17 May Interiew with Elijah Bell, Playright for Death, the Dance, and the Girl

For this interview, we spoke with with playwright, Elijah Bell. He is the writer of Death, the dance, and the Girl. the idea of intention within the arts, what does it mean to live your life (even if it ends), and why the one act format is the perfect tool for playwrights.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and when you first fell in love with theatre?

 Can you share a bit about Dead Horse Theatre – Where it came from and what the vision for the company is?

In April, we just finished Tales from the Galaxy, which was a new sci-fi musical double feature featuring Static by Nadia Maroon, and then Spare Parts: A Robot Space Musical by myself and Dustin Wilde. We also co-produce with Time Theft Theater, who’s also producing Ask the Oracle in the festival. We’re really excited that we got to do these two shows so close back to back, and already f learned so much that we’re applying towards this festival. It’s such an exciting thing to get to build, to get to observe what works well in other companies and things you want to do better or different, and then apply those in these types of environments.

Can you share a little bit of the inspiration behind Death, the Dance, and the Girl?

Elijah Bell
Death, the Dance, and the Girl began development a few years ago. I tend to have an initial idea and then leave things to marinate for a bit. I was really taken with this kind of medieval motif of the death and the maiden, which is by extension, the dance macabre. It’s this idea of this dance with death. So it’s that and mixed with all of this iconmic imagery: imagery of young women withdepictions of death or the angel of death, and so that was kind of really the the jumping off point.

The initial draft of this show started very much a lot more about cheating death and what that mean. We drew from the story of Sisyphus and how he tricked death. We had these characters and these other elements, and molded them into a modern context. As these characters kind of developed, it became less about cheating death and more about death as a part of the whole, as a part of the journey.

This idea has evolved and now there are two characters that I think are really interesting voices to hear in the show. One is from the young woman in the show, Aphrodite, who dies the night of her birthday, and just has never quite crossed the line into adulthood and realizing that potential. This is then contrasted with Death, who is this supposedly imposing figure, but in reality is kind of a sad therapist who has neglected to deal with his own stuff. So what I really think is special about this play is just the relationship between these two characters to come from very different backgrounds in a lot of ways, and seeing where they start versus the relationship they form as the show goes on.

What do you as a creator hope to get out of this work and how does that compare or contrast to what you hope the audience gets out of the work?

Elijah Bell
I am producing and I wrote the show, but aside from that, creatively I’m pretty hands off. I’m excited because we have a fantastic team behind this. Megan Farrell is directing, and so what I’m really excited about is there is a sense of death of the author, you know? After I’ve handed off the script, it’s kind of hands off,  so I’m excited to see how it is interpreted and how it evolves over time. I’m exited to see how the actors and choices made influence where the show goes.

This is a ‘seize the day’ type of show, and I do hope that that comes across to the audience. Hopefully this will be serving as sort of a momento mori, “remember you will die,” so maybe it’s a call to go and do the thing. I mean, I’m very lucky that doing the thing has worked very well in my life, and that’s a big part of what this show is about.Maybe you hear a title like Death, the Dance and the Girl, and you maybe think there’s a very serious tone of it, but it’s a very irreverent take on that, and there’s a light heartedness that I hope comes across in the show.

What does the one act format offer, and what  role does the festival as a whole play in that? What makes this such a unique festival to apply for and be a part of?

Elijah Bell
I think I love writing for the one act format because it really allows the arc of the way pressure builds up and releases to be so clear. Especially with this festival, having the one hour time limit really forces you, again to talk about the big goal of Dead Horse, to make sure that every element is essential to get information out. There really is no room for fluff, and I think that’s really powerful when,done well. It makes work feel so intentional, and you feel each moment as these things build up. I also think there’s something so fantastic about watching a show, having a complete experience, feeling what you feel, laughing if you laugh, and then only an hour has passed, and, like, wow, that was only an hour. What a fantastic feeling.

I think the festival does a lot of  really great things for the Victoria community, which is why I’m so excited to be a part of it. This is my third year as a part of the festival, and I have been able to see every year as it grows and evolves, and involves more artists and works to treat those artists better every year. I think it’s a really cool testament to  when artists are given the space to create, and I think that’s something the festival really provides, which is awesome. It provides so much: the venue, and having the ticketing, and having a space like the Belfry, giving the artists the space, which in Victoria, especially now, is at such a premium, especially in the last few years as we’ve lost so many other spaces. By giving often newer or emerging artists the space to create and try things, it’s really fantastic and so needed in the arts community. It’s kept alive by artists who are trying very hard in a city and a climate that do make that easy, which is something I also just so respect about Victoria artists.

I think the festival is a testament to all of all of that Victoria artistry, and I’m really excited for both this year and in future years to see how it grows. it’s very quickly becoming one of the art events in Victoria, and I think that’s such an exciting place for a newer festival to be.

This is your chance to shine some light on to some other creators that have been exciting you recently, either other acts you will be sharing the festival stage with or other groups as well.

Elijah Bell
There are definitely artists in Victoria who are really exciting to me. I mean, obviously, everyone at Time Theft Theater are my dear friends and they’re doing good stuff really consistently over there. I think I want to give a special shout out to some actor folks around Victoria, who I know for a fact are going to be be on your ticket stubs very soon. I’d like to highlight Ray Fines, Michael Gwynn Thompson, and Sarah McKibben. This was the cast for the Spare Parts side of our double feature we did last last month, and they did just fantastic work.

What I’m really looking forward to seeing is, in this time of change and and difficulty, how the community responds and finds places to do the art and finds what that art is. I am so excited to see what happens. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff in the world right now. Open the window and it’s the post-apocalypse, but there’s still that desire for live theatre. You know, it’s the oldest art form. It is this desire to see, to perform, and to watch. I know that Victoria will find a way forward, and those artists who are working hard to stay in the beautiful place will also make some really, really beautiful art.

We’re now starting to wrap things up. so it’s very late, or really early in the morning, you’re heading home after night six of an evening run of your latest show, could be like a French show, could be, you know, whatever it is. You stop, you have to stop at like a gas station, Circle k7 11, you know, corner store kind of place. You need to pick up something salty, something sweet, and drink. What do you grab?

Elijah Bell
Great question! We’re going to start with the drink, because I think it’s really the cornerstone you’re building off, and I think I’m between two things. The real classic is a Gatorade – you’re either going green apple or you’re going orange, those are the two options. If I’m feeling a little worn down from the week, I might go for a diet Pepsi,but I think we’ll do the holistic approach, and we’ll say it’s a Gatorade. I feel like something sweet, you’re going fuzzy peaches, I think that’s a nice and safe one. I feel they’re a little more low-key, not overly sugary, but still gets that sweet tooth. Let’s see, something salty. I kind of think just go for like some plain pretzels, just like something you save the rest for the next day for the run. Yeah, those are my answers: Gatorade, pretzels, and fuzzy. peaches.