Spotlight On...Charles Gershman

Name: Charles Gershman

Hometown: St. Louis, MO

Education: BA, Columbia University; MA (theatre with a focus on playwriting) Hunter College

Favorite Credits: I'm a huge Woody Allen fan. I don't care what anyone says about him.

Why theater?: The unpredictable organic energy of theatre is something that can only occur in live performance.

Tell us about Shooting Abe?: This is a play about two brothers and the lives they want to lead vs. the lives they lead. In wrestling with each other, they're really wrestling with themselves, and with the tradition that informs their sense of self. Things in the play that should make you want to see it: prayers. art. tears. an engagement. shame. laughter. baseball. a rabbi. and A TON OF NUDITY.

What inspired you to create Shooting Abe?: The first draft of the play emerged from out of nowhere -- I simply sat down to write. Once I had a draft, I worked extensively on it to capitalize on the dramatic potential of its absurd and dramatically rich premise.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I admire skillful plotting, complex and richly drawn characters, innovative dramatic structure, and the kind of theatre that an audience doesn't forget. I'm inspired by so many: Kushner, Chekhov, Albee, Richard Greenberg, Sarah Ruhl, Ira Sachs, my playwright friends, my mentor Tina Howe, and innumerable others.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Sam Gold.

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Nina Raine's Tribes.

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: I'm crawling out of my skin just thinking about this. I really don't know.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Watching FailArmy videos on Youtube.

What’s the most played song on your iPod?: “Guitar Man”, by Bread.

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: I'd probably try another form -- screenplays, maybe.

What’s up next?: My play Tell Me in Code (or, Milk for Mrs. Stone) will have a staged reading with the Fresh Fruit Festival, at 3:15pm on March 1. The location is 487 Hudson Street, NYC.