Canadian Playwright and Actor Adam Kelly
Author of The Anorak Premieres Sexy Comedy in Montreal, Canada
Jan 30, 2009
Why is Adam Kelly – a good-looking, highly intelligent 30-something with killer wit still single? Kelly’s trying to figure it all out in Alan’s Search for the Best Girl in Montreal – His own funny Valentine. In the following series, Kelly chats about Alan’s Search, Theatre 314, The Anorak in 2009, Dancing Cocks news, and why on the eve of yet another Valentine's Day sans amour, relationships are so damn hard.
Adam Kelly recently graced the cover of alternative arts weekly The Montreal Mirror, now a certified 2009 Noisemaker, likely because he's playing himself, with four actresses playing 20 parts as the women in his life.
Adam’s Still Searching
How long did it take you to write this play; or has the idea always been percolating in your brain?
Adam Kelly: "Probably about two or three years ago I just started jotting down "women experiences" and I knew it was going to be for a play.
"I didn’t know what the play was going to be. Initially, I thought it was going to be a tragedy, but then the nature of the events made me think this is more funny than tragic so I started writing about the different experiences I’ve had. I think I started out chronologically, going back to the first girlfriend.
That’s what the play does. It chronicles my experiences with girls and through it all I have figured out a “list” of criteria for what Alan is looking for or what he is not looking for, based on what goes on with each girl. That’s how the play developed and it has turned into this crazy sh**travanganza of sex and everything else."
How do you plan to portray the fact that you have been dating girls from Vancouver to New York? Do you have a visual representation in mind?
Adam Kelly: "No, we are going to leave this up to the audience because I don’t think there is much in the way of changing backdrops or things like that. I am pretty minimalist when it comes to theatre. I would rather make the switches between characters happen physically and rather have sets and things change by the way the actors are acting. We get enough visual stimulation with television, so I think the imagination paints a much more vivid picture, contrary to popular belief."
You were on the cover of The Montreal Mirror recently. How many women have you had lusting after you since that?
Adam Kelly: "It’s so weird, because I am going through this strange phase right now where I am not looking actively for anything because it has been such a crazy past year. My life has completely changed and I think stopping drinking has had an effect on my attractiveness because, little did I know, I thought I was so sexy when I was hammered."
Why is it getting harder and harder to find a relationship?
Adam Kelly: "There are a few things. It’s fundamental when you get down to the core of things. That was weird. A glass just leaped off the counter. That glass just literally jumped off the counter onto the ground. I just walked up to it. (Author’s note: Glass, recently dumped due to Adam’s sobriety, throws itself to the floor in utter despair.) "Maybe that’s the Lord telling me 'Watch what you answer here. You are going on about fundamentals and things.' Maybe I better say – I don't know. I don’t know why it’s so hard."
Part Two: Adam Kelly - Playwright and The City
 |
