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1100 Playwright Interviews

1100 Playwright Interviews A Sean Abley Rob Ackerman E.E. Adams Johnna Adams Liz Duffy Adams Tony Adams David Adjmi Keith Josef Adkins Nicc...

Sep 30, 2016

I Interview Playwrights Part 877: Scott Sickles



Scott Sickles

Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA.

Current Town: NYC! Or more specifically, Forest Hills

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  A few things, actually.

I just got done outlining a new full-length play that I'm about to start drafting.

I'm whipping up a 10-minute play for our Out of a Hat series at the WorkShop Theater Company: each playwright is assigned 2-3 actors whose names were picked out of a hat and has to write a 10-20 minute piece for them. I'm writing for the enormously talented duo of Jackie Jenkins and Heather Massie. The play is called The Fallow Garden and I'm experimenting with a new genre for me: American Gothic! It's fun.

I'm working on rewrites to my full-length play Composure in preparation for a spring production on the WorkShop's Main Stage. The play just won the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Full-Length Script, but it's already changed a great deal since the last production in June 2015.

Now I'm working with my director Fritz Brekeller (who also received an IT Award for his direction of the play) and artistic director Thomas Coté on making the script tighter and going deeper with the characters and their relationships.

I'm also a scriptwriter for General Hospital, so that keeps my busy. (Before anyone asks, YES, it's still on! At least I hope it still is at press time...)

Q:  Tell me, if you will, a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a writer or as a person.

A:  I had a fairly horrifying childhood for the most part, so I think any individual story might be too bleak or simply spawn eye-rolls as it challenged your readers' willing suspension of disbelief. (There are times even I don't believe it.)

I was the elder of two siblings (I still am) growing up with a depressed paranoiac father who also suffered from social anxiety disorder and the joy that is intermittent explosive disorder (it's a thing; it's exactly what it sounds like; and yes, the initials are IED), and a toxic narcissist mother.

In that environment, the adults are constantly either not remembering the troubling things they say and do or they're re-interpreting it. So as a child and especially as a teenager, one has to keep track of What Really Happened because the narrative of one's life is going to be disputed by authority figures.

One also has to explain things like "No, Dad, nobody broke into the house and moved your checkbook. You just left it someplace else on the table." (I'm not exaggerating. This happened constantly. This explanation was utterly implausible to my father. He would NEVER have put it where it visibly ended up. Someone HAD to have sneaked in the house and moved it just to mess with him. May he rest.)

In such circumstances -- mind you, nobody in that house was a drinker or drug user so we didn't even have that pathology going for us -- one remembers exactly (or close to exactly) what people say and how they said it... thereby developing an ear for dialogue, a flair for drama, the ability to immediately picture the worst case scenario and how you can make it even more horrible, and a penchant for escapism.

Bonus Trivia! My father was of German-American descent, my mother is Korean, and they're both racists.

Is that too much? Are you picturing Thanksgivings?
(Actually, our Thanksgivings were relatively peaceful. How's that for weird?)

Q:  If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?

A:  I would encourage professional theaters and producers to take more risks with unknown or not-yet-widely-known writers.

I've seen, dramaturged, and produced so many playwrights with terrific stories that often don't get seen after their Off-Off-Broadway Equity Showcase productions.

There are some brilliant and potentially brilliant writers out there taking risks with genres and subject matter... or even elevating good-old-fashioned stories through their own unique voices. They need support and a venue.

I've seen staged readings of unfinished plays that blew me away even more than some Pulitzer and Tony winners... plays that I can't summarize to other people without laughing out loud or choking up because even in the retelling from my faulty memory, the power of these undiscovered narratives continues to resonate.

(Of course, I've seen some great Pulitzer and Tony winner and some abysmal staged readings of unfinished plays but those aren't what I'm talking about now.)

I also support confiscating and even disposing of people's fucking cell phones if they use them during a performance.

Seriously, take no prisoners!!!

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Tennessee Williams and Tony Kushner, not because I want to write like them (I don't think anyone really can write what they do), but because they always want to make the art better. It doesn't matter how many accolades a play racks up, they revisit their work and rewrite it.

Also, early on I was influenced by John Guare who I did want to write like! (Oh, how I tried!) House of Blue Leaves and especially Six Degrees of Separation became part of my bones right away. In fact, after reading Six Degrees of Separation the first time, I literally threw the book against the wall screaming (in my head, I think) "I'm not worthy!!!"

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theater with both a strong narrative and a bold theatricality.
I love a well-structured play but I don't think that a good structure is a formula or a cookie cutter. I love it when the story plays with form and style.

Equus (which sadly I've only read) is such a crazy bold play both in its story and in how Shaffer wrote the stage imagery. It sets the imagination on fire right off the page. I read when I was probably too young and slept with the lights on that night.

There are two plays I've seen that stay with me more than any others.

The first is Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, which I saw three times during its last months Off-Broadway. (I'm going again in November.) To tell such a beautiful story in such a... I don't even know how to describe it. Immersive? Post-modern?
I think a great maxim to follow is "Whatever works!" The Great Comet changes styles and devices on a moment's notice, sometimes drastically, and every moment works within itself and contributes to being somehow greater than the sum of its parts.

The other is Robert Lepage and Ex Machina's The Seven Streams of the River Ota which I saw at BAM in the 90's. It's about 8 hours long, told over two nights, and consists of seven interconnected one-act plays, each about an hour in length... oh, and there's a prologue and an epilogue!
Its use of stagecraft -- two-way mirrors, puppets, opera and farce, multiple languages and translators, the utility and versatility of the set which was somehow contained in one pagoda-like structure -- as it explored the 20th Century from 1945-1995 was epic, intimate, indelible and perhaps the most superlatively THEATRICAL thing I've ever seen!

Q:  What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?

A: 
1) Work with people who aren't already your friends.
2) Work with people who are much older than you are because they have craft, technique and, best of all, great stories!
3) Never underestimate the power of human loneliness to motivate your characters and raise the stakes.
4) Playwriting is never truly solitary. First, you have your characters; then you have your collaborators; finally, you have the audience.
5) Don't go to the blocking rehearsals. They have nothing to do with you.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  The WorkShop Theater Company's Main Stage production of the rewrite of Composure is scheduled to happen from April 27 to May 20, 2017.

In Composure, a controversially timed production of Romeo & Juliet leads to a modern-day star-crossed romance between two men whose past tragedies and traumas suddenly encroach upon the present.

Watch General Hospital at 3:00 p.m. weekdays on ABC! (check local listings)
Seriously, try it... you'll like it! 

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Sep 24, 2016

I Interview Playwrights Part 876: Laura Rohrman


Photo by Jody Christopherson

Laura Rohrman

Hometown:  Penngrove, California

Current Town: New York City

Q:  Tell me about your upcoming show:

A:  I have two upcoming shows in New York City this fall.

“My Life As You,” a full-length romantic comedy, opening September 23rd at Shetler Studios and another short one-act called “Monster’s Ball” opens on October 6th as part of the Thalia Festival.

“My Life As You” is a psychological romantic comedy that centers around one woman’s journey of self-discovery. It’s set in Chicago in the late nineties. It’s fun and sexy. The two strong female lead characters dive into an intense battle to find something in this world that will ground them. It’s the big existential crises of being in your early twenties. Neither woman really knows who she is yet or what she wants. The women face this dilemma in charming and alarming ways. So in essence, it’s about that deep search we all go through. And on the simpler side, it’s about maneuvering through friendships, break ups and getting ahead in our careers. It’s really a survival booklet for your twenties.

This play was produced 10 years ago and I was surprised that it went over so well. We had sold-out shows and standing ovations. Obviously the subject of self-discovery is universally understood. We also had a remarkable cast: Kelli Porterfield, Ashley Wren Collins, Stuart Lopetan and Jeff Branson (who was on “All My Children” at the time). The play was directed by the fabulous Fritz Brekeller.

Q:  What else are you working on now?

A:  I’m working on a play called “Reporter Girl.” It’s about the life of my maternal grandmother, Dale Messick, who created “Brenda Starr Reporter,” a popular comic strip that debuted in 1940 and lasted for over 70 years in print.

I also have a TV show in development.

Q:  Tell me, if you will, a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a writer or as a person.

A:  I grew up on a mountaintop that seemed like the middle of nowhere to me. My mom raised my brother and me as a single parent and she worked; so we were often home alone, especially in the summers and after school. The walk home from school after the bus dropped us off was a hot, uphill mile that occasionally put us in danger – a giant rattlesnake sunning itself in the middle of the road. Or the time the angry bull got through the fence, a bee sting, a dog attack, a fall into a blackberry bush, a terrible bike accident where a girl’s teeth got knocked out. It was bucolic.

In contrast to this country life, we annually visited my grandma Dale Messick who lived in Chicago in a fancy apartment overlooking Lake Michigan.

My granny Dale was wild and crazy. She wore purple stockings, lattice boots and had dyed red hair like her famous cartoon character “Brenda Starr.”

On one of our visits she took us for a walk down Michigan Ave and an entire block of Sax 5th Avenue was devoted to “Brenda Starr” couture. All the mannequins were dressed up like her characters and she designed all the fashions. She’d also let me rummage through her walk in closet there were boas, fur coats, all kinds of fancy hats and wigs. She’d dress me up and I loved it. On another visit she took me to the musical “Annie” and I was hooked.

As the writer I would become, I do notice my plays have a vintage and glamorous feel to them. There’s also a spooky and very quirky style to my work. I excel in dark humor and mystery. My plays are very unexpected. My plots are usually complicated and not always sane. My characters are outsiders trying to get somewhere. That makes a lot of sense, since so much of my youth was spent devising how I was going to get off the mountain and go somewhere and be someone, but…to where and be who?

Q:  If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?

A:  I wish it wasn’t so expensive to produce theater. It’s impossible to make any money back on the small projects. I see so many doors closing.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Of course I’m a huge fan of some of the great playwrights: Shakespeare, Chekhov and O’Neill. But my real heroes are the theater people I’ve met along the way who have encouraged, mentored, embraced and/or enlightened me.

Le Wilhelm is high on my list for being my first New York City mentor. When I first got to New York I auditioned for him. And I handed him a play of mine to read. He cast me in his play, and the next day he said: “I read your play and I love it. Let’s do it.” Of course I had no idea that getting a play produced in New York wouldn’t always be that easy. He produced my first play and I’ll be forever grateful because it gave me so much confidence. Carolyn French from the Fifi Oscard Literary Agency mentored me as a junior agent while I worked there in graduate school. She had a great eye for talent and picking plays. She taught me how to work with writers and critique plays. Both Le and Carolyn are now gone and I miss them so much. Other heroes are some of the directors I’ve worked with: Fritz Brekeller, Ian Striker, Jeff Lewonczyk, Jamie Ramsburg and Erica Gould for being so good at what they do. I love meeting a director who is 110%. I thoroughly enjoy sharing a project and meeting really creative and inspiring people. This includes the set, lighting and sound designers who are so crafty. My biggest hero at the moment is Lin-Manuel Miranda for creating “Hamilton” and for giving us hope that theater is alive, spectacular and worth talking about.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I really like unconventional plays; I love breaking into time and space. The play needs to be truly original in either concept or storytelling to pull me in.

I saw lots of theater this year (for the first time in ages). “O Earth” by Casey Llewellyn at Here Art Space stands out as my second favorite after “Hamilton.” “O Earth” was crazy, big, funny, unexpected and so smart. I love that the play deconstructed Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.” Having the familiar story and characters gave me something to grasp, while the writer just took off in several dimensions. It was superb. And then there was “Hamilton.” I guess I am a sucker for history and “Hamilton” is such a New York experience. It’s historical, grand and beautiful, soft and poetic. It just reached in and stole my heart. I literally couldn’t stop smiling for days. I’m still smiling.

Q:  What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?

A:  See theater! Support your friends and colleagues by seeing their plays. Go to readings. Volunteer like you are drinking water. Do not make it just about you. Keep on writing and pushing yourself. Read. Work. Have a life. Get better. Learn to take criticism like a champ. Focus. Hang out with people who are better than you. Be kind. Whatever you do, do not get discouraged or bitter. There are ups and downs. Sometimes you’ll be up and sometimes you’ll be down, it’s part of the business. Wait for it, the up with come…

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Okay, my friends are doing gangbusters, so I have lots of plugs:

My friend Maria’s Michaels upcoming reading at The Workshop Theater on October 9th -
http://www.workshoptheater.org/workshop-events/2016/10/9/following-the-madness-of-diane-arbus

My play “Monster’s Ball” coming up in October with the Thaila Festival
http://www.eventbrite.com/o/the-thalia-festival-cast-c-10933301100?utm_campaign=thalia_festival_playwrights_ticket_info_comps&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=2016-09-12

Nedra Mclyde is starring in Adam Bock’s new play at Playwrights Horizon’s

My friend Aurin Squire is writing for the show This Is Us which debuts tonight on NBC!

And finally my super talented friend Todd Komarniki wrote the screenplay for the movie “Sully.” To me “Sully” is an example of a well-written script in the hands of a masterful director (Clint Eastwood) and the film’s star seals the deal: Tom Hanks nails it. Go see it!

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Sep 12, 2016

875 PLAYWRIGHT INTERVIEWS





A
Sean Abley
Rob Ackerman
Liz Duffy Adams
Johnna Adams
Tony Adams
David Adjmi
Keith Josef Adkins
Niccolo Aeed
Nastaran Ahmadi
Derek Ahonen
Kathleen Akerley
Ayad Akhtar
Rob Askins
Chiara Atik
Forrest Attaway
David Auburn
Hannah Bos
Leslie Bramm
Benjamin Brand
Jami Brandli
Jennifer Fawcett
Joshua Fardon
Caitlin Saylor Stephens
Ariel Stess
Vanessa Claire Stewart
Nelle Tankus
Kate Tarker
Jona Tarlin
Judy Tate
Roland Tec
Lucy Teitler
Marina Tempelsman
Cori Thomas
Matthew B. Zrebski 
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