Spotlight On...Charles Giardina

Name: Charles Giardina

Hometown: New York, NY

Education: Middlebury College

Favorite Credits: Directing- Marisol, Man of la Mancha

Why theater?: I started participating in theatre to tell stories of all kinds. Since setting out on that journey I learned that not only the story but how the story is told is the beauty of the theatre. As a director I choose stories not only compelling stories, but ones that benefit from the unique opportunities theatre offers storytellers. With the accession of smartphones, Netflix, etc, the onus is that much greater on theatre makers to utilize the qualities of live performance in ways that no other artistic media can.

Tell us about Harriman-Baines: Harriman-Baines is a play about obsession and fantasy. Its characters toil fanatically to maintain some delusion that their lives are not in fact empty. The question at the heart of the play is, then, can one subsist solely on imagination? While this production makes no pretense of offering a definitive answer to this question, it seeks to explore many facets of the quandary—one that has become ever more relevant in recent years with the advent of the digital world and the internet. This piece teaches us about our modern age by turns embracing and eschewing it, using both intimacy and alienation to explore that which looms in the void of the human condition, one which has been vampirized by its pursuit of meaning.

What inspired you to direct Harriman-Baines?: We reviewed over 50 different new script submissions before settling on Harriman-Baines. I was particularly interested in the themes it explored, namely obsession and delusion. It was a piece for which I saw an interesting opportunity in how the story might be told, eschewing American Naturalism and embracing a more raw, musical and heightened world.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Theatre that transcends the real world.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Emma Rice. I want to discover whatever order of directing witchcraft to which she subscribes.

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Jerusalem with Mark Rylance. People ought to go back in time and see it.

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Daniel Day Lewis. "Drink to my health and get off the table."

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Jameson.

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: Taking over the world. Or consulting.

What’s up next?: Another op'nin', Another Show!