV by Eric Samuelsen (SLAM 2012)

Kalyn West has appeared in several Script-In-Hand Series readings and THE THIRD CROSSING at Plan-B, for which she received City Weekly’s 2013 Arty Award for “Best Theatre Performance.”

My first experience with SLAM last year was a whirlwind! I had little idea what to expect so I just decided to dive in with both hands in the air, ready for the ride. And a ride it was. Everyone was pumped, everyone was excited, everyone had a healthy dose of nerves. Of course, there were some SLAM veterans around to guide the newbies and it made the whole experience so enjoyable.

My Freshman and Sophomore years at Weber State University I participated in a similar project called “Play In A Day,” acting my first year and writing my second. So I’d had a dose of this intensive creativity before. While it was a wild experience, it was merely the training wheels for SLAM. This was the big time. SLAM is wild, courageous, determined, delightful, awesome. There was such an impressive caliber of material to work with and a tremendously talented group of individuals involved. Perhaps not the most amazing theater out there, but man, it was an exercise in theatrical stamina and retention, a chance to collaborate and play, and flex that actor muscle that wants to know deep down if it can pull this off. (And yes, it can.) So here we go! Bring it on year two!

Plan-B Theatre Company’s 10th Anniversary SLAM – where we create, rehearse and perform five 10-minute plays in 24 hours – is Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 8pm.  Click here for tickets, video and additional information.

Latoya Rhodes, Topher Rasmussen and Stephanie Howell in CONTROL_ALT_DELTE by Kathleen Cahill (SLAM 2011)

Latoya Rhodes has appeared in Plan-B’s 10th anniversary revival of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH and several Script-In-Hand Series readings.

Is this really going to be my third SLAM in a row? Yes, yes it is. I am not going to lie, being asked to come back last year I thought to myself, “Are you sure?” But then to be asked to come back for a third time really blows my mind. This year, however, feels a little different. Why does it feel a little different? I ponder this question. Let’s reflect back and see if I can come up with an answer.

SLAM 2011: I was, as Plan-B Theatre calls it, a SLAM Virgin. I remember receiving the invitation to be part of the cast and I instantly was terrified. I mean back at Southern Utah University we did 24-hour theater festivals every semester, so I was aware of the process; however, I dabble in the directing side, and even the writing part of it . . . but NEVER wanted to act. Not because I didn’t love it, it’s because I thought to myself, “How in the world do you memorize 10 pages in a few hours and then give a quality performance?” No thank you, I said to myself. So when Plan-B asked me, and when I replied back yes, I kind of took a step back and was like, what are you doing?!

So, I arrived early, and met my castmates and director, got my script, and just like I thought, I completely struggled with memorizing the lines! I was freaked out. My first SLAM director was the great Tracy Callahan, and let’s just say she was very patient with me, which I was so appreciative of. I remember she would have me go back and recite the lines with movement over and over again until I could get the words out of my mind. Being an actor you can be really hard on yourself sometimes, and that was a constant battle I was having during this process. I just could not relax into it. The nerves would overcome my whole entire body, and I would start to silently panic (with a smile of course). Until the last second before we had to be on stage, my script was in my hands, I was going over my lines, pacing back and forth, back and forth, until the applause sounded for the piece before ours, we lined up on stage left, and lights went down. We were up next! My mind raced in all the scenarios of what could happen. What’s my blocking, what’s my line, where am I even? My hands, face, and feet went numb, and we were all the sudden on stage. All I remember is that . . . I SURVIVED!!! I’m pretty sure that I did forget some lines, and improv’d my way through some moments, but the most important thing to me was that, I kept going.

After we finished, I felt liberated, and collapsed to the floor because, wow, what a rush, and what an explosion of exhaustion at the same time. And then I felt this sense of joy that I feel when I am part of creating magic on stage. I felt grateful that I was able to face a fear with such a wonderful theater company, fellow artists, and the awesome packed audience.

Lauren Noll and Latoya Rhodes in WHIPLASH by Jenifer Nii (SLAM 2012)

SLAM 2012, WHAT! I was asked back . . . to do it again?!
I was put in the cast with my dear friend Lauren Noll and the great Topher Rasmussen. Now, I have to tell you that Topher and I were in the same cast in the 2011 SLAM. I was really excited to work with him again because he is a joy to watch and perform with . . . and he also knew from the first experience that memorization was going to be a struggle for me. Actually because this was our second SLAM performing together, I named him my SLAM b/friend.

This SLAM will stand out to me because this was the first time in my theater career that I had to share a stage kiss with another female. When we were reading the script, that was written by the wonderful Jenifer Nii, the stage notes stated that the character Lauren was playing, kisses my character. When I read that I was like, okay . . . this will be a new experience.

After rehearsing the play, running lines, getting our blocking down, it was time to start running the piece. I remember Lauren looking at me and she said, “Okay Latoya, I’m gonna kiss you this time . . . okay?” I smiled and I said, “Okay.” And I remember Lauren looked at me like . . . okay! So we started to rehearse the moments and she planted a big one on my face! I was grateful that I got to share my first female kiss with a dear friend of mine.

Jenifer Nii’s play resonated something powerful in me. It commented on what has been happening for the last several years, and is currently happening now. The inequalities and injustices on this earth. Judgments of what is “right and wrong” that humans place on their own kind . . . how destructive it is. I will never forget being part of this powerful piece of theater. All from a 10-minute play that was written the night before? Seriously, I never knew how powerful it can be, what you can learn, and how you can be changed.

SLAM is:
- a scared SLAM Virgin
- an actor who struggles with memorization
- an actor who overcame her fears

SLAM is:
- a reunion with Topher Rasmussen who is now my b/friend, and if we get to be in the same cast for 2013, will be upgraded to SLAM hubs!
- a shared kiss with a woman
- powerful play about marriage equality for all
- a changed human being

SLAM will be:
- 2013
- 10th Anniversary
- the beginning
- possibilities
- evolution

Why is SLAM different this time around for me? Because I cannot deny how it has positively impacted my life, and the opportunity to be part of something that can unite a whole community together for one night . . . is a true blessing.

Plan-B Theatre Company’s 10th Anniversary SLAM – where we create, rehearse and perform five 10-minute plays in 24 hours – is Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 8pm.  Click here for tickets, video and additional information.