MY HEART AND THE REAL WORLD is a groovy example of the most dreaded of all theatre pieces (after musical comedy that is) a monologue play. Yet despite the moribund style of monologue theatre, MY HEART AND THE REAL WORLD brings something extra to the mix. Comprised of thirty seven characters each revealing their inner denials and brutal rationalizations MY HEART AND THE REAL WORLD is a hammerhead balance of rocking tragedy and nihilistic comedy not for the faint of heart or the strictly traditional mind. Using the oldest and simplest form of theatre, one person talking to a group, MY HEART AND THE REAL WORLD invites an intimacy with its audience, which is rare in these days of hypermega digimusicals and adaptations of sequels of classic comic books.
The tangled story of MY HEART AND THE REAL WORLD began in summer of 1998 when the mysterious western playwriting group Broken Gopher Ink decided to write yet another play that no one wanted. Known far and wide in theatrical circles as freakish cult failures. Broken Gopher Ink during a ten year period had managed to rack up a lucky thirteen off-Broadway productions of their snide and silly plays, took all the bits and pieces that had accumulated during the past three years of legal strife concerning Sony’s theft of their legendary play M.I.B., and channeled the angst into their thirty-third play. Written in 33 days, MY HEART AND THE REAL WORLD was the result of a feverish, spiteful competition between Broken Gopher Ink’s two main writers; a pair of pasty trolls somewhere in the wild west who remain anonymous. Not an act of collaboration but a presentation of individual rantings, the play still retains a unified voice and theme, which to this day shocks and dismays its authors. Feeling smug and full of themselves, Broken Gopher Ink mailed off a hundred copies of their script to the usual theatres like shipwrecked men flinging bottles with messages inside of them into the ocean.
Nothing happened.
A year passed during which Broken Gopher Ink virtually shut down due to ongoing fallout from their stupid misfortune. Lo one day, after our heroes had lost 72% of their hope; word reached them from Gotham City that MY HEART AND THE REAL WORLD had been accepted for production. Thus began an odyssey through New York’s dark and forbidding off-Broadway scene. Helmed by ace director Michael Cuevas and cast with talented and well-groomed performers, MY HEART AND THE REAL WORLD shook up audiences in five different venues over the space of eighteen months. It is even rumored that the extremely reclusive authors actually attended a performance of one of these shows but this cannot be confirmed. To date Broken Gopher Ink has said nothing about the play, indeed, director Cuevas, who deals exclusively with their “liaison” Matt Lubich says he is not even sure they exist. The play itself is unique because with a cast of seven and nearly forty monologues a person can come for three consecutive nights and not see the same show. Monologues are changed and reshuffled every performance, making each show a unique experience; the very essence of theatre.
MY HEART AND THE REAL WORLD AggressionsConfessionsDigressions By Broken Gopher Ink
October/November 2000 at the American Theatre of Actors, NYC. Produced by Love Creek Productions and Directed by Michael Cuevas. January 2001 at Theatre Studio, NYC. Produced by A.M. Raychel and Directed by Michael Cuevas. April/May 2001 at New York Comedy Club. Produced and directed by Michael Cuevas. September/October 2001 at the New York Comedy Club. Produced and Directed by Michael Cuevas. October/November 2001 at Wings Theatre, NYC. Produced and Directed by Michael Cuevas.
