Interview: Director, Alex Tobey of TRACY JONES at Art House Productions in Jersey City
Art House Productions, conveniently located in the heart of Jersey City, will be presenting Tracy Jones from October 19th to November 5th. Written by Steven Kaplan and directed by Alex Tobey, Tracy Jones is a touching comedy of individual connection in an increasingly busy world. The main character, Tracy Jones, rents out the back "party room" of Jones Street Bar and Grill: The Place for Wings and Things to throw a party to which she's invited every woman in the area who is also named Tracy Jones. Tracy sits for over an hour alone, nursing her Diet Coke, waiting for any other Tracy Joneses to show up, and help alleviate her epic loneliness. Through her encounters with the limited guests that attend, this hilarious play challenges the audience to question loneliness, connection, and why we do the things we do.
Broadwayworld had the opportunity to interview Alex Tobey about his career and Tracy Jones at Art House Productions.
Tobey is a Brooklyn-based stage director and creative producer obsessed with music, magic, and mystery. His work primarily focuses on new play development, musical theatre, queer collaboration, and immersive, non-traditional audience experiences. As a director, favorite credits include the world premiere of Kev Berry’s Rough Trade (The Tank), the pandemic live-streamed Harsh Cacophonies I & II (The Tank / CyberTank Productions), Savannah Reich’s participatory Caveman Play (Exponential Festival), the 20th-anniversary all-star concert of Paul Scott Goodman’s Bright Lights, Big City (54 Below), the unauthorized Rihanna bio-concert Good Girl Gone Bad (HERE), and Ian Finley’s site-specific marathon adaptation of the Oedipus trilogy, The Greeks (Burning Coal Theatre Company). He has worked as an associate or assistant director to Saheem Ali, Lee Sunday Evans, Dustin Wills, Jonathan Silverstein, Shira Milikowsky, and others. Alex is the Associate Producer of Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College and has been the Resident Director of INKubator at Art House Productions since 2018, where Tracy Jones was first presented at the inaugural INKubator New Play Festival. He has also developed new work with Access Theater, The Drama League, Abrons Arts Center, Ars Nova, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Bushwick Starr, New Ohio Theatre, The Brick, JACK, and Dixon Place. Alex was raised in North Carolina and holds a BFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University.
What was your earliest interest in the theatre arts?
As a kid, my mom took me to story time at the library all the time, as well as local theatre productions. I was hooked from an early age. When I was in third grade, I was obsessed with the movie Little Shop of Horrors and even made my own Audrey II puppet.
Click Here for the full BroadwayWorld interview by Marina Kennedy