An Interview with michole biancosino

michole is the co-founding artistic director of the project y theater company. she’s a critically acclaimed director. and, she’s the producer of the women in theatre festival.

STEPHANIE: I think a lot of artists live in their heads when they’re kids. When you were a kid, what were you like when you were playing pretend? Was there a recurring character or world you always found yourself drawn to?

MICHOLE: Well, I had six siblings and I was the oldest. My younger siblings and I would put on shows as children often do. I was the major organizer of those shows. So, in ways I’ve been producing or directing since I was young. We also did variety acts. Some of our acts were more musical in the types of stuff we were dreaming up while performing on top of the coffee table. I had tap shoes and my mom would let me tap around the house. 

STEPHANIE: Okay, I also did dance so let me ask you. Did you like it? Like I remember I didn’t hate the actual dancing. But, I hated watching the sky change from light to dark outside the window while I was at the ballet barre. I just wanted to be home. 

MICHOLE: I went to one of those dance schools where everything was heavily sequined. The focus was really on the costumes. 

STEPHANIE: Yes! Can I tell you the creepiest thing? When I was five, my class danced to Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. Not only did we have to wear yellow bikini outfits, but we came out in towels, ripped them open in unison, and shimmied for the audience. 

MICHOLE: Right? And everyone was probably like, “aww that’s so cute!”

STEPHANIE: So fucking weird…

What’s something you believed about the world when you were young that you still hope is true? 

MICHOLE: I think that laughter is good almost at any point. Laughter can be a coping mechanism. It can be a way to break tension, make friendship, a way to loosen up and from there you can really get to a real conversation with someone. I’ve always liked funny people. My family was funny. We found humor in everything. Like, church was cause for a joke. I’m so drawn to funny material. Comedy is such a great part of theater. Anytime I can, I’ll use comedy to open up an audience. 

STEPHANIE: I love that. I feel very much the same way. I hate that fake, tense politeness when meeting someone new. Laughing eases that tension so much. 

Alright, so. I preview so many artists’ websites, but I was drawn to a particular tagline on yours. You've been described as an "outside-the-box" theatre maker. What does that mean to you, and how does it shape your approach to directing and producing?

MICHOLE: Part of it is, I kind of don't put it in my mind in the box of a theater. As a producer and director I’ll let the play decide where it wants to live. I might read something and say, “this performance would be great in a field, and I try to make that happen. I believe in letting the work or idea be the motivating factor in what it wants to be. I try to think, how can I make every piece an event in and of itself? How can I make this exciting and inviting for people to come and be part of? Not just witness. I want to Invite audiences in through ways that are unexpected. Even when I’m not working, and I’m just seeing a play, I want to be invited into the play through ways that surprise me! 

We produced a play called “Yoga with Jillian.” The audience were the yoga students. I invited audience members up to participate in the physical yoga piece, we had ten mats. We took that to the Fringe two years ago. 

I try to think, if it needs to be in a theater, so be it. If not, where can we take it?

STEPHANIE: Ahhh, you’re speaking to my heart! I’m such a fan of immersive theater. This approach is very much exciting to me. 

What do you think is the emotional engine behind your work? Is it joy? Justice? A need to connect? I know it might be a few things. 

MICHOLE: I’ve always been obsessed with theater. I love making theater. I love the process of being in the room. It lets me ask big, epic questions about life. I get to consider all sorts of questions about who we are as people. You know, what’s my relationship to the beginning, end, middle of my lifetime? Where do I stand on politics? What are my social positions?

STEPHANIE: Speaking of social and political stuff. Tell me about Trump Lear! What was the impetus? 

MICHOLE: That was a play that came about during the first Trump presidency and it was co-created with David Carl. It was our response to the first Trump presidency. It was a satire. So, the concept of the piece was  that David Carl is an actor who made a version of King Lear where Trump plays all parts. We have puppets who act as the people in his life and other politicians. At the start of play, David Carl is locked in a prison cell and doesn’t know how he got there. Then, the voice of Trump echoes out saying, “let me see your show you did about me.” So David is forced to present his play. It was very funny and very disturbing. It got major critical success in Edinburgh Fringe. People are asking if we’ll do this again. I just find zero humor in him now. 

STEPHANIE: Any apprehension there given how divisive the man seems to be? 

MICHOLE: I can’t worry about things like that. I just need to keep my head down and do the work I want to do. I just don’t think like that for myself. Most of the work I do is political. 

STEPHANIE: On that same theme, what scares you creatively? How do you keep yourself from running from it?

MICHOLE: If I was younger I might have an answer. Right now it’s like…what’s the worst that can happen? I make something that’s not as great as something else? Who cares? I got the joy of doing it. It’s like, whatss the standard here? The standard needs to be, do I like it? Your own sense of what do you feel about your work. 

STEPHANIE: As the founder of the Women in Theatre Festival, how have you seen the landscape for women in theatre evolve over the years?

MICHOLE:  When we founded it, we looked at numbers on how many people in positions of power were women and what plays written by women were being performed. The numbers were very low. It was just so utterly depressing. That was one of the impetus for starting. We thought, in a small way, maybe we can do something that showcases women. There’s much more diversity in types of plays we’ll see now, so that’s good and positive. There’s a gender gap in all forms of creative leadership. Another issue is there's a significant need for better infrastructure for play development. One of our initiatives is the parent/caregiver playwrights group. Those playwrights are offered a stipend twice monthly. It’s curated by Lia Romeo and Liz Appel.  

STEPHANIE: Selfishly as a parent, I really love that. I think when we talk about those with lack of access we look very broadly at women, gender expression, and that’s important. But we overlook nuanced groups such as the one you’re trying to target. Caregivers definitely have less opportunity to get their work produced. 

Are there any stories that women want to tell, but are maybe afraid to tell? What kinds of material are women apprehensive to address? I tend to like writing about sex and even that feels provocative. 

MICHOLE: I just feel that women are fearless in what they write. They’re very much, I’m gonna rip away the curtains so you can see what’s behind them. I feel women are inherently political playwrights. We are very interested in society, we’re interested in what’s going to happen to the people around us. 

STEPHANIE: Do you think that’s a strength or a burden?

MICHOLE: I think it’s just reality. We have to do this. Like, there’s a fight for bodily autonomy right now. We can’t tune that out. It impacts women directly. 

STEPHANIE: I’m going to be honest, here. I’m just not a fan of plays about menopause and periods. I cringe when I see, like, My Vagina and Other Supergirl Things on a play ad. Do you think there’s a stereotype about women’s theater? That it’s all Vagina Monologues? 

MICHOLE: I mean…I see so much theater and I don’t see a lot of shows like that. Maybe one show was about that. I just don’t see that so much. We live in a really casually misogynistic world. There’s been no attention given to women’s bodies, particularly older women’s bodies that’s not sexualized for a male gaze. If anything I’m actually looking for something written from a woman’s gaze maybe even about menopause because I know it will be more nuanced. I’ve seen the play a thousand times over about the white family sitting in the living room written by a guy. Why do we all have to act like this is all of our norms? Why is that the standard? 

STEPHANIE:  If someone’s on the fence about coming to the festival…maybe they’re not “theater people”...what would you say to get them in the door? What makes this festival different from the usual Off-Broadway experience?

MICHOLE:  First of all, there’s so many different things. If you want to see an original musical that’s headed to Edinburgh, we have that. If you want to see a beautiful play that features a librarian and a kid that’s working through getting in trouble written by this incredible writer from Oregon, we have it. There’s so much variety: funny, feminist, theater, dance. A lot of what we do is low footprint, too. They tend to be one act plays, so they can be paired with something else. On any given day of the festival, you can see one to four shows that are incredible and so totally different from the one before it. Many of our shows have already received critical acclaim. David and Katie Get ReMarried was a  Time Out Critics Pick. You get the chance to see it revamped before it goes overseas. 

STEPHANIE: What’s one moment or production from a past year that made you sit back and think, “This is why we do this”?

MICHOLE: We did a performance of E.M. Lewis’ The Gun Show. At the end of it, we hosted a talk back with members of the audience. Most people in New York City are, as you can imagine, not gun owners. We might assume that most residents are on the side of much stricter gun control. But surprisingly, there was a lot of variety and nuance in the audience! We didn’t talk about more guns or less guns. We didn’t want opinions. Our ground rule was that we don’t care where you stand on the issue. We just want anyone who feels comfortable to share a story. Everyone has personal stories related to guns. Maybe they hadn’t even realized before they watched the play. I remember an audience member talking about a cousin being killed by a gun then realizing as she told the story in real time that it was maybe not an accident. There was an awakening in a room by talking about this in the room

Later we brought the show to Vermont where guns are part of the culture, you know, hunting and sport and stuff.  Intense conversations followed the show. Not intense by fighting, just the audience had a lot of say about their own personal relations to guns and connections. 

STEPHANIE: I love that this play provided a platform for people to connect with the work and discuss what it evoked in them. That’s like the ultimate play experience. You go see a cool performance then get to connect with the people around you, even if they think differently. 

So, without giving too much away… what are a few moments audiences can expect this year that will make them laugh, gasp, or text a friend immediately after? What shows should we see for those kinds of moments? 

MICHOLE: Okay, if you want shock value, you should see “Power Suits.” People who have seen it don’t just laugh out loud, they literally SCREAM with laughter the entire time. 

STEPHANIE: Alright, let’s have fun. Imagine we're at your favorite NYC bar. What's your go-to drink, and what show would you love to discuss over it?

MICHOLE: Okay, we’re at Trailer Park so that I could also order tater tots. I would have a tequila and soda, and I think I would discuss Sunset Boulevard – it was just so strikingly good. Also, any play by Shakespeare! That’s the reality, there’s always so much to discuss. From the text to the casting to how it was reimagined. So much could go good or bad. 

STEPHANIE: When no one’s watching…no deadlines, no audience, no pressure - what are you doing at home that brings you joy? I’m talking about little micro things. 

MICHOLE: I love spending time with my kids to be honest. They all like to play music together. I like to listen to them…from another room. I like to listen to them playing music together. I like to cook when I’m in the mood, experimenting with different types of cuisine. 

STEPHANIE: Give me one ingredient that you think goes in everything. 

MICHOLE: Oh! I’ve rediscovered sage which I grew in a little pot. It’s so good! It often just goes into Thanksgiving dishes, but it can go into so much more. 

STEPHANIE: Alright, well, give me an example.

MICHOLE: If you’re making soup! Any kind of dish!

STEPHANIE: You know, it kind of lends itself to elegance. Sage has that velvety texture. It’s always dressed for the occasion.

MICHOLE: There’s also a nest of baby birds outside my window. It’s so cute, until you see one or two dead on the ground sometimes. It started out being so cute, now it’s just like, OH GOD WHAT NEW HORROR AWAITS ME THIS MORNING. 

STEPHANIE: Is there a version of your life parallel universe style that you sometimes fantasize about? What would Michole be doing in that world?

MICHOLE: There’s not. I don’t even think like that. My brain doesn’t allow it. I have friends who go through this all the time, thinking, what else could I do? I just don’t relate at all! Not because I had some privileged life. I just don’t have that FOMO thing. I’m good. I’m fine. I get to do theater and I’m a grown woman. I’m not a rich person. There’s a lot I don’t have, but I feel so lucky. I have the ability to be creative regularly and open myself up to inspiration. I get to force myself to think about things in new ways, not just use my first instinct. Adults are rarely pushed in that direction.