Post-Mortem Chat on "Call It Love".
ECLIPSE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ANDREW SEOK SAT DOWN WITH COMPOSER, ACTOR,
SINGER, THEATRE CREATOR, AND ECLIPSE ARTISTIC PRODUCER CHILINA KENNEDY
FOR A POST MORTEM CHAT ABOUT ECLIPSE’S RECENT CONCERT PRESENTATION OF
‘CALL IT LOVE’.
Andrew:
Congratulations on an amazing run of ‘Call It Love’! What was the
experience like for you, producing a show in the middle of a pandemic,
outdoors, socially distanced, etc?
Chilina: It was amazing. Honestly and truly. Everyone from the cast and
crew and musicians were all fantastic to work with. The venue was so
accommodating and helpful, and we had such a great team to tackle
everything Covid related obstacle that was thrown at us. Was it an ideal
situation? Of course not. But was it an incredible experience?
Absolutely!
Andrew: You and Eric have been working on Call It Love for a few years.
What was the original inspiration for the show?
Chilina: The original idea was brought to me by Evan Tsitsias and
Sara-Jeanne Hosie. They thought my album ‘What You Find In A Bottle’
would work well as a song cycle. When it was clear that the show needed
a writer, Eric came on board and wrote the book of what is now ‘Call It
Love’.
Andrew: How personal is the story of ‘Call It Love’ to you?
Chilina: The story is entirely fictional, as are all the characters.
Though the show was loosely inspired by my very personal album, any
songs we ended up using have been rewritten and altered to fit the plot
Eric came up with. I also wrote a handful of new songs for the show, and
Eric and I are continuing to develop the book, music and lyrics. It’s
been so wonderful collaborating with someone as smart and sensitive as
Eric, as I felt he understood and connected to my music right away.
Andrew: What did you and Eric take away from the concert presentation at
the Museum?
Chilina: We learned so much from having an audience - hearing what was
funny, what touched people, etc. We learned a lot about how they felt
about the characters, especially our newest character, the Nurse. We’ve
already made significant changes to the show since the end of the run,
including the addition of another new character and we’re so looking
forward to doing a full workshop as soon as we can!