Making a name for yourself in St. Louis as an independent producing director is anything but easy. Doing so as an immigrant from Kenya with no institutional affiliation of any kind makes it even harder. But Martin Sophia keeps pushing himself, posing new challenges.
In his new show It Wasn’t I! (which plays January 25-27 at The Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar Blvd.), Sophia set himself the challenge of directing a thriller for the first time.
“The challenge is when you to capture the audience’s attention and give them something to think about during and after a show. That is a challenge I readily accepted,” Sophia said.
“This is actually my first thriller I have directed. This time around I will not be on stage much, since I wanted to really concentrate on directing and also be part of the operating the sound and music for the play.”
It Wasn’t I! tells the story of Maggie, a flight attendant who lives in an isolated house. She has invited several of her friends to celebrate her birthday: Ann, another flight attendant, engaged to Steve; Jenny, a neighbor who is later joined by her husband Peter; and Terry, a pilot and Maggie’s latest lover – or is he?
Lastly, Martin comes in unannounced, saying he has a painting for Maggie. The only problem is that Maggie is nowhere to be found. Her guests become increasingly uneasy, and tensions start to develop between them. “As the story enfolds, the celebrations take a sinister turn,” Sophia said, “and we learn the guests are a mixture of innocent and strange and … dangerous.”
After the challenge of rehearsing and staging the production comes an even more formidable challenge in St. Louis, a city with more live theater than live theater supporters: drawing a crowd to watch it.
“The challenge still remains in St Louis of getting an audience, but I still continue to push on,” Sophia said. “Everyone can dream. I say as long as you are dreaming, dream big that someday all the hard work and effort will pay off. The inner satisfaction is there.”
The play is written by British author Brian Cook, though Sophia adapted it for the American stage.
Show times are 7 p.m. Friday, January 25, and 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, January 26 and Sunday, January 27. Tickets are $15 advance, $20 at the door. For tickets, call 314-757-4527 or visit http://martinsentertainment.brownpapertickets.com/.
