Quarantine Q/A: DAVID CHORLEY

David Chorley

by Gil Benbrook

Our series of "Quarantine" interviews, which focus on individuals involved in the Phoenix theatre community and their reaction to our current stay at home mandate, continues today with a conversation with local actor, writer, director and Mesa Encore Theatre's Artistic Director David Chorley.

COVID-19 has affected us all in many ways. The theatre community has been harshly impacted with show closures and postponements. We hope this series of daily interviews will be a way to provide some personal insight to what people are doing during this period of time while highlighting familiar individuals from the theatre community in town.

Was there a show you were in or involved with or preparing for when the stay at home order started?

"Not even joking, we were in the middle of Act 2 of Shrek during our closing performance when the stay-at-home order was announced. Shrek was lucky and got to finish its run. Reefer Madness was not as lucky. Reefer was completely staged after rehearsing for a month and we were about to have our first designer run when the show was cancelled. The Legend of Robin Hood was also just starting production with auditions already being underway when we had to cancel that production as well."

How have you been personally impacted by our current situation?

"Personally, I've been extremely lucky.  My day-job is thriving, and I work from home anyway.  I have essentially been preparing for this quarantine for a decade now. My wife and I bought a house in April of 2019, but theatre commitments have dominated our schedules the last year. Quarantine made it possible to work on dozens of projects and it's been nice to get things done. "

How has your daily routine changed?

"Weekdays haven't changed a whole lot actually. It’s the weekends that I find myself enjoying more. I just do not normally have entire weekends free. There is usually some commitment I have to MET or some show. I also work a 9/80 which means I get every other Friday off from work. So I've had three 3-day weekends so far in quarantine!  It's with this time I find myself really slowing down and enjoying myself.  I've been taking walks, listening to old music, re-connecting with friends, gardening, cooking, reading.  All things that I have trouble doing with a full theater schedule."

What do you feel will be different when theater restarts?

"MET is unsure of its current black box space.  We are an 80-90% that we will either be moving out of that space or will be drastically downsizing.  Nothing is certain at this point but as the 2021 season starts up I can see that being the adjustment that will be the most difficult to get used to.  The quarantine has definitely taken its toll."

When do you think that’ll happen?

"Our lease is up 7/31 - so there will be some changes coming by August 1st, what those changes are, we don't quite know yet."

David Chorley (right) in Little Shop of Horrors (2008) Maverick Theatre
photo by Heidi Newell

What have you been doing to stay creative during this time?

"MET has done 4 virtual shows since quarantine began and I have participated in all of them. I’m a film score collector so I have been really nerding out and have used this time to organize and re-connect with older scores from my collection. Just sitting down and having the time to enjoy music has been really nice. I listened to the score to Heartbeeps yesterday! 1981? Andy Kaufman movie where he plays a robot. Look it up. Enjoy. Oh, and that’s a John Williams score btw.  I have also been quite nostalgic and have been editing old family home videos together and Chelsea and I have finally decorated our living room."

Any binge tv shows you’ve watched?

"I'm a 70-year old in a 40-year old’s body so I binge Jeopardy and Forensic Files - but I would have done that anyway.  I watched Tiger King in two days and The Last Dance documentary on ESPN has been fascinating, started Veep and am ashamed to say that I never really watched The Office until now (American version) Already at season five! I have also been using this time to catch up on movies that I have not seen the last 5 years.  I watched Death of Stalin, Whiplash and Parasite finally and those have been the best three movies I've seen thus far in quarantine."

Any new hobbies you’ve taken on?

"I will use the word hobby very loosely here - but I have been exploring my culinary skills more and more."

How has this experience changed you?

"Theatre has dominated my life, for better or worse. It’s been very eye opening to see my life without it taking over the conversation. "

What is the one thing you’re most looking forward to now that the stay at home order is beginning to get lifted?

"Going to the movies.  I have been worried about the state of movies for some time and covid-19 did not help this.  I enjoy going to the movies and seeing movies in groups and will continue to do so as long as I can. Going to the movies may never be the same after this however."