Meet Rupert Spraul | TheatreMaker
We had the good fortune of connecting with Rupert Spraul and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Rupert, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
“OOPs” was borne from a single crystalline vision. A nagging idea that became our first production “Romeo and Juliet: A Fool’s Paradise.” For years it was just an idea within me, then I met Hannah Gregory and she encouraged me to make it a reality. So we did. We co-founded One Off Productions. Assembled an inspired team. We worked so hard, with no end or gain in mind but the satisfaction of having realized a vision.
We are One Off Productions because we take it one show at a time. There is no pressure to pump out a certain number of shows. We have no interest in curating a season. Each show is a singular event. A precious ecosystem. A stand alone vision. A one off.
OOPs is a playground for nagging ideas and collaborative spirit.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My personal journey with theater started, like many people, in high school, where I fell in love with the theater community as an integral part of myself and my identity. I studied acting at CCM and my acting journey has brought me all over the country, from New York to Montana, and that has helped me realize what my priorities are as a theatermaker.
I will always be an actor, but my main interest has shifted from acting to directing, devising, and producing.
I believe theatre is communion. In an increasingly personally isolated world theatre continues to provide an essential ancient communal expression. To be in a room where real human beings are breathing and expressing and creating a singular event is to be a participant in its creation. A film can play to an empty room and it will always be the same. Because it isn’t alive. A live theatrical performance can never be the same, try as it may. Every laugh, cough, smell, breath, creaking chair, distant siren, surprised silence, piece of clothing on a front row audience member changes it. Every unacknowledged seemingly irrelevant happening in the lives of each actor and each audience member actually changes it. It is continually discovered. Every performance of every show has its singular birth and death.
I am so grateful to all the theatre artists who have been involved in these productions. For investing their care and time and for the openness and generosity of their spirits.
Being an independent artist is a precarious and frugal existence. But more than that its is cosmically fulfilling and communally enriching. There is nothing to motivate our creating art except for the drive to make something that might be beautiful or strange, and then sharing it.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
There’s a lot to engage with. There is a rich pool of theaters with many strata of missions and aesthetics. In OTR alone there’s Cincy Shakes, Ensemble Theatre, Know Theatre. I love our Cincinnati symphony orchestra and the historically beautiful Music Hall. There are free exhibits at the Cincinnati Art Museum. You can have a hotdog at a Reds game. Go canoeing on the Little Miami River. And there’s no shortage of beer in Cincy.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Hannah Gregory. She is the co-founder of One Off Productions, and OOPs wouldn’t exist without her. She is an inspired theatre maker. She is a professional actor, playwright, producer and powerful collaborator.
Website: https://www.rupertspraul.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/15DxcBhyBC/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Other: http://www.oneoffproductions.org/
Image Credits
Avery Brunkus, Mark Lyons, JonMarie Johnson
Nominate Someone: ShoutoutOhio is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
