Category Archives: Theatre

Robert Stark talks to Kevin Kautzman about his Play Moderation

Robert Stark talks to St. Paul based playwright Kevin Kautzman about his new play MODERATION. Moderation is a dark comedy about social media content moderators loosing their minds at work. RSVP at MODERATION to view the play online for free until Dec. 19th.  Moderation will premier live in March of 2022 at St. Paul’s Waldman’s Brewery, as the first in a series produced by Kevin’s Mad Mouth Theater company.  Check out Kevin’s podcast Art of Darkness, web series Money Shot Show, and follow him on Twitter.

Topics:

How Moderation’s premise was inspired by a “normie rag” article about content mods being radicalized by conspiracy theories that they were forced to monitor
The psychological components  to the play
References to meme culture
The political vs. profit motives of censorship, and Keith Woods on The Vulture Capitalist Behind The New Twitter
The Dark Comedy genre in cinema, literature, and theater
Corporate gatekeepers suppressing creativity in cinema
Kevin’s Art of Darkness episode on Stanley Kubrick
The casting and production process for Moderation
How Moderation is in the same Zeitgeist as the film Joker
Kevin’s observations on the decay of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook pageTwitterInstagramStark Truth TV, novel Vaporfornia, and in production documentary The Gospel of Gibson, and subscribe to his Substack.

Robert Stark interviews Kevin Kautzman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to playwright Kevin Kautzman about his play MODERATION, playwright Oscar Wilde, and author William S. Burroughs. Check out Kevin’s podcast Art of Darkness, web series Money Shot Show, and follow him on Twitter.

Topics:

The online premier of the latest iteration of MODERATION, a dark comedy about social media moderators
Kevin’s play Dream of Perfect Sleep
Oscar Wilde: The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name
Oscar Wilde’s political views and philosophy of aestheticism, his prison letter De Profundis, and notable quotes
William S. Burroughs: Liberalism with a Gun
The Beat Generation
The economic and political mechanisms of the arts
The artist’s legacy within the framework of cancel culture
Upcoming podcasts on Stanley Kubrick, Charles Bukowski, and Ernest Hemmingway

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook pageTwitterInstagramStark Truth TV, novel Journey to Vapor Island, and in production documentary The Gospel of Gibson.

Robert Stark talks to Director Jared Shumate about his film Last Night Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host J.G. Michael talk to filmmaker Jared C. Shumate about his upcoming horror comedy film Last Night Out which is set to be released on Halloween and will be  available to view online. Check out the Facebook page for Last Night Out, the Official Trailer, and the poster which is available on the Facebook page.

Topics:

Intro: Jerry Galeries’s In For A Long Night which is used for the film and trailer
The basic plot
The horror genre
Dark Comedy with some slapstick thrown in
Jared’s influences ranging from Wes Craven’s Scream to Scooby-doo to David Lynch
The 80’s theme, the New Retrowave genre, and how the music influenced the film
The filming location in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the abandoned lingerie factory, and the surreal atmosphere of forest and ghost towns in North Carolina
The special effects
The actors and characters including a group of teens and two drifters
The plan for a feature length version which might introduce a supernatural element
Jared’s short thriller, The Ramifications
Jared’s Film Noire set in 1946, The Picture Room
Jared’s screenplay, “Otto” which is based on the true story of the outlaw Otto Wood

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark talks to Director Matthew David Wilder about Dog Eat Dog & Upcoming Projects

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to returning guest Matthew David Wilder for a written interview.

Matthew David Wilder has worked as a screenwriter, writing for some of America’s most well known directors including Oliver Stone and Paul Schrader. He’s also directed a number of independent films.

Topics:

Matthew’s background, growing up in a trailer park in Des Plaines, Illinois, studying theatre at Yale, and his mentor Peter Sellars
Matthew’s first major project writing for Clive Barker’s The History of the Devil
Matthew’s work with Oliver Stone on a film about the war on terror right after 9/11 which was never released
The film Dog Eat Dog, staring Nicolas Cage, written by Matthew, directed by Paul Schrader, which was released last fall, and was Matthew’s first major Hollywood project
The process of transforming the crime novel by Edward Bunker into a film
Reviews of the Dog Eat Dog, by The Guardian and Anne Thompson
Matthew’s film Your Name Here, which is a surreal dramatic fantasy biopic loosely based on the life of Philip K. Dick
How to effectively take the audience out of their comfort zone as a director
Matthew’s upcoming film REGARDING THE CASE OF JOAN OF ARC, with Taryn Manning playing Joan of Arc as an alt-right, Christian fundamentalist terrorist put on trial in a Guatanamo Bay-like setting
Matthew’s upcoming film Morning Has Broken

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Continue reading Robert Stark talks to Director Matthew David Wilder about Dog Eat Dog & Upcoming Projects

Robert Stark interviews Director Matthew David Wilder

matthew-david-wilder-and-paul-schrader

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Alex von Goldstein talk to Director and Screenwriter Matthew David Wilder

Topics include:

Matthew’s background, growing up in a trailer park in Des Plaines, Illinois,  studying theatre at Yale, and his mentor Peter Sellars
Matthew’s first major project was writing for Clive Barker’s The History of the Devil
Matthew’s work with Oliver Stone on a film about the war on terror right after 9/11 which was never released
The film Dog Eat Dog, staring Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe, written by Matthew, directed by Paul Schrader, which will be released to theatres next month
Matthew directed, and wrote Your Name Here, staring Bill Pullman, which is a surreal dramatic fantasy biopic loosely based on the life of Philip K. Dick
Director Paul Schrader, how he inspired Matthew as a screenwriter, and his concept of the monocular film, which is one protagonist alone against the world
The notion of God’s lonely man, and how Matthew wrote a one act play in college by that name
Film noir, the aesthetic, the story of fate hanging over the characters, and the Neo-noir genre
Matthew’s interest in combining genres, rather than sticking with one particular one
Brett Easton Ellis praises Matthew in his interview with Paul Schrader
Matthew’s upcoming film Morning Has Broken, about a young runaway girl who moves in with a seemingly harmless, elderly, Academy Award-winning songwriter, staring Lydia Hearst and Peter Bogdanovich
Matthew’s point as a filmmaker, that what influences you is not the most obvious
The importance of breaking taboos, and taking the audience out of their comfort zone
The upcoming film, the Looking Glass, written by Matthew, staring Nicolas Cage, about a couple who buy a desert motel where they find out that strange, mysterious events occur
The film is inspired by a story of a motel owner who watched guest have sex through peep holes, and David Lynch’s film Lost Highway
Mid-century Roadside Architecture and Vintage Vegas
Matthew’s political views, how he identifies with the left on the hard issues, but is critical of the micro-issues and political correctness
Alex’s point that troll culture is a form of critiquing society, and how that’s lacking in Hollywood today
True Detective
LA culture, vapid conversations in coffee shops, obnoxious roidheads, and capturing LA in film
Matthew’s experiences directed a play at CalArts, and his observations of young actors wanting the celebrity status more than valuing the content of the work
The shortened attention span and how it effects our culture
Alex’s point that there is no longer a mainstream culture, and people have the freedom to find their own creative niches


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Robert Stark interviews Ray Sawhill

Ray Sawhill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ray Sawhill worked as an arts and culture reporter for Newsweek. He has also written for Salon.com and blogs at Uncouth Reflections as Paleo Retiree. He splits his time between New York and Santa Barbara.

Topics include:

How Robert and Ray both have personal connections to Santa Barbara and how the city is almost too idyllic
Crime Fiction Novelist Ross Macdonald who’s work captures Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara as a place with strict zoning laws that was modeled after Andalusia in Spain
The contrast between life in Santa Barbara and New York City
How New York City has changed in Ray’s time there in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s
How Cuisine is the one area that has seen increased innovation in New York
Ray’s cameo in the film Exposed set in New York in 1983 staring Nastassja Kinski
How films such as Exposed and Taxi Driver are documentaries for New York in that era
The new peculiarly shaped skyscrapers going up in New York today
“See through buildings” where wealthy Foreigners are buying up real estate in New York and leaving them empty
How Ray is drawn to architecture because it is art you can experience and changes the world in a way that regular art doesn’t
How most of the general public has little input and interest in architecture
How places without zoning laws tend to lack any aesthetic value
How the main rule in urbanism is not to do anything that harms the city
Art Deco and how it succeeds in bringing tradition and modernity into one
Architectual Revivalism which seeks to recreate older forms of architecture
Robert Stark’s Artwork
Ray’s work at Newsweek as a reporters covering art, culture, literature, film, and theatre
How Ray’s most significant interviews were with Writers Philip, Roth, and John Updike, filmmakers Francis Coppola, and Robert Altman and Architect Christopher Alexander
How conservatives tend to avoid culture and leave that domain to the left
English Philosopher Roger Scruton as a model for a cultured conservative
Front Porch Anarchist Bill Kauffman
New Urbanism
The The Retro Cocktail and Locavore movements
James Howard Kunstler
Ray’s involvement with Environmentalism and Bioregional Anarchism
How the environmental movement abandoned the overpopulation issue due to political correctness and mass immigration
The Alternative Right
How the real political divide is between globalism and decentralization
Cultural trends and how Ray views himself as a cultural radar
The trend towards a focus on muscles for young men and men are more self-conscious about their bodies
The value of pleasure and leisure
Erotica and the debate about what’s art and what’s pornography
Controversial nude photographer Jock Sturges, who Ray interviewed
How society is a taking contradictory paths towards lewdness and prudishness
Students Still Sweat, They Just Don’t Shower
How having taste and style has become equated with homosexuality
Young women moving to New York City because of Sex and the City
“Sex Scenes” which is a raunchy, satirical audio entertainment that Ray created with his wife playwright Polly Frost. Check it out.

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Artwork