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By funsherpa, June 10, 2010 11:49 am

Cheap Living with Stuart. Photo by Julie Michelle of ILiveHereSF.com

With the economy shafted and seemingly stuck in a rut and coupon sites popping out like rabbits, Funsherpa sits down with the expert in living cheaply. Stuart Schuffman, the brains behind Broke Ass Stuart, shares his thoughts on cheap travel, cheap New York, and more importantly cheap dates. So stop splurging around and start living the Broke Ass lifestyle!

F: How did you end up starting your broke-ass living cheaply guides? Have you always been looking for the best bang for your buck since you were a kid?
S: I started off by selling zines, which are little pamphlet thingies that you can make from photocopying and stapling at a copy store. The zine was Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco and I distributed with my backpack, the bus and my two feet. At the peak I was in probably 25 or 30 stores. I did a couple versions of it, then ended up doing some writing for Lonely Planet, and eventually found my book deal on craigslist. Yeah, I know how ridiculous that sounds. For a long time I told people I always seem to come through the back back door and then I realized why all those conversations ended so awkwardly.

As for looking for the best bang for my buck, I’ve just never been into fancy shit. I appreciate real interactions with real people, not ones who are trying to make you think they’ve got more money than they actually do. So I think I’ve always been attracted to places like diners and dive bars. My whole thing is that, I’m not necessarily cheap, I’m just broke. So I’ve structured my life to make it as fucking awesome as possible while spending the least amount of money. It seems to be working out so far.

F: It’s that time of the year for fresh college grads wondering how they’re going to survive now that they’re in the real world? What’s one important broke-ass tip that you can share with them?
S: If it burns when you pee, go see a doctor…that’s not the kind of tip you’re looking for is it? Um, I think if I was to give college grads one serious bit of advice it would be this: do what you love and work your fucking ass off doing it. If you do that you’ll figure out a way to pay your bills somehow. If that doesn’t work, you can always just try extorting someone.

F: Say someone is traveling to New York on a real tight food budget, like $10 for food a day? What places would you recommend hitting up?
S: That’s a tough one because there are just so many places to eat for cheap in NYC. One awesome one is Fried Dumpling (106 Mosco St. btw Mulberry & Mott Sts.) in Chinatown. You can get 5 dumplings for a dollar there. But actually there are a bunch of places that do deals like that in Chinatown. I think your best bet though is to go to either The Alligator Lounge (Williamsburg), The Crocodile Lounge (East Village), or The Charleston (Williamsburg). They give you a free personal pizza with every drink you buy. Yeah really. So that way you can kill two birds with one stone. Those fuckers are geniuses they deserve Nobel Peace Prizes.

F: What suggestions do you have on a cheap date, without fear of being called ‘cheap’?
S: Cheap dates are easy. Motherfuckers just want you to seem interesting and thoughtful. Have a little picnic with some cheap wine, then stroll over to one of the museums on one of their “pay what you want” days. Or you can do what I always do: go to some shitty Brooklyn dive bar and drink until you want to have sex with each other. Or better yet, combine the two for super awesome date time!

F: Lately, there seems to be a trend for all these ‘daily deal’ sites, What are your thoughts about it? Any favorite sites?
S: Those deal sites are a brilliant idea. I don’t really have any favorites because they are all pretty much doing the same thing. All I know is that I wish I’d thought of that shit first, then maybe I wouldn’t still be broke.

F: Can you suggest some broke-ass budget friendly countries to travel to?
S: Budget friendly countries? Generally any country you associate with hating America is gonna be budget friendly. I think they hate us because they’re afraid wankers like me are gonna go over there, buy up a whole province for $35 and start running shit like a tyrannical medieval lord. You better watch out Krygyzstan your ass is mine!

Really though, if you’re traveling on the dollar, stay out of the US and Northern & Western Europe and you’ll be fine. Go to Thailand, Vietnam, or Cambodia and you’ll think you died and woke up as Jay-Z.

F: On what things are you or do you suggest not being frugal or cheap on?
S: I buy $50 Levi’s jeans because I wear the shit out of them, like 6 months straight. So If I know something is gonna last me awhile I don’t mind paying extra for them. Same goes with something that has a lifetime guarantee. I really wanna buy this pair of $150 Doc Marten’s because they have one of those guarantees. Plus, I really wanna join a Riot Grrrl band.

Also, I imagine cheap tattoos are not a good thing either. Those shits are permanent; you don’t want some weird cross-eyed junkie fucking up.

F: You’ve been pretty successful with your broke-ass living cheaply guides for San Francisco and New York, and the ‘goddamn’ website, any other upcoming projects that you’re thinking about? A new city? A TV show perhaps?
S: Why yes, yes I do. I’m currently working on a new book that’s gonna be like a “General Guide to Living as a Broke-Ass”. The problem is that my SF book is only for sale in the Bay and my NYC book is only for sale out there. This way I can spread my anti-consumerist propaganda throughout the entire United States. As for a TV show, that is certainly something I’m aiming for. I have poor decision making skills, a plethora of skeletons in my closet, and at least three pending paternity tests. I was made for the spotlight…or at least politics.

But for real. I wanna make some TV dammit. If Sarah Palin can do it, I sure as hell can. I’ve had diarrhea smarter than her.

Comments (1)

By funsherpa, June 1, 2010 8:42 am

Dana seeing without the rose colored lenses

Funsherpa chats with Dana Lynn Formby to discover the world of a blue-collar playwright.  Dana shares her interest in giving a voice to the working class and uncovers the secret three E’s of theater.  Her play, Inherit the Whole, will be starting a run at the Mortar Theater this Friday.

F: You’re often described as a ‘blue-collar’ playwright.  How did that come about and why make the distinction from other playwrights?
D: I call my self a blue-collar playwright because my father is a pipe-fitter and my mother was a hairdresser.  They loved and supported me and struggled with money their entire lives.  They rightfully told me I could be anything I wanted… I was an American.  Through the struggle of growing up, I learned, what the media told me I wanted was different from the reality staring me in the face.  I’m interested in taking off the rose-colored glasses I perched on the end of my nose as a kid.  I carefully assembled my glasses out of clippings of American dreams found anywhere from Glamour to Fortune 500. I write plays that question this rose-colored-cutout-pasted-collage, in hopes of preventing certainties that arise when blue-collar economics beg you to stop at your gender.  I do this to look past what the 2D American dream promises, and aim for the impossible.  Through my art, I strive to dismantle the barriers put up by economic classes.

F: We saw another online feature of you that mentions your fondness of listening to Cake to get into the writing mood.  Do you still listen to Cake to get yourself into the writing mood?  Or has your musical taste evolved since then?
D: Cake!  Absolutely!  There is something about how raw and dirty the sound is, that puts me in a nice bit of anger at the world.  This helps me see the obstacles my characters need to face.  Also, I love me some Chris Isaac.

F: As a playwright instructor with the Chicago Dramatists, how would you describe your teaching style?
D: I am a cheerleader.  I wish to empower my students to allow themselves the right to write.  I encourage them to ask questions.  I also ask them to teach each other what I have taught.  I believe the true path to learning is to teach what you know.  When you are forced to do this you realize you didn’t know it half as much as you thought.  And when you have to explain what it is your teaching, you yourself gain a deeper understanding for it.

F: How do you deal with hopeless students?
D: Hopeless is a strange word.  If you mean they don’t do the work there is not much I can do.  If it means they feel they can’t write, than it is my job to empower them.   As a writer there is always this critic sitting on your shoulder yelling at you, “You can’t do this!  You have no right to do this.  This is stupid.”  I encourage them to tell that critic to go eat a bag of chips because work needs to get done.  The critic can come back after you finish a draft.

F: Can you talk to us about your play at the Mortar, called Inherit the Whole?  Why talk about Vietnam now?
D: My father is a Vietnam Vet.  There is no me without Vietnam.  I honestly believe that half of him is still over there.  War causes a separation between all of the survivors of the war.  The country is at war again.  There are daughters and sons who will grow up with this same disconnect with their parent if they have served in battle.  Theatre has the ability to connect strangers through catharsis– through witnessing the journey of a character on stage.  It is my hope that writing about the past– Vietnam, we can quell the taboo’s of war for our soldiers coming home.  I hope lessen the gap between soldier and citizen. This gap will always exist but I believe through art, we may be able to reach over that gap.

F: Why did you bring in the element of the trunk of gold?
D: Honestly?  When my Granddaddy died, his brother’s came to his house looking for a big old bag of silver that my cousin Danny went with him to pick up at the train station back in the seventies.  We never found it.

F: Who did you create the play for?
D:  This is a rough question.  It’s something that an artist must ask themselves but is difficult to answer honestly.  This play came out of the chaos of living paycheck to paycheck.  I wish to give a voice to the working class.  I hope with “Inherit the Whole” Mortar Theatre is able to bring together people from different social economic backgrounds so that we can see our similarities are more in common than we think.  It is through our commonalities that humans find connection.

F: Who do you think will enjoy ‘Inherit the Whole’ the most?
D: People with a good since of humor who can laugh and get angry at the absurdity of life.

F: The story almost seems quite ‘melancholic’.  Is that an accurate description or is there more to what is presented in the play’s synopsis?
D: It is actually quite funny and quickly paced. I mean, men digging a hole in a living room!  Funny.  Dennis Zacek, the Artistic Director of Victory Gardens, keenly taught me the three E’s of Theatre.  First: a play must entertain, the next step is to enlighten, and finally, if we are lucky, the play will take us to a level of Ecstasy.  I believe all three are touched on in this play.  I also believe that I will learn so much about the play by witnessing how the audience reacts to the play.  I believe a production of a play is the playwright’s actual first draft.  The reason I say this is because the play behaves differently when it is on its feet moving around in three dimensional space.  Theatre is a collaborative sport and I am so thankful to have a place to play ball in front of a crowd so that I may grow past what I learned in graduate school.

F: How did you decide to share your play with the Mortar Theatre?  What was it like working with them?
D: I am an Ensemble Member here and I feel we are a great fit for each other.

F: What’s in store for your future plays?
D: Right now I am working a play called The Eve Maneuver.  The play is about a girl named Veronica,18, who wants to uphold the proud Semperfi tradition of her father, a Desert Storm Vet.  Determined to march in his footsteps, she unearths what it means to do or die, leaving her finger on a trigger as she decides between her patriotism towards her father and the heart she found as a child going to Sunday school.

F: Anything vastly different from the plays you’ve created?
D: Looking at what I just wrote above this question it would appear that I tackle the subject of war quite a lot.  I cannot deny that I am moved and feel a need to write about this subject.  But other plays I have written, do not touch on war.  I write very much from my heart.  It is hard for me to see the trees for the forest on this one.  I feel my plays are all very connected. Gender is something I choose to tackle as a writer. Some would say I have masculine plays and feminine plays.  I guess I have to say without one, the other cannot exist.  It is through my definition of masculine that I understand feminine and vice versa.  It is my goal to stretch myself as an artist while maintaining the honesty of my experience in the world around me.