And now to celebrate our kickoff week, we have an interview with the protagonist of “Alice in Slasherland” himself, the amazing and versatile Carlo Alban. An extremely gifted and charismatic performer, Carlo first appeared with Vampire Cowboys in our runaway hit, “Living Dead in Denmark”, in both its sold-out premiere and lauded remount. Since then, he’s been tearing it up across the country in critically acclaimed plays such as in Octavio Solis’s “Lydia”, Lucy Thurber’s “Monstrosity”, Stephen Belber’s “A Small Melodramatic Story”, and the tour of Carlo’s own tremendously funny and thoroughly moving one-man show “Intríngulis” (Literally the single best solo show I have ever seen anywhere). He also appeared on Fox Television’s “Prison Break” as the fan-favorite character of McGrady, the “Strangers with Candy” movie, and most recently in Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut film, “Whip It”, as the lovable Birdman. With consistently nuanced and magnetic performances in plays, movies, and televisions shows, Carlo has solidified himself as one of New York’s finest and most sought-over actors. He’s a truly remarkable talent who has helped transform our much-anticipated slasher play into easily one of our funniest and best shows yet. In “Alice in Slasherland”, Carlo plays the role of Lewis, a young nerdy teen, who accidentally unleashes a literal Hell on Earth. 
In “Alice in Slasherland”, you play the role of Lewis. What can you tell us about your character? What are some challenges you expect to encounter?
Lewis is... not the most popular kid in school, to say the least. Not that it matters so much in the big picture, but when you're in High School those concerns tend to become very big in your world. So he's not really what in most everyone's eyes would be called a winner. But he makes up for all that with many redeeming qualities, such as fierce loyalty, a self deprecating attitude, and courage before great danger. Bigtime. Lewis descends into a personal and literal hell which threatens to consume the world around him. Faced with the choice of standing by and letting it happen or taking arms against his sea of troubles, he chooses to... well, come see the play and you'll find out.
There are SO many challenges. Vampire Cowboys plays are so great because so much work happens behind the scenes to pull off all their theatrical marvels, and as a member of the team there is a lot to navigate. But I would say the biggest challenge, (as with most plays), is to keep it honest while simultaneously diving into the spirit and fun of the play. There is much fun to be had, but the play also deals with some very real themes, and one must find the right balance to strike. It's a fine line to ride, but I have been having a blast and look forward to more fun realizing it.
If you were a slasher, what weapon would you use to conduct mayhem? What would be your name? Who would be your chosen victims? What would be your origin?
My slasher self would use not one machete, but three. And I would juggle them. I'd be a juggling slasher, not just stabbing my victims once through the heart or decapitating them. I'd do a nice job of finely mincing them as my blades sliced through their skin and organs in their parabolic arcs. Bloody? Hell yeah. Awesome? Uh huh. Effective? Three blades are better than one, wouldn't you say? Origins wise...? After being rejected from Clown College, being kicked out of the International Jugglers' Association for insubordinate juggling, and seeing the girl of my fancy sucking face with one of the Flying Karamazov Brothers all on the same day, I'd just snap. I'd get out the old bowler hat, the dusty dark linen suit, suspenders, dirty white button up with no tie, maybe even ride around in a unicycle, and start slashing away. My chosen victims? Heads of juggling institutions, meter maids, circus freaks, Marcel Marceau, fashionistas, tax collectors and bullies.
What’s the scariest thing that’s ever happened to you (paranormally speaking)? Any good ghost stories to share whether a personal experience or a good scary story you’ve heard.
It wasn't scary so much as... odd. A few years ago I visited an ooooold cemetery in the middle of the desert in Chile at 5am, shortly before sunrise. On the way there, I could have sworn I saw a thin man, dressed in what looked like early twentieth century garb, standing alone, perfectly still, staring into the distance, holding a sign (although I could not catch what it said), on the side of the road. Mind you, we were miles away from any kind of town, and it was in the pitch blackness of the desert, and it was cold. Anyway, when we got to the cemetery the sun was starting to break in the sky, and the fog that rolls in every day over the mountains was starting to dissipate. The reason we were stopping by this cemetery is because my oldest brother mentioned that there were graves that were partly exposed, and there was one in particular that was quite open and you could see the full remains of a woman. He knew it was a woman because she still had her shoes on. When we arrived we parked the car by the side of the dirt highway and left my other brother, Angelo, asleep in the back seat. There are cemeteries all along those roads. Old cemeteries belonging to old ghost towns left over from abandoned mining outfits. We entered the cemetery, found the grave, and discovered that the woman's shoes were gone. Someone had stolen them. But she was indeed there, in a cracked cement sarcophagus stacked on top of several others above the ground. We stood and watched her for a while. There were half burnt candles and matches. After some time, the rental car's alarm started going off, so I ran back to deactivate it. I found Angelo sitting in the back seat, utterly confused. I turned off the ringing, and ran back into the cemetery. We lit the woman one of the candles, when the alarm started going off again and some dogs started barking in the distance. So we headed back to the car. Once we got in I asked Angelo why he had tried to get out of the car a second time if he knew the alarm was going to go off. He said he had not tried to get out the first or second time. He had been sleeping and been startled awake by the alarm; then he saw me approach, yell something unintelligible through the window, and run back, and after a few minutes, the alarm went off again. We'd had that rental car for several days, and the alarm never inadvertently went off up until that point, and it did not do so for the rest of the trip...
What is your zombie apocalypse escape plan?
I'd never thought about this, but I guess if I had to formulate one... I would arm myself with every possible weapon I could - machetes, swords, throwing knives, baseball bats, anything with reach. Even paintball guns, cause even though you won't eliminate them, you can at least stun them for a bit if you shoot them, say, in the eye, while you make your getaway. And they're fun! When you're not shooting Zombies, you could shoot your friends. Then I would stop by a superstore and stock up on food, supplies, visit the Gardening section and get lots of seeds. After which I would go to a marina (Zombies can't swim, can they?), steal a boat (one with a motor AND sails, in case we run out of fuel), and I would find an island, plant myself a garden and wait it out. Either that, or I would go to the zoo, steal a baby tiger, raise it as my own, and just take it with me everywhere once it got big enough. Zombies don't fuck with tigers, do they?
What scares you?
Lots of things. In no particular order: Hipsters, Onions, Glen Beck, Ben Affleck, Ignorance, Certainty, Spoiled Milk, Wall Street, Marine life in the Ocean, Negligence, Seven Minute Abs, Xenophobes, The Penal System, Liver, Banality, Proms, The DMV, Lady Gaga, Donald Trump, Painfully Cold Weather, Hubris, Jalapeños, Group Mentalities, Senility, The Tea Party (not the one with the Mad Hatter, Doormouse and March Hare - the other one), Inconsiderately Loud Neighbors, The Electric Slide, Polka Dots.
For more info on “Alice in Slasherland”, CLICK HERE!
Why should people see “Alice in Slasherland”?
Simply put, it’s badass, you'll have a GREAT time, you'll be supporting New York Theater, you'll get more than your money's worth, and you'll leave psyched and hankering for the next Vampire Cowboys show. If that's not enough reason, they've also got a large stockpile of weapons. You don't want to upset folks with a large stockpile of weapons, do you?! Just kidding. It's all about the love! And that's what you'll get with Vampire Cowboys - love of theater, love of fun, love of badass!
0 comments:
Post a Comment