INTERVIEW: The Spanish Civil War is the inspiration for ‘At the Barricades’
Photo: At the Barricades was written and stars James Clements and Sam Hood Adrain. Photo courtesy of Pablo Calderón-Santiago / Provided by Emily Owens PR with permission.
At the Barricades is the new documentary-style play from the theater company What Will the Neighbors Say?, and the show runs through Sunday, June 29, at MITU580 in Brooklyn. The play follows the travails of international Volunteers fighting in the Spanish Civil War.
The year is 1937, and there are six characters featured in the narrative, representing troops from the United States, Scotland and Spain, all brought together to take on Francisco Franco’s military coup, according to press notes. To find inspiration for this story, which melds together the real and the fictional, the creators turned to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, or ALBA.
Sam Hood Adrain and James Clements serve as co-writers of the play, and they also portray two of the six characters on stage. They both serve as co-artistic directors of What Will the Neighbors Say?, a company that is focused on sharing “untold stories.” Recently the two multi-hyphenates exchanged emails with Hollywood Soapbox about the new show, which is directed by Federica Borlenghi. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
Why tell a theatrical story about the Spanish Civil War? Why now?
This story has spoken to both of us for years. We both grew up knowing about this history — Sam is Italian-American, and James is from Scotland — so it was on our personal radars. In fact, when James’ paternal grandfather passed away, his family scattered his ashes in front of the statue of La Pasionaria in Glasgow, his hometown, near the places Scottish Volunteers would congregate before they left for Spain. With the explosion of conflicts all over the world in the last two years (but, really, ongoing global conflicts throughout time, too), it just feels so timely. What is our responsibility to fight injustice done in faraway lands? What does “going to war” mean at this time?
Could you describe the working relationship you had with ALBA to find these stories?
We were first introduced to the folks at ALBA (the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives) through the great team at Espacio de Culturas at NYU. They, along with the Tamiment Labor Archives, hold most, if not all, of the surviving primary sources from the Volunteers who went to go fight fascism in Spain. They have been instrumental in shaping this piece. From historical advising on script drafts to allowing us to be a part of their film screenings and seminars, we have learned so much about these people, and a lot of that is thanks to the folks at ALBA. With a mission dedicated to promoting social activism and the defense of human rights, we could not have asked for a better partner.
How much of the piece allows for creative license, or is everything as it happened?
There is a good mix of both in this play! All of the locations, battles, historical public figures and timelines are real. That being said, the characters themselves are not real people but rather amalgamations of several real people that we learned about in the archives and during our research. These characters are based on letters, diary entries and other primary sources all put together to make them come to life on stage.
Does learning about wars in the past help us understand wars in the present day?
This is such a great question. In the play, we talk about the cyclical nature of conflict — war, death, revolution, resistance. As a documentary theatre company, these are cycles we are familiar with and that we have studied extensively in our work. This war, however, feels especially prescient — regular people, like you and me, moved to risk (and often lose) their lives due to a strong and inescapable feeling that justice was not being done. It is so noble, even though it is complicated. So this war especially feels relevant in our moment. But — and we are very deliberate about this — we don’t stage “war.” There is no blood on stage. There are no fascists in our play, no Nazi salutes. It is not a play about violence. It’s a play about conviction and about community.
What did the writing look like between the two of you? How did you divide responsibilities?
Typically, it’s a three-step process. We research together. Then we commission each other, as it were, to create first drafts of each scene in the trajectory. Once we have the first drafts, then we work together to tweak and edit, and create the final missing pieces. In this process, we were supported by our brilliant cast (Stephanie Del Bino, Edu Díaz, Devante Lawrence and Chelsie Sutherland alongside us), who helped develop the work. We also worked with an initial excellent cast (Jorge Carrión Álvarez, Mahalet Dejene, Andrés López-Alicea, Langston Reese, Gabriela Saker) who were part of the first draft. We were led by our amazing director, Federica Borlenghi, as well as our script supervisor, Skye Pallo Ross. A true team effort!
Why is it important to tell “untold stories” as a theater company?
To us, telling these stories that are either untold or undertold is vital to our work. We want to put stories on stage that surprise our audiences and ask them to think critically about the world around them. Whether that surprise comes from the design, the theatrical style or the story itself, we are always trying to bring something to life in our work that allows us to push the envelope. The untold stories we explore are all rooted in primary source research and are based on things that actually happened in our world. Bringing these stories to the stage is also keeping the legacy of these people alive.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
At the Barricades, produced by What Will the Neighbors Say?, continues through Sunday, June 29, at MITU580 in Brooklyn. Click here for more information and tickets.
