coming up next and right now

Nerve continues in the OC at Chance Theater until Feb 27

review   .    review   .    review

Deflowering Waldo continues in Rochester, NY until Feb 13

Reading of Temporary Everything at Hudson Stage Company Feb 11

Reading of Hearts Like Fists (Holland Productions)  in Boston Feb 17

Reading of Elsewhere at Bloomington Playwrights Project in Indiana March 16

Reading of Elsewhere at Jobsite Theater in Florida March 14

Stay tuned.  Lots more on the way.  (at least 3 more readings and possibly 10 more productions this year.)

I Interview Playwrights Part 315: Roland Tec

Roland Tec

Hometown/Current Town: New York City. Born here. May die here, if I’m lucky.

Q:  Tell me about The Rubber Room. How are you rehearsing? How did you and Gary Garrison write it together? What was that process?

A:  Well, as we speak, there are five separate theatre companies rehearsing the play all over town. I’ve only met one cast—just yesterday, actually, when I dropped in on rehearsal for the very first time. So I can’t really say much about the rehearsal process. I hope they’re doing a very good job but, honestly, I have no idea. And that’s what’s kind of cool about it.

By having five separate companies rehearse independently and then calling one actor in from each company for each performance, it’s really a crazy wild ride… for everyone involved. I mean, any given night could either completely falter or soar. And that danger can be intoxicating.

Personally, as a writer, I’m eager to see as many of the 25 unique casts as possible because I view it as a great learning opportunity. That’s why I’m thrilled that they’ve not only scheduled the performances on every night of the week but they’ve also scheduled a 7pm and a 9:30pm every night so that when I do go, I’ll be able to experience two wildly contrasting versions of the play within a span of just a few hours.

I have a feeling the experience is going to seriously alter me as a playwright.

Oh, you asked about our writing process. It was fascinating. What was most interesting to me (and fun!) was that neither of us had a clue when we began just exactly how we were going to do this. We just knew we wanted to try. And so, literally, we had one meeting to discuss basics of character and premise and then I wrote us an opening few pages, then emailed what I’d done to Gary. A few days later, I found in my IN-Box, 7 more pages from him. A week later I sent the ball back into his court and we were up to about page 20. We continued like this a couple more times until we both agreed it was time to meet again and agree on some basics about dramatic arc. We did that, went off and continued.

We knew we wanted the final script to come in with a running time of roughly 60 min. so that helped a lot in terms of ruling out certain plot or character tangents.

In the end, I’m pretty pleased with the extent to which we’ve been able to deliver a script that doesn’t feel schizophrenic, i.e. written by two voices. We really both had a strong handle pretty early on as to how these five characters spoke and who they were, so there was rarely a problem in terms of dialogue that felt “of the playwright” rather than “of the character.” I think the biggest challenge we faced (as is often the case) was our looming deadline. We really didn’t want to lock the script but rehearsals had to begin and we had to let go.

Gary and I both agree that when the final curtain comes down Feb. 20th, we’ll most likely give the script at least one more pass, just to satisfy the nitpickers inside both of us.

Q:  What else are you working on?

A:  I just completed a new play (commissioned for Resonance Ensemble.) Kennedy V. It’s a wildly ambitious full-length about Teddy Kennedy’s formative years in the Senate, 1963-69. Researching the play was so much fun. In fact, I’ve so fallen in love with the entire Kennedy family history that I have on my nightstand yet another book on the subject – one that concerned areas that were outside the scope of the play but that still fascinate me. There will be a Suspects Studio reading in March (Directed by Jeremy Dobrish) at New York Theatre Workshop and I’m very excited to see what we’ve got. I was very conscious when writing this one, to not let concerns of cast-size even enter into my head. The result? A play for 11 actors playing more than 25 characters in a two-act play told in 55 scenes. (What was I thinking?!)

But after having written two 4-character single-set plays in a row, I was long overdue for a seismic shift.

The other two things on my radar are finishing the score to Katherine Burger’s hilarious musical, Legends of Batvia and producing my next feature film, which examines the friendship between artists David Hockney and Larry Stanton as told through Super 8 footage shot by Mr. Stanton on Fire Island a decade prior to his death from AIDS in 1986.

So my plate is full… for a while, at least.

Q:  Tell me about your duties at the Dramatists Guild.

A:  I love what I do for the Guild because, in a way, I feel like my job description could read: “Kind uncle to 6,000 playwrights, composers and lyricists.” I really enjoy helping members meet and interact with each other, as well as helping them wrestle with some of the professional challenges of being a free agent. One of things I’m most proud of having created for the Guild is: Art of the Synopsis because I think by hosting these panels and workshops, the Guild has helped to demystify something that most artists find daunting: their own PR.

Mostly I just love feeling like I’m part of a larger community and because we have members all over the world and in all 50 states, I have a rare opportunity to sample the theatre scenes in various other places by talking with folks on a daily basis about the issues and challenges they’re facing.

One of the most exciting developments at the Guild is the initiation of an annual National Conference of dramatists. The first one will be held at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia this June. And everyone at the Guild is way psyched! (Readers under age 20 may want to google “way psyched.”)

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

A:  When I was 10 or 11 my mother came out of the closet as a Holocaust survivor. Up until that time, none of her American friends knew anything more about her past than that she was “from Europe.” Actually, her way of first exploring and expressing her past was to write her memoir, Dry Tears, about her childhood in Nazi-occupied Poland where her blonde hair and blue eyes helped her survive the war by passing as a Christian.

I, of course, didn’t realize at the time, but now in looking back I’m sure that had a profound impact on me as a creative person. All my work seems to be infused with moral questions and issues of identity. I guess if I had to sum up my entire creative output—whether plays, operas or films—it has all focused on human beings wrestling with questions of who they are and how they can connect with others. Those are my obsessions.

And I’m pretty sure I have my mother to thank for that.

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

A:  I would make it more popular.

It’s emotionally draining toiling away at something that so few people in our society really care about. Why? Because, unfortunately, the more people care about a thing, the more money flows into it. Take professional sports, for instance. How many people tuned in to watch the Super Bowl yesterday? Imagine what life for a playwright might be like if we had half those numbers attending live theatre! Certainly, a new play commission would do a lot more toward putting a roof over your head and food on the table than it currently does.

And I don’t mean this merely as some flip pipe dream. I think each one of us—as members of a theatrical community—have a responsibility to do all we can to increase awareness and interest in theatre as an art form. Period. It’s as simple as that. Too many of us are so focused on our own careers that we lose sight of the big picture. If my friend’s play is a success, it helps me too. That sort of thing. I wish more of us understood that at our core.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  I know I sound like a broken record but: Edward Albee, Edward Albee and—oh, did I mention, Edward Albee?

Why? Because every time he writes a play he seems to be trying something new. He pushes himself, and—by extension—us. To look at things we otherwise might not ever consider. That’s one of the most generous things an artist can do.

Plus he takes shit from no one. That’s something I wish I could say about myself but I’m way too deferential and cloying… particularly when someone’s offering to produce my work.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theatre that makes me laugh and then shakes me to my core when I least expect it.

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

A:  I get asked this question a lot, and I always say the same thing, so, again, apologies if I sound like a broken record, because I sure feel like one.

A life in the theatre is built on collaboration and relationships. Find folks you enjoy working with and when you do, hold on for dear life and carry them to your grave. Everything is just so much easier if you don’t try to go it alone.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Well, I’d be remiss if I didn’t plug the online group blog I moderate called Extra Criticum. Both Gary Garrison and I are contributing authors, along with a bunch of other interesting sensitive souls. Come check it out and comment! We’d love to hear from y’all! Here’s the url:

http://www.extracriticum.com

Oh, and, of course, to purchase your tickets to The Rubber Room, visit: http://www.smarttix.com

First performance is this Wednesday, February 9 and the show runs absolutely every night of the week until February 20.

I Interview Playwrights Part 314: Jeff Goode

Jeff Goode

Hometown: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Current Town: Hollywood, California

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I just finished my first summer as a Visiting Professor at Hollins University's graduate playwriting program in Roanoke, VA. It's a very intense program that emphasizes bringing in guest professionals to work with students. So even though it's a fairly new program, I was amazed at the level of talent and ambition in the students who decide to go there. We're going to see a lot of working playwrights coming out of that program over the next few years.

Back in L.A., I just became Playwright-in-Residence for the newly re-launched SkyPilot Theatre Company. An accomplished actors company, they recently decided to refocus their mission on developing new plays.

Naturally, I promoted myself to Playwright-in-Chief and recruited a team of ten playwrights to write the entire next season. Modeled after successful original works companies I've worked with in the past (q.v. No Shame Theatre, below) the playwrights wing will be tasked with creating a body of work that provides meaty roles for the acting company, and in return, they will have carte blanche to develop their dream projects from conception to production with the full support of a company trained to work in new plays.

Our first show as a writers company opens February 5th. REWIND is a slate of 10 new one-acts that gave the writers the chance to work with our actors and directors for the first time and explore our new space at the Victory Theatre.

After that, our first next main stage show SALOME GONE WILDE is a collaborative adaptation which employs all of our playwrights and lyricists. We just got the script and it's pretty fantastic. I will be directing with artistic director Robert William Rusch.

We've also launched a New Play Reading Series. We will be adding a dramaturgy wing in the spring. And I'm working to create a pipeline to publication, and establishing relationships with sister theatres in other cities so that developing a project with SkyPilot becomes a springboard to future productions.

For example, my new Prop 8 play THE EMANCIPATION OF ALABASTER McGILL will premiere this season at both SkyPilot and Studio Roanoke before going to publication in 2012.

Other projects include FURSONA NON GRATA, a new furry play, which will debut at a convention this spring. And XMAS 2, which is set to open in December.

Speaking of Xmas, I am writing my first full-length opera THE CHRISTMAS OGRE with composer Jonathan Price to premiere at Southern California Lyric Theater.

And speaking of opera, we just received a grant to produce Jonathan's AESOPERA (mini-operas based on Aesop's fables with libretti by, among other folks, ME!)

But enough about me. Let's talk about No Shame!

Q:  Tell me about No Shame.

A:  How did I know you were going to ask me that?

No Shame Theatre began in the back of a pickup truck in the parking lot of the Theatre Building while I was a student at the University of Iowa. Created by Todd Ristau and Stan Ruth, No Shame was originally a forum for young actors to get a chance to be onstage. Of course, that meant we mostly had to write our own material.

Basically, anyone who showed up a half hour before showtime with a piece to perform was automatically in the show that night. It was, and still is, completely uncensored and wildly eclectic and became a fantastic training ground for writers, because you didn't have any filter between yourself and the audience. There wasn't a professor or a director or a literary agent to decide which pieces would or would not work. You just had to have the guts to get up in the truck and risk falling flat on your face.

And the incredible thing is that given that opportunity, most of the writers simply learned how NOT to fall on their faces on a regular basis. And because no one was screening out the material that seemed too risky, the overall show was both extremely cutting edge AND wildly popularly. The theatrical bi-fecta: total artistic freedom and unrepentant commercial success.

The original No Shame is now in its 25th season, and has spawned branches in a few dozen of cities. Last year, we opened new No Shames in Las Vegas, Lynchburg and San Luis Obispo. (Visit www.noshame.org for links to a No Shame Theatre near you.)

Q:  What can a student studying playwriting with you expect?

A:  I think you learn writing from writing, so we do a lot of in-class exercise and writing experiments. Also, most of my own learning has been experiential, so I try to recreate situations where I learned a lot, rather than simply lecturing about things I already know that I think you should know, too.

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

A: Write!

Self-produce!

What are you waiting for?

Success breeds success. Not the other way around.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  www.jeffgoode.com

I Interview Playwrights Part 313: Elaine Avila

Elaine Avila

Hometown: Wherever my family is…the road….places I’ve lived and consider home: Vancouver, BC, Canada; New York, New York; Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, California…



Current Town: Albuquerque, NM



Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I recently completed a new draft of Lieutenant Nun, based on the true story of a woman conquistador. The play had a wonderful premiere, in a site specific production with a cast of twelve, directed by Amiel Gladstone of Theatre SKAM, won awards, was published…ran for two years… but I’ve turned it into a new play…with four actors. I’m excited by the intensity of the new draft.

I’ve been workshopping Jane Austen, Action Figure and Other Short Plays with the marvelous Heidi Carlsen, and some inventive, generous actors at the Women’s Project in New York, where she is in their directors’ lab. The play was recently accepted into Playwright’s Theatre Centre National Colony in Vancouver, BC where I had the pleasure of working with more inventive, generous actors and dramaturg D.D. Kugler. He is the former president of LMDA, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and introduced me to structural strategies you can use in linking short works that bounce off of each other…This work has translated into Spanish (Jane Austen, figura de acción, … y otras obras cortas) and about to premiere in Panamá.

I was recently asked to speak in Nanjing, China about American Playwrights, 1970-2010. (I told them about the Canadians too…) it was a profound experience to describe my culture to students in China…to have deep, heart to heart conversations with them about Maria Irene Fornes, feminism, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Eileen Chang, free speech in America/Canada, Tennessee Williams, Suzan-Lori Parks, Erik Ehn, Chay Yew, Eugene O’Neill, Alice Tuan, David Henry Hwang…I am writing a short, non-fiction piece about the experience. I continue to explore my Portuguese roots—a new development over the past three years—in plays, poems, non-fiction, fiction.

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


A:  My Dad took me to see Barnum and Bailey Circus when I was three. I remember a clown giving me a feather. It was frightening, exhilarating, crossing from a magical world into my own. I later found out the clown gave me the feather because I was crying-- an elephant had been cruelly beaten by its trainer for trying to get a peanut. I also remember being scared by a devil, beating the aisles with a broom, in a theatrical presentation in my Catholic church as a young girl. Theatre crosses and creates worlds, terrifies, heals.

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

A:  We keep telling the same stories about what is wrong with the theatre. I believe in advocacy, and in busting open doors for women and people of all cultural backgrounds. But sometimes we forget that what we are doing matters, right where we are. Broadway and Off-Broadway are ultimately, just a few blocks. It is a great bummer when people think that their region, their work isn’t as important as what is happening on Broadway or television. We have nullified the power of theatre—its localness, our community, the writers that live among us-- with our thinking.

I wonder what would happen if we could realize we do matter, that the opportunities we do have are beautiful, are important.



Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?


A:  Hallie Flanagan, director of the Federal Theatre Project-- part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)-- during the depression, who supported innovative projects and bringing them to people in America who had never seen theatre. Tim Miller, who is funny, exhilarating, compassionate…while facing political darkness (especially in the U.S.) head on. He writes/performs great pieces, inspires students across the nation, and creates homes for work (P.S. 122, Highways). Kathleen Weiss, who ran the women’s theatre festival in Canada for many years, literally launching dozens and dozens of artists, while being one of the most excellent directors in the nation. My colleagues at Tricklock Theatre Company in Albuquerque, New Mexico who band together to create amazing work, again and again. Mac Wellman—both his writing and how he enjoys helping his students realize their dreams. I believe the future of theatre belongs to those who have not yet spoken—characters, communities, writers who are getting up the courage to tell their stories—a truly heroic act. The future belongs to the audiences and producers brave enough to listen to and support these stories.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?


A:  Theatre that crosses borders, experiments, embraces the circus, has bold design, theatre with heart. I’d rather see something shooting for an exciting target (and maybe missing) than something safe and well done.

The Book of Grace by Suzan-Lori Parks opened a conduit in me that still runs tears…Maria Kitizo by Erik Ehn, Wonderland by Chay Yew, Jose Rivera, Mac Wellman, Caridad Svich, Charlottee Meehan, Christine Evans, Luis Alfaro, the grad students I work with at the University of New Mexico, the students in the LEAP Playwriting Intensive at the Arts Club Theatre…a program I founded in Canada now run by the marvelous Shawn Macdonald. Brian Bauman’s play Atta Boy in the East Village or Sigrid Gilmer’s plays at Cornerstone…Alana Libertad Macías work in Austin, Texas…my theatre community in Vancouver, BC….

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

A:  Suzan-Lori Parks once said to me, “be a great writer, why not?” It seems simple, but like a zen koan if you keep thinking about it. You realize what is in your way, that it is movable. Master trumpet player and teacher Bobby Shew says “talent is the removal of obstacles.” (I hate it when people say ‘you’ve either got it (talent) or not.” Lots of people have talent.) And Shew means the removal of all kinds of obstacles—like “I can’t afford a trumpet” or “I can’t make the time to practice” or “I live somewhere where there aren’t any gigs.”

The best thing I figured out after grad school—“give what you want to get.” Also like a zen koan.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Tricklock Theatre Company’s International Revolutions Theater Festival, Albuquerque, NM, USA. Push International Performing Arts Festival, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Erik Ehn is about to have premieres of his plays on genocide, at La Mama in New York and across the U.S. in 2012. Watch for the work of Brian Bauman, Alana Libertad Macías, Sigrid Gilmer.  Here is my website: elaineavila.com

Two of the MFA students in my program at the University of New Mexico are having New York Premieres:
WINNER, KCACTF 'QUEST FOR PEACE' NATIONAL AWARD
Riti Sachdeva's PARTS OF PARTS & STITCHES at NYC's NewBorn Festival the first Saturday in February.
http://www.mtworks.org/newborn.html
‎2011 NewBorn - Maieutic Theatre Works, MTWorks
www.mtworks.org
MTWorks' mission is to birth new plays inspired by playwrights and regions outside of New York, that question the boundaries of our society, humanity, and individuality.

Georgina Escobar's THE RUIN
UPCOMING: THE RUIN @ Manhattan Rep Theatre; Feb 23-26
http://fourthwallproductions.intuitwebsites.com/about.html

I Interview Playwrights Part 312: Ashlin Halfnight

Ashlin Halfnight

Born: London
Grew up: Toronto

Current Town:  New York

Q: Tell me about your shows up right now.

A:  There are three plays running right now under the umbrella title, Theater in the Dark, With Lights. Lathem Prince is an overtly sexualized adaptation of Hamlet, Laws of Motion follows 4 New York stories during the 2008 financial free-fall, and God's Waiting Room is a purgatory play, loosely inspired by Master and Margarita.

Kristjan Thor is directing all three... I'm really incredibly lucky to have such a brilliant collaborator at the helm, and the casts are filled with such amazing, talented people... generous and intelligent artists who are a privilege to have on board.

Q: What else are you working on?

A:  Well, I'm really excited about a few things - first, a holocaust survivor play that I hope to finish this spring, and second, a play that stars mostly child actors that I've been working on for about a year... and I have a film that's in negotiations up in Toronto - a road trip movie that's set partially in Northern Ontario.

Q:  Can you tell me a little bit about Electric Pear, who you are, what your mission is, how you came to be?

A:  Electric Pear was started when Melanie Sylvan and I had a good collaborative experience with God's Waiting Room the first time around - in 2005, with PL115 at the Fringe, and in Budapest. Electric Pear has been around for five years, and I'm really proud of the work we've done, both developmentally and production-wise. We try to be open, inclusive, and welcoming in our approach - to build community and foster connections between artists. In terms of material, we tend to be just outside the mainstream, accessible, but with a twist - say, an international influence, a cross-genre collaboration or influence, or just something unexpected.

Q:   Have you written at all about your career as a pro hockey player? Adam Bock has a hockey play.

A:  Actually, I have never written about my career in hockey. And I've never read or seen (or heard about) Adam's play... I'll have to look into that! I'm woefully disconnected from the theatrical hockey world! Resolution for 2011, I guess....

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

A:  As an 8th grader, I peed my pants in a downtown Toronto video arcade... and went from trying to be cool and tough to suddenly wanting my mom and dad.

I value family and friends. I try to see the humor in things. And I try to be humble, to remember that our bodies do (and will) fail us... that nobody is too cool or smart or powerful to find themselves standing in a pool of their own urine at some point or another.

Q:  What is the purpose of theater?

A:  Tough question. Does it come with a free soapbox? I think, these days, the purpose of theater is to gather people in a room to experience something first hand, together. It used to be that theater provided the primary outlet for the dissemination of dangerous ideas; it was a great stage for commentary, the avenue of rebellion - but these days, the internet, television, movies, political speeches, philosophy books, and historical documentaries all do the grunt work of changing, challenging, or educating the world in a more effective and wide-spread fashion than theater can.... it's a question of sheer numbers... the instantaneous and pervasive nature of these other media (and the fact that Actors Equity bars any of its members from appearing on the internet or in filmed versions of plays) dictates that the reach of theater is ever-lessening.

This is not to say that plays about social issues are a waste of time - they aren't - but if we're honest with ourselves, the actual reach of these plays - the actual effect - is minute compared to, well, a YouTube video of a young man testifying about something like the legitimacy of his two-mother family. And that's okay... because we shouldn't demand that kind of "coverage" from our theater...

What theater is, perhaps, is the last bastion - along with live music and dance - where people gather to go through something together. This is rare and important, in my view; it might not be an overstatement to say that it is a crucial component in the survival of compassion, communication, and accountability in our society.

Theater has already died a thousand deaths, and lived to tell about it. But with conversation, debate, storytelling, shared meals, listening, and even human touch being eradicated from the daily existence of the majority of the world's technologically enabled societies, theater stands increasingly alone, really, as one of a very few places where people are present and generous, and attentive to the details of the human experience...

Or not... but either way, I really like Shakespeare in the Park.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I like to be surprised and challenged. I don't care if it's funny, disgusting, crude, horribly sad, or whatever else... I like to be in the moment - for the duration - and then I like something to think about afterward.

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

A:  Develop a trade that pays cold hard cash. You need to eat. And you need to be free of financial anxiety in order to write. Plus, it will keep you connected to the world at large, which is pretty much essential to a playwright.

Q:  Any plugs?

A:  Come check out the shows! Time Out called our casts "a downtown supergroup of actors" and Martin Denton gave both Laws of Motion and Lathem Prince a rave review...a very wise, very compassionate, and unexpectedly and joltingly profound play.- nytheatre.com

Visit the website -
theaterinthedarkwithlights.com

I Interview Playwrights Part 311: Charlotte Meehan

Charlotte Meehan

Hometown: New York City (from 20 on); Connecticut, New Jersey, Long Island on a rotating basis from birth to 20.

Current Town: Sharon, MA

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I’m working on a play called Real Realism that I’ve been gearing up to write for two years now. This “gear-up” has involved keeping a list of lines heard in my daily life, dropping in on internet gossip chat rooms, reading very bad dollar store books and supermarket tabloids, and god-knows-what else. The play shows characters tangled in a string of non-sequiturs from which they cannot emerge due to a compulsion to respond to anything said with whatever thought that randomly appears regarding their own immediate need.

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

A:  Oh boy. That’s a can of worms. Suffice it to say that my father was a leader in the John Birch Society and my parents were pre-Vatican II die-hard Catholics who refused to change with the times when the Church became a kinder, gentler religion complete with guitar strumming and the Mass spoken in English. The effect this has had on me as both writer and person is that I have developed a mutinous soul and find the restraints of form quite irritating and sometimes even insupportable.

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

A:  I don’t want to change theatre (aside from the hope that my own plays contribute something new), but would love to see the American theatre establishment expand its scope. There are so many necessary, exciting plays being written that deserve a place on the large stages of our country. It would be my dream come true to see producers invite their audiences in for conversation with playwrights whose works challenge the status quo formally, politically, and aesthetically. I have experienced such conversation with Trinity Repertory Company’s top donors and, believe me, we are lucky to have the support of such serious theatre goers who deserve to be presented with the full array of brilliant writers working in the contemporary theatre.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Then: The Greeks and Samuel Beckett.
Now: Mac Wellman and Hélène Cixous.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I want to be surprised, dragged through the mud, moved to tears, unable to sleep that night, made to laugh until my stomach hurts, and most of all I want to leave the theatre in a state of bewilderment. Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker, Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, a small rickety production of Ionesco’s The Chairs, Mac Wellman’s Antigone, James Scruggs’ Disposable Men, Joseph Chaikin’s Firmament, Pina Bausch’s Palermo! Palermo! and countless other works have excited me enough to want to live forever. I have experienced many art exhibitions as theatre too, and love theatre that incorporates the visual as more than illustration. Bill T. Jones’ recent dance theatre piece, Serenade/The Proposition, is an example of total theatre that makes me swoon.

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

A:  Work hard. Read a lot. Go to the theatre all the time. Have more ambition for your developing aesthetic than for worldly success. Make friends with directors you respect. Send your plays to theatres that produce the kind of work you like. Be true to your own voice.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  My new play, Crazy Love, a cross between Noel Coward’s line drawing comedies and François Truffaut’s Jules et Jim, is madly funny and awaiting production. Should anyone reading this interview be interested to read it, please visit: http://www.charlottemeehan.com/contact.html and I will send you off a copy.