A Face Behing the Mosaic: Serge Seiden
In December 2020, Mosaic sat down with members of its staff to get to know them a little better. Here’s what our Managing Director and Producer, Serge Seiden, had to say for himself.
Mosaic: What is your favorite play?
Serge Seiden: The play I am most fond of directing is My Children! My Africa!
Mosaic: And why’d you choose that one?
Serge: Athol Fugard’s writing is so simple and so beautiful. The characters and plot are real and very specific - and at the same time tragically universal about the human condition. To prepare for the play, the set designer and I spent 10 days in South Africa on a research trip. The whole production was inspired by that trip - it was spare and minimalistically poetic, which emphasized the passion and detail of the characterizations.
James Brown Orleans and Veronica del Cerro in My Children! My Africa! Studio Theatre.
Photo Courtesy Stan Barouh.
Mosaic: How would you describe the type of Theater that most excites you?
Serge: I am moved most by intimate theater based in realism and also highly theatrical. I crave tour de force acting and bold simplicity in design.
Mosaic: What are your professional and artistic aspirations, and who’ve some or your biggest inspirations been?
Serge: I’m living the dream, but would love to direct plays more as well as make the theater a more equitable place for all artists to thrive. As far as influences and inspirations: personally - Mr. Rogers and my mother, Dr. Frances Wills. Also my German and Latin teacher from 8-12th grades - Dr. Lore Ferguson. Artistically I’d have to say Joy Zinoman, the Founding Artistic Director of The Studio Theatre - and the designers Russell Metheny and Debra Booth.
Mosaic: If you could create a dream performing arts organization with endless resources and possibilities, what would its mission be?
Serge: I’m trying to do that.
Mosaic: If you could make Mosaic anywhere, where would you do it?
Serge: Someplace tropical. Bali?
Serge and his boyfriend Iwan atop active volcano Kelimutu on Flores island in Indonesia
Mosaic: I want to give you the chance to talk about something besides theater, as a kid, was there a character in TV, Movies, Theater, or book that you related to? In general what kind of stories excited you?
Serge: I remember loving The Lord of the Rings series - which I later read aloud in its entirety (all four volumes) to my son at bedtime. For a while I wanted to be an archaeologist and enjoyed the book Gods, Graves and Scholars. The Secret Garden was my favorite book in elementary school. As far as TV goes I loved Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Saturday Night Live…and I watched endless game shows like Match Game and Hollywood Squares. For movies I’d have to say that Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet is burned into my memory.
Mosaic: What kind of animal person are you? Are you a dog person or a cat person? Possibly a lizard person, bird person, or fish person?
Serge: I grew up on a small farm with Tippy the one-eyed dog, Leo the cat, a bunch of chickens, subsequent pairs of pigs all named Wilbur (my sister’s name is Fern) and a pony named Tiger Joe. I also had a fish tank, kept snakes and hamsters at various times. I’m currently a dog and a cat person. Illian, my boyfriend’s Bengal keeps our house free of mice. His two Saluki’s walk me at least once a day. But overall I’d say I’m a houseplant person! I have one ficus tree still that I saved from my apartment hallway in 1992!
Mosaic: How did you go from growing up around animals to loving plants so much?
Serge: My grandmother was an avid summer gardener. She lived in Manhattan during the school year, but in summers she taught me about gardening.
Mosaic: You said you grew up on a farm, can you describe your journey before you came to Mosaic?
Serge: I grew up in Maine, but my parents are from the Bronx. They were back to the land hippies and we moved to rural Maine to an old farmhouse on 130 acres of land in 1970. After HS I went to Swarthmore College and immediately after that moved to DC in 1985. I’d always been a singer and actor through HS and College. At Swarthmore I sang with 16 Feet, an a capella octet. In DC I worked for a US Senator - and started taking acting classes at Studio Acting Conservatory in 1986. That’s when I got serious about the arts.
Serge and his son at a protest in Washington DC
Mosaic: That’s amazing, so how did you end up working in theater full time?
Serge: I was an actor (and temp) for 4 years, got my Equity card and then applied to grad school. I was on the waiting list at NYU when I was offered a fulltime job at Studio Theatre as Literary Manager/Resident Stage Manager.
Mosaic: If you could go back in time 10 or 20 years and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?
Serge: If I gave myself advice back then I wouldn’t be where I am now… and I have a lot to be thankful for… so I probably would be scared to go back and tell myself something that would change my life and thus where I am now. I guess I sound too literal and neurotic saying that - so probably I should tell myself to have more fun.
Mosaic: To wrap this up, what is your favorite memory of an arts organization impacting its local community?
Serge: I know artists can be impactful in more socially relevant ways which I applaud. For me, I love to watch my acting students discover Shakespeare. As an artist this might be the most impactful thing I do in life. As an artist/educator opening hearts and minds to something that was previously opaque is endlessly revitalizing. No matter how hard it is each time there is pleasure in it for the teacher and the student. Creating this conduit to a new world I hope is something that impacts the student’s life for years to come and primes them for a life in art or in the greater enjoyment of it.