Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Fontanes.
Hi Chris, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always written. When I was a kid, I would fill tons of notebooks with little short stories about haunted houses and monsters and such. But I remember there was always this feeling of discontent with the things I had written. They never felt finished. They were just words on a page. They didn’t come alive like the horror movies I would stay up late and watch. So I was interested in a lot of different things — writing, psychology, folklore, art — but never interested enough in one of those things to ever commit to it. I found theatre in college where I signed up for an acting class on a whim. And I’ll never forget that feeling. It was like an audible click. Like, oh, this is where you were supposed to be all along. A year later, I directed my first play which I also wrote. No instruction, no classes. Just winging it. And then I wrote another show which I also directed. And then another. And then another. And that went on until 2012, showing up in Austin and not knowing anyone and doing a show in an underground semi-illegal punk venue called The Broken Neck for $500 that I didn’t have in front of a few friends. That was the birth of Bottle Alley, my little DIY theatre company. And that was ten years ago this year.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Any independent theatre director would laugh at that question. Nothing about doing independent theatre is smooth. Literally not one aspect to it. It was a struggle. It is STILL a struggle. I used to have to work whatever service industry job I had at the time — all day, on my feet — then catch multiple buses in the summer heat to get to rehearsal. Then rehearse until ten or later, go home, and then do it all over again the next day. And that went on for like seven years. YEARS! The main problem boils down to money and to a lesser extent space. If you have lots of money, your options for a space are a lot wider. But let’s say you were like me in the beginning, working at Starbucks for like ten dollars an hour. Let’s say you have no money. What then? There are so many brilliant young directors out there facing this same problem. You adapt. I’ve staged shows in living rooms, warehouses, the woods, barns, art galleries…literally anywhere that would let me I would think to myself, eh, I can make this work. Forget money. Money isn’t going to make a show great. What matters is PASSION.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My theatre company is called Bottle Alley which I founded in 2012. We self-describe our style as DIY Punk Theatre. Even though BA’s style has changed over the years, I would definitely say that our attitude has not. The way I describe Bottle Alley is, quite simply, “theatre that doesn’t suck.” I think I set out to create the kind of theatre that I would want to see as an audience member. Another way to describe it would be “theatre for people who don’t like theatre.” When people think of theatre they think of like, Shakespeare. Which they associate with being boring. Which it isn’t but for people faced with the language barrier, it can be challenging. And there’s a lot of bad Shakespeare out there. Heck, there’s a lot of bad THEATRE out there. Most people will go and watch a play once and if it is boring then they’ll write it off forever. So I think to myself how can we bring people BACK to the theatre? How can we make them part of the show? How can we illicit emotions from them? How can we make them feel something? I always think back to the favorite pieces of performance that I’ve seen and think okay THAT. How can we capture THAT?
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Find someone who you look up to and, quite simply, go up to them and ask for advice. And listen to their advice. Never stop learning. And don’t start thinking you know everything just because you have some experience.
Contact Info:
- Email: bottlealleytheatrecompany@gmail.com
- Website: bottlealleytheatre.com
- Instagram: @bottlealley
- Facebook: Facebook.com/bottlealley
Image Credits
Winter Kane, Errich Peterson, Chad Wellington
