If you’ve ever been a teenager (and we bet you have), your memory of the fears and awkward awakenings of that time in your life are probably as fresh as when they were happening.
Veteran actor and screenwriter David Dean Bottrell — whom you may have seen on the hit shows “Widow’s Bay,” “Modern Family” and “Boston Legal” — has been polishing his coming of age stories into the gems he will share in the solo show “Teenage Wasteland: Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen” at the North Fork Arts Center Friday evening, Aug. 21.
The show, praised by the New York Times as one of “11 Off-Broadway Shows to See,” presented in partnership with the NY LGBT Network, promises “a hilarious & poignant rollercoaster ride through early adolescence features five half-true tales of heartbreak, hard-ons and hair.”
We asked Mr. Bottrell to share the process of creating this show earlier this summer. Below is our Q&A.
Q: What was the first story you told aloud that raised the idea in your head that these years of your life would be good material?
When I was working as a screenwriter in California, I started participating in the live storytelling circuit in LA. It was packed with amazing writers! I always thought the most successful stories were the funny ones because once you made people laugh, they were willing to hear something a bit deeper; something that might not be quite so funny. I began telling stories about my large, working class family which led to me thinking about this very specific time in my life — between 13 and 15 years old. Last year I finally got up the guts to create this show, which is very funny and has been hugely successful. Last year I toured it from California all the way to Nantucket. And what I quickly found out is that everybody’s adolescence is both unique and universal at the same time.
Q: Where did you grow up, and how does that environment shape this material?
I was born in Kentucky and my family moved back and forth over the Ohio border a few times. We were always living in small towns, some of which were factory towns. Expectations were sort of low in most of those places. I can remember growing up with other teenagers who fully expected they would someday work in the same factory their parents had. My family was sort of a rough and tumble bunch. Many of them had trouble holding onto any kind of job, but they gave me a tremendous gift — a wonderfully dark sense of humor. I still remember my mother saying to my sister, “Don’t cry over bad luck, honey. They’ll always be more of it.”
Q: Does telling the truth to a bunch of strangers come naturally to you? Are there ways you have to push yourself to share this material publicly?
When I started telling stories from my life, one of the first things I discovered was that the only way to be any good at it,was to tell a little more truth than I was comfortable telling. When I did this, I could feel the change in the audience. Yes, sometimes I feel a little scared, but when the people laugh, I get a little shot of courage to keep going. And time is a great teacher. This is my fourth solo show. The others have covered hilarious topics like my love life and my fear of death, but this one was sparked when my mother sent me a box of old letters, photos and journals from my early adolescence. I’d forgotten how many silly secrets I was keeping in those days!
Q: What’s the hardest part of this subject matter for you to share, and what part brings you the most joy?
There are five big stories in the show and each of them is about an unexpectedly hard moment in my life — my first sexual feelings, my instinct to pull away from my parents’ religious beliefs, the first time my heart was broken, etc. There’s often a moment when I feel hesitant, but then I hear people laugh. And I can tell they are laughing because they understand. They remember that moment in their own lives. I love making people laugh, but I also enjoy giving them something to think about.
Q: What advice would you give to a 13-15 year old today?
I would say (and have said) real life is not happening on your phone. That’s just a bunch of clips taken from other people’s lives. Your life, your story, your time belongs to you. And it goes fast. Spend it being “in” the world. Not on your phone.
The North Fork Arts Center is at 211 Front Street in Greenport. David Dean Bottrell will perform “Teenage Wasteland: Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen” on Friday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 and are available online here.
Keep Independent News on the East End
The Beacon is able to provide all of our content online free of charge thanks to support from our readers. Be a vital part of keeping our community informed!
Advertisement
