Brian Rott on RED, WHITE AND COUP

The RNC rolls into town next week. So y’know....there’s that...
This weekend Quasimondo Physical Theatre opens a critical theatrical analysis of the events of the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021.  Red, White and Coup runs throughout the month at an immersive space on the North Side. Writer/Director Brian Rott took some time out to answer a few questions I has about the show for a preview I’ve written for The Shepherd-Express. He was nice enough to let me post the entirety of those responses for The Small Stage....


The Small Stage: January 6th, 2021 was horrifying and disgusting on a whole bunch of different levels. Not a whole lot of people would have taken a look at what happened and though, "Y'know? I think this would really work onstage." Where did the specific inspiration come from?


Brian. Rott: I’m actually surprised that we haven’t seen much in way of plays or popular media addressing January 6th. Someone recently said to me that politics don’t mix well with theatre.  I think there may be some truth to that, regarding not wanting to alienate half of your audience, but for myself and our ensemble this piece isn’t about spreading a political agenda or fueling partisanship. It’s about presenting the truth and history of what we know happened. Jan. 6th was horrifying. I remember stopping my day to follow the TV coverage, as did probably a lot of people. We remember those images, but I think most people don’t know the details of how we got there. They don’t know that Jan 6th was the result of a meticulously crafted plan carried out  by dozens of people, and more so how it could have gone much worse if not for a few individuals who stood up to adversity. The inspiration first came  because I followed the televised January 6th committee hearings which fueled my interest to learn more, and my research led me to believe that this is an important story to tell now, in our City of Milwaukee, as a companion piece to hosting the RNC and their presidential candidate nominee, in an election year where history has the potential to repeat itself.


The Small Stage: The events of January 6th were crazy and chaotic on a number of different levels. How are you bringing that chaos to the stage? How are you framing the action of history for the production?


Brian. Rott:The show follows the events leading up to January 6th, the day itself, and a little of the aftermath to the present day. With an abundant amount of story to tell, we focused on the planners - Donald Trump and his lawyers, the foils - public officials who opposed their actions to overturn the election, as well as a handful of rioters who marched on the capital. I think the show follows the chaos of Trump’s team grasping at straws and spreading misinformation to the physical chaos enacted by marchers at the capital on January 6th.


The Small Stage: Quasimondo shows always manage a really engaging sort of a surrealistic circus atmosphere. How are you using that energy to peer into January 6th?


Brian. Rott: Entering the world of politics, pundits, lawyers, and Washington D.C, is new dramatic territory for us. Our goal was to write the script from available public sources; news articles, court filings, press conference transcripts, etc., many sources of which were somewhat dry. We were faced with the challenge of how to convey this story factually while also making it digestible and entertaining. This is where the fun came in. While most of the text is “on the record”, we’ve taken a number of liberties playing with form and switching style to create an accessible piece that showcases the spectacle and circus of politics. In many cases we didn’t need to add much, as the content alone proved absurd enough as is.


The Small Stage: The space of the North Milwaukee Arthaus has a lot of space and a lot of potential. How are you staging that space for the purposes of the show?


Brian Rott: Our building, the North Milwaukee Village Hall was built in 1901 as an all-in-one municipal building for the Village of North Milwaukee. We’re staging the production upstairs in the main hall, which was utilized as the primary hub for community events and local politics until 1929. I think of this performance at the Arthaus as site specific, given the building’s history in housing local politics and serving the public, which serves the content of “Red, White, and Coup” perfectly, and creates an immersive environment to experience the show.


Quasimondo Physical Theatre’s Red, White and Coup runs July 13- 27 at  North Milwaukee Arthaus on 5151 North 35th St. For more information visit Quasimondo online.