I Interview Playwrights Part 1100: Brittany Fisher

Brittany Fisher

Hometown: Richmond, VA

Current Town: New York City, NY

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  So I’m currently about to start the production process for my first short film, entitled Bleach, in my hometown this summer. I was commissioned by Cadence Theatre to be a part of a project called Sitelines BLM. This project was created last year, largely in response to the Black Lives Matter Movement’s outrage over more continuous acts of racial injustice. All of the pieces will be filmed in various historic sites around Richmond, VA. My script in particular makes mention of the controversy in our city surrounding the removal of the Confederate monuments (which landed RVA on the cover of National Geographic by the way) and explores true internal feelings of racial injustice through honest conversation and spoken word poetry. Though there is much work to be done, I have tons of love for my city. So getting the chance to create something for this project is very much a dream come true.

I’m also currently a fellow in Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwright’s Program, which always keeps me busy with starting new plays! Right now, I’m working on a new play centered around the stigma on mental health in the Black community. It’s been a difficult, yet exciting topic to shed light on and explore.

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


A:  You know how when you’re a kid, you go through this evolution of answers when it comes to the question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” And more times than not, you never end up doing what you though you would when you were six. I always wanted to be an “artist” but I had no real idea of what that meant. I thought I was going to be a visual artist, so my parents got me a set of paint and pastels, and a sketchbook and I’d send my work in to that kids show, “Pappy Drew-It” quite often. Then I thought I was going to be a musical artist. We had this organ in our basement, and I remember being like seven years old and figuring out how to play Mary Had a Little Lamb. Then I thought I was going to be a photographer because my dad was into photography in the 90’s, so I played around with disposable cameras all the time. Then I thought I was going to be a dancer, so I took classes, and trust me when I say that was short lived. Then I thought I was going to be an author, so I started out writing letters to my grandmother who had passed away when I was three, and those turned into poetry, and that turned into stories.

I think I used all of these things as outlets because growing up, I was painfully shy, so I didn’t talk much outside of my friend group, and I always followed the rules. So, with things like drawing, taking photos, or writing – I could do all of this on my own terms, and nobody could tell me I was doing it “wrong” or that I “couldn’t do it that way.” I never had my “rebellious” stage as a kid because artistry was always my way of being rebellious.

All of this to say, that’s exactly what kind of writer I am – rebellious. I like to focus on difficult or even controversial topics simply because that’s what interests me, and I’m never afraid of what the outcome will be because I’m only being true to myself as a writer. If I didn’t, I’d honestly be miserable and there’s no way I could keep pursing this as a career or anything else!

And I actually ended up being an artist after all, which is kind of insane to me. The hilarious part of it all is that I still have a genuine interest in all of the “artsy” things I thought I was going to do back then, and I do all of them as hobbies to this day.

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

A:  I’d definitely say accessibility is a big issue. I was nearly an adult when I got into theatre and was an adult when I saw my first Broadway show, but I remember one of my favorite poets, Carvens Lissaint, telling a story about a younger version of himself. He didn’t have a place to live, was couch hopping with friends and family all over NYC, and competed in poetry slams, open mics, and spit poetry on the trains for donations. Instead of getting food, he would save to buy tickets to see In The Heights at Richard Rodgers. That story really stuck with me, because I realized how much hardship I would’ve also faced as a young person trying to fund a passion for the arts.

And I can’t not mention that eight years later, Carvens played a lead role in Broadway’s Hamilton on that very same stage, so never stop dreaming friends!

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  I’m a big fan of Lynn Nottage! I can’t say that I would’ve pursued theatre as hard as I have thus far if I’d never read Ruined. That was one of the first non-Shakespeare plays that I ever read, and was the piece that made me say, “I want to write stories that make people feel the way I felt reading this.”

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Definitely experimental theatre. I love theatre that is surprising and unpredictable. Mainstream theatre is cool, but you can show me to the smaller, hidden gem theatres producing exciting new work any day.

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

A:  I would say stay driven by your passion because the journey probably won’t be linear. I started out just genuinely wanting to learn about and be immersed in theatre, so I interned at my local theatre. I was honestly never looking to be in a position where anybody knew my name. That’s not to say don’t have big dreams/goals. You absolutely should! But for me personally, the rejections were somewhat easier to take and didn’t completely throw me off track because at the end of the day, I knew I’d find a way to do this whether anyone knew me or not. Just remember why you started and why you continue to pursue it!

Also, refrain from writing off opportunities as too small or not worth it, because you never know who you might meet or who might be watching!

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  

brittanynfisher.com

Instagram: lightsrise

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I Interview Playwrights Part 1099: Gabriel Torres

Gabriel Torres


Hometown: Bucaramanga Colombia

Current Town: New York City, NY

Q:  Tell me about Haus of Dust.

A:  Haus of Dust is a new campaign to bring awareness about substance use in latinx queer communities.  The project was born from a play I started writing back in 2018 about my inability to overcome meth abuse; after therapy, coming out about it to my family and friends, a couple trips aiming to overcome it… and feeling nothing helped, I decided to succumb to writing.  When I finally overdosed and ended up in a hospital bed, I completed the play. This all happened with the support of Alice Eve Cohen who mentored me throughout the process.

So, Haus of dust is a campaign and a play… and more!

I have been focusing on community engagement work in the past two years.  I arrived to community organizing because I didn’t feel storytelling and theater were being enough for me… I love art and stories, and I believe in representation, but honestly it is not enough… representation is only the beginning, an ignition to create space for the people who deserve justice and visibility.  In my journey as a young community organizer, I vowed to never produce one of my plays again as a solemn play.  From now on, I will be utilizing my artistic practice in intersection with the communities, the themes, subjects and topics of my work touches upon.  Haus of Dust being so personal, also raised a concern to myself about wether I wanted to feel I was commodifying from my own story.

As covid-19 progressed, with the support of a development residency at Loisaida INC, we decided to conceptualize a campaign around the story.  Now, we are building a prototype for a phone game that if successful (In the years to come) could help patients going through programs and/or people dealing with substance abuse, a tool for realizing anxiety and cravings on the spot. We are also fundraising and developing an on-site garden with OSS project and Loisaida INC, to create a truly open space for people looking to connect and create community surrounding the issues that oppress them.  I think what has truly helped me heal is the support, love and availability of my family and friends, way beyond any program I have been part of.

So…

Haus of Dust the show, is an immersive film installation (Created as such due to covid-19 complication and the involvement of ten actors).  The audience is invited to join us at The Abysm, a bar in the abyss, the place between the living and the dead.  In here, through screens, ten souls will tell us their stories about substance abuse or their connection to such, hoping to transcend and move into the beyond. The show doesn’t only touch on my story, but it offers a whimsical interpretation in pressing matters such as: native South American female bodies being exploited for labor, human trafficking, the importation of Coca, (our South American sacred leave into the United States as powder), my own stories of love, heartbreak, immigration, sexual abuse and resilience as a Colombian Cis Gay Male. While the show is clearly dense in content, we are presenting it in a way that is stimulating, whimsical and somewhat meditative? Somehow, without looking for it, my work always tends to have a meditation in between. In the making of the show, we also involved the community by making shrines and altars, hosting singing classes, and moralizing Loisaida with neon markets!

Haus of Dust is a feast for the senses.  It is a very honest and real project, aiming to shed light on what we cast as shadows, and aiming that doing so will open pathways of true and heart warming connections in our community. To heal, we need to heal together.

I want to take a moment here to list all of the amazing artists involved in this project:

Haus of dust

with

Music by Vanessa Rappa
Choreography by Fernando Moya Delgado
Ritual Dramaturgy by Salomé Egas

Scenic Design by : Aoshuang Zhang
Projection design by : Taylor Edelle Stuart
Sound Design by: Patricio Jijon
Lighting Design by Vicki Bain
Technical Director: Ted Charles Brown

Shrines made by Julia Justo

G Interviewed filmed by Rene Castellanos

Camera Assistants: Artyom Petrov
Manuela hurtado

Film edited by: Lia Nessim Macia
Subtitles by: Captioning Star

Photography by David Oramas
Photography Make Up by Sterling Tull

Cast:

G - Gabriel G Torres
MC - Vanessa Rappa
Dust - Fernando Vieria
Stardust - Fernando Moya Delgado
Unnamed - Anthony O’connell
Arcane - Janelle Lawrence
Pacha Mama - Salomé Egas
Lucky Allie Marotta
Grenade - Samantha HerreraDeath - Jasmine Dorothy Haefner

Q:  What else are you working on?

A:  Ah! While Haus of Dust is happening, I will be engaging in a residency at The Lighthouse in Governors Island with The Beam Center, as part of a newly formed collective named Mycellial Collective, this was created with incredible artists I met at EMERGENYC 20’. We will be creating a showcase of works in progress by the collective.   The piece I will be developing is actually the first play I wrote, Dreamless, which is based in the real story of Sergio Urrego, a queer Colombian Teenager who took his life as an act of reclamation from the systems that oppressed him and bullied him. In the show, he wakes up in limbo, a theater where an audience stares eternally.  And in here, due to his actions, he is punished to re-live the same day over and over again, until his angel seed sprouts, he takes over the system, and transcends to the unknown. (You can clearly see a pattern in my work here…) I am quite obsessed with rituals and transcendence, and the afterlife.

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

A:  This appears on Haus of Dust, spoiler alert!

When I was six years old, I had a recurrent dream.  I dreamed about an angel falling from a meteorite, and from its light, the angel would descend upon me.  When the angel is close to me, his skin turns inside out, and he tries to devour me. After my dream, I would wake up, walk from my room in the second floor, to a studio overlooking the garden on the first floor. In this studio, I would sit in the floor, waiting for 

Lucky, the golden labrador in my house, and Rebecca, the wingless parrot my uncle picked up from the streets to come over, and there I would spend the rest of the night, looking into the animals, my friends, and into the stars, wondering if I would ever find a way to express how I felt, and if so, how.

And I think I did,
and possibly it doesn’t make sense,
but I’m here, still observing, still sensitive,
still living, still standing quietly.

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

A:  I don’t think I’d change theater at large, as I believe theater is life, ignition, the beginning of community, the beginning of myth, storytelling, performance. I would change the rigidity of American theater.  I would dare us all to think beyond logic, to understand through sensations and feelings, and not expect to be always given the secrets of the making.  I would change the constraints of our work, and how institutional it is, and with this, all systems of discriminatory hierarchies that truly don’t serve us.  I would truly dare us to utilize our power to be a magnifying glass for those who need it, and not for our desire to put on a show.   I would connect and communicate.  I would reinvent what public in theater is.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  This is very hard for me but here goes my answer:


Irwin Piscator, for his innovation and resilience.
Enrique Buenaventura, for his Colombian traditions and horizontal making,
Santiago Garcia, for Teatro La Candelaria and interdisciplinary theater,
Eugenio Barba, for making of story something anew,
all the tribes in South America that precede colonization for using performance to care for the land,
All the theater artists I’ve met who are honest, able to honor their work.
And my 16 aunts for the pompous representations they make of themselves.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I feel like I answered this somehow, but the bold! the crazy! The illegitimate, the unseen, the theater that represents us properly, that dares for a brighter future, the theater that is spiritual and for the soul, and that vibrates as energy of communion.

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

A:  If you feel like writing,
    write,
        in
            any,
                format,

you desire.

If you feel like flying,
fly, wingless or not,
fly between the symbols,
and their meanings,

make of story,
your most,
desired, perfect,
imperfect,
way of expression.

Put down what makes no sense,
what craves to be explained,
what intrigues your curiosity,
what calls you out to be seen,

Follow your ingenuity,
follow your identity,


Don’t sell yourself.

After all, it is only language that remains,
and the memory of it being spoken.


And the memory changes,
but what you remember,
is what matters the most.

You’ll get there,
and so will I,

we will find our voice,
every day, and every hour,

We will find our voice,

if we,
       decide,
           to
               not
                   shut.

And write.


Q:  Plugs, please:


A:  IG:
@hausofdust
@gabrielgtorrest

Websites:
Iamdust.org
gabrielgtorres.com

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I Interview Playwrights 1098: Deena MP Ronayne

Deena MP Ronayne

Hometown: Chelmsford, Massachusetts. The son of my grammar school music teacher was a

background illustrator for The Simpsons and the Springfield town hall on the series is

modeled after the Chelmsford Public Library.

Current Town: I currently live in Aberdeen, South Dakota. After I grew up in MA, I spend over

17 years in Orlando, FL and then moved to the midwest when I married my husband. Aberdeen,

SD is his home town and now it is my home.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: Usually, I am a producer through my company, Hardly Working Promotions LLC, but when

COVID hit, I had the time to try writing my own play for the first time. That play is called

“Triple Bypass: Three Ten Minute Plays About Living for Death & Dying for Life.” The

Aberdeen Community Theatre joined forces with me and we made a video of a full production

and I have been putting it in virtual fringe festivals ever since. My next goal is to bring this play

to life in person in several cities around the world with local casts and crews in 2022.

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

person.

A:  As a small child, I wanted to learn how to partner dance, I watched Dirty Dancing a lot…and I

mean A LOT. There were no resources for teaching that kind of dance to a 6 year old where I lived,

so I would play the movie and act out the scenes with my extra large Gumby doll. The lift scene did

not go very well.  However, when I think back to my thought process at the time, I see an

unwillingness to wait around for what I wanted, I did my best to create it for myself. This sums up

my growth in the entertainment industry in general because projects are kind of like children

(you can love someone else’s project but never as much as you love your own) and if you don’t find

what you are looking for, the only last limitation to get where you want to be is your imagination.

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

A:  Accessibility across the board needs a major and long overdue overhaul. If I could wave a magic

wand, there would be theatre opportunities for participating and viewing in the most oppressed and

distant areas, there would be one central spot for all audition notices, and there would be an

abundance of diverse artistic grants that don’t take a magnifying glass and a professional fundraiser

to find, apply for, and receive.

Q:  What are your first memories of theatre?

A:  In my home growing up, there were many soundtracks for musicals on record and on tape cassette.

I would listen to all the Andrew Lloyd Webber shows at home, and look at the album art. The very

first show I ever saw was an evening with Michael Crawford at the Wang Center in Boston and he sang

all the hits from ALW musicals. It was years before I realized anyone does anything onstage without

singing.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I adore the concept of immersive theatre and I hope to participate in more of it as things move

further away from the COVID crisis.

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

A:  Get as many people as you can to workshop your work. You will get invaluable knowledge about

what is actually conveying to potential audience members verses how you see your play in your head.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  For more info, please visit: www.hardlyworkingpromotions.com

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Hearts Like Planets livestream

This is a workshop of a new play -- a commission from The Chance Theater.  It's also a sequel of sorts of my most produced play, Hearts Like Fists.

Showings are June 10 and 13.  Tickets are here.

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My 2020 in review

Every year since '07 I've been doing a year in review about my writing and about my life a little bit.

So . . . 2020.

Before the pandemic hit, I was on my way to having a record year in terms of numbers of play productions. I was excited about the planned premiere of Clown Bar 2 in Vegas and The Book Store in Chicago, both which were supposed to happen in the spring and were postponed.  Hopefully they will still happen someday.  I also lost a lot of other productions and quite a bit of money.  It's hard to say how much really.  Having all of theater shut down has been devastating in a lot of ways, not just financially but also emotionally.  It has always been tenuous to try to make a life and I'd never quite made a living but this year really brought the whole dream of a life in the theater to a halt.

I still had my job at Juilliard and could do it from home and Kristen was teaching two classes per semester also from home.  We opted to keep Wallace at home too.  First grade and then second grade over video has been challenging both for the kid and also for the adults trying to balance our own lives and work and writing.

The first couple months of the pandemic were the worst for me writingwise but one thing that helped was that I wasn't going to plays and I wasn't traveling to New York for two days for work.  Life was boring and predictable and I started getting up early and going to bed early.  (5:30am and 9pm weekdays, I sleep-in Saturday, Kristen sleeps-in Sunday.) It meant I had a lot less time to read or watch TV at night but I woke up and wrote.  And after a rough start, I wrote more this year than I ever have before.

I wrote 2 plays this year, (Hearts Like Planets, a commission from The Chance Theater and a sort of sequel to my play Hearts Like Fists; and The Parking Lot, a play people watched from their cars) I also wrote the second half of a screenplay I started last year.  (The Movie Star and Me, a YA rom com.) 

My biggest accomplishment was a YA novel-- I tried to write 500 words or so most weekdays in the morning before anyone else was awake.  It took me five months but I did it.  I've been trying to write a novel for 20 years or so and I always struggled and then stopped writing and wrote another play instead.  Finishing this book meant a lot to me.  And the people who have read it have said a lot of nice things so far so I think it's actually good and maybe I write novels now.  After writing that (short) novel, I also wrote 40k of another YA novel that I'm excited about.  I hope to finish that book in January or February.  And then, I don't know.  

Writing another play now seems pointless in a lot of ways.  I sent The Parking Lot to a lot of people and there was interest in doing a safe outdoor production but I only got two productions.  They were awesome productions but I really thought all those shuttered theaters would jump at the opportunity to do something outside.  Instead everyone did things over zoom.  I'm not knocking zoom.  I had a bunch of cool readings this year over zoom too.  (And a zoom reading remount scheduled with Northlight in the new year.)

Anyway, maybe I should write novels now.

Here is a photo of 14 of the 52 plays I wrote in the last 23 years.

So productions.  Like I said, it was looking to be a record year before the theater shutdown.  

Last year I had 47 productions of my plays.  This year, I had  20, most before the pandemic and some in schools over zoom: 2 (premieres) of The Parking Lot,  2, The Book Store, 5 Kodachrome, 1 Incendiary, 3 Marian, 3 Clown Bar,  2 Adventures of Super Margaret, 1 The Wooden Heart, 1 Pretty Theft.

Clown Bar was produced in Austria and Turkey before the pandemic.

There were also 5 productions of my night of one acts, 7 Ways to Say I Love You.  (Down from 10 last year)


There are 8-11 planned productions so far in 2021.  I hope they happen and I hope we can return to seeing live shows again soon.

Playscripts will publish The Bookstore sometime in the new year.

I am interviewing playwrights again, very slowly.  28 interviews this year.

What else?  I spent a lot of time preparing a new office with A LOT of help.  It is now insulated and electrified.  Right before Christmas, I finally got the space heater and the furniture in.  I have worked in there once so far.  I'll be back in there Monday morning at 5:30.  It is a 10 x 16 shed and it looks like this.

I know a lot of people are struggling right now.  And a lot of people are losing loved ones.  I hope for you health and happiness in the new year.  And a vaccine soon for us all.

Happy New Year!

My previous year in reviews, in case you are interested:

2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
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