PLANET CONNECTIONS GIVES YOU GORNISHT: SIX ROMANTIC COMEDIES BY ALBI GORN.

OUT-OF-TOWN PLAYWRIGHT ALBI GORN BRINGS US SIX UNIQUE COUPLES TELLING SIX UNIQUE – AND COMICAL – RELATIONSHIP TALES. SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE AS AGE, EXPERIENCE, CULTURE, AND GOOD OLD COMMON SENSE ALL JOIN THE MERRY DANCE OF A DOZEN LOVES AND LOVERS. https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/27385

These half dozen tales of deep emotion come to us from a master storyteller who adds a modern parable in each good old fashions souffle. Directed by Robin Anne Joseph, the company includes Jeff Calhoun, Laura Credidio, Michael Lichtstein, Becca Quinn, Linda Voth, and Albi Gorn himself.

The 2017 Planet Connection Theatre Festivity runs June 12 – July 9 at The Clemente, 107 Suffolk Street, NYC. “Gornisht” performs June 14 @ 9:15 PM; June 16 @ 9:00 PM; June 18 @ 12:00 PM; June 25 @ 8:30 PM; July 5 @ 9:00 PM; and July 7 @ 5:00 PM. For tickets, visit PlanetConnections.org.

Mr. Gorn gave us some sage advice…

What inspires you as an artist?

For me it’s a mix. Part of it is just loving to have my ego stroked. This is always a gamble as whenever I put my insides on the outside I run the risk of rejection. But I also can feel incredibly validated. But the more controlling aspect, I believe, is my need to unburden myself of my vision. I liken the experience to an oyster who inadvertently allows a grain of sand inside which irritates the poor thing and so it creates a pearl around the grain to insulate itself. I’m not sure I ever created a pearl but I know that once I get something in my head – in my heart – I need to create some vehicle to express it and get it out from inside me. I love what I write (although I never allow myself to believe that because I love it it’s particularly good). But once I make it public it has its own life, like when my kids leave home. Finally, there are certainly people I’ve met, my wife certainly is one of them, with whom I feel I can best communicate something by embedding it in a writing. Hasn’t always worked but it worked with her, and that just inspired me to write more.

Why independent theater?

Partly laziness and partly lack of confidence and partly fear. But what I’ve learned by being a big fish in a little pond is that the audiences that come see my work in Westchester, NY or Sisters, Oregon, or San Miguel, Mexico or Evesham, England are pretty much the same audience. People who enjoy theater. When I hear them laughing, or more importantly, when I see the rapt look on their faces when I see how invested they are in “what happens next,” I  feel like I’ve done something special. I’d love to be famous. Not sure I have it in me. But I have for 25 years now as a writer found my way to the stage pretty consistently, and pretty consistently sat back and enjoyed what I had done. Independent theater gave me access to those stages. I’m not convinced I ever would have found my way there professionally.