Today we’d like to introduce you to Erik Blair.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I first started doing theatre in high school because I was in love with a girl. No joke–she was one of the ‘stars’ of my high school theatrical program, and I thought it would be a great way to be around her. Little did I realize exactly how much I would come to love everything having to do with creating performances and how much MORE I would love writing and directing and crafting live performances into existence.
That’s how it came to be that by my senior year of high school, I had already written my first production (a murder mystery that somehow combined the humor of Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau and the murder-stylings of Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th). At the same time, I was already directing another play and spent nearly 4 hours after class every day working at a local community theater.
It’s also how I found myself at Northwestern University’s Theatre Program as well. Four years of intensive training nearly led to me moving to New York (an agent was interested in me at the time)… but then there was another woman I was in love with, and that meant ending up in Texas.
Had I not moved back there, however, I would not have been one of the driving forces behind creating The Phoenix Theatre (named because it rose from the ashes of another theatre, not because of the city–since my theatre was built in Lubbock.) I would not have started working with immersive theatrical ideas and avenues by building a full mountain wall (with only 11 feet of space from floor to ceiling) or doing a production of Noises Off where I rotated the audience instead of the stage.
Leaving Lubock for USC’s MFA in Film/Video Production was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made–but this time I made it because I wanted to add more knowledge to my artistic skill set. But even then, I kept finding myself drawn back to live performances, as I began doing unusual things like directing two different versions of Deathtrap with entirely different casts that opened back-to-back.
I was exploring things such as how the difference between casts and audiences can create a completely different experience and how narrow the line between audience and cast could become. I also began crafting stories for large scale LARPs which allowed me the ability to think of how one needs to incorporate agency and variance when dealing with larger audiences who not only all expect to have a coherent story but who are also partially TELLING the story themselves.
So as far as I’m concerned, my current immersive theatrical productions are the natural product of over 30 years of learning. I understand how to write for large and small scale audiences. I know how to craft a tale so that its impact can work whether the audience is entirely passive OR whether they can change every piece of it as they go. I am just now reaching the place where I want to be as an artist and nothing makes me happier than seeing how these stories impact audiences in such personal ways.
As for Los Angeles and Silverlake, there is no place else I would rather be creating work like this than here. The immersive community and creators are just about to enter a golden age of creativity and growth, and I could not be more excited to be a part of it.
Has it been a smooth road?
I don’t think any creator’s path is a smooth one. I’ve failed with many of my productions over the years. Sometimes I wrote something that didn’t resonate. Sometimes I directed something that audiences felt failed to reach the goal I’d hoped to reach.
Moreover, trying to write for theatre in Los Angeles can be a somewhat harsh scenario financially. There are avenues where you can generate some income, but it’s nothing close to what one sees in Chicago or New York. The recent growth of the Hollywood Fringe festival is beginning to change that–and that’s why I’ve put productions into that festival for the last two years (with another one coming this June). But no one makes their fortune putting on a show in a festival.
I’ve struggled with some physical issues as well, some of which I’m overcoming and some of which may be part of my existence from here on out. And I do sometimes find that my ongoing goals and desires don’t mesh easily with ‘most’ people, as I’ve never gotten married or had children and never felt the great pressure to do either. It means, honestly, that some friends get lost along the way.
But if when I am dead, there is -one- artistic production that people talk about thirty years later, that will make everything I have done along the way worth it. These creations are my children, and I am as proud of them as any father could be.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with They Played Productions – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I am a writer and director of theatrical productions, both traditional and immersive, as well as an occasional actor and improv comedian.
I am currently one of the two partners of a theatrical production company called “They Played Productions.” Our company has so far created a werewolf rock musical, an immersive production where God came to apologize to those who came to see him and an ambitious year-long immersive creation called “Captivated: An Obsession in Three Acts,” which is a modern retelling of the Frankenstein story.
What my productions are known for is our ability to transform classic horror tropes and ideas into new and unusual ways. That’s why our next Fringe production is going to be a completely new take on the zombie apocalypse story. I spend a great deal of time looking at how stories and narrative work and then approaching them from a new angle to develop new and interesting vantage points for such ideas.
It’s also why our final chapter of Captivated which opens in May has 30 different possible endings. Instead of just one version of the Frankenstein story, I wanted to let the audience make choices and have those choices change the outcome in some surprisingly different ways. In essence, this time the audience will know that THEY are the cause of what they are seeing happen. I think that’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun for audiences.
I think I’m most proud of how audiences respond to our shows. Our first chapter of Captivated ran just over an hour each performance. But after the third performance of the night, we’d still see audience members talking about what they’d witnessed and making connections between them over our show. We have audiences that have come as a group for each next chapter just to keep having that connection. I am very pleased that we can impact them that much.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and the least?
Don’t let anyone claim otherwise–Los Angeles has some of the most creative individuals on the planet. The talent and skill and simple creative strength of those I’ve had the joy to work within Los Angeles stuns me on a constant basis. Every time I think I’ve seen the edge of creativity and hard work, someone surprises me all over again and makes me even more determined to stay here for the rest of my life.
On the downside, the sheer spread of people across such a large stretch of land is a real detriment to performing artists. New York and Chicago are dense, compact cities and that really helps theatrical productions (traditional and immersive) get traction and gain audiences. In Los Angeles, you may have to drive two hours to get to a specific show on a Friday night, and that really dampens some of the community and cohesiveness that would otherwise exist.
It’s also TREMENDOUSLY expensive to mount a production here in comparison to most of the rest of the country. Not only are spaces very costly but so is everything else that’s necessary to bring something to fruition. It can sometimes get very frustrating.
Pricing:
- Captivated: You (The Final Act of Captivated) – $60/person
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theyplayed.com
- Email: theyplayedproductions@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theyplayedproductions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theyplayed
Image Credit:
Josh Ritz, Matt Kamimura
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
