Hospital 2008 is the latest installment in a theatrical serial that's been going on for many years now. Could you tell us more about this unique and seemingly epic project, and what first caused you to launch it?
I was in an episodic play at The Workhouse Theatre (where The Flea is now) and it was really fun. However each section was written by a separate author which made for an up-and-down evening. I wanted to see if I could take an audience on a journey over several nights that was cohesive and streamlined. I started thinking: what happens in your mind right before you die? Would it be possible to open up those moments and actually put them onstage? How can we decipher an entire life? Which moments stand out and which are forgotten. Doing it over a few nights kind of made it seem more like the actual experience of someone slipping in and out of thinking/consciousness — meaning you would see the lucid, brightness of their thoughts live onstage during an episode and then slip into blackness (in between episodes) then return for another bright, lucid moment, continuing until the death of the Traveller. We call him this for obvious reasons.
The script is credited as being written and created by AXIS Company. How does the cast and crew go about putting together a show like this? Do you all have a tried-and-true for doing this or does it differ from project to project?
I write the script and then we pull it apart and rewrite it during rehearsal. The set remains the same unless it is convenient for it to reflect the Traveller’s journey (changing slightly from episode to episode). Lighting is related to the scenario of the coma inducing event. There is no tried and true: Hospital is a major challenge to everyone and therefore brings out the best and discards the worst in the company.
You've been Artistic Director of AXIS Company for a decade now. How was the company first formed and what kind of stuff do you all do?
AXIS was formed just by wanting to make performances out of things my friends and I were talking about. If we had been painters we all would have gone away and painted it. We do plays that are literally inspired by what is interesting us at the point of inception. Major themes at AXIS are: illness, coma, death, the random and chance-like nature of all events (no fate), the atomic bomb, the dust bowl, Frankenstein and any other currently passing information.
You've also written and directed the feature film, Henry May Long. Could you tell us a little bit more about it?
This is a period film set in 1888. Basically it's about what lies you would tell, what you would do and how you would do it to get what you wanted in life. Please go to Henrymaylong.comHenrymaylong.com for images and synopsis.
What led you to branch out into full-fledged filmmaking? And is this something you'd like to do more of in the future?
I had been directing short movies that went inside the plays for years. I had a pretty good story idea that would not work in a play or, at least, in an AXIS play. I don’t consider being a film director a "step up" form being a theatre director. I don’t want to be a film director exclusively.
Who and what inspires you as a director?
Humans.
What do you and AXIS Company have next on the docket?
We are remounting Edgar Oliver's hit show East 10th Street for a three-week run starting February 12th. We are also currently developing a play about The Manhattan Project at Los Alamos translated through the language of the medieval Miracle Plays for late spring. Then, in the summer, we'll do Hospital 2009.
Interview with Randy Sharp was conducted by Michael Criscuolo February 2009.