Trump in Space: Star Trek Meets Avenue Q Meets Trump
INTERVIEW: GILLIAN BELLINGER AND LANDON KIRKSEY
BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO
Adding to the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival listings of theater in response to this year’s election is the new campy political musical Trump in Space. The musical is created by Gillian Bellinger and Landon Kirksey (book and lyrics); and Tony Gonzalez and Sam Johnides (music). Trump in Space is set 400 years in the future where humanity is divided among starships seeking a new home. The left leaning Starship California leads the rebellion against the still-in-power Trump regime led by Captain Natasha Trump and the mysterious Executive. In this Tin Pan L.A. exclusive writers Gillian Bellinger and Landon Kirksey discuss their inspirations and what audiences can expect from this new musical comedy adventure playing at The Actors Company Let Live Theater this summer.
What are each of your backgrounds in terms of theater and creating new musicals?
LANDON KIRKSEY: We both come from a Second City Chicago background, which is all about collaboration to create sketch revues, so we have a lot of experience doing that, but we’re also improvisers at heart so creating characters and heightening a scene is natural for us.
GILLIAN BELLINGER: Landon and I both come from an improv background. We both trained in Chicago at Second City as well as other places. So our training has always been about creating something from nothing.
How would you describe your musical in a nutshell?
LK: It’s a campy take on Star Trek and Star Wars tropes all while making fun of our current politics. What would the Trump regime look like if it went on for 400 years. And went to space. And everyone sang.
GB: The Earth has blown up. Humanity is on star ships searching for a new home. Good vs Evil, Trump vs Trump, plus music plus space.
What inspired you to write this show? Why tell this story?
LK: We were both feeling helpless right after the election and wanted to do something artistic to process that feeling. We’re both writers and performers and comedians so the thing we know how to do is to write and perform and to…comedy things. We’re also big nerds and wanted to play in the sci-fi universe.
GB: We wrote Trump in Space as a response to the election. We both felt like the election was a tragedy and the best way we knew how to deal with that was through comedy. We felt it was important to express our disgust with the current political climate. We both make choices to be involved as activists, but the show gave us an artistic outlet. It’s good to be reminded that you are not alone when things feel scary and sad, and it’s good to bring laughter into those moments.
When writing this piece where did you start?
LK: It started with just the idea of a Trump-led future on starships. We thought it would be interesting to have the captain of the ship be the great great great great granddaughter of Trump and for her to have conflicted feelings about the direction of humanity. And we went from there.
GB: Landon and I sat down one day, well he paced really, and we just spit-balled a hero’s journey. That turned into Natasha Trump’s journey and we built the details around what made us laugh.
How do you write songs? Which comes first, music or lyrics?
LK: The feeling comes first in the sense of “what is this character trying to say right now that s/he has to sing.” So we have a feeling, then write lyrics and then we collaborated with our wonderful composers Sam Johnides and Tony Gonzalez and they just nailed it every time.
How has the director helped you shape this show?
LK: Our director, Matt Zettell, has been instrumental in helping us find the comedy that wasn’t on the page. Beyond the usual improvisation that happens, he’s been able to stage transitional elements and physical bits that help support the tone of the show.
What can audiences expect from your show?
GB: Imagine Star Trek meets Avenue Q meets Battlestar Galactica meets Trump, plus music, plus space. It’s like an amazing mash-up and the audience gets to go on the journey with us and laugh, a lot.
What excites you most about this show?
LK: For people to see it! But really, it’s always fun to get talented people on stage and live in this goofy world for a while.
GB: I can’t wait for opening night. The music is amazing, the direction is awesome, the cast is great. Now we just need an audience. I can’t wait for opening night.
Tickets and Info:
TRUMP IN SPACE runs for five performances at The Actors Company Let Live Theater: Friday 6/3 at 10pm, Friday 6/16 at 11:30pm, Saturday 6/17 at 5:30pm, Friday 6/23 at 8:30pm, and Saturday 6/24 at 5:30pm.
ADMISSION: $12
RESERVATIONS: (323) 455-4585
ONLINE TICKETING: www.hollywoodfringe.org
