Q&A with director Alex Koceja

Alex Koceja, a senior drama major, is one of the three directors for Pauper Players’ “Broadway Melodies 2013,” opening Friday. His show is entitled “The Avengers Convention.”

Staff writer Rebecca Pollack spoke with Koceja about the musical, his love of superheroes and how they influenced the piece.

Daily Tar Heel: What inspired this show?

Alex Koceja: I wanted to write a show that would appeal to a lot of people, and with “The Avengers” movie that just came out, it sort of signified this universal appeal that superheroes have.

And at the same time, I am a huge nerd and always wanted to write about the San Diego Comic-Con because it’s such a unique environment.

Combining the two was a unique way that I could appeal to everyone’s love of superheroes and these movies and also to expose this somewhat hidden world of Comic-Con.

DTH: What was the creative process like?

AK: I had written one of the songs previously, so the first thing I did was I tried to adapt the songs that I had written about the Comic-Con to “The Avengers.”

That was a very difficult process, but once that was done I wanted my show to mirror the plot of the real Avengers.

The characters in my show … are nerds dressed up as superheroes. The actual fighting and aliens and ion blasters couldn’t be a part of my show, but I tried to think of a story line that could parallel that of the movie.

DTH: What have been some challenges you have faced?

AK: One of the most challenging things was casting.

This year had such a huge turnout at auditions. We had so much talent that it was a chore trying to fit everyone in that we wanted.

Once we had our cast, (it was) matching up every person with their part, which involved tinkering with songs to make sure everyone could sing them.

The biggest challenge has been time because we have had five rehearsals and we open in five days…
It’s incredible how far we’ve come, but it’s even more incredible how much farther we have to go.

DTH: Can you tell us a little bit about your show?

AK: We focus on two brothers who come every year as Mario and Luigi. Mario is more popular than Luigi at Comic-Con.

Luigi starts to get upset and tries to explain that he wants more of this credit.

Mario says “no,” so Luigi eventually goes crazy and changes his outfit into that of Loki from “The Avengers.”

We end up with this ragtag group of six random nerds who each transform into one of the six Avengers.

The Avengers seek to take down Loki, whose goal is to take down the Comic-Con at all costs. They must save the day through song and dance.

DTH: What can the audience expect from your show?

AK: They can expect to laugh a lot and yet still experience some feelings of true emotion.

Some of the themes of the show are legitimate — regardless of how off-the-wall the lyrics and costumes may be.

They can expect to be thoroughly entertained for about 40 minutes, and they’ll walk away humming a song or two.