Design Meeting: My Old Man (and Other Stories)

HowlRound: Collaborators Jess Barbagallo and Chris Giarmo have been creating work together for a little over ten years, since they met as students at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing. As card-carrying queers trained in dance and devised theatre methodologies, Chris and Jess have attempted to forge an aesthetic that borrows from straight avant-garde practice and gay theatrical innovation. Here they make preparations for Jess’s new play My Old Man (and Other Stories), which opened at Dixon Place in October 2016. My Old Man… functions like a short story collection concerning two hapless roommates in a dilapidated apartment complex—Barry (Drae Campbell) and Andrea (Emily Davis)—and the lovers and friends who visit their home. This conversation highlights the practical questions of making theatre, while addressing an increased public interest in the category of “trans artist.”