GAYLETTER

Peninsula is the newest collaboration between playwright Nathan Wright and director Nadia Foskolou. The duo met in graduate school at Columbia University in 2005 and have made lots of beautiful theater together ever since.

The play will have its world premiere at New York’s annual Fringe Festival, which has occupied nearly 20 theaters across downtown Manhattan since the beginning of August. Peninsula is an unconventional bildungsroman (a coming-of-age story) set in different periods of time and geographical locations. It is the story of Tiago, a young man who escapes the slums of Rio de Janeiro to work on a vineyard in Northern Michigan. Though Tiago abandons his home in South America for a new life, the temptation, danger and desire that forced him to leave only reappear in new forms in America.

Peninsula features a bold and brilliant young cast of six: Angela Atwood, Vanessa Bartlett, John Zdrojeski, Josué Gutierrez Guerra, Kellan Peavy, and Marc Sinoway. Each character commands the stage with tremendous presence. The content is heavy, but Wright’s poetic and vividly illustrious language keeps the audience afloat for the entire 90 minutes of the performance.

How did you create the concept for this play?

Nathan: It started as a writing exercise in my first semester of grad school at Columbia. The assignment was to take a photo of a face we knew nothing about and use to it to create a story from that person’s perspective. The photo I chose was from National Geographic and pictured a man from Brazil. As I created his character, it sort of morphed into this whole play. I decided to put this character in Northern Michigan where I spent my summers, and allowed him to discover his world and how he ended up there. And then he became Tiago.

Why is it called Peninsula?

Nathan: Peninsula became the final title by a sort of happy accident. So much of the play is about identity, and, in addition to the story’s setting, a peninsula became a sort of motif for identity. I think of identity as something singular that, like a peninsula extends into a body of water, it extends out into a larger whole. I like the image of this body of land being surrounded by an amorphous entity, and pinned down only on one side.

Do queer themes reoccur in your work?

Nadia: There is something in Nathan’s writing that is really surprising and unconventional — in the themes, yes, but also in the writing. He uses narrative speech next to dialogue, poetic language and different voices. There is such a richness and diversity in the way he writes that matches up with queer themes.

Nathan: Nadia is interested in any and all themes, and finds ways of staging different sorts of matter in explosive ways. She makes queer theater accessible, but also surprising and interesting, and builds the stage in exceptionally creative ways. It tells a story that doesn’t conform to normal theatrical conventions.

How do you keep yourself motivated and inspired?

Nathan: A lot of it is adrenaline. Cliché as that may sound, it’s true. I love the story, and that keeps me going.

Nadia: We love the story, we see how much the cast loves it and is turned on by performing, and their passion gives us energy and motivation.

Marc: Well for one I don’t want to piss off the playwright/boyfriend. So that is motivation right there. Also, it doesn’t hurt that I just love the play Peninsula in its written form. It is so poetic and heartbreaking.

Who or what is your biggest inspiration?

Nadia: Family-wise, my father. He is 70 now, or older than 70 maybe, I don’t remember exactly, but he is so optimistic even in his old age. He has such a drive for life that inspires me.

Nathan: I find my mom so enigmatic. She’s not poetic or romantic, and her default isn’t to be particularly verbal, but she just gets the job done. She’s tough and strong, and kind and compassionate. In theater world, I adore Chekhov. He is kind writer who writes his characters with compassion and honesty. I also admire Kushner and think he’s really brave.

What makes you the happiest, and what scares you the most?

Nadia: Feeling prepared. If I can be the best prepared possible for rehearsal or whole process, that’s important to me. Preparedness is a big source of happiness. What scares me the most is big social issues and questions we don’t have control over. I fear for the future of our planet and how we are going to take care of it.

Nathan: I’m most happy when I’m truly present in a moment and I am doing something I really love, like being in a rehearsal space with people I have a trusted relationship with. What scares me is not be able to have that moment, and knowing a million uncontrollable forces could make something go wrong.

Have you ever had a hot summer romance?

Nathan: I honestly don’t know that I have. Maybe this play is my fantasy of the summer fling that never happened.

Nadia: Why do you think I said yes to direct this play? Ha! I’m kidding. I am from Greece and had a summer house in the Greek Islands, so I had lots of experiences like that.

There’s a hot scene on top of a sailboat in the play. Did you have experiences like that?

Nadia: Maybe.

IRL, would you actually have sex on a sailboat?

Kellan: Are you kidding? Of course.

When were you last in love?

Josue: Well, I am Mexican. We fall in love every minute. I hate generalizing, but in some cases it’s simply inevitable. There is a reason for the term, Latin Lover.

Kellan: Right now I’m in love with everyone involved in Peninsula process. It has been an incredible time with such a talented group of people.

If you could date some hot exotic boy from a farway country, where would be be from?

Nathan: Greece! Well, maybe Brazil. I don’t know. I wrote a whole play about it and I still don’t really know. I love my boyfriend now, Marc, who is in the play, and his mother is Dominican. So maybe the Dominican Republic?

Kellan: I’m a sucker for accents. Spain? Great Britain? Australia?! Keep ‘em coming.

Nadia: I’m married to a Russian man now. So there’s nothing exotic about that, really.

In your life, have you ever had a dangerous force like your character Nelson?

Marc: Yes. Of course. His name is New York City.

How does your adolescence compare to your character Thomas’?

Kellan: Well, we both traveled a lot as kids. The one thing my mother splurged on was vacation for me and my brother. I definitely have a healthier relationship with my mother.

Do you have a favorite place to go skinny-dipping?

Marc: I actually went skinny dipping recently with the playwright on the east arm of the bay in Lake Michigan late-night after warming up in a sauna. It was pretty fabulous. I guess the only other place I am allowed to go skinny-dipping without law enforcement getting involved is in my parent’s pool in New Jersey… preferably when they are not home.

Nadia: I’ve never been to Michigan. The equivalent is my mind is Tinos, a Greek island where I used to go swimming with my sister and friends.

Josue: Have you seen the flyer for the show? (It’s a photo of a boy with a super cute butt swimming naked). That water was freezing, we were in upstate NY. At least now I know where NOT to go skinny-dipping. Playa del Carmen might be a nice place, though.

Have you ever made or gotten drunk off caipirinhas?

Nathan: I’ve made them! My ex spent a lot of time in Brazil and introduced me to caipirinhas. But I’m not a big drinker myself — I have one and I’m drunk.

Marc: Um. #DUH. I also chose Brazilian libations as my motif for Pride 2012. I served blueberry caipirinhas to my guests at my apartment after the parade. It was sticky.

Nadia: I don’t know how to make those, but I have gotten drunk off them a couple of times. Though it’s not a favorite of mine, it’s an interesting drink. Americans seem to particularly like them.

Marc Sinoway and Josué Gutierrez Guerra in a scene from Peninsula photographed by Matt Dunivan.

Peninsula is playing at The Robert Moss Theater, 440 Lafayette St. 4th Floor, NY, NY. On August 16 at 8:45PM, August 17 at 5:15PM, August 19 at 9PM, August 22 at 2:30PM. $15 advance, $18 at door.