InterAct Theatre Company, renowned for its socially conscious and politically charged productions, has plenty to see on stage this month. Here is the latest happenings at InterAct.
‘Rift, or White Lies’
When theatergoers think of InterAct Theatre Company — located at the Drake Theater on Hicks Street — they likely recall powerful, socially conscious productions like Thomas Gibbons’ ‘Pretending to America;’ and bold, Black activist-centered works such as the MOVE-inspired ‘6211.’
Of ‘Rift, or White Lies,’ Rozin says “I have been in touch with Gabriel (Jason Dean) since his early thinking about ‘Rift, or White Lies,’ and in December 2023, I brought together Jered McLenigan and Matteo Scammell to read through an earlier draft, which really got me excited.”
“When I chose to put ‘Rift’ in our 24-25 season, I didn’t — and couldn’t — know what the political moment would be now, but I did feel that the play’s essential questions around empathy, whiteness, toxic masculinity and our increasingly polarized society would be relevant,” Rozin continued. “I didn’t know it would be this relevant. And I also knew ‘Rift’ could be an extraordinary theatrical experience for our two phenomenal actors and audiences alike.”
Variety Pack
Next up for InterAct is equally dramatic, though it all happens to be raucously and outrageously humorous. Variety Pack starts May 1 and includes two weekends of alt-comedians and weirdly wired sketch acts. These twists on comedy’s usuals include quizzical takes on film and television franchises such as ‘Yes and the City’ and ‘The Entire F***ing Twilight Saga…in 60 Minutes,’ and lively Clip Show hosted by Philadelphia playwright and author R. Eric Thomas, stand-up comedienne Tan Hoang and the Lady Laughs Drag Pageant from Philly’s all-queer female-focused comedy troupe.
InterAct Literary manager-turned-producer Chaz T. Martin and Marketing Manager Jasmin Carroll explain the bump-up of the unfunny ‘Rift, or White Lies’ and the very funny Variety Pack as a necessity of the Drake space.
“Our mission keeps us centered on how we program our main-stage season from year-to-year, and we’re proud to have brought Philly, regional, national, and world premieres to our stage for 37 seasons now,” says Martin. “A lesser-known part of our mission is that we’re the stewards of our space at The Drake. This season, the companies we’ve traditionally rented to have had to pull back, and so we found ourselves with open weeks on the calendar. We decided to try something completely different from our main-stage programming to see if we could bring a totally new audience to The Drake, generate a new stream of revenue, and keep the Drake animated and vibrant year-round.”
Carroll continues, “It’s certainly not an obvious fit for a company that’s known for its political dramas and truthfully, it’s less of an InterAct joint than it is an experiment with a new presentation model. We’re interested to find out if there’s an audience for this kind of work and this kind of format. We were very fortunate to get support from Louis Bluver, and we thought we’d go ahead and be our own guinea pigs by producing this festival ourselves. If you’re curious, this is the time to come check it out. If it’s a hit, if people show up, we’ll know we’re onto something.”
“Nothing is changing about our core mission and main-stage programming, but we’re excited to expand our commitment to the arts community in Philly by leveraging our home at the Drake in new ways,” adds Martin.
InterAct Theatre Company is located at 302 South Hicks Street. For information and tickets, visit interacttheatre.org
