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Class Notes: Morgan Bassichis from “Can I Be Frank”
00:11:07
Listen: Lauren Class Schneider talks to Morgan Bassichis, writer and star in “Can I Be Frank” at the Soho Playhouse. Morgan Bassichis, Credit Maria Baranova “Class Notes” actively covers New York’s current theater season on, off, and off-off Broadway.
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- [00:00]
A
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B
Hi, I'm Lauren Claus Schneider with Clash Notes for Broadway Radio. I'm here with Morgan Basakist, writer and star in Can I Be Frank? At the Soho Playhouse. Welcome.
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C
Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here.
- [00:48]
B
Well, we're happy to have the time with you. And let me be sure I have this right. In the desperate attempt to prove that you can think about someone other than yourself and you turn to the work of queer comedian, musician and performance artist Frank Maya. Do I have that right?
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C
You got it exactly right.
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B
Okay. Frank died of AIDS complications in 1995. Tell us about his place in history.
- [01:17]
C
Yeah, well, I think, like, like so many artists who died of aids, I think his place in history has gotten kind of overlooked. Um, he was one of the first out gay comedians to ever have a comedy special on network television. And yet mostly anybody in my generation who didn't, who didn't know him or wasn't in the scene, didn't. Has not. Didn't know his name. And so he, I think, has a really important place in history. And, you know, he was a part of the real vibrant performance, kind of like performance, music, comedy scene in the East Village. And particularly when during this kind of moment of kind of solo performance and talking on stage, and then he made this transition to comedy. So I feel very grateful and honored to get to share about him with people who were maybe unfamiliar with his work thus far.
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B
How generous. And I hope that it's serving you in the way that you had hoped it would.
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C
Oh, that's. Yeah. Yes. I mean, yes. My desperate attempt to think about something other than myself. That's what the show is about, trying to put my attention on him. Yeah.
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B
And you have Sam Pinkleton as the director, and now he's so well known for directing. O Mary, what made him the right director for you and for this piece?
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C
Oh, yes. It's been such an incredible experience working with him. We had been in conversation just, like, in the past couple years, just little bits here and there of, like, Sam encountering my work and then getting some nice conversation. And then I asked our common friend John early for suggestions when I was looking for a director for this show, and he said Sam would be perfect. And immediately he was correct. And I reached out to Sam, and Sam and I have really made the show together. Like, when I reached out to him, the idea was pretty nascent and unformed. And Sam has just been, like, such an incredible collaborator to. To figure out how to do this in a way that first and foremost makes a really good night of theater. So, like, even if you don't know about Frank or you don't feel connected to that time in history in the East Village, that you would still have a really good time. And so Sam has just been so essential to everything about this show.
- [03:40]
B
Oh, how great. You describe a bottomless queer search for fame and for father figures and for laughter in times of crisis. How did writing Can I be Frank and performing in it address this for you?
- [03:57]
C
Well, I think, you know, I think. I think we often think we're the first. You know, like, often we. And we sort of can sometimes fall into a trap of thinking that the things that we're struggling with are unique to us rather than kind of intergenerational legacies that were kind of passing off the baton of. And trying to kind of do our lap of. Of healing and then pass it on to the next generation. And when I looked at Frank's work, I found so much. So much humor that I related to, even though I'd never heard of him. Like, the jokes felt so familiar, and so much of them was about this kind of. This sense of, like, are we valuable if we're not getting applause? Like, are we valuable if we're not getting laughter? Like, are we valuable if we're not? And, And. And. And also this. This. This desire that so many of us have as queer people to be alone on stage, making people laugh, you know, and so I was just trying to kind of unwind that and un. Sort of disentangle that desire a little bit and try to understand for me, maybe for Frank and maybe for more of us, like, what. What are we craving when we crave that? And, and that part of it is, you know, Frank is performing in the late 80s and early 90s, like a particularly brutal moment in the AIDS crisis. And it's really important for people to come and laugh and. And that, yes, it's Important to protest? Yes. It's important to, you know, to blockade the streets and, you know, and also it's important to have come to make. To come to have a place where you make kind of, like, dumb jokes and make each other laugh. And. And right now we are going through our own crisis, and there is so much violence. I mean, I know everybody who comes to my show is among the many crises they're thinking about. They're thinking about the starvation that we're witnessing in Gaza that our government is so complicit in. And so it's like, how do we make spaces where we can laugh to not forget what's going on, but to actually help us be more fully present with what's really going on?
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B
And with Sam as your director and you as the writer and star, do you find that the writer talks to the actor and the actor talks to the writer, or is there a different level of fluidity? How do you manage these two major roles?
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C
That's really interesting. And then there's a third role, which is Frank's work. Um.
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B
Oh, yeah.
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C
Because in the show, I'm kind of like, revisiting a few of his monologues and his songs, and then as well as combining with some of my monologues and my songs. And so a lot of it is about sort of communing with his. With his text and being like, what. What did he mean by this? And how does this relate to us? And. And. And then, like you said, there's a sort of me, a me character, and I almost play a kind of delusional or more delusional version of myself on stage. So it's almost like a separate. It's like. It's like Morgan, but it's almost like a separate character. And Sam was so helpful in making sure that the balance. That the sort of the conflict or the dynamic or the tension between the Morgan character and the Frank character is really visible at the beginning. And then eventually you start to be a little confused about who's who. And that's a really satisfying, satisfying journey that the play goes on of eventually. Like, wait, is that Morgan's or is that Frank's? And how separate are these two people?
- [07:43]
B
What a complex development that you guys all went through in putting the piece. The piece together a little bit about you more personally. The nation has called you a tall child or, well, Big Bird.
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C
How.
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B
How do you feel about the nation's description? Is it accurate?
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C
I think it sounds pretty right to me. Yeah, it sounds pretty good. Yeah.
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B
You'll take It.
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C
I'll take it. Oh, I'll take whatever they. Yeah, whatever they give me, I'll take.
- [08:18]
B
And you're also a comedian, musician, writer, visual artist, performer. When a creative impulse hits you, do you know which aspect of you is going to address it? And how do you. How do you have that conversation in your head with all the different creative elements of you?
- [08:37]
C
Oh, my God, that's such a good question. And Frank was also all those things too. So it's like, it's another part of him that I really relate to. I, I think. I think I try to really. I try to really commit to the bit of whatever I'm doing. So, like, if. And, And. And stick to the form. So the form of this. The. What became really clear immediately with this show was like, it's me at a mic, because it was Frank at a mic. And so it's me mirroring that form. And, you know, he incorporated some of his visual art into the backdrop. So we've really kind of recreated that. But. But I try to stay really faithful to the, to the initial form of it so that then I can diverge and go weird places through the content. And I just have to keep listening. Each project is different. I have to listen and be like, is this live? Is this not live? Does this want to be solo? Does this want to be collaborative? I've kind of listened to the project and, and listen for what it wants rather than what I want from it.
- [09:50]
B
I'm a little curious. Growing up in high school.
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C
Yes.
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B
Were you theater kid, debate team, writing for your school paper? Av. Like, what was high school like? And where did you find passion and interest in hobbies and acceptance and people?
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C
Yes. Yes. Oh, such a good question for. I have the same question for, for you and for everybody. Yeah. I mean, always theater, I was never, not in a play, always every single day after school. And I really credit my. I grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, suburb of Boston. And I really credit that theater program is like, kind of how I learned to do what I do. Like, just all this training, being in front of people and, and trying to make people laugh and then also learning how to work with groups of people and, and to make these little temporary families that, that get so close. So, yeah, I was always in plays, and I loved that. And then I was also. I was also at the same time doing like, you know, kind of like student government stuff. And there's a joke in the show that if you, if you, If. If you're looking for a way to know if your child is gay, it's eventually if they become class president. So that was true for me as well.
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B
Great. Well, thank you, Morgan. Thank you for your time. And thank you for all of your insight into the development of your piece and a little bit about you.
- [11:19]
C
I really appreciate you having me and all the questions.
- [11:22]
B
I'm Lauren Klass Schneider with Morgan Basakis, writer and star in Can I Be Frank? At the Soho Playhouse. Thank you.