Q&A with LAB! Theatre's Rob Piscitelli

The LAB! Theatre's first mainstage production of the Fall 2017 season,"Duck Hunter Shoots Angel," explores life in the South. Staff Writer Krupa Kaneria spoke with Rob Piscitelli, a sophomore dramatic art major and director of the play, about its production. 

The Daily Tar Heel: What is "Duck Hunter Shoots Angel" about? 

Rob Piscitelli: The play is about this tabloid company that hears this story about these two duck hunters that apparently shoot an angel. The tabloid company sends one of their writers down who used to work in the South to cover the story, and the show is about if there really is an angel or not. As the truth comes out in the story and as the writer continues to explore the South in the story, he learns about himself and the past as well.

DTH: Why did you choose this show for the first mainstage production of LAB! Theatre’s 35th anniversary?

RP: The reason that I chose to direct this show with LAB! is because, with the election last year, the southern community tends to get a bad representation as being ignorant and all of the things that you think of when you think of the Deep South. Growing up in the South, I know that a lot of those things aren’t true at all, and the show does a good job of illuminating that. There are a couple of moments where the show talks about race issues and sectionalism versus the North and South with comedy.  

DTH: What other shows will LAB! Theatre also be presenting this season?

RP: This season, we are doing Next to Normal, which is a musical, in November. In December, we are producing this play called Memory Lane in which we are having a bunch of student writers write scenes. We are going to take all of those scenes and compile them into a show and have that show be performed. That way, we can have the whole process put up. 

DTH: How long have you guys been preparing for this show?

RP: Personally, I have been preparing for this show since last year, when I first had the idea to do it and I first got the script and started doing the pre-production work on the script. The actors and us as a team have only been preparing for about a month now. The full month of September has been our rehearsal time. 

DTH: What was it like directing this show?

RP: When directing this show, I took a whole different approach. We did a lot of movement work and a lot of finding the bodies of our characters and how that makes us feel and how it makes us walk and talk and took that as our basic understanding and brought that into the work. Rather than taking it from an intellectual point of view, we took it from a physical and emotional point of view. 

DTH: Were there any difficulties that came with this show specifically?

RP: There are difficulties with every show, but with this one specifically, it was playing with the dialect and trying to tell the story in a way that accurately captures the characters. Some of them are “redneck” as you would say, but we tried to capture them as humans and not just as characters.

DTH: What are some highlights of the show?

RP: I think some of the highlights of the show are honestly the actors’ performances. We focus on how the characters interact with each other. All of the leads have stunning performances; so if you come for anything, come for the acting. 

DTH: Why should people come out to this show?

RP: Well first of all, it’s free and it’s a comedy — two things that are fun to go to. Likewise, it’s also a story that talks about ideas of fake news and reporters making up stories, as well as the sectionalism idea. People need to come see the show so they can have another look at the way things are. 

@krupakaneria

arts@dailytarheel.com