DEINDE Artist – Ken Glickfeld

Photo and graphic design by Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Ken Glickfeld.

I confess that I am a bit of a completionist, for better or worse. And so it is you find me posting Ken Glickfeld’s DEINDE artist interview, long after he sent it to me (May 2nd, I believe). It was buried under a deluge of theatre and emails, but, post it I shall, as his beautiful performance as Malclom deserves no less (and a good deal more).

What crazy invention are you most looking forward to in the future?
Direct consciousness to cloud transmogrificated immortality. Oh, wait a minute, is that Deinde?

In 2051, theatre will be…
…still struggling to survive. It will be a struggle to keep the humanity of the actor/ audience relationship amid the glitter of whatever new technologies arise to pollute it.

For the human race to evolve, it will need to…
…do nothing. It’s inevitable and inexorable. The question is what necessity will our environment require for species’ success: ability to live in micro gravity, breath methane, live under water, thrive on Doritos? Is intelligence a trait worth Nature’s keeping?

A time-travelling-you from the future suddenly appears with something important to tell present-you. What do they have to say?
Buy Apple.

Will the future be more like Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, or the Jetsons?
Tough choice. I wish for Star Trek but fear it’ll be Battlestar Galactica.

If you had the opportunity to think and feel directly into a computer, would you take it?
In a skinny instant.

What do you have coming up in the near future that you want our readers to know about it?
I’m revisiting an old skill, lighting design, for an old friend’s pre-broadway workshop: a musical conflation of Cyrano and The Sopranos called Serrano.

Tell us about your character – what have been some of the surprises, challenges and joys you’ve found in playing him/her?
At first I thought that Malcolm was merely a hyper-aware genius (try playing that) but gradually realized how approachable was his emotional life and needs. Gus has written an ordinary man who happens to be an Einstein as well. I love the journey he has written for this character : from playful grandstanding to terror and resignation.