We recently connected with Larry Pellegrini and have shared our conversation below.
Larry, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I believe my resilience came from the belief that success was always just around the corner and that I could not stop until I went around every corner in my career that was presented to me. During the course of my career as a playwright and director, I have had many opportunities to give up but I instead believed that my success as an artist was always near. I could feel it, taste it and was always inched forward by determination to continue no matter what.
Whenever I felt discouraged, I just sat at my desk and wrote. – continuing to create for an audience somewhere.
Stopping has never been an option, my resilience is in my blood and will shine as long as I breath.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I began writing plays when I was ten years old, in the fourth grade of primary school and have continued to teach myself to write and then direct plays. I studied some in college at NIU in Dekalb, Illinois, but my real education was working with other struggling artists fighting to have our work seen. I arrived in NYC in the late 70’s and worked at the 13th Street Theater and a woman named, Edith O’Hara, gave us free reign to write, direct, produce and she introduced us to the downtown community below 14th Street and I grew accustomed to going to La Mama and the other temples of art in the Village – Edith always encouraging me to go. I did a gig at Macy’s as Santa Claus and learned the art of being present for each child and then I booked nightclubs where I eventually met Nancy Cassaro and she brought me into her performing group called “Artificial Intelligence” from which shows like A Very Vicki Christmas and eventually the interactive play “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding: developed. We opened this play in 1988, garnered great publicity and started a run Off Broadway but we never stopped working on and developing the play over it’s initial year run in the West Village. We didn’t think about publicity, we just thought about the work. Now I am Executive Director for a Virtual Theater Company, Virtual Arts Productions and we are about to present our 3rd Season of an online New Play Festival. We created theater for the masses on Zoom with single casts from Hawaii to London and we do 10-12 new plays a year. We are also creating our first podcast “Dangerous Drag Queens.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities would be.
Tenacity. Never give up
Consistent Creativity. Always searching for new ways to present theater.
Heart. Being the kind of person who loves and respects fellow artists and their passion.
I believe you can always develop your creative skill by listening to others and their ideas and to develop a vital community of other artists who will freely give you feed back and appreciate the time spent together.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
The most impactful thing my parents did was to let me be myself. When I wanted to leave home to leave college, move to LA and start a career as a writer, they hugged me and told me they loved me and always stood by me through my struggles. When I had plays that closed Off Broadway, they would be there for me encouraging me to move forward telling me the life was a series of success and defeat, valleys and peaks my Mom called them.
Having parents who believe in you and to whom you can take your work to for their enjoyment is a blessing beyond compare.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://virtualartsproductions.org
- Instagram: @Virtual.Arts.Prods
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VirtualArtsProds
