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"PREVIEW: Godmakers" at The Empty Space
Topics: Godmakers, Bakersfield, the empty space, theater, theatre, Preview, interview, Enrique Acosta, director, Helen Acosta
Posted by HelenRAcosta Tue Jul 1, 2008 12:17:40 PDT
Viewed 185 times
0 responses 1 comment Location: 706 Oak St., Bakersfield, CA 93304

Godmakers at The Empty Space
The Actionfolksinger opens up about his new play, opening July 18.   

By Helen Acosta, Bakotopia.com contributor 

Written and directed by local playwright Enrique Acosta who might be best known for his other Empty Space shows ("Spider Baby - the Musical" and the "True Tales" series,) as well as his work as El Cable for the Brighthouse commercials, "Godmakers" is next to be added his list of inventive works. 

I had a rare opportunity to sit down with the reclusive auteur at his palatial 1,000 square foot estate in downtown Bakersfield. 

“Godmakers” - I googled it and found an anti-Mormon documentary? Is this a play based on that film?

No. Godmakers is a play that follows 40-years in the history of a fictional comic book company.  But it’s not just a show for fans of comic book history.  It follows the 40-year friendship of the publisher, Bert Stephans (played by Jarrod Cantrell) and the company’s top selling writer, Izzy Davis (played by fRed); A friendship tested by war, government persecution, and low sales.  If you’ve ever been torn between doing what you love and doing what will pay the rent you’ll see yourself in these characters. 

So, why write a play about a west coast comic book company? 

The west coast thing was a plot contrivance to keep them away from the big names in the industry.  Back then there was a lot of cross over of talent and I didn’t want to write an actual history.  Setting it in California was just a way to allow me to tell a story without having to have my characters deal with a bunch of real people and maybe get me sued by their families. 

As to the subject itself:  I wanted to write about a comic book company because I’d read several biographies.  I discovered a whole new level of geekdom in the history of the industry.  (chuckles)  I realized that not only would it make a great setting for a workplace drama but also that it really hadn’t been done before.  There have been lots of plays about publishing: newspapers, novels, even travel books, but I hadn’t heard of anyone focusing on the unique problems faced by a comic book company. 

Such as?

Well like a newspaper: You have a deadline though [in comic books] it’s once a week not once a day.  Like publishing novels you have to create a new story but novels can take years. In comic books you only have ten days maximum.  Also the first act takes place in the 40’s: The infancy of the genre.  There were no real set rules so folks were making them up as they went along.  It was a really exciting time. 

The leads in this show are a transplant from London and a lesbian working in the comic book industry in the 1940s—did you lose a bet? 

The publisher is based in part on my Grandfather who was an immigrant from England.  Like most of the people in my family he held a whole series of jobs, which is what his character does in the play.  A lot of his [my grandfather’s] humor and some of his stories made their way into the show. 

As to the lesbian, well that was kind of an accident.  It was one of those weird things that happens when you’re writing.  I’ve got this female character and suddenly out of nowhere another woman comes into the scene.  I keep typing and suddenly they’re girlfriends.

Writers talk about their characters taking on a life of their own and I guess in a sense there is some truth to that.  In my first draft the publisher and writer were meant to be more antagonistic and hostile towards each other but somehow as I was writing them they became friends and their friendship became one of the central themes of the show.

There is a lot of talk these days about “The Greatest Generation”.  Was there a “Greatest Generation” in the comic book industry?

Well I suppose it would depend on who you ask.  Certainly in the 30’s and 40’s there were the people who started the whole thing.  There are the folks who first cut out newspaper funnies and collected them into magazines.  There are the folks who first thought to write original material and publish that instead.  There were the folks who first thought to do stories about people with amazing powers and the folks who realized that they could change their drawing style to fit the magazine format better.  Back then you might not have had the best stories or art the industry ever produced but you had the start of it all.  Most of the people who worked in the industry had no idea what they were starting they just wanted to collect a paycheck. But I guess that’s what’s so interesting to me about the character of Izzy Davis.  She sees the potential of comics.

You tackle several controversies and taboos in this show.  Was that your intent from the beginning?

I’m not really sure that there is anything all that controversial in the piece.  This might be the LEAST controversial show I’ve ever written.  I mean we touch on the way gay people were treated in the middle of last century.  We talk a little about censorship.  We talk a little about how getting too wrapped up in your work can kill your personal life.  But most of those things are subplots.  Comic books weren’t just an escape for the kids who read them.  Yes there were deadlines and work pressures but from what I read I got the impression that the work was kind of an escape for the people who produced them, too.  A way to escape the horrors of wars they couldn’t understand, society’s prejudices, even horrors as mundane as rent.  Sure there is an escapist aspect to the work but there’s also something transcendent about the act of creation; something beautiful.  It can be a little addictive.

-Godmakers opens July 18th at The Empty Space Theatre, 706 Oak St. (next to Pizzaville.)

-Show dates: July 18, 19, 24, 25 & 26 at 8pm and 1 matinee: July 20 at 2pm. 

-Runtime: 2 hours including a 15 minute intermission. Suggested donation: $10 adults, $5 students.



Also printed in Bakotopia magazine,  issue 32, 7-10-08

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Comment From: matt

Cheers to you, Acostas!