In Galatea, local playwright (and former Weeklys contributor) David Templeton examined humanity through the eyes of a synthetic human. In his latest play, Featherbaby, Templeton looks at humanity through the eyes of a … foul-mouthed parrot?
Questions, questions, questions.
Harry Duke: Where do you come up with these things?
David Templeton: In my 20s, I had a girlfriend who owned a yellow-cheeked Amazon named Cosmo. When she moved in and brought the bird, we did not get along. Cosmo liked to bite me a lot. He stole my glasses and pooped in my shoes. Then my girlfriend broke up with me and left me with Cosmo for a very long time, during which we actually bonded and got to enjoy each other’s company. From this kernel of autobiography I grew the play Featherbaby.
How does one write for a parrot?
Such a good question. Writing for Featherbaby was the first big challenge of the play. Cosmo was never trained or encouraged to speak English words—“He only speaks his native tongue,” my girlfriend used to say—and I wanted Featherbaby to be like that. But as the narrator, the bird needs to be understood by the audience.
I developed a style of speech that is based on the repetitive sounds; sharp, loud vocalizations; and long, flowing streams of melody, whistles, clicks, etc., but in a kind of bird-style English. Featherbaby repeats words a lot, has long, winding sentences that border on the surreal and will occasionally just shout, “NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!”
How does one make the decision to produce a play about a foul-mouthed parrot?
Spreckels artistic director Sheri Lee Miller: I was privileged to see the play develop over the course of readings and rewrites, and I suppose you could say it found its way into my bones. I love David’s writing. As an artistic director, I want to produce new work as much as practicably possible. We do a lot of work from the distant and recent past, but we need to always be extending out to the future as well.
How do you cast a parrot?
Director Skylar Evans: One of the many beauties of Featherbaby is that it can be played by so many different types of actors. In addition, how many productions have we seen recently needing to cancel/delay due to an actor being sick? Based on those factors, I made the request to double cast the role with Gina Alvarado and Matt Cadigan: to share and have each other’s back while also showing the different interpretations and perspectives two actors could bring.
How does one approach playing a parrot?
Actor Gina Alvarado: I guess like any character study: research, research, research! I joke to my acting students that we’ve been blessed as actors with this highly convenient modern day gift of YouTube. I have watched many, many videos of wacky parrots doing wacky things, and learned a lot about how honestly funny and unabashedly confident parrots are. I admire that bravado. Parrots have zero fu**s to give.
Actor Matt Cadigan: It’s a two pronged attack. I lean on my background in physical comedy training around being very presentational. This is all about having fun and inviting an audience in on it. Then I lean more on my Meisner training and find the truth in each circumstance and moment, from love, to jealousy, to loss. Truth needs to be living beneath the clownish performance, and that’s what I hope starts to shine and grow through the course of the show.
What are you hoping audiences will get from this play?
David Templeton: I hope audiences will leave the play thinking about the various companions—human, bird or otherwise—that they’ve shared their lives with, even if just for a short time, and that they allow themselves to remember and appreciate all that those relationships meant to them. But if all audiences do is laugh a lot, I will happily take that as a success as well.
‘Featherbaby’ runs in the Condiotti Experimental Theatre at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park Aug. 29–Sept. 14. spreckelsonline.com.
