Interview with Paul Skripnik
Director, Composer, Scenic Designer, Sound Designer, and more of Psycho Beach Party by Charles Busch.
This week a member of the BFT Board of Directors sat down with Paul Skripnik to discuss Pyscho Beach Party by Charles Busch and the process behind the scenes. These were the questions and answers discussed.
What drew you to directing Psycho Beach Party and how long was the process?
Psycho Beach Party seemed like a fun first step into the world of directing. The script is outrageous and filled with fun opportunities for interesting staging. I recently Music Directed, played piano, and conducted The Rocky Horror Show at Birmingham Festival Theatre, and it felt like a logical next step.
I received the script nine weeks before opening night. I worked on it non-stop from then until opening. I immediately began the set design and music, and I started to plan the show, making schedules, setting deadlines, and recruiting the production team. We finished auditions and most of the casting five or six weeks before opening and rehearsals started the following Tuesday, around one month before opening. We rehearsed six days a week and needed every minute of it.
I see you are also the scenic designer for the show. The set is really well executed as well as the other technical components. How did you come about the scenic design and what was the inspiration behind it?
The scenic design was inspired by the limitations of the space. The script calls for multiple scenes on the beach and a few scenes indoors. BFT has a small stage, small budget, and nearly no backstage, so I had to find a way to make it work. My solution was to create a 4’x8’ “dollhouse” that opens and closes depending on whether or not the scene is indoors or outdoors. Different interior decorations are changed and altered throughout the show. We also built a large backdrop wall creating a path backstage for the actors to move through. My dad, myself, Mindy Egan, and the scenic construction team spent a lot of hours putting it together on site in between rehearsals.
As for the paint, I decided on the general color scheme early on. Rhonda Erbrick, associate director and renaissance woman, led our team of scenic painters, painting the entire set from ceiling to floor, filling in the details, and creating the picturesque postcard you see today. Even some of the cast members pitched in and helped. It was a team effort.
There are a lot of people involved with the show. Not only did our cast work hard, pouring themselves into becoming their characters, numerous individuals contributed behind the scenes. Emma Thomason, our board operator, executes hundreds of perfectly timed light and sound cues each show. Cammie Windley did an excellent job with the costumes, as did Suzy Conerly with props. Special thanks to Ken Saunders for stepping up at the last minute to fill a vacancy as Stage Manager.
So you took on the helm of Director with heavy hands in the design capacity, I see you are also listed as having composed the music for the show. When did you decide to compose music and what was your inspiration, musically?
From the beginning, I knew I would be taking on the project as a composer alongside directing. Composing music has been my passion from a very young age, and my education was in music composition and recording. I have experience composing for orchestra and theater and have played in a lot of bands, so I knew what to do. I recorded everything in my home studio here in Birmingham. My favorite moment was when some of our multi-talented cast members came to the studio, and I recorded them singing our theme song!
The play is set in 1962, which was an interesting time in music history. Rock and Roll was young, and had not yet bloomed into the psychedelic aesthetic that most people associate with the sixties. Musicians were laying the foundation for the drastic changes that occurred later in that decade. The Beatles had yet to release an album and were playing greasy dive bars in Hamburg, Germany. Little Eva’s “Loco-motion” was at the top of the charts, alongside tunes by Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley. The Beach Boys made it big that year. Buddy Holly had recently died a tragic death at the peak of his career, and a lot of hits were still coming out of Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan. Meanwhile, Jerry Lee Lewis was causing controversy on and off the stage. In country music, Willie Nelson had his first hit with his then-wife Shirlie Collie. Bossa Nova and Latin Jazz was popular in dance clubs and Antônio Carlos Jobim wrote The Girl From Ipanema that year. You will hear hints of all these styles and artists in the music.
How long did it take to complete the music?
I started on the music right away and finished it the day the show opened. I don’t really have a way to quantify it.
Is there anything we, the audience, should know going into the show?
There are mature themes in Psycho Beach Party. There are romantic situations involving minors, and there is a homosexual relationship. It’s not explicit, but you have been warned. The show is absurd and meant to be fun, so get ready to have some. Also, beware of the beach balls, you may get booped in the nose by one, if you aren’t paying attention.
What is your favorite part of the show?
It’s hard to say. There are many memorable moments: The surfing scene, the fight scenes, the scene in which Chicklet, played by our lead, Dana Cheek, transforms rapidly between her multiple personalities. Personally, I love the underwater scene. It happens wholly within the minds of YoYo and Provoloney, played by Gene-Austyn Lucas and Emmit Ashford. It shows that imagination can often be more vivid and elaborate than reality. We poured a lot of energy into preparing it, and it turned out really fine. It’s delightful.
This is your first time directing a full show. What was your experience like, and is it something you would like to do again?
It was a ton of work and worth every minute of it. Yes, I would like to do it again. Call me.
Why should viewers attend?
Because Psycho Beach Party is the greatest literary work of the twentieth century, and nearly the best of all-time: second to only Homer’s Odyssey. I hope you understand sarcasm.
What is the take away from Psycho Beach Party?
Take away whatever you want from it. But not the props. Leave the props- we need them for the next show.