Retrospect(ive): Mottola
What was your first CP year?
1998!! I was really lucky to be one of those youngsters who had the guts to birth an ambitious event, and who were foolish enough to think it could. work. And here we are 20 years later! Shout out to Steven Cole Hughes, Jiffy Iuen and Matt Hahn.
If you could do a CP play again which would you choose and why?
As the director of CP, I have this really strange vantage point. I get to see this event from so many intricate angles. It would be hard to put my finger on a singular play that I would choose but rather I find myself remembering moments when a first time writer, or a tired, long-careered writer, sees their work at the event, and it is like nothing else! THAT is an honor to behold. And of course, it isn't just the writers whose leaps I love to witness, but the actors too! I have so many incredible memories of being at a CP event when an actor took a big ass dive off the high board and hit the water with more grace and splash than anyone could have predicted. If I had to choose a play, I would go with a moment. After the reading of the original iteration of Man Made by Dhari Noel, every person present knew they had witnessed history made, on page and on the stage. The moment of having the honor of sitting next to Dhari as the audience rose to its feet for what seemed like an infinite ovation.... I would relive that moment and watch (and hear and feel) his response every day for the rest of my damn life. THAT is what this is all about.
Who would you love to take the CP stage with and why?
I have acute stage fright. I am not going anywhere near that stage. But if I had to... Probably Chris Tomaino and Nicole Golden, my muses for many years, well-beyond the bounds of CP. They have kept my ass in line while bringing my insane ideas to life for a long, long time.
What raffle do you cross your fingers for?
The ones where people put themselves so far out there for a pie. Like in what universe would people sing their hearts out, with total abandon, into a hairbrush, or fully absorb themselves in the public reading of excerpts from literature, or subject themself to a pop-up game show just to get that damn pie? That's the stuff I literally look forward to all year.
What’s your favorite CP tradition?
It's a toss-up: Tamara Reynolds having to have her own, special kind of chair; Robbie Weinstein and/or Constance Zaytoun going rogue and taking the stage for a moment, unscripted; Laura Gourdine giving me her incriminating, speculative look (you know the one, eyebrow raised, chin tilted, lips puckered) when I say something ludicrous; Kevin Jones telling me he loves me; Victoria Tralongo crying while reading stage directions because she is so moved; or the little Prosecco Popping Team who meet by the fridge at 6:55pm every year (you know who you are).
At CP I am…
momentarily reassured that the world just may be ok.
What's the first thing you’ll do when quarantine is over?
Other than lick random surfaces and hug all the people? Continue to vote my ass off while dismantling the patriarchy.
