APAC's Artistic Director Tom Wojtunik talks about the world premiere of Ashlin Halfnight's A Hard Wall At High Speed

APAC may be known for its acclaimed revivals of plays and musicals but that doesn’t mean Artistic Director Tom Wojtunik hasn’t had his eye on producing new works. On November 3rd Ashlin Halfnight’s A Hard Wall At High Speed has its world premiere on our mainstage. Tom shares what makes this work so special.

ONE OF YOUR GOALS AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR HAS ALWAYS BEEN FOR APAC TO PRODUCE MORE NEW WORKS, WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR APAC TO BE PRESENTING ITS FIRST WORLD PREMIERE, ASHLIN HALFNIGHT’S A HARD WALL AT HIGH SPEED?

I should clarify that this isn’t actually APAC’s first world premiere. Early in APAC’s history, under the leadership of founding artistic director Brian Swasey, APAC produced new work in addition to acclaimed revivals of plays and musicals. But it’s true that it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a new play on our mainstage. When I came aboard as AD in 2008, it was my first goal to transition APAC into a theater that primarily produces new work. The first step in that transition was introducing an annual reading series. This will be our fourth season producing that series, and I’m happy to report that audiences for the readings have grown. I’m also happy to report that many of those plays have gone on to future productions. This fall two of the readings from last season will premiere in full productions in midtown: Alex Goldberg’s It Is Done (which I am directing, in a site-specific production at The Mean Fiddler bar) and Robert Askins’ Hand to God at Ensemble Studio Theatre.

As proud as I am of our reading series, I’ve been very anxious to get new work on our mainstage. Last season we got our feet wet with a remount of Joshua Conkel’s highly-praised MilkMilkLemonade. That production gave me the confidence that Astoria audiences were ready to see brand new work on our stage.

HOW DID YOU FIND THIS PLAY? WHAT WAS IT THAT MADE YOU WANT TO PRODUCE IT?

I’ve been following Ashlin Halfnight’s career for a number of years. Last year we were introduced through our mutual friend Seth Soloway, Artistic Director at the Railroad Playhouse in Newburgh, NY, where Ashlin is a writer-in-residence. We hit it off, and started meeting for drinks and talking about when and how we could work together. Ashlin sent me a bunch of scripts, and A Hard Wall at High Speed was one of my favorites. It felt timely for this fall (for reasons I won’t give away—you’ll have to come see the play!), and I found the characters particularly rich and well-drawn. I knew APAC could produce a solid production, and was honored when Ashlin agreed.

EVERY PRODUCTION PRESENTS ITS OWN SET OF CHALLENGES, WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE PRODUCING THIS PLAY?

The biggest challenge of this play is the episodic nature of the scenes. Ashlin moves the plot forward with amazing momentum. He accomplishes that through presenting a series of short(ish) scenes that keeping moving forward in time, though the audience has to stay in engaged to keep track of where in that time line we are (which I love). The challenge is that the play wants to accomplish this with a fair amount of “reality”, so keeping the design fluid without stopping for long scene changes is imperative. Luckily for APAC, this challenge rests in the hands of our ridiculously-talented director, May Adrales, and her very capable design team. I can’t wait for tech!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT BEING PART OF THIS PROCESS?

Assembling the team I just talked about. I’ve admired May’s work for a while, and it’s been enormously satisfying to connect her and Ashlin for this project (and selfishly, it’s always interesting to watch another director work). I’ve enjoyed working with May to assemble a design team that would have the right sensibility for the project and the right temperament for the experience. I think we’ve done a bang-up job.

WHAT’S UP NEXT FOR APAC? TELL US ABOUT IT.

We have a deliciously exciting fundraiser surprise coming this holiday season, which I can’t say anything else about right now.

In February, APAC will produce its first-ever workshop production, the new musical Love Trapezoid by Matt Schatz. It’s a really fun, 3-character piece that has been very well received in a couple of readings over the past few years. Matt and I are looking forward to seeing the project on its feet.

APAC audiences might wonder what we mean by “workshop”…Unlike our reading series, the actors for Love Trapezoid will be off book, and the whole thing will be fully staged. But there won’t be any design—the emphasis will be on the text and the music. It will be as if we were rehearsing a full production and invited the audience in for the last rehearsal run-thru before tech. We’ll present the workshop over two weekends, and give Matt rehearsal time to make changes between them. It’s should be a very exciting, seat-of-our-pants process. The other big differences are that we won’t be inviting reviewers, and there will be a suggested donation for audiences, instead of our usual $18 ticket price.

In May APAC will produce a revival of the the musical The Secret Garden, uniting most of the creative team behind The Human Comedy and Children of Eden. Spring can’t come fast enough!

ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?

I look forward to seeing our audiences at APAC this year!

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The world goes crazy when Ashlin Halfnight’s A Hard Wall At High Speed premieres November 3, 2011 and runs through November 19, 2011 at the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, 30-44 Crescent St (@30th Rd), Astoria, NY 11102.

Get your tickets here.