1. Where are you from, and what brought you to theatre?

I'm Miami via Dallas (think I used that right) and I came to theatre through tech.
I guess the like, big idea, pretentious answer is always loving reading and fictional stories so that latent desire to act out imaginary things. I used to create very detailed stories with my cousin about our action figures when I was little. Like Pikachu kidnapping Sonic and Goku having to save him. I mean hours long people. Shout out to Joseph and Jesse right here.
More like literally: I was just a chubby little 7th grader who just dropped soccer because of a questionably abusive coach and my mom was like "You aren't sitting on your ass all afternoon you gotta find something." and I toyed with the idea of Ham Radio until I figured out what Ham Radio entailed. Then I lost interest in Ham Radio. Then I was poached by the middle school theatre teacher to do run crew and eventually transitioned into acting. I've been doing it ever since. 


2. How do you describe your character in Scratching?
A dreamer running on his final fumes. 

3. What excites you the most about this project?
The atmosphere we get to create, finding a through line through all of the supremely high stakes scenarios. The dance sequence. Complicated character relationships. 

4. If you could get any tattoo, what would it be, why, and where? [If you already have a tattoo and would prefer to tell us about it and where it is, that’s cool too!]
I'm a sentimentalist so any tattoo would have to mean something. I have lots of friends who are like "eventually you just forget about it" but I'm like "no I think I know myself and I'll always want this expensive scar to mean something." But maybe I'm just being a pompous man and I'll prove myself wrong. 

With that said, get your barf bags ready. 
As I said, I'm a big reader so I've been compiling this list of favorite quotes and I want to possibly get a sleeve of quotes by my favorite authors (Kundera, Beckett, Coward, Coates are the only ones on the list so far) (Kundera breaking down "Litost" is what started it: “Litost is a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery,” - The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera") in some font I like. Not Helvetica, sorry nerds. If I ever can imagine not loathing myself for getting it that would be the tattoo I've thought most about big. 

Before that it was a Sharingan on my eyelid so I think I've grown at least a little.

5. If you were a cocktail, what would your ingredients be and why? 
Root beer. Guess you'll have to ask, huh?

6. Why should we see this show? 

You won't be bored.

For more information, visit scratchingtheplay.weebly.com

"Scratching" is getting published by Indie Theatre Now. Check out this interview with Britton Buttrill!

Scratching with Indie Theatre Now

Do you ever write about the people you grew up with (family, friends) and how have these people and the place where you grew up influenced your work?
My work is almost entirely influenced by my childhood in the South. I grew up in a small town about an hour outside of Atlanta, GA. My teenage years were spent on the backs of pickup trucks drinking cheap beer around bond fires. There's nothing I regret about growing up Southern, but I did feel the need to leave for New York in order to escape some of the more unpleasant aspects of that culture. In terms of writing about the people I know, I don't write from autobiography. Rather, I try to take the spirit and essence of the people I grew up around... my family, my closest friends etc.. and portray Southern conflicts in a critical, yet empathetic light. "Scratching" in particular, is my response to the melding of worlds- That is the metropolitan and the rural, demonstrating how those world-views collide. The play is partially about how we are tied to places, like it or not. The spirit of home is something I believe we can't escape from. This play is about the conflict between isolation versus intimacy, in addition to aspiration and failure seen through the lens of millenial characters who are fighting to survive in the blue collar South. 

Why is it important for you to be a writer as opposed to any other profession?
This is a cliche, but I feel like there's nothing else I can do. I've always written, but I planned on becoming a lawyer when I started college. After a horrible Summer interning for the GA Governor's office, I realized that I wanted nothing to do with that world. I started writing plays my sophomore year of college and I guess it became more or less an addiction. Taking a risk in order to move to New York to get my MFA in Playwriting wasn't an easy choice, but it's one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. 

What do you do when you are not working on a play (your hobbies, interests, theater related activities, teaching, etc.)?
When I'm not working on plays, I'm watching cheesy horror movies from the 80s, socializing, and exploring New York. I'm super interested in True Crime. There's also something really incredible about the group of young theater artists in the city. The Flea, Ars Nova, and EST are hubs for work that gets me jazzed. I also work as a tutor in History, Political Science, Writing, and English Lit. 

Are there things in this play that have happened to you or to others you know?
The title "Scratching" comes from a term used in the tattoo community– Scratcher. A scratcher is someone who tattoos illegally, usually with terrible results. I know several licensed tattoo artists back home who gave me an entry into that world, letting me shadow them while researching the play. In terms of the events of the play... Very little actually occurred. The few things that did, I'll keep to myself. 

What is it about live theater that attracts you most, that keeps you revved and jazzed to work in this form? 
It's fast, its communal, and it's REAL. You can do things in theater that you can't do in any other art form. When I saw Adam Rapp's "Wolf in the River", we sat on stools in the round with a huge pile of dirt in the middle. Actors strung a rope over the audience. An actor crawled across the rope above a ravenous group of wolves. There's no other art form that can do that.

We closed this weekend to great houses, a lot of laughs, and touching moments.  You can read Sarah Weber's review for Theasy here.  Her bottom line: 
​The school mystic predicts the school skeptic will be the next Virgin Mary, beginning a farcical rabbit-hole of miracles that no one’s prepared for... Whatchamacallit will induce laughter for any audience. Religion is a touchy subject, and Schmitt has found an approachable way to encourage people to laugh about their own relationships with faith.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to making our show a success - our donors, audiences, creatives, and extra hands alike.  We are grateful to have created this world and to have shared it with you.  

Stay tuned with TSR for what's next, coming up this summer!

7Find out why Margie is grabbing Vanessa's face [left image], what Vanessa, Trudy, and the Nurse are staring at [center image], and why Abigail is visiting Florence [right image].
Sat 5/7 @ 3pm
$5

Photo Credit: Hunter Canning
Featuring Miranda Poett [left] and Claire Buckingham [right].

Three days of tech, two previews, and a lot of love went into getting us ready to open tonight! Join us for some good laughs, inconvenient miracles, and this powerhouse of female performers.
The Secret Theatre @ 7pm.