Outta Bounds Productions: Interview with Director Andrew Beck
Outta Bounds Productions is the cutting-edge theater company behind the new play AI-inspired drama titled “A Groundbreaking Achievement of Outrageous Importance That People Scroll By, Barely Impacted.” The show follows a group of Brooklyn-based university students who have learned how to use AI to cheat, much to the chagrin of the Deans who are unsure of how to stop it.
Recently, director Andrew Beck discussed the play via an exclusive interview.
Meagan Meehan (MM): How did you discover your talent for theater and how did you get into directing?
Andrew Beck (AB): My father was a playwright and I’ve always been around it as far back as I can remember. I went to school for acting and I soon realized that I had an eye for directing, so I got my first opportunity at 22 on Long Island in a small room for 30 people. I fell in love with the process and I never looked back.
MM: How did you get involved with Outta Bounds Productions and what is it like to have a play running in Manhattan?
AB: Outta Bounds was created in 2018 as an alternative second stage season to the mainstage of Studio Theatre Long Island. I’ve been a key player since the beginning, and now head the company as its Producing Artistic Director. I’ve directed in Manhattan before, but it’s a whole different feeling having our company, our style and our brand hit off-off Broadway. I am so proud of everyone involved and grateful for all who helped bring us to this point.
MM: What was it about this piece that most interested you?
AB: I love Jake’s style and it meshes well with my picturesque directing style. Once I read the play, I had to immediately email him. Magical realism is a huge part of the play and Jake has done an expert job of marrying that with our reticence of new technology. What happens next is a horrifying, hilariously out-there story.
MM: The role of AI in life — and academics — is a hot topic right now. How did real life influence the events in the play?
AB: AI is a major talking point and higher education institutions have never had to deal with this before. To quote a line from our show, “The best cheaters will be the ones getting A’s” The unreliability of AI detectors is completely parallel to the advancement of the tech itself, it is constantly evolving in what seems like the blink of an eye. I am going back to school currently, and professors have specifically mentioned AI and their stance on it on the first day. This makes the play so relatable and scary that something like this is affecting us in real time.
MM: What were the biggest challenges of staging this piece?
AB: There are moments in time and space where the characters are perhaps not where/what they seem and differentiating these moments with lights and projections proved to be very difficult. Theaterlab is a beautiful white box space and they’ve been a tremendous help in our process, but there is a large column in the middle of the stage, so no matter where scenes could be placed, there will always be one or two seats in a bad sightline. There are also many intense, personal, boundary-crossing situations and themes in the play and having an intimacy coordinator was paramount to making everyone feel comfortable and careful. They and I worked hard to flesh out the interpersonal relationships in the show. We all feel that the more prepared we were for this, the more lived in and real the characters feel.
MM: What’s your favorite part of the play and why?
AB: Brad Fryman, who does an incredible job playing Frank Whitehead, has a ton of phone business and I can’t remember seeing anyone who does that quintessentially theatre action better. He has so many hilarious lines throughout the play, but I can’t spoil my favorite part!
MM: What do you hope audiences take away from this performance?
AB: I hope people go home and really think about their relationship to AI and keep this show in the back of their mind as the technology keeps evolving, which it inevitably will. One of my favorite feelings as a director is being a fly on the wall listening to other people engage about the play and the themes. I know this work will spark discussion.
MM: What is some of the best feedback you’ve gotten about this piece thus far?
AB: The actors love working on it and it has challenged them.
MM: What other projects are you working on right now and what themes might you like to explore in future works?
AB: We are currently submitting our first feature film, Our Lady of Queens, to multiple festivals around the world. We definitely are looking to work in different mediums alongside theatre. I love the thriller genre and coupling that with comedy is not often done. I’m having a blast working on it and if we can keep the good times rolling, I will work hard to go down that path. Stories about the limitations of humans and our relationship to today’s changing world really interest me, so I’d like my work to relay that in some way.
MM: What are your ultimate goals for the future and is there anything else that you would like to mention?
AB: Outta Bounds seeks to be a new hub for weird and messed up original works, in the vein of the downtown experimental theatres of the 90’s like 29th St Rep. I’d love to build the company up to get a space of its own, but that’s years down the line. We have many passionate members of our squad who will be instrumental in the growth of this beast we’re building together. We hope this emphatic arrival is welcomed, OBP doesn’t back down!
* * * * *
Previews of the show are scheduled to begin May 10 at Theaterlab and the opening is set for Saturday, May 18. Tickets are $35, available at theaterlabnyc.com
Photos by John Robert Hoffman.