We’re Luísa Galatti and Ana Moioli, speaking on behalf of Et Alia Theater, a NY-based theater company of international women. We are now in charge of the production of White Rabbit Red Rabbit, by the Iranian author Nassim Soleimanpour: forbidden to leave his home country, he wrote a one-performer play as a letter that would travel the world in his place.
With no rehearsals, no director, and a sealed script, White Rabbit Red Rabbit is a show in which the actor reads the script for the first time on stage. This year, Maria Müller will be performing in the show. Last year, 2021, we had Giorgia Valenti performing it.
We also have onboard Gillian Britt, as Public Relations Associate and Deniz Bulat, as Associate Producer. This performance is a collaboration between Et Alia Theater, Theater for the New City, and Aurora Nova.
indieactivity: What is your experience working on a production without rehearsals? What are the main challenges?
Luísa Galatti and Ana Moioli (LG & AM): The concept of White Rabbit Red Rabbit is really simple. All the script asks for is a room, 3 objects, and a hard copy of the script. All the content of the play is brought by Soleimanpour’s authentic, captivating, and often hilarious words. He immerses the audience in an unexpected journey and creates a room for discovery. The actor has never seen the script before. They’re at risk. And so is the audience.
Once you enter the room you’re making yourself available to experience something new; something that no one around you knows about. The most challenging part is its unpredictability. We can’t know what’s going to happen. All we can do is trust the actor and the script. Whatever happens after that is out of our control.
How did you put the crew and cast together? Did you start writing with a known cast?
Luísa Galatti and Ana Moioli (LG & AM): While all 5 members of Et Alia are actors, White Rabbit Red Rabbit has only one requirement: that the performer has never seen the script before. Last year we did it with Giorgia Valenti, leading Ana and Deniz to sacrifice their opportunity to ever perform it by watching the show. Luckily, Maria Müller was back in her home country Romania at that time, which allowed her the opportunity to perform it in the following year.
As a company that aims to explore the unfamiliar and present foreign stories and perspectives to the New York audience, Et Alia is honored to produce a play that allows them to play their strengths and work on the kind of art they believe in. ‘Et Alia’ is Latin for ‘And Other’: we create art for the other, by the other, and about the other. What can be more ‘Other’ than an actor performing a script that is unknown even to themselves?
When did you form your theater company – and what was the original motivation for its formation?
Luísa Galatti and Ana Moioli (LG & AM): Et Alia Theater first came together in September 2019. We’re all international womxn artists who united our diverse voices in order to share our stories with the US audience. It all started when Maria Müller (from Romania) reached out to Giorgia Valenti (from Italy/India) and Ana Moioli (from Brazil) in order to put up a play. They didn’t know what play, where, and how it would be produced, but they were determined to make it happen.
Ana had worked with Isabella Uzcátegui (from Venezuela/Panama/Mexico) on another show before and invited her to join their project as the director. After a few conversations, they soon realized that their interests were very much aligned, and there was so much they were eager to create together that one project would not be enough – they had to become a group and keep collaborating.
In the beginning of 2020, after a couple of projects, Luísa Galatti (Brazil) and Deniz Bulat (Turkey) joined the core team of the company. That was how the company consolidated its current five members: Maria Müller (Co-Artistic Director), Giorgia Valenti (Co-Artistic Director), Ana Moioli (Co-Artistic Director), Luísa Galatti (Associate Artist/Producer), and Deniz Bulat (Associate Artist/Producer).
You must have donned several hats on this film, the measure of your input required intellect, effort, tenacity, skill (…you know better). What did it take you to put out all these qualities to get the film done?
Luísa Galatti and Ana Moioli (LG & AM): I think it’s as simple as “what needs to be done will be done, no matter what”. We don’t ever look around, see a problem and say “this is not my responsibility”. Everything is our responsibility, so we end up learning new skills in order to maintain the company.
What about independent filmmaking and the business do you still struggle with?
Luísa Galatti and Ana Moioli (LG & AM): Fundraising and marketing. Most of the weekly hours we dedicate to our company go into these two, and while we’ve grown so much in both the financial and the Public Relations areas since we started, they remain the main challenges we constantly have to work on.
Where do you think your strengths lie as a producer?
Luísa Galatti and Ana Moioli (LG & AM): As a team, we are proud to recognize ourselves as highly driven, hardworking, and synergetic. We are always looking for new opportunities to grow, and for everything we find we split the work amongst ourselves, according to each member’s strengths and interests. Et Alia is a safe platform for all of us to explore new ideas, develop them as a team and work hard to bring them to life. It is also an extremely friendly and supportive space where we can trust each other and collectively nurture our mental health!
Let’s talk finance, How did you finance the film?
LG & AM: This year, Et Alia has received two grants from A.R.T. NY for general operating support – Strengthening NYC Theaters and New York Creative Opportunity Fund. They will cover any expenses we’ll have that exceed our share of the box office sales. Besides, Aurora Nova kindly offered free copyrights of Soleimanpour’s play for companies that are participating in the global event Let There Be Theatre – A Call to Action of March 13th, which significantly lowered the costs of the show.
How important is marketing? Do you think a project can make a dent without it nowadays?
LG & AM: Super super important! And as mentioned before, one of the most time-consuming parts of the work we do for our projects and for our company in general. What is the point of telling compelling stories and creating art you believe in if there’s no one to receive them? How can you get financial support if you don’t have a consistent audience? Engaging with our followers and getting the word out as much as possible is crucial for the success of any artistic endeavor.
Tell us about marketing activities or efforts on this project – and how it worked or didn’t work?
LG & AM: First, we created a press release with photos, logos, and all the information about our show. Then, our PR Associate Gillian Britt has been extremely helpful in sending them to a very long list of contacts. Throughout the years, we’ve been fortunate enough to develop relationships with press partners, such as the wonderful IndieActivity. However, it is very frustrating how low the number of responses we get compared to how many emails we send.
What do you hope audiences will get from the presentation of your play?
LG & AM: We hope a range of emotions is discovered on the spot. We hope people enjoy venturing into the unknown. We hope our spectators immerse themselves in a collective experience of listening and sharing. We hope we all celebrate the resilience of worldwide theater-makers after two very difficult years.
What else have you got in the works?
LG & AM: Et Alia is always actively developing new projects! We recently received funding for our next project Stella, Come Home, a dance-theater piece based on Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire, which we’re going to produce this summer. Ana and Maria are also co-writing a play with Cris Eli Blak named The Thing About Magnets, which we will put up after. Stay tuned! Follow us on Instagram @etaliatheater and/or sign up for our newsletter to be updated on our upcoming projects.
Tell us what you think of the interview with White Rabbit Red Rabbit. What do you think of it? What ideas did you get? Do you have any suggestions? Or did it help you? Let’s have your comments below and/or on Facebook or Instagram! Or join me on Twitter.
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