my remaining summer shows

May 28-June 28, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, FL, my short play Snow. (production #12 or so of this play) July 10-26 Echo Theatre, St. Louis, MO, a production of Nerve (production #5) July 5-August 1, Essential Theatre, Atlanta, GA, a production of Food For Fish. (production #8) July 15-July 26, Doorway Arts Ensemble in the DC Fringe, Washington DC, a production Herbie: Poet of the Wild West. (production #1) Other summer shows: I don't have the dates but Lights Out Theater Company in Chicago is doing two short plays of mine soon. (Snow and Goldentown.) My short play Film Noir will be done most likely July 5 at Midnight at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in western Massachusetts by the some of the interns. My play Ambience Pizza may follow on another night. If you can't make any of those, but don't want to feel left out, my plays Deflowering Waldo, Nerve and Food For Fish are published here, here and here. Also found at Amazon and other fine online bookstores. Also, some of my short plays are on my website.

I Interview Playwrights Part 13: Victoria Stewart

Victoria Stewart  


Hometown: Beverly, MA

Current Town: Minneapolis, MN

Q:  You just had a show up at The Playwright's Center that Workhaus produced. Can you tell me a little about that?
A:  Workhaus Collective is a collective of playwrights that produce our own work. The play, "800 Words: The Transmigration of Philip K. Dick" is an older play, I wrote it back in 2002. It had a nice production in Seattle in 2007 but since the Workhaus playwrights just choose which play to produce, I really wanted to see this play up with Luverne Siefert playing the lead and with Jeremy Wilhelm directing. (Jeremy directed a great version of the play in grad school and we had always talked about doing it again.) The play is about Philip K. Dick, the science fiction writer who wrote the stories that became the movies "Blade Runner" and "Minority Report." In 1974, he had visions of God that obsessed him for the rest of his life. It's a trippy play with transformations, non-linear storytelling and puppets. What's nice about Workhaus is that you really have control over the production so no one's trying to make the play something it ain't (which is helpful with such a strange piece.)  

Q: How did you become interested in writing about Phillip K Dick?
A:  My brother owns a science fiction/fantasy bookstore so I always grew up with sf around the house but I didn't get into PKD until my 20s. A friend suggested I read Lawrence Sutin's "Divine Invasions," a biography about PKD, just because it was a good read. I got obsessed at that point but this was about 5 years before I started writing plays. So I just read a bunch of his books because they were great. Near the end of grad school, I just plunged in, thinking nothing would come of it. Most of my plays are very realistic and linear so here I was tryin' to be experimental and shit. (All my years stage-managing for avant-garde directors at the American Repertory Theatre served me well.)  

Q: What are you working on next?

A: I just finished a new play called "Rich Girl" which is a modern-day adaptation of "Washington Square/The Heiress." It's about women and their relationship with money. I developed it at the Tennessee Repertory Theater which was a great experience.

Q: Tell me about Workhaus. Basically you're a playwright run theater not unlike 13p in New York. How do you decide whose show goes up next? How does it work?

A:  Workhaus is completely modeled after 13P. The playwrights serve as artistic directors during their show. The playwrights end up doing more technical stuff and house-management, etc. than 13P does because we can't afford a tech crew! So during tech, you'll see one of us hanging lights; during the shows, we're the ones house-managing. Because of this, we've realized that the playwrights have to be Minneapolis-based because we really need boots on the ground to produce everyone else's shows. How we choose which shows go up is a little haphazard. We have a core group of producer/playwrights and then we have a few satellite playwrights. We have a three show season and we only have 10 members, so people cycle through more than once with preference going to the main producers. We tried to plan two or three seasons in advance last year and all that planning went out the window very quickly. So now we're planning a year at a time. At this point, we're in residence at the Playwrights Center which means we use their theater and rehearsal space which is so helpful.

Q: Like me, you are married to a playwright. Would you like to comment on the challenges or benefits of a wright union?
A:  I'm pro-wright union. It's great, right? The benefits are having a spouse who really understands your challenges ("What? Another rejection letter????") and having a brilliant in-house dramaturg at your beck and call ("Honey, wake up and read my scene!"). The challenge is getting frustrated when one person gets something the other wants. But luckily, you're also really happy for the other person and as long as you keep in mind that what's good for one person is actually good for the unit you've become, it evens out.  

Q: You and I have the same agent. Isn't Seth great?

A: LURVE him. Cory and I do have a pet name for him but I won't write it down....

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A: Good theater. That may sound obnoxious but there are so many different kinds of great theater out there. On one hand, I love bold, visual, experimental work but I'm also happy as a clam when I see Arthur Miller done well. I like work that's emotional, that makes me lean forward, that's intellectual but not abstract. Also, because I'm an ex-techie, I get very distracted by bad production (and sometimes by great production) so I'm thrilled when I am completely drawn into something, whatever form it takes.

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

A: Just keep trying. Get yourself out there. Find people you trust to read and hear your work. Have faith in yourself.

I Interview Playwrights Part 12: Malachy Walsh

Malachy Walsh  

Hometown: Chicago, IL

Current Town: Lafayette, CA

Q: You're headed to Minneapolis in July to present a play. Can you tell me about how this came about and a little bit about your play?

A:  The play “Beyond the Owing” is about two people trying to figure out how to get married and have a life despite the financial – and emotional – debts they owe to others. I got the idea for it in early 2005 when everyone was buying houses at exorbitant prices. I couldn’t figure out how they were doing it. All I could see was debt without any way to pay it back. I had also graduated from Columbia only the year before where (rightly or wrongly) debt was a huge and very real part of the commitment to the arts (it was even the subject of our commencement speaker’s keynote address). In a sense, this grad school debt was my exorbitantly priced house. But the burden of owning it was also starting to affect, even distort, my relationship with the dream that had inspired me to go for it in the first place. I figured I wasn’t alone. And artists wouldn’t be the only ones having money trouble in the near future. I finished the first draft in the spring of 2005 and sent it around, knowing it had problems but thinking it was timely enough that someone would help. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival did a reading in the spring of 2006, followed by a Clubbed Thumb Workshop in December at Playwrights Horizons. The PCPA Theatre Fest in California followed in 2007. Interest dried up. Then I won a lottery slot in a reading series at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis. I couldn’t attend, but I asked a friend living in MPLS - Genevieve Bennett who’d read an early draft and was a believer - if she’d direct it. Afterwards, she said she wanted to do it. She found a great bunch of actors and workshopped it over the next year or so, sending me notes and cut suggestions – almost all of which were excellent and I took. Obviously, the play has only become more relevant since its early versions. Hopefully, people will find it more resonant as well.

Q:   I had a great time working with Genevieve earlier this year. Is this the first time you two have worked together since Columbia? (Malachy and I got our MFAs at Columbia together along with Genevieve in 2004.)

A:  We did the short musical “BLAM! I’m Lee Harvey Oswald!” at Dixon Place in NY sometime in early 2005. Though I like the Bay Area where we live now, I do wish I lived closer to Genevieve. She’s an incredibly talented and generous collaborator who directs for - and in - the moment. Musical, human, but also unafraid to search the dark corners in a play and work them. Finding people like her is hard. But it’s the kind of relationship I really live for and that I’ve always wanted to build theatre on.

Q: You have a new kid and a day job in advertising. When do you find time to work on plays?

A: I try to write in the mornings, before all the outside voices drown out the inside voices. Since my son has lately decided that 5 am is a good time to get up, this has been getting more difficult.

Q: Your wife is an actress (and a wonderful human being). Would you like to make an argument for playwrights and actresses coupling up?

A:  The great thing about being with someone in the arts is that you understand each other. You “get” it. So, when your significant other says, “Yes, I’ll marry you, but I have to go away for a year to do the Oregon Shakespeare Festival” as mine did, you don’t freak out. You also have someone who can look at what you’re doing and respond appropriately to things that may be quite embryonic and need nurturing rather than immediate critical precision – though that comes later, too. In my case, I’ll add that Heather’s been amazingly good for helping me get over the fear of never having enough money. Being the child of a fairly well-off middle class life, I’ve spent a lot of energy worrying over the next pay check. As an actor, Heather’s kept me focused on what I’m doing NOW – rather than a worst case scenario fear about things that may or may not happen tomorrow.  

Q: You used to be my roommate. Do you have any advice for my wife about living with me?

A: Don’t leave the sponge in the sink.

Q: If I came to San Francisco right now, what plays would you recommend that I go see or what theater companies should I check out?
A: Since everyone knows the Magic is here, I don’t think I need to mention them. Same goes for the Mime Troupe – still great after all these years. However, there are some less broadly known companies that I’d recommend to anyone, anytime: Encore (which just did Steven Yockey’s SKIN), The Shotgun Players, Impact, the Marin Theatre Company, Crowded Fire, FoolsFURY and Playground (which introduces the Bay Area to writers with a season of monthly 10 minute playwriting contests). Charlie Varon’s solo work at the Marsh shouldn’t be missed either (Rabbi Sam starts in October). Also, check out anything by Mark Jackson (his FAUST: Part 1 runs until the end of June with Shotgun) and anything at the EXIT – a place run by Christina Augello who has helped a ton of artists get stuff up with her annual SF Fringe. (If it weren’t for her….)

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A: I like gripping, visceral theatre. It’s gotta stick with me emotionally. It can be weird or funny or brutal – even unlikeable and hateful – but if it comes off when I get up from my seat, well, that’s not what I’m most hungry for. Generally, that’s meant emotionally dangerous and vulnerable work in plays that end on questions rather than statements. It’s not a bad thing necessarily for me to be leaving a show asking, “What the fuck just happened to me in there?” In New York, I looked for that kind of work at SPF, Clubbed Thumb, LAByrinth and Soho Rep.

Q: What advice do you have for other playwrights?

A: Find people you like, then work with them and hold on to them for dear life. If you give up, everyone else will too. Never confuse a budget for a play. Be good to your actors – always. Don’t worry about what the institutions are doing - ever. Listen to your characters before anyone else. Write every day for as long as you can. Write longhand whenever possible. Writing isn't a competitive sport, despite what the competitions and memberships and production credits suggest: Other writers are your friends, not people you're trying to demolish. Coffee is good, liquor is not. Ask for help. Get a day job (I don’t care what David Mamet says) and keep it until it's impossible not to. And, my favorite, from Anne Bogart: Don’t wait.

Q: Is there a link up for people to buy tickets to your show at the Red Eye?

A:  We have a “trailer” at www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFdQegUWWes Our website is www.beyondtheowing.com

I Interview Playwrights Part 11: Jessica Dickey

photo by Geoff Green.

Jessica Dickey

Hometown: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Current Town: Brooklyn, NY

Q: I've heard a lot of great things about the Amish Project from various people. Can you tell me a little about the show?

A: The Amish Project is a fictional exploration of a true event, based on the Amish schoolhouse shooting that occurred in rural Pennsylvania on October 2nd, 2006. It is a solo show, with seven fictional characters, including the gunman and the gunman's widow, two Amish girls, and three townspeople... I was heartbroken by this gruesome event-- it struck a strong impulse to write, to just WRITE into that heartbreak and see what I could find -- but I did not want what I wrote to be tied in any way to the real people, so I basically took some of the givens of the tragedy and created my own characters around it. The New York Times recently likened this to writing "Stories From 9/11 That I Just Made Up", which I thought was a hilarious and great way to say it. I have a great respect for documentary theatre, but that was not what I was after when I started writing the play.

Q: How did you come to write it?

A:  I first researched a great deal about Amish culture. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, about an hour and half southwest of where the real crime occurred, and while I was not in the vicinity of an Amish community, I have always felt an affinity for "plain people" in general... I am very curious about people and communities that separate themselves in order to pursue their spiritual beliefs. There are many figures of this ilk that have fascinated me-- Saint Francis of Assisi, Gandhi, Julian of Norwich, Dr. James Cone... So I find the Amish intriguing because of their seclusion and spiritual discipline, and the ways in which they maintain their ethnic identity in our modern world. And when this sacred, quiet community came under attack in the schoolhouse that day in October, a fascinating series of events were set in motion, with shocking and awe-inspiring results... These things stayed with me, haunted me, and I wanted to go inward and explore what they evoked.  
 
Q: What does your writing process entail?
A:  Oh I don't know! LOL. Writing in my journal on the train, listening to a character riff... I usually need to do research of some kind--- I am currently working on a new play that had me researching the Omarska concentration camp in Bosnia (of the early 90's)... I like to let my characters monologue at first-- I like to just give them the mic, as it were, and see what they have to say, what they seem to be stuck on or circling around... Then at some point it becomes clear that this series of characters are all occupying the same psychic space, trying to inch toward one another, and then it becomes a matter of identifying what they are trying to do-- both to one another and as a collective whole. The play takes form from that void.  

Q: Do you change the play sometimes in performance or is it pretty well set?

A: Noooo, it's pretty well set. I love to improv, and I definitely spent a good portion of our tech riffing for the production team! LOL! I would improv from the characters while they were adjusting a light cue or working on something while I stood there on stage (I am a total slut for their laughter)... But when it comes to the performance, I keep pretty strictly to what we have set as much as possible. It's just the stage manager and I every night, and we need to trust each other to maintain the integrity of the piece as we cue one another through the play. I also find pleasure in the dance of a performance as much as anything else--- I attach myself to the subtle body anchors--- the weight shift, the focal point of the eyes, the breath. These are my tethers.

Q: This is not your first solo show is it?

A; Oh it definitely is.

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A:  You know, more and more I am NOT interested in theatre with answers. I know this sounds elementary, but it apparently needs to be said. I also don't need art to be perfect or agreeable or for everyone. I feel like sometimes there is this pressure to make a piece of theatre thoroughly digestible and "clear" and linear. Who made this rule?!! I like it messy-- truthful-- theatre that is not afraid to go toward complex terrain and leave us with powerful questions. And I don't mind when theatre has a specific audience and isn't afraid to speak to that audience; like, you're a gay man and you want to speak to your community of gay men-- go for it! The rest of us can listen and learn and find ourselves in there if we wish. Do you know what I mean?!!? I'm just sick of watering things down to make them palatable. Fuck palatable. And while I'm bitching, I could do with a lot less irony and cleverness and cynicism. Okay, I'm done.  

Q: What advice would you give to any playwright who might read this who doesn't know some of the things you might know?

A: Oh boy. I'm sure I am totally UNQUALIFIED to be doling out advice. I feel like a messy toddler with playwriting. Um... I guess I can definitely say this: Don't wait for someone else to "discover you". Discover yourself! Don't be afraid to put your own work up on its feet. Use the festivals, the forums around the city, do it yourself. It's a self producing market now. Roll up your sleeves, raise the money, and present your own work. It's actually a thrilling thing to do. And it bears fruit-- externally and internally.

Q: What is the information for people who want to go see your play?

A:  Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 224 Waverly. Our schedule is Mondays at 8pm, Wednesdays thru Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm. We're there 'til June 28th, and the show is only 65 minutes, so get your butts to the theatre! www.rattlestick.org and www.amishproject.com

I Interview Playwrights Part 10: Kara Lee Corthron

photo by Joanna Eldredge Morrissey 

Kara Lee Corthron

Hometown: Cumberland, Maryland

Current Town: New York, NY

Q: You’re coming to Minneapolis to work on a play with Penumbra next month. Tell me about this play.

A:  The play is called Julius by Design and if I were to consider all my plays my children, Julius would be the well-meaning, but difficult child that the school system desperately wants to put on meds. Its themes are about as universal as it gets: death, grief, forgiveness and letting go. At its center is an older couple—Jo and Laurel—whose son was murdered seven years before the play begins. Tired of their monotonous life of denial and shaky attempts to heal, Jo initiates contact with her son’s murderer and this leads to some craziness as you might imagine. The play is still early in its life cycle, but I’ve received such strange and disparate feedback on it so far, I’d put it away for a while, unsure of what I could do to make this child happy. So I was pretty surprised when Penumbra invited me out to work on it this summer. I’m really psyched and hoping this experience gives me some clues to crack the Julius code.  

Q: You wrote for NBC’s Kings this past season. What was that experience like?
A:   Kings was great, insane, enlightening, terrifying, and good. And probably a host of other adjectives I can’t think of right now. I joined the writing staff in September and by that point, the first four episodes had already been shot so I kind of jumped onto an already speeding train. And I had no prior TV experience at all. The immediate challenge I came up against was endurance. The seemingly simple act of sitting around a table everyday for eight and a half to nine hours brainstorming story points is not so simple. Imagine forcing your brain to do intense physical training after months of allowing it to just lounge around your skull eating chips. That’s the closest metaphor I can come up with to describe it. But after a few weeks, I adjusted. The hardest part by far was dealing with the intensity of life on set. And talk about endurance! One night, I got home around 2AM and was so tired I literally thought I was going blind. My longest continuous day on set was about sixteen and a half hours. This was hard for me; I’m a lazy person by nature. But despite the hours, stress, and sucker-punch to my brain, I’m really glad I had the opportunity to write for such a unique show and in a small amount of time—about five months—I learned WAY more than I ever imagined I would when I signed my contract. I was also really, really lucky that my first TV job was with an incredibly cool and wise writing staff. 

Q:  You were also the Princess Grace fellow at New Dramatists this past year. How did you participate in that community?

A:  The people that work at New Dramatists are some of the sweetest, smartest people around. Everyone there has been so supportive, even of the TV gig, which didn’t leave a lot of time for me to hang out at ND. But during the year, I was able to attend a few readings, the Christmas party, both all-writers meetings and just last week, I had my Princess Grace play read there with a phenomenal cast and director. So even though it’s an abbreviated version of the seven-year residency (and sadly, my time with them is just about over), I feel like I had a nice taste of the amazing benefits available to their playwrights.

Q: You were one of the few playwrights to have studied for 3 years at Juilliard. How helpful was that?
A:  Well, it was great to get an extra, pressure-free year just to play. And it was a joy to have additional access to Juilliard’s most precious resource: Mr. Joe Kraemer. I’m not sure I’d say it was necessary, as I’d had two full, productive years at the time of my graduation. But because the master class is run like a seminar, a large portion of the knowledge we gain there comes from reading plays by fellow playwrights and discussing them critically. I got to be a part of that process for sixteen playwrights (seventeen if I include myself) and that’s a lot of plays. For that aspect alone, I’m really grateful that I stayed that extra year. It’s funny you ask this question because I was just thinking about Juilliard. Chris and I recently exchanged some emails after I saw Why Torture is Wrong . . . and I just ran into Marsha at a Dramatists Guild event. They got me feeling all nostalgic for our Wednesday afternoons.  

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A:  When I go to the theatre, I love to be smacked out of my normal life and confronted with something I would never have thought/felt/imagined otherwise. I adore surprises! I like theatre that is bold. I like theatre that makes me laugh so hard it hurts. I like theatre that scares the shit out of me. I like to see honest, uncomfortable sexual tension. I like to see honesty of ANY kind. My favorite kind of play—regardless of the style, length, or subject matter—insists upon itself; it won’t let me dismiss it or forget about it the moment I hit the street for a drink and some gossip after the show. Nope! It forces me to make lasting space for it in my consciousness. Every time I go to a play, despite what I may have heard going in, I want to leave with the play still sitting on my shoulder, whispering in my ear. Maybe shouting. I don’t always experience this. But sometimes I do.  

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

A:  Uh well I don’t know if I’d label it “advice,” because it’s not that deep and I could probably use more advice than I can give, but all I’d say is write, write, write, and when you’re tired, keep going. The amount of time and effort we put into our actual work is probably the only thing we really have control over in this exciting, but often frustrating career. So take full advantage of your power and write like you’re addicted . . . even if you’re not.

I Interview Playwrights Part 9: Zayd Dohrn

Zayd Dohrn

Hometown: New York

Current Town: New York (I left for a while. But we all come back eventually)

Q:  So tell me about the play you have going up at SPF this summer.

A:  It's a play called REBORNING, and it's about a young woman who sculpts incredibly life-like baby dolls. Like this (scroll down a bit) Or this. Yikes. So she develops a twisted relationship with an older woman who wants to commission a doll to replace a child she lost. It's a pretty dark play, obviously, but kind of a comedy too. And I'm excited about the SPF production - awesome director (Kip Fagan) and incredible cast (Greg Keller, Ally Sheedy, Katherine Waterston), so I'm sure they'll do something fun with it.

Q:  Your play Sick has been done a bunch. It seems like I keep seeing it on various seasons. Can you tell me what that play is about and about the development process of that play and then where it's been produced and will be produced?

A:  Sure, it's about a family of allergy-sufferers in New York who never leave their house because they're terrified of the outside world. Basically I was trying to do A Doll's House meets Safe (great Todd Haynes/Julianne Moore movie from the mid-90's) with a little Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Glass Menagerie thrown in. It had its first reading at Woolly Mammoth last year as part of the National New Play Network Showcase, and then several theaters in the Network decided to do it based on that reading. It subsequently had productions in Dallas, New Orleans, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, and this summer it's going to be up in the Berkshires.

Q:  How's Juilliard been?

A:  It was a lovely experience. I can't imagine a better place for playwrights to meet and write and hang out.

Q:  I met you at the 24 SEVEN Lab in New York. You want to talk about that at all?

A:  About meeting you? Changed my life.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Oh, I don't know. Maybe once or twice a year I'll see something that really blows me away. But there's a lot more bad stuff than good out there. I guess if it were easy everybody would know how to do it. If it were easy I would know how to do it better.

Q:  I know you have a family. (one kid? Two kids?) How do you balance your artistic and family life?

A:  Yeah, two kids (baby girls), and it's pretty crazy. But probably easier than if I had a real job. My wife and I are both writers, so we're home a lot. And the kids are inspiring, which helps.

Q:  What advice would you give to the young upstart playwright who happens upon this blog post?

A:  Am I too old now to be a young upstart playwright? I don't know, I might try to discourage the person, because writing plays is obviously not for everybody. But bad writers can't be discouraged, and good writers wouldn't listen to me anyway.


Q:  Will you give the link please for those folks who want to go see your SPF show?

A:  Absolutely: http://www.spfnyc.com/festival/show.cfm?id=80 Tickets are 10 bucks, and I'd love it if other writers could come check it out.