This week I interviewed staff team member Karen Weinberg – a 44 Plays for 44 Presidents co-author and official Festival Video Wrangler! 

What drew you to being involved as a team member in the Festival?

I liked the idea of “getting the band back together” and also approaching the show from a very different angle – managing the video component. It’s going to be interesting to see how it all comes together with so many different contributors. I’m excited to see how the different producing entities approach their videos, and it will be a fun challenge to weave them together into a single virtual festival experience.

Do you think it’s different — helpful, weird, fun, etc. — to be both a writer of the play and one of the key Festival staff?

To me, being a co-author and now festival Video Wrangler is like watching my kids grow up. We content creators tend to see our works as our “babies,” and I feel so proud and happy this baby is getting the chance to mature and grow.

What do you hope people seeing the show take away with them?

I hope people will have a fun entertainment experience and accidentally learn some things.

What do you hope people producing the show take away from the experience?

This show historically sells well and is a crowd-pleaser; I hope it smashes expectations with the festival momentum. Smashes them, I say!

If you could have one wish… like someone who would come see it, some sort of endorsement or amazing outcome… what would it be?

With Obama’s recent support of gay marriage and getting the Affordable Care Act signed into law, I’d have to say my fantasy is that Barack and Michelle have a date night and decide to come to a production of the show in this year’s festival. However, in reality I hope he’ll be too busy getting reelected.

Karen Lynn Weinberg, in addition to being one of the co-authors of this play, has helped create sketch comedy shows with Cupid Players and GayCo. Her one-woman show, Faker, toured the country, and she appeared in the Off-Broadway remount of Seussical as Gertrude McFuzz. As a film and television editor, she has cut episodes of several different series for the History Channel including Clash of the Gods and MysteryQuest; other editing credits include the feature films Frozen River, Racing Dreams, Certainty and One Night Stand. Karen’s film production company Ten Trees is currently in development for pilot. www.tentreesproductions.com