Headshot by David Costa
Tell us about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
Hi! I’m Kyle Boatwright, and I do a bit of everything. First and foremost, I’m an actor, pianist, singer, and composer. I’m also a ghostwriter and an editor, and the writer-in-residence at @Cooper Creative Group. I do a lot of developmental editing of new works—literary, theatrical, and musical—and currently serve as the developmental editor for @Legacy Boy The Musical, by Valley theatre-makers @Harley Erdman, @Gina Kaufmann, and @aaron Jones. Finally, I’m the co-founder and Artistic Director of @Rise Up Productions, which utilizes music and theatre performances to raise money and awareness for social justice organizations.
Why did you decide to become an artist?
Well, for an appropriately dramatic response: I don’t think I ever decided so much as it simply just happened, because creativity has always been an essential part of who I am. My emotional survival depends on it, and I think that’s true of most artists. I had a tiny piano right next to my bed when I was very young, and I vividly remember reaching over every night in the dark to play a single middle C before falling asleep. That was what I did to comfort myself every night, and in a manner of speaking, it still is.
What other art or artists have been inspirational to you in your work?
There are so many artists that I learn from and love, but there are definitely a few I carry with me. Here’s my “Big Ten” whose work I consistently study, especially when I need a hand: Viola Davis, Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Cynthia Erivo, Kara Wolf, Morgan James, Mykal Kilgore, Jason Robert Brown, Stephen Sondheim, Claude Debussy. My greatest inspirations, though, are truly my day-to-day collaborators on each project; witnessing them doing the work every day makes me a better artist. It makes me a better human.
How has the COVID-19 outbreak and quarantine affected your process/creating/teaching? Has anything surprised you about adjusting to this quarantine?
A friend of mine recently said to me, “I think theatre is going to die because of COVID.” That comment absolutely broke me, and I cried and cried for hours afterwards. That is my worst fear in all of this: not that I’m going to get sick because I’m at risk, or that I’m going to lose my loved ones who have tested positive, or any of the grander implications I can’t even begin to name. I’m frightened of those things, absolutely. But when you love something the way we artists love our work, when you need something positive and healthy in order to cope with other issues, and you think about losing that thing—it is a completely different kind of grief and fear than the already immense grief and fear that comes with the virus. I wish I had an uplifting response to this question, but I don’t, and I think that in itself is important to share too. We stage actors chose the stage because we did not want to work with a recorded medium, but we’ve been backed into it for the time being. We don’t know when we will see a stage again. We’re rethinking our entire careers—and, worse (to me), our entire understanding of our individual places in the world. It’s yet another devastating aspect of a hugely devastating situation. It hasn’t surprised me. But it hurts.
What are you currently working on?
My social justice artist collective @Rise Up Productions is working on a play penned exclusively for the Zoom medium by the inimitable @Harley Erdman, with contributions by Kyle Boatwright and Gina Kaufmann. It’s called “Lullaby of Zoomland,” and it will be performed on Zoom as a fundraiser on Friday, June 26th at 7pm and 9pm. More info will be available soon, and in the meantime, I hope you’ll follow Rise Up on FB and Instagram to keep your ear to the ground about other online fundraisers we’re producing!