Moonlight After Midnight is on at 3pm in The Box at Assembly in St. George’s Square 

1 Tell us about your Fringe show

Moonlight After Midnight is a two-person love story about a couple who meet in a hotel room, and the role-playing in which they then engage. Magical, beguiling, funny, and profound, the play is a riddle - one that plays with time and space, offering multiple layers of reality that unfold concurrently. While on the play’s surface nothing is as it seems, underneath it all is something very real and moving, with a twist that is not revealed until the play’s final moments. We are a theatre company based out of Brooklyn, NY, and we've been touring this show since 2014. It’s won the top critic’s prizes at fringes in Orlando, Ottawa, Cincinnati, Vancouver, and Adelaide, Australia, as well as being the Critic’s Pick in a whole lot of diverse newspapers.

2 How does it feel to be playing the Fringe for the first time?

I’ve been touring the North American fringe circuit full time since 2009, meeting my wife at a festival in 2010, and marrying her the next year. Since then, we’ve toured five original plays, and I’ve toured eight solo shows. And so the fringe is very much our lives. And yet, this is the first time we’ve come to Edinburgh – the mothership, so to speak. And so it’s very exciting – a culmination of almost a decade of performing at so many other festivals, all of them inspired by the original here in Scotland.

3 Best live act you’ve seen at a Fringe?

My favorite performer, consistently, is Stewart Lee.

4 Best thing about the Fringe?

My favorite things about the fringe are 1) that there are so many people willing to take chances on performances they know nothing about; and 2) the camaraderie between all the performers. No matter how big or small the show, everybody is going through the same cycle of highs and lows throughout the length of the festival. And this rollercoaster of emotions creates a lovely, bonding experience for everyone in the thick of it.

5 Worst thing about the Fringe?

The worst thing about the festival is how much money it costs an artist to put on a show. Almost everybody goes into debt, and it doesn’t have to be this way. Festivals in North America are not perfect, but at least the artists have a good chance of making some money for all the work they’ve done.

6 If you were not a performer what would you be doing?

It’s hard to imagine what else I’d be doing since I’ve never had a permanent job in the fifteen years before I started performing at fringe festivals full-time. All I ever did was work at temp jobs. “Temporary” is half the job description, and that always fit me perfectly. In everything I’ve ever done, including my shows, there has always been a sense that it is only happening in the here and now. And so, I don’t know what I’d be doing, but it’s essential nature would be ephemeral. Maybe I’d sell balloons.

7 How do you combat pre-gig nerves?

My pre-gig nerves are all about whether people are going to come to the show or not. It’s the same feeling I get when I throw a party. In the hour leading up to it, I start wondering whether anyone’s going to come, which has me questioning whether I really have any friends, which has me questioning my self-worth and every decision I’ve ever made in my life. As soon as people show up, though, everything is right with the world, and my life seems to be an unbroken chain of well-made decisions. It’ll make you crazy, this, particularly when you’re performing every day. The actual performance part, though, doesn’t make me nervous at all.

8 Worst on stage experience?

We performed a play at a fringe in Edmonton in a sold-out venue that was so hot we were brightly gleaming from the reflection off our sweaty bodies. My arms looked like light sabers. The audience was a sea of people desperately fanning themselves with their fringe programs. Vanessa, my co-star (and wife!) got a coughing fit half-way through that left her unable to speak above a faint croak. And then someone started playing basketball against the outside wall of the venue. Our tech had to climb down a creaky set of stairs, push open a heavy door, and then have it out with whomever was outside playing. Needless to say, no one, including ourselves, was paying much attention to the story we were trying to tell.

9 What do you love about Scotland?

I’ve only been to Edinburgh so far, so I can only speak to my experience with this city. But suffice to say, it’s fantastic. The people are lively, fun, and apparently love independently created and produced theatre. What more do I want?

10 What do you like about Edinburgh?

The city of Edinburgh is beautiful and ancient. I love that everything is made out of stone. We don’t have that in Canada or the US. The weight of history is palpable in everything you see. Of course, I also love how many people here embrace a festival of unknown live performers – everyone taking a chance on what theatre artists have spun out of their imaginations. It takes over the whole city in a way that’s truly unique. Also, I love Arthur’s Seat. At any point in the festival, you can find a performer on top of it either having a private, self-pitying cry, or feeling absolutely triumphant. It’s the pinnacle of the city, and the pinnacle of human emotional extremes.

11 What’s the most Scottish thing you’ve ever done?

Being from the States, and from a place that drinks and is very proud of its whisky, I think the most Scottish thing I’ve ever done – in fact, I’m doing it right now – is that I’m spelling whisky without an ‘e.’

12 Favourite Scottish food/drink?

As you can probably guess from my previous answer, I’ve really enjoyed sampling all the scotch and whisky here. Sometimes I’m terribly unoriginal.

13 Sum up your show in three words

Smart, mysterious, romantic.

Moonlight After Midnight is on at 3pm in The Box at Assembly in St. George’s Square for tickets go to www.edfringe.com

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