BWW Interviews: Michael Mitnick on ED, DOWNLOADED and the Progress of ANIMAL HOUSE The Musical

I thought there would be a problem in imaging and how do you capture a human mind and convert it to digital material which apparently is not a challenge at all and is done all the time, as you see with an MRI, but instead the problem is storage space and not something that people believe will be solved relatively shortly. Expanding on that idea, and think about what would I do if I could download my brain or download my memories, what would my memories be and then what would a dramatic situation be. Well, it would be someone would have some some expections than what I actually chose. And that began the play, and then I had to work really hard and we're still working all hard to make sure that the pyrotechnic of the beautiful video worked and set design and graphics on the state that level never seen before. I hope at the end what will be an emotional story and one that audiences on their way home will just think about you know maybe will conjure up a couple memories from my own life that I would pick.

So if there was a memory that you would like to have downloaded, what would that be? A favorite memory of yours.

Oh, gosh. I'm not sure, it's funny, during the tech prompt, during break, it's fun to look into people make their list, like texting memories to and from their significant others, and watched Sam Buntrock, our director do it but I almost feel afraid to even start thinking about that.

Now I have to know how the progress is going on one of my favorite movies soon to be a musical - Animal House? How is that going?

It's going quite well. We're making good progress with the musical and story and we've got a rather complete draft of the show and actually the day after the opening of Ed Downloaded, I get on a early morning flight and go to Toronto to and actually prepare for a second workshop.

Any challenges faced in scripting this beloved movie?

Oh absolutely, the movie is so hilarious and fantastic and beloved, there's a challenge in making sure that I sort of honor the movie and give audiences the moments and the characters that they remember and the lines of dialog that are outrageously funny that they can quote and that people come up to me all the time and make sure that their favorite line is in it, and at the same time trying to make the experience not completely predictable, I think it's not fun to go into a theatre and know how something is going to end. So it's a balance of being both faithful to not just the spirit of the original movie, but specific lines and plotline, but at the same time creating more of an emotional journey for some of the characters. If you look at the movie, Animal House, as it goes along, it becomes a bit more of schtick, we've been trying to just drop a thread through of the plotline at the beginning of the movie and not so much at the end without wrecking what is a fantastic movie.

If you were not in theater, what do you think that you would be doing in a parallel universe?

Oh my, I have a big interest in architecture and industrial design, so I imagine that. I also write musicals and compose music, so right before I went to drama school, I spent a good deal of time doing some film scoring, so I actually thought that was maybe what I would do.

Have you ever thought of it as a side project at all?

Film scoring? A little bit. Now that I'm writing more movies, I sometimes try to sneak little songs into the screenplays, but I don't think I would pull a Clint Eastwood and compose a full score . I want to keep my eyes on one part of the project and let people who do it much better than I come on board for that role.

Any projects in the works?

I have a new musical I co-wrote called, Fly by Night, that is having a second production at the Dallas Theatre Center, and 2 plays of mine are going to have been in California; one is called, Babs the DoDo, and that will be in Los Angeles, and then the world premiere of a play of mine called, Spacebar: a Broadway play by Kyle Sugarman, premieres in the spring at City Lights in San Jose/San Francisco.

I have to admit, I did see Elijah that played in Boulder, and I thoroughly enjoyed that.

Thank you so much for going. That was my thesis from grad school, and I'm very grateful that they did the play. I've had a lot of plays premiered in Denver/Boulder, also a short play in Aspen, and now Ed Downloaded at the Denver Center. I haven't had single play in Pittsburgh, where I'm from. But I find myself on a plane to Colorado every month or 2, and it's a great place to be.

I hope that continues, because do we love having your works here.

Thank you so much.

Again - thank you so much for speaking with me and BroadwayWorld today!!! You really are quite wonderful and a gifted playwright, and I look forward to seeing the premiere of your play Ed, Downloaded at the Denver Center!!!

Ed, Downloaded premieres at the Denver Center Theatre Company (DCTC), playing The Ricketson Theatre now through February 17th, 2013. A DCTC commission, this world premiere was a staged reading at the 2012 Colorado New Play Summit. Tickets may be purchased now, by calling 303.893.4100 or visiting www.denvercenter.org.

Michael Mulhern has lived in Denver and been active in it's theater scene for over 10 years. He is originally from Wiesbaden, Germany and graduated with a BFA in Theater Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Currently he performs in one to two shows a year and is a proud member of the Denver Gay Men's Chorus. Some of Michael's favorite performances include - Lend Me a Tenor, Guys and Dolls, The Shadow Box, Buried Child, and Jeffrey. He is proud to represent Denver and it's growing theater community on BroadwayWorld.com!

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