Would you consider redoing one of your past shows – one of the non-copyrighted ones – with a different cast from the original production?
Nick: We’ve always wanted redo Me and My Dick. I think we’ve been talking about that for years. And we’re looking to do that soon as well.
Matt: Yeah, you can change the cast up, as long as it still works.
Nick: We’d be open to changing the cast.
Matt: I’d say that a show would have to be really, really good to be an avenue for an entirely new cast, given the situation we’re currently in. But it’s like, these particular StarKid actors — When our shows first came out, they were all new, unknown to the audience. I think that any actor can do a good job.
When did you realize that people were actually attached not just for the Harry Potter parody, but to your group as its own entity? When did you first notice that StarKid was the product gaining support from fans?
Nick: We just put the name StarKid on it because we needed a company name. It was easier to say StarKid than it was to say an entire list of people. But I don’t really know when we started to realize that people liked StarKid…
Matt: I don’t remember either.
Nick: Maybe there was fan-art, or maybe somebody drew Rumbleroar or something. We have a painting that someone gave us of the original StarKid logo that we sort of slapped together. So maybe that.
For Twisted you’ve done something that StarKid Productions has never done before, which is to put up a Kickstarter to raise money for putting on the show. What inspired you to make that choice?
Nick: Well, the other writer and collaborator on Twisted is Eric Kahn Gale, and the Kickstarter was his idea.
Matt: Me and Nick have been resistant to Kickstarter for a long time, because it’s tough… I kind of feel bad about pre-selling a show. I don’t know if I like that. But this time around, we were like “It’s a necessity.” Because we don’t have the money to do it. We could get away with it, if we spend all of our money.
Nick: Like, all of our life savings. If we spent all of our life savings right now we could probably pull off the show, in, like, a jankity way.
Matt: See, shows are so expensive.
Nick: Really expensive. I think the Kickstarter is set at $35,000 and that’s not even the full budget of the show.
Matt: We’re covering the rest of the budget because we don’t feel comfortable setting it any higher. [N.B.: The Twisted Kickstarter has now far surpassed this initial goal.]
Nick: Each of us – me, Matt, and Eric – are basically covering the rest of the budget with our own money. StarKid as a company, we’ve been gradually losing money, because the past two shows have been free shows, the Very Potter show and the B@man show. So I think that with this one, we needed – if we wanted it to be of a good enough calibre and to pay the actors a fair amount, we’re going to need some outside help.
Fans might not often think in the sense of StarKid being a company, and the money involved, because the YouTube content is free or because the tickets to past shows have been free. This is the first time that there’s been a lot of transparency on how much it will cost to put on the show.
One of the Kickstarter’s backer rewards is a ticket to the show, which is great. But will people be able to buy tickets to this publicly, as well as through Kickstarter?
Nick: Yeah, I sure hope so. I’m not entirely sure how Eric has the Kickstarter set up, but hopefully it’ll be something to where you can do it on Kickstarter – basically pre-buying your ticket before they actually go on sale – and then there will hopefully be tickets. I don’t think they’ll sell out on Kickstarter. [N.B.: The ticket option on Kickstarter has since been maxed out, leaving plenty for general sale.]
The budget mentions airfares for bringing in cast members from New York and LA. Can you reveal who any of those people might be?
Nick: Well, I guess we can say A.J.
He’s writing the music – is he going to spend the run of the show with you in Chicago?
Matt: Hopefully, yes. We’re still working with him on whether he’s going to be in the show or not, as an actor. We really, really, really, want him to be in the show. But he’s not quite 100% certain if he can do the songs and be in the show.
Nick: So, that’s one of the main casting issues that we’re having right now. And then we’re going to bring in some new people.
Matt: Really, just one new person.
Nick: Yeah, one person. For the StarKids, it would mean nothing to talk about the new person… Yet. But I think that when the people see this new person they’re really going to love ’em.
Basically, everyone in the StarKid shows are people that we worked with in college. This person is extremely talented and we have been trying to work with them for a long time, and we’ve got a role that this person is going to be really great at.
Have you ever considered producing theater that wasn’t something that you’ve written, an existing musical or play? Or would you only write from scratch?
Nick: Stuff that we would be involved in – we’re only going to do stuff that we would write.
Matt: Other people may some day want to do existing musicals, but as far as we’d be concerned? We’d probably just stick to stuff that we write, original stuff.
Nick: Original or parody things.
The StarKid shows always have a lot of heart, and as we discussed, AVPSY was pretty heavy, but would you ever write a show that wasn’t outright comedy, something more dramatic?
Matt: With the musicals and with StarKid, I don’t think we would. But as for other projects, we’d have no problem doing that. We’ve got a comic that’s going to come out in the summer which isn’t just a goofball comedy. It’s more mystery/adventure with comedic elements. That’s something we’ve written that is not just a comedy. But in terms of StarKid musicals? I think that they’ll always be comedies.
Nick: Yeah, I think that people want something when they go to the StarKid musicals, so I think we’re always going to try and deliver that.
Matt: If we ever did something else — who knows, if we have a genius idea for a play, which probably won’t happen – we would probably do it out side of the StarKid brand name. Just to avoid confusion with people.
Nick: For example, The Bully Book wasn’t even really a StarKid thing. It was just a book that we were publicizing because Eric had done it. And I know people got confused when they read that book – they were like, “This isn’t funny!” So we always try to not have it be confusing, especially since we’re such a small company – we just want a real clear image of what we’re trying to put out there.
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