Poetic Larceny Artists Reveal #8 — Jeremy Basescu

What is Poetic Larceny?

And how can I learn more about Flux’s upcoming production of Pretty Theft?

JEREMY BASESCU

Playwright, April 13th

Previous Flux stuff: A playwright in last year’s Imagination Compact, Jeremy has developed a number of plays through Flux, including A Wonderful Wife, The Will, The Syndrome Syndrome, and Calling CQ.

We asked the amazing artists of our upcoming staged reading series Poetic Larceny to answer some questions about stealing, beauty, and consequences. Read on for their answers!

Question #1: What is the worst thing you’ve ever stolen?
When I was in fourth grade, we had an all-elementary-school assembly to watch some kind of informative documentary film. About ten minutes in, the filmstrip got dislodged and started flapping around on the projector. I quickly burst out into my best Swedish Chef impersonation to say, “De flim go de flip-flip-flip!” Everyone laughed. Since no one really concentrated on the film after that, I think it’s safe to say that I stole the show.

Question #2: What is the worst thing that’s been stolen from you?
That same year, a bunch of the boys in my class were trying to one-up each other with insults while I quietly sat near them. At one point, I thought of a great one (long since forgotten) and muttered it under my breath. The boy nearest to me heard it, laughed, and repeated it to the group. The good news was that it topped everyone else’s insults, and everyone laughed. The bad news was that he took the credit. I should have gotten the clue right then and there that I was destined to write words for other people to say.

Question #3: What do you find pretty?
The ladies. There’s a more complicated answer to that, but I wrote an entire full-length play with competing definitions of the word “pretty” as a running gag… so it’as probably not worth it to go into that here.

Question #4: What do you find beautiful?
The Hudson River. Seriously. Especially when you compare it to what it used to look like.

Question #5: If you could steal something beautiful without consequences, what would it be?
The words, characters, and ideas of Anton Chekhov.

Bio: Jeremy is a native New Yorker and Flux Sunday regular whose plays have been performed by Feed the Herd Theater Company, Blue Box’s Sticky series, the Atlantic Theater Acting School, and Stupid: the Plays, among others. He holds an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University. Jeremy works as a theater teaching artist for Lincoln Center Institute, as well as a bunch of other organizations with ridiculously long names.