Meet Efrain Schunior | Theater Director, Sound Designer, Podcast Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Efrain Schunior and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Efrain, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I created The Sideway Society as a way to produce audio content for the Tori Amos community. We create a time capsule for every song with quotes, analysis and standout live performances. I have been a fan of the music since I was a teenager, and I had an idea to build a history show around the incredible songs. I have always tried to bring ideas to fruition, rather than just leave them sitting in my brain, which I attribute to being a theater kid and studying Directing in grad school. A lot of times when you’re Directing a play everyone looks to you to have the ideas, so you really have to be constantly engaging your creative side. The drive of actually seeing an idea through comes from the (sometimes terrifying) fact that Opening Night will happen regardless and there will be an audience.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My name is Efrain Schunior and I am a Mexican Director and Audio Producer living in dtla. I moved here from Las Cruces, NM to go to UCLA where I earned my MFA in Directing. As a first generation college grad (actually my mother and I graduated on the same day), I created The Sideway Society with a friend as a way to produce work, as I found it very hard to produce things I wanted to in Los Angeles. We have produced theater, short film and audio for the last ten years or so. You only get so many opportunities to tell a story in this life, so I want to make sure every story I am a part of is rooted in my experience as a gay person of color. Big city girl with a small town heart. Having been here for nearly 20 years, I’ve learned it’s incredibly important to be nice to everyone, but not as a means to an end. This city can bring out the best and the worst in people and you never know anyone’s struggle, so just be a nice person. Also, yes National does intersect with National, it IS confusing.

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.
Welcome to LA my dear friend! These are the things I have lined up for you this week!

First thing we’re going to do is go to Venice Beach and grab a little bite at Coucou. If their perfect martini doesn’t knock you out, we’ll take a stroll along the boardwalk and take some pictures. Then, surprise!! I have rented us a little boat from Canal Pals so we can go paddle through the Venice canals and pretend we’re in Italy. Since we’re already on the west side we’ll do dinner at Tar and Roses. I know you want to try In n Out and you can, but I also want you to try what I think is a great burger place in town: The Apple Pan!

Day two we’ll do the typical Runyon Canyon, Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Sign trifecta since I know this is your first time here. We’ll do drinks at Mama Shelter, I’ll show you the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and we’ll end up spending too much money at Amoeba Records. We’ll eat at some greasy burger place like Hollywood Burger, and finish the night watching something at the Pantages.

Day three: DTLA and beyond. Before we go to The Broad, you’ve gotta check out the Last Bookstore, and Grand Central Market. I’ll also take you to the stunning nature gardens at the Natural History Museum, which honestly I like better than The Getty gardens. We’ll do dinner at my favorite Indian restaurant Bad Maash before we do the gay bar crawl – Precinct, New Jalisco, and Kiso (if it’s open yet). Stumbling and laughing out of the bar at 2am, we’ll order LA Cafe.

Day four, we need to bring it down a notch because I’m worried for your liver. I’ve booked us an hour at Float Lab, that sensory deprivation tank I was telling you about! It’s amazing. We can do lunch at Green Peas on Sepulveda and dinner at El Carmen on W 3rd St. In between I’ll take you to the Museum of Jurassic Technology because it’s very cool. We’ll end the night at Wi Spa detoxifying.

Your last full day here, I’ll try to fill with all the other things you need to see here. The Museum of Tolerance, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, REDCAT, a movie at Alamo Drafthouse, pancakes as big as your head at The Griddle, eating at this incredible Korean restaurant Dan Sung Sa, hand rolls at KazuNori, a play in the amazing Los Angeles Theatre Center run by the Latino Theater Company, and the best late night tacos you’ll ever have from the taco truck always parked at 6th and Main st.

Also I don’t mind driving you to the airport as long as you fly out of Bob Hope which is much easier to get in and out of – you’ll have the best airport experience of your life!

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?
I would like to shout out my Directing mentor at UCLA, Jose Luis Valenzuela. His brutally honest critique of the work pushed me to strive for truth and meaning, and taught me that the story is in the details. I also would like to shout out my wonderfully talented comedian friend Pete Zias, who gave me the opportunity to produce the first dozen or so episodes of his hilarious podcast Cha Cha Heels. I learned a lot from that experience, and I’m forever grateful.

Website: songsoftoriamos.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iieeef/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SongsOfToriAmos/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheSidewaySociety

Image Credits
Designs by Jack Foster, Reggie Doherty, Efrain Schunior and Amanda Hawkins