StagePlay Reading – GLUTTONY AND LUST ARE FRIENDS by Matthew Weaver

Watch the StagePlay Reading of GLUTTONY AND LUST ARE FRIENDS:

CAST LIST:

NARRATOR – Val Cole
GLUTTONY – Steve Rizzo
LUST – Alissa DeGrazia
HANNAH/CHARITY – Erynn Brook
PRIDE/SLOTH – Neil Kulin
TONY/WRATH – Ryan Anning
ENVY/GREED – Pip Dwyer

Get to know writer Matthew Weaver:

1. What is your stageplay about?

Two deadly sins, Lust and Gluttony, are bored with their daily routine. So they decide to mix things up by switching places, which means a sudden glut of erotic bakeries and a Japanese sumo wrestler being named the equivalent of People’s Sexiest Man Alive. Creatively restored by the switch, Lust and Gluttony talk the other sins into following suit, which throws the world out of balance and attracts the attentions of the virtues. Who are nobody’s idea of a picnic.

2. Why should this play be produced?

It probably shouldn’t – it’s got a very large cast, casts the seven deadly sins as heroes and is deceptively complex even though it’s fairly straightforward. But I think it’s a lot of fun, and it all takes place in a Chinese buffet. And did I mention there’s a Japanese sumo wrestler?

3. How would you describe this story in one sentence?

Lust and Gluttony find that even having oodles of sex and eating everything you could ever want gets old after a while.

4. What movie have you seen the most in your life?

Probably a tie between Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze

5. How long have you been working on this stageplay?

This has been a play I just can’t quite bring myself to give up on. I wrote the first draft in late 2012. I’m delighted to see it selected here for its world premiere.

6. How many stories have you written?

My comedy “Bed Ride” debuted at Masquers Theater in Soap Lake, Wash., in the summer of 2013. My mystery “Aces are Feverish” will have its world premiere at Masquers in the summer of 2016. My short play “Feminine Care” was performed in Spokane by Ignite! Community Theatre and local community radio in 2012. My short play “The Girl Wore Red Licorice” was performed by Spokane Civic Theatre in the summer of 2014. In 2015, my one-minute plays “I Hope She Likes Me” and “Whispers” were performed as part of Stage Left Theater’s Fast and Furious short-play festival and the short play “Under an Iguana Moon” was written and performed as part of Stage Left’s Left Overs 24-hour play festival. We recently wrapped production on “Taking Care of Charlie,” a short film we will be entering in festivals.

7. What motivated you to write this stageplay?

I often joke that my vice of choice would be women, but since they’re not interested, it’s food. One day, I was thinking, if I could just change vices for a day … and then started thinking about how even though society still craves wealth, power, violence and sex, I bet it gets to be a real grind being Lust or Gluttony day after day. The rest of the play came together alarmingly quickly. I grew up on General Hospital’s quarreling Quartermaine family, so I love stories where families get together and bicker, and that’s really what this is at its heart.

8. What obstacles did you face to finish this play?

I’ve sent it out into the world. I’m just hoping it finds people who take care of it and give it a good home.

9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

I am passionate about family, friends, faith and fun. Also art and alliteration.

10. What influenced you to enter the WILDsound Festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?

A very respected Spokane actor and director, Michael Weaver (no relation), retweeted about the opportunity on Twitter and I entered later that day. He’s been an online cheerleader as I’ve gone through the process. The feedback would have been helpful even if the play wasn’t selected for the festival. In particular, WILDsound recommended I take another look at the character of Sloth and stretch him beyond my initial concept as just a really sleepy guy. Overall, it was supportive feedback that showed someone else thinks there’s something here worth pursuing. Which is invaluable as a beginning playwright.

11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?

I write for an agriculture newspaper by day, and try to devote half an hour to creative writing after hours. Some days that half-hour goes by quickly. Other days, 30 minutes can loom. Some days the writing goes smoothly, and others it just plain is terrible. But I tell myself, “Thank heavens that’s over,” and on to the next day.

My brother Steven and I keep track of the Seven Deadly Sins the same way. When I called him during a writing session to figure out what the sins’ virtuous counterparts would be, he paused a moment and muttered, “OK, gluttony was the dead fat guy, the rich attorney was greed …” referencing the Brad Pitt-Morgan Freeman movie Seven. Or Se7en, if you prefer.

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