Interview with Mike Murdock from "Picasso at the Lapin Agile"

   Alchemy Theatre is offering one last chance to catch their latest play, the very funny Picasso at the Lapin Agile, and it all happens this evening! 

   (I saw the show last night and loved it!)

   Today’s interview is with the amazingly talented director of the play, Mike Murdock, who’s just returned to Huntington:

Q: Welcome back to Huntington! Did you miss us?

Mike: I would love to play it up like I didn't miss this place and that it was an accident that I ended up back here - like, my car broke down on the way to Chicago and I just had to stay and direct a show - but, truth be told, I did miss this place and a lot of the people here. My contract was up with Greenbrier Valley Theatre - The State Professional Theatre of West Virginia - where I had been working the past couple of years in Lewisburg as an actor and the Props Master, and both my wife and I had some sick family members and some other personal stuff going on that we felt needed our attention, so we came back to our house and are currently jobless and penniless, so if anyone knows of anything, let a fella know, huh?

Q: Your first show back in town is Picasso at the Lapin Agile - why did you want to tackle this one?

Mike: I've always loved this show.  I played Einstein in it about 10 years ago with Free Spirit Productions when Jon Joy directed it, and I fell in love with it.  I've always been a huge Steve Martin fan and just recently got to check off seeing him live from my bucket list. I think it's a very funny, very poignant play, and those are the kinds of shows I love the most. It's also a great ensemble show, which I also love, so I got to work with a lot of my favorite actors again.

Q: Talk about your cast.

Mike: This is a truly great cast. We have some very, very experienced people as well as some fresh faces, and it's exciting to work with both. It's been great to have the support of a lot of folks that I've missed over the last several years to help make this first show back such a success. It's really such an ensemble piece, and the cast has really blended together seamlessly to form a very strong cohesive unit. That kind of thing is magical to me. But also, they're silly and ridiculous and we laugh a lot as we rehearse and that's what makes it all worthwhile.

Q: Alchemy is still getting up and running - what challenges does that present?

Mike: The biggest challenge is not having a home.  We don't have the luxury of having a space to consistently perform so that people can get used to us being there, and we don't have the capital to rent places either, so we're slowly growing, but that slowness of it is hard to swallow. We all want to be able to do a big blowout production RIGHT NOW, but we can't, and that's humbling. So we will keep doing smaller shows until we can. Mayor Williams and his wife Mary, of Huntington, found the current space we're performing this show in by getting into contact with Phil Nelson. He happened to have a space to accommodate us and generously donated the space to us for the run of the production. We literally couldn't have done this show without that kindness. We don't even have a place for all of our stuff, but thankfully First Stage Children's Theatre has let us share their storage space, and we're very grateful for all of their help and for having our backs. The Village of Barboursville has also come through big time for us, and is supporting our summer and winter gigs there, both at the Barboursville Park Amphitheater and at the Make Art Gallery. We'll be doing Twelfth Night as part of the West Virginia Shakespeare Festival, May 30 - June 8 at Barboursville Park, then the Appalachian Folk Tale Dark of the Moon there in October and then ART by Yasmina Reza at the Make Art Gallery in November. They hooked us up with those spaces last year and we're very thankful for that. We also performed our cabarets at The Union in downtown Huntington, as well. So we're currently all over the place. I just hope that audiences don't get confused about what we're doing and where to go. We have such a dedicated audience that has stuck with us, and we always want that to keep growing.

Q: Tell us about the unusual stage / theatre where you're presenting this show.

Mike: The space we're in for this show used to be the old WOWK new studio. At some point they left and a few other things took over that space, most recently Crossfit Huntington. Then they moved out as well, and Mr. Nelson offered the space to us to play in. It's a giant, cavernous, concrete room.  Which is at times perfect and troublesome. The first thing we had to do was cut the space in half with pipe and drape to help cut all of the crazy echo in the place. Then, once we had our “walls," we built the set and put in the risers and we had ourselves a little black box theater. It's really come a long way, for sure, and it's a fantastic space to play in. There are so many ways to use the space and set it up. It's really fantastic and perfect for what we wanted to do.

Q: Why would you recommend this play to our readers?

Mike: This play is funny, smart and full of heart. If you're looking for a good time, I can assure you that you'll have one at this show. Even if you aren't a fan of Steve Martin's quirky comedy, there's a lot to love about this play and the performances that this incredibly talented group of actors are putting out there every night. It's great work, but most importantly, it's FUN. Don't miss it!

   Thanks, Mike!

Picasso at the Lapin Agile is being presented by Alchemy Theatre Troupe tonight (Saturday) at 8 p.m. at the Kindred Communications Building at 555 5th Avenue in Huntington (enter by the lower parking lot). Tickets are general admission and are $15 each.