So he might come back, get back to us a little bit later, but I just couldn't wait to interview him. So, Aditya, without further ado, as we do in this show, we kick off our conversation asking what are you doing with your life?
Aditya Lal Chadha
@adityalc · 1:34
But in life in general, I'm in grad school. I'm a play, right? At least I say I'm a playwright. I, like, do things. So I guess those are the two things that I currently do, is that I eat food and I write plays, and that's what I'm doing in my life. What are you doing with your life?
Rocío (Ro) Christensen
@rocio · 2:02
I have read your plays, and they're beautiful. You have such a unique voice. So I guess we can start with how did you know that you wanted to pursue playwriting at a graduate level? Is that right? How did you know you wanted to get a Masters? How did you decide that you were going to get a Master's in Columbia for playwriting?
Aditya Lal Chadha
@adityalc · 4:34
These are, like, playwrights. I've been married my whole life and then getting there. I've also been introduced to so many other writers and, like, some of my favorite professors, like Chuck Me, who, like, teaches how to write in a very weird, unconventional way. And, like, a large factor to that was, like, the faculty and sort of like this idea of I think it's, like, sort of like I don't remember who it was
Rocío (Ro) Christensen
@rocio · 4:11
In regards to learning from the Masters, that was actually reminded me of one of the things I learned at this intensive acting course or one of the things that the teacher said. He said that if you want to learn how to be great or how to have these real theatrical events or real theatrical moments, you got to have good words, you got to have good source material. And I think if you want to learn how to be really great, you do have to learn from the greats
Rocío (Ro) Christensen
@rocio · 1:52
Okay, wait upon contemplation. I have another question, because I love the language of creating theatrical events. I feel like I totally didn't acknowledge that, nor the beautiful phrase of building cities on stage, which I think I have never heard you say until now. And I can really, really see that reflected in the work of yours that I know. But I love the language of the theatrical event
Aditya Lal Chadha
@adityalc · 4:16
And I've always really been inspired by music, whether pop, country, the playlist you made me recently was very inspiring for many, many reasons. Currently been into this. I will sometimes get hooked on a song. So it's like a couple of songs now that I'm like. These are like songs I'm hooked on that I want to see how they manifest in my brain. And then also, I'm inspired by my life, of course
Aditya Lal Chadha
@adityalc · 4:32
But very rarely do you see something you're like, this is an event. And I think the last thing I saw that was like, whoa. Was top Dog underdog by Suzanne Laurie Parks, which is an amazing play. But I remember sitting there like, this is a theatrical event. The thing about it was just so raw. And then the other thing that I saw that I was like, holy crap. Like, this is a city
Aditya Lal Chadha
@adityalc · 2:51
There needs to be something that everything's engaged with, and it also needs to be accessible. I think it needs to reach audiences no matter who they are. I don't think you have to like, certain stories are for certain groups, and that is completely valid, but I think you need to allow people to experience it. I think another great example of a theatrical event that I was like, I really enjoyed was Ain't No More
Rocío (Ro) Christensen
@rocio · 2:42
And yeah, I was so sad to hear to see that eight Nomo shut down on Broadway, but it seemed like it was doing something f****** fantastic. And I 100% believe you when you said that it was a theatrical event. I also feel similarly about your reaction to when you mentioned Jordan
Rocío (Ro) Christensen
@rocio · 0:37
Okay, so part of this series is I want to ask people, like, for a piece of advice or a habit or something that they think I should do for five days, something that I should try to practice for five days. In the previous episode, I was told to practice listening to my intuition, which has been really, really good. I've been, like, keeping it in mind, and it's been good. But I wanted to ask that to you now
Aditya Lal Chadha
@adityalc · 3:04
Well, there is a sense of magic to that because there's a sense of I guess magic to me means a sense of, like, there is an artistic moment or make note of something that is an artistic thing or like a picture or something in your head that you're like, oh, yeah, that was sort of thing. Because even staying in bed all day, moffsack took that and went to the bank with it. Yeah. There is a beauty and laziness
Rocío (Ro) Christensen
@rocio · 3:21
I think that's really dangerous territory. And I get nervous when I see that on social media or when I talk to people that are younger than us. And that's kind of the vibe that I get that being cool is like, the end all, be all. Because if there's anything I've learned, is that being vulnerable and caring and caring a lot is the coolest thing. And I feel like I've learned that from you as well. And I've learned that with you
Aditya Lal Chadha
@adityalc · 4:16
Do you think that this is the be all, end all? Do you want just that? I don't know. I don't agree with it. I feel like I'm surrounded by a lot of apathy all the time, and there's a lot that I care about. Yeah, there are a lot of issues. I care about the idea that we have to be apolitical, apathetic, like, oh, the system is broken, blah, blah, blah
Rocío (Ro) Christensen
@rocio · 4:35
Need again to be doing to be doing more than one thing at a time instead of, like I don't know, I feel like I'm not allowing myself the full effect, the full connection to the movie or the show. If I also keep glancing down to read it or kind of spoil the end of the sentence before it's even out of the actor's mouth. So I've been trying to do that, and it's hard
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Aditya Lal Chadha
@adityalc · 3:01
It's something that you can have in the background that you look up, that you might get a chuckle from. And then you go back to your phone to be fully absorbed into it, which is interesting. And it's just like so horrifying. I don't think I have the balance. I think we are a generation. We don't have the balance. It's because we've had these our whole lives. We are not finding a balance with this
Rocío (Ro) Christensen
@rocio · 4:09
Quantity over quality always it will fill the void and then immediately leave you hungrier than before. And that's the way it's built. And that's why Emily in Paris exists and a million other shows to fill that void just a little bit. Because you want to hit next episode and skip intro and go straight into the numbness again. Yeah, I don't know. I think we haven't had enough of that yet
Aditya Lal Chadha
@adityalc · 4:51
Why am I ingesting this piece of media infamously? And I should go on the record here and say I'm not proud about what I'm about to admit. But I watch a lot of Family Guy and American dad, which I think are fantastic programs and I watch a lot of s***** reality shows like The Real Housewives
Rocío (Ro) Christensen
@rocio · 3:13
I think your writing has a very naturalistic tone to it, which I love, but it's interesting because I don't think reality TV has that at all. And so manufactured, and I think we're at the point where everyone is like, yeah, we know this is like, f****** manufactured, but we still like it
Aditya Lal Chadha
@adityalc · 4:32
Because I've seen people do this. I don't know, I can't explain it. I guess it's sort of like maybe how it's produced. Like the lighting of it essentially makes me engaged. I don't know, I feel like I really I engage with reality TV because it's like what I find to be the most people be like, I'm turning my mind off, I am turning my mind off