Ninu Nina Artist Interviews

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SONJA MAURO

nadav benjamin

Re: Last Night is a series of original, and provocative one-act plays.

Sonja grew up in a small beach town in Long Island – and everyone knows Long Island is a beacon of culture – so her goal was always, to come to NYC. She went to the New School to write and her highlights were atrocious… she went through this urbanizing process… was reading all the time…and  learned how to be a New Yorker. Acting and performing came later, which I suppose is unusual.

Tell us about Re:Last Night

The play is actually a collection of one-acts. They’re ballsy. You know, it’s original work; unpretentious. Out actors are honest; they’re very committed to the process. I think we’re trying to celebrate what it means to do theater in NY. to produce work that makes people a little uncomfortable sometimes. You can’t really get away with that anywhere else.

Greatest inspirations or influences?

of course, Meryl Streep. And Rinko Kikuchi, actually. She was chilling in Babel. the great play writes… the contemporaries: Marber, Pinter, Odets, Shanley, Williams, Shepard, and Adam Rapp – because before there was Gossip Girl there was Red Light Winter.

Challenges of what you do?

it’s difficult not to psyche yourself out. The insecurity… it never really goes away but you’ve got to manage it – the work as well as the aesthetic stuff. as a woman, there’s this pressure to be infinitely young and sexy and thin blah blah blah. You know, Im so damn flat chest-ed but you sort of have to laugh at the vanity of it all and just do your work. In the end, it’s like: let the gratuitous tit girls do what they’re getting paid to do and I’ll play a boy or something and win an oscar thank you very much. I mean, how sweet would that be, right?

What would be a dream project for you?

Janis Joplin biopic – which is being shopped around I think? Still? Basically anything that allows me to incorporate music with acting. Not a musical. Music with acting. A role that requires me to play the piano or compose or conduct. Music does something to me and the result is very pure… it’d be interesting to see that purity translate on screen.

Favorite websites?

Your blog. And Gawker. and jezebel. Especially when they make fun of free people catalogues. Amazing. I also like style.com during fashion week because I like to see all the new looks coming down the runway. I also love models. I don’t know why. But I find it fascinating that there are girls that fucking beautiful – like it’s a reverse freak of nature-thing.

Upcoming projects?

We just completed a film called ‘Struck.’ It’s very dark. Very New York. cool kids are in it. the director, Jack Bryan, is a good friend of mine. I think that’s all i’m allowed to say about it, right now. I wrote this play. It is being produced in December. It’s a five-character play. Full length. I’ll be acting in it as well. Because you know, I’m a one-stop-shop.

Tips for anyone wanting to start acting in New York?

Be persistent. This is a non-stop commitment. Sometimes you’ll want to pull your hair out. You know, you’ve really got to want it. Also – surround yourself with good people – that’s your core. I’m so lucky to have amazingly brilliant, supportive, wonderful friends. Also, those people should be better than you.

Anything else you’d like to share with our audience?

I fucking love Schillers on rivington st. still. I’ve sampled everything on the menu. It feels like my hangout. I don’t know why I’m telling you this – maybe it has something to do with the fact I was just there on Tuesday. But everyone should go and get the bacon mac n cheese and a martini.

Shi-ho

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