I Interview Playwrights Part 405: Emily Chadick Weiss

Emily Chadick Weiss

Hometown: Brooklyn, NY (Brooklyn Heights)

Current Town: Brooklyn, NY (Prospect Heights)

Q:  Tell me about your pilot.

A:  Many months ago, I thought, "I want to write TV and I want to write something for my talented actor friends so we can all eventually bask in glory together.” And so I wrote “The Share,” a half-hour comedy about too many roommates crammed into a Crown Heights apartment.

We filmed it in early October and it should be done with post-production come January 2012. It’s looking good! And I’m going to pat myself on the back for casting pretty good people. Also, the crew was dynamite, including our Director of Photography, Timothy Whitney, our Director Christina Roussos and our editor Tony Arkin. Matt Schatz wrote the theme song! I am living out my dreams!

We raised thousands on indiegogo – thank you contributors! And we’re hoping some entity like a network gives us funds to do it again and again and again.

The story:

Steven Boyer plays NATHAN, laid off from Lehman Brothers, still thinking about becoming a fireman or a dog walker or a real estate agent…

Lucy Devito plays MONA, a magician’s assistant who overcharges all of her roommates and wants Nathan.

William Jackson Harper plays LINCOLN, a frustrated artist who sleeps in the closet and wants to get with

JUSTINE, a Filipino actress always cast as the wrong race, played by Maureen Sebastian.

Katie Kreisler Black plays THEA, a lesbian entrepreneur with a webseries about how to stay fit while eating everything in sight. And those are just the roommates.

Julie Fitzpatrick plays MADELEINE, a lovely schoolteacher who can’t stand her students. Nathan can’t get enough of Madeleine but Scott Sowers plays FRITZ, Madeleine’s crunchy and self-righteous middle-aged fiancé. Robert Askins plays STU, Mona’s worthless brother who somehow manages to snag the ladies. And Megan Tusing plays AMY, Nathan’s consistently pissed-off ex-wife.

Also watch out for Lance Rubin as a hunky date, Eugene Oh as the guy at a bar and Jarlath Conroy as the bartender.

Q:  What else are you working on?

A:  I’m writing the next episode of “The Share” and polishing up my play, “The Relief” about a dysfunctional non-profit trying to save Pakistani flood victims.

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 would wake up early and make musicals with my Russian stacking dolls. I still do that but wake up a little later now.

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

A:  We must find a way to make more money in theatre, not millions, but not nothin’. When people say yes to non-paying work it hurts us all in the long run. If producers, theatres etc. rely on our desperation to see our work realized then we will always feel desperate for both artistic opportunities and day jobs. For “The Share” it was a real pain in the neck to raise money to pay everyone, but because we did, everyone was compensated for every day on set and the actors got a bit added to their SAG pension and health benefits. I really admire organizations that give at least a small stipend to their playwrights, actors, and directors so we don’t have to lose money if we want to get a drink after our show.

Also, as a member of Youngblood, the group for emerging playwrights under 30 at The Ensemble Studio Theatre, I must say I think the model of the Youngblood brunch is genius. You see 5 great new short plays while getting drunk and having brunch. I think theatre with food is a great combination and makes theatre digestible to theatre and non-theatre people alike. Pun intended.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Amy Herzog, Richard Greenberg, Wendy Wasserstein, Stephen Sondheim, William Finn.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Stories with characters that feel true and funny and sad. An excellent play is more filling than an excellent meal.

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

A:  For playwrights just out of college and young playwrights:

Get some sort of job, even if it doesn’t pay much or it’s gross, just get the job and earn some money and don’t live with your parents for too long; you won’t feel sexy.

If you happen to obtain a job where you pretty much like most of the people around you, the pay is okay and you have a little time for writing, you are lucky! (I’ve had a whole bunch of jobs – from school admissions to working at a Chinese Bank. And now I have five jobs as a writer/producer, a Real Estate Agent, a babysitter, and I am about to start a job as a playwriting teacher. And sometimes I have time to shower!)

For playwrights starting out later in life:

Wow, you are brave and poetic. Keep being you.

About choosing to write plays as a career:

It can be painful but if it makes you feel alive, keep truckin’.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  “The Share” - half hour web pilot I wrote. Coming in January 2012! Until then, like The Facebook page “The Share” please.

The Occupy Wall Street Youngblood Brunch! Sunday December 4, 1pm. My play is called “The Brainstorms” and is about two girls contemplating spending their Friday night protesting, once they finish curling their hair.

“Hand to God” at The Ensemble Studio Theatre - good show, good performances, good theatre; a night well spent.

I Interview Playwrights Part 404: Charity Henson-Ballard

Charity Henson-Ballard

Hometown:

Tricky question for an Army kid. I was born in Columbia, South Carolina, but we moved away when I was just an infant. My family’s in Riverview, Florida now, but I’ve been in New York City the longest. Prior to New York, Germany was the place where I had lived the longest.

Q:  Tell me about your upcoming show with Rising Circle and Culture Project. When does it go up?

A: In March of next year, Rising Circle Theater Collective’s Refinery and Culture Project’s 2012 Women Center Stage Festival will be producing a workshop production of my play, Pete the Girl. I’m very excited about this collaboration and what information it will provide me about the magical world I’ve created for the play’s characters. The play focuses on the rise to power of a young African-American teenage softball prodigy, Petrice Kincaide, and her burgeoning relationship with Vera, an agoraphobic physicist who lives in her housing project. The play deals with many themes I’m curious about, specifically the politics of being a Black woman sports celebrity. The world of sports is quickly merging with the entertainment world and with this particular piece, I’ve tried tying together many elements that may not seem inherently connected initially, but when they are brought together, they reflect and refract off of one another to create something that (I believe) tells us about ourselves. Our society. But that all said, whether these random elements successfully interplay is something I’ll leave up to the audience. I wouldn’t dare do the audience’s work. I’m leaving it up to the person in the seat to decide whether they are watching a serious play about something ridiculous or a ridiculous play about something serious. Hopefully that question will lead to self-discovery for the individual watching the show.
Q:  What else are you working on?

A:  I’m currently developing a play called Tower In a Garden with Rising Circle and Casita Maria about environmental racism and public housing. The play weaves tenant testimonials, reports, new articles, scientific data and Biblical imagery.

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

A:  That we would return to discussing the issues addressed in a play rather than simply whether or not we liked a play, the acting, the set, etc.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I’m excited by theater that sets out to educate me, not just entertain me. Theater that lingers in my psyche long after I’ve seen it. Theater that makes me Google something to see if it’s true. Something that makes me want to tell my co-worker that he or she has to see what I just saw. Something that makes me blog, that might actually implicate me as a member of American society. (I’m willing to risk it.) Add to that a theatrical experience that is beautiful, thoughtful, nuanced and responsible. Art that is a conversation between playwright, director, designer, actor and audience. A community experience. A community conversation.

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

A:  Be passionate about your work. Have conversations ABOUT your work. Have conversations IN your work. Find your artistic support system and be part of someone else’s support system. We help each other, remember?

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Pete the Girl will be going up at the Living Theater March 27th through April 2nd, 2012. It’s being directed by WP alumna Donya Washington. The woman is amazing and I’m excited to work with her again.

I Interview Playwrights Part 403: Idris Goodwin

Idris Goodwin

Hometown – Current Town:  I am a true son of the Midwest, baby! Michigan, Illinois, Iowa all day

Q:  Tell me about your play coming up at Humana.

A:  How We Got On is a 1988 coming of age story about three teenagers who have just seen Yo! MTV Raps and want to become rappers. Only thing is that they live in the suburbs of the Midwest. The play’s form and structure is adapted from the DJ driven underground rap mixtapes (see Tony Touch, DJ Clue, DJ Kay Slay)that sustained me as a hip hop obsessed teenager. The play’s narrator scratches and blends scenes together as if they were records.

I worked on the play this past summer at the Oneill with a great crew.

It’s the first in series of what I call the Break Beat Plays.

Q:  What else are you working on?

A:  Joining forces with fellow playwright/ solo performers Sean Christopher Lewis and Megan Gogerty on The Teacher Show –an evening of pieces about our experiences in the classroom. We’ll be presenting at the very essential 2012 Revolutions Theater Festival in Albuquerque, NM and other venues across the country.

Working on the next Break Beat Play currently titled Street Team, which is a romance with raps set in 96, at the onset of the Puffy era.

I continue to travel the nation’s community colleges, youth centers, book stores, cafes and dive bars promoting These Are The Breaks my first collection of essays and poetry.

Working on a syllabus for a Hip Hop theater class I start teaching at Northwestern this winter

Toying around with a young adult fiction novella (we’ll see)

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  I wrote my very first “stage play” after reading True West so I gotta give it up to Sam Shepard - but listening to Richard Pryor taught me everything I need to know about the art of live performance.

Also, Chicago’s infamous Curious Theater Branch and Prop Thtr were an undeniable part of my genesis. They opened their doors to me when I was a pup so I could learn how to collaborate, fail and grow.

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

A:  I have a very broad definition of theater. For me theater is:

any sequence of calculated actions presented in real time to a live audience. Venue, content, context, length is irrelevant. So for me concerts, poetry slams, sporting events, rap battles, etc… all theater

(Ever notice in sports, a sequence of actions on the court or field are referred to as “a play.”)

I would love to see the blending of these different styles and approaches to live performance encouraged by the academic and theater making industry at large.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Every year there is an event in Chicago called Louder than a bomb, which is a teen poetry festival co founded by Def Poet/educator/author Kevin Coval. At the heart of the festival is a tournament style competition in which kids from all over the state form teams and battle it out with their original performance poems. I’m talking hundreds of teenagers from all sorts of ethnic, socio economic, racial, cultural backgrounds standing on stage spilling their guts about where they come from, who they be to thunderous applause. It has all the stuff of great drama – people’s desires, tragedies, comedies – and these are real kids – these are the sons and daughters of professors, fire fighters, single moms and dads, aldermen, immigrants – all listening to one another’s truth. But it’s the audience that’s truly special – the word diverse is an understatement – you see a room full of adults cheering for their kids, for other people’s kids, but most importantly listening and reliving in some way their own adolescence – you’d have to be dead not to be inspired. Its absolutely cynic proof. They made a documentary about it which has been cleaning up on the festival circuit and will premiere on Oprah’s new network on Jan.5 2012

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

A:  two things

1. Talent is the easy part, everyone is talented—the real skills to learn are rigor, discipline, strategy, attitude, and most of all, patience.

2. Never take someone’s advice just because they may be more “accomplished” than you – follow, feed and trust your instincts instead.

Q:   Plugs, please:

A:  As mentioned above, How We Got On has it’s premo at the 2012 Humana fest in March


My other play Blackademics chew the flan waiting for death and/or tenure….will premo at Chicago’s MPAACT in fall 2012

I work in a lot of different mediums: if you want to check out my spoken word, essays, music and other stuff drop by my website - www.Idrisgoodwin.com

Be on the look out for that Louder Than A Bomb Documentary

I Interview Playwrights Part 402: Hilary Bettis

Hilary Bettis


Hometown:  I've lived in seven different states so I never know how to answer this one. I suppose I can list them alphabetically:

California, Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina

The older I get, the more grateful I am to have lived in so many different places. They've all showed me such different perspectives of humanity in ways that forced me to question my own assumptions and prejudices at a young age.

Current Town:  Brooklyn, NY- Bushwick to be exact

Q:  Tell me about ALLIGATOR.

A:   I love dirty, grungy rock clubs. In another life I would totally be a musician! I wanted to take the raw, visceral energy of that world and mesh it with a story. Two and a half years later, and with the help of some amazing artists and organizations (Morgan Gould, an amazing and dedicated actors, New Georges, The Lark, EST, New River Dramatists, Carolina Coastal University, Great Plains Theatre Conference) I have a play. I'm currently working with an awesome indie rock musician on an original score. Below is a synopsis:

Emerald and her twin brother, Ty, are orphaned teenagers living in the backwoods of the Florida Everglades. For as long as they’ve been alive, they’ve made money by wrestling ‘gators in a roadside attraction, but their sideshow days are close to an end when a doe-eyed runaway, Lucy, shows up on their porch.

Ty is immediately weary of the stranger. With promises of unlimited whiskey, Emerald’s only weakness, Lucy burrows her way into the lives of the twins and the lives of the town. As Lucy’s desperation to win Emerald over intensifies, she will do whatever it takes to please her…even if it leads to murder. The only hope left rests on Emerald who must ultimately face the demon that haunts her every waking moment.

ALLIGATOR is a play that weaves together realism and surrealism, rock music and Seminole legends, sex and enemies, blood and whiskey, hope and murder. It is a play that asks the question: How do we truly love one another in the face of our deepest, darkest monsters?

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  DAKOTA ATOLL is a full-length play commissioned by EST/Alfred P. Sloan foundation. The play is a 1960s Western set on a cattle ranch near the Badlands during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It's full of cowboys, gunfights, horses, and a mysterious Lakota woman. But the play is really about honor and integrity in an increasingly modern and apathetic world.

I'm working on another full-length play commissioned by Carol Ostrow Productions

I'm also working on a feature film with some lovely producers- Mara Kassin and Christina Brucato.

In my free time, I've been learning violin for about two years. I really love it! It's sort of the perfect thing to do when I have writer's block and need to walk away from a scene.

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

A:  Everyone's childhood is hard and cruel and amazing and profound. No one wants to hear about my childhood any more than they want to watch paint dry. I think that borders on self-indulgence.

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

A: I'd love to see theater as a whole take more risks on unknown artists or unusual productions. I think audiences are hungry for diversity, and if theater is going to entice younger generations it has to evolve with a world bombarded with instant entertainment at every turn. This isn't to say that theater should be superficial or commercial for the sake of entertainment, but it should find new ways to stay relevant while giving audiences depth and new perspectives of humanity.

Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Chekhov, Shepard, Albee, Wasserstien, Pinter, Shakespeare, Odets, Inge, Wilder, Sarah Kane, Paula Vogel, Caryl Chruchill, Martin McDonagh and on and on...

Hitchcock, Kurosawa, Kubrick, Scorsese, Coen Brothers, Tarantino, Taymor, Jane Campion, Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurtry, Murakami, Virginia Woolf, Maya Angelou, Joan Miro (while not technically theater, their work has greatly influenced my style of playwriting.)

And I've been blessed with some wonderful mentors: Romulus Linney, Gene Frankel, Adam Hirsch, Meir Ribalow, Jan Buttram, Susan Bernfield, James McLure, My Parents

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Something that hits me in the gut. Something that shows me the world from a new perspective. Something that lingers with me long after the production.

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

A:  "The first draft of anything is shit." Ernest Hemingway

I always remind myself of this quote because it gives me permission to throw caution to the wind and let my instincts run wild. You can always cut, change, rewrite, or burn anything later. But you never really know what is brewing in your guts until you let go of the steering wheel.

Q:  Anything else you want to share?

A:  My other life passion is horses. I've been riding my entire life- everything from barrel racing to hunters and jumpers- and I am a certified trainer. One of my first jobs was working as a riding instructor for disabled children. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Someday I want to move back to Colorado and have a big ranch full of horses and rescue animals, compete in a few local shows, and give riding lessons. There is no better smell in the world than a barn!

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  ALLIGATOR will be developed at the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference this summer.

I Interview Artistic Directors Part 1: Marc Masterson

Marc Masterson

Hometown: Houston, TX, with stops in New York, Pittsburgh, and Louisville

Current Town: Huntington Beach, CA

Q: Tell me about South Coast Rep.

A:   A Dramatic History The 47-year Odyssey from Beachfront to Broadway


In 1964, "South Coast Repertory" was a band of untested former theatre students launching an artistic odyssey on little more than raw talent and enthusiasm. Led by David Emmes and Martin Benson, they had emerged from college into the crossfire of a revolution in American theatre. Young theatre artists were out to break Broadway's hold over America's stages by founding independent professional theatres. They called theirs a "resident theatre movement," and by the early 1960s it was taking root in cities across America.


Emmes and Benson had attended San Francisco State College, where two of its faculty — Jules Irving and Herbert Blau — also ran the Actor's Workshop, a model for resident theatre advocates. Having gone separate ways after graduation, and holding jobs in academia, the social services and the peripheries of entertainment, Emmes and Benson gathered a few San Francisco friends in summer 1963 to stage Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde at the "Off-Broadway Theatre" in Long Beach. The chemistry worked. The theatre's board invited the troupe back to mount a series of plays the next summer.


They returned with The Hostage, Major Barbara and The Alchemist. The process of staging these three productions was transforming for the talented friends. The pressure they put themselves under to excel, and the creativity that emerged, marked the 1964 summer in Long Beach as a crucible. The band of hopefuls was fused into a company.


(Editor's Note:  It does not end there but I'm stopping there so you can hear more about Marc.  You can read the rest of the fascinating history of SCR here.)

Q:  How do you create your season? Or how have you created seasons in the past before coming to SCR?

A:  I look for work that inspires me and that reflects the variety and energy of the world I live in. Of course, there are also practical matters such as expense and physical requirements of a work that are kept in mind as a season comes together. But passion is essential and it can come from anywhere.

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

A:  When I was a kid I was part of a children's theatre program in Houston called Studio 7 run by Chris Wilson. The family of people that existed around that place and her leadership as the head of it inspired me to want to build a life in the theatre. I am still in touch with a number of people from that time and will be working with my friend Charlie Robinson in Jitney later this season.

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

A:  Everyone would make a living wage.

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

A:  We should always be changing and evolving.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Anything that is inherently theatrical.

Q:  What do you aspire to in your work?

A:  Integrity and inspiration.

Q:  Has your practice changed in the last ten years? Do you see changes in technology and culture changing how you work in the next ten years?*

A:  I have embraced the use of technology in my work. I believe that we are just at the beginning of affordable new tools opening up for use in our story telling- but believe also that they are only tools- theatre should remain a live expreience with actors at the center.

Q:  What advice do you have for theater artists wishing to work at your theater?

A:  The barricades are not nearly as high as you think. Take charge and communicate.


*Thanks to Polly Carl for this question.

I Interview Playwrights Part 401: Melisa Tien

Melisa Tien

Hometown:  Woodland Hills, CA

Current Town: New York, NY

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  A bunch of very different and exciting things: I'm co-creating (along with 6 other writers, 5 directors, and 4 producers; all from the current Women's Project Lab) a full-length play that will close out Women's Project's 2012-2012 season; I'm co-writing a play with 7 other playwrights about Jackson Heights at 3:00 in the morning, based on late night/early morning explorations in that most diverse of NYC 'hoods; I'm writing a play about a young woman who can rewind her life, but only within the last five minutes (potentially effecting do-overs in life); I'm starting research for a play about a women's soccer initiative in Cameroon that is changing how young Cameroonian women are seen and how they see themselves--I'm thinking of structuring the play like a soccer match, so it's a sporting event and theater event in one; all kinds of good stuff!

Q:  Tell me about your involvement in collaborative theater projects.

A:  To my mind, there are a few different things people are referring to when they use the word 'collaboration' to talk about theater. There's the inherent collaborative aspect of various people working together to put up a show, from the stage manager to the costume designer to the director. There's also a kind of collaboration that happens when you workshop an existing but not finished text, which involves actor input, director input, sometimes designer input; and they help to introduce new and helpful elements, or subtract extraneous elements, but by and large the playwright is the creator of the written text. There's also 'Collaboration' or 'devised work', wherein everyone who will potentially be involved in the final production, including actors and directors, are deeply involved in the inception, creation, reworking, and polishing of the play; this kind of creation often feels more like choreography (not because it's movement-based but because of the manner in which pieces are built on their feet). The first kind of collaboration happens no matter what. The second kind is what I'm doing with Jackson Heights project. The third kind is what I'm doing with Women's Project. They require different levels of involvement but they're all fun and they teach one to remove one's ego from making work.

Q:  Tell me about the Women's Project Playwright's Lab.

A:  I love the 2010-2012 lab; it's a bunch of smart, diverse, ambitious, big-hearted, sometimes self-doubting, often openly awesome, immensely creative women: Tea Alagic, Alexandra Collier, Liz English, Charity Henson-Ballard, Jessi D. Hill, Andrea Kuchlewska, Manda Martin, Dominique Morisseau, Kristen Palmer, Roberta Pereira, Sarah Rasmussen, Mia Rovegno, Nicole Watson, Stephanie Ybarra, Stefanie Zadravec, and me. The writers meet to share/discuss work, and the lab as a whole (producers, directors, writers) meet to share/discuss projects and learn ways to be more efficient/productive as an artist, via monthly workshops and guest speakers.

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 around ten, my brother and I used to get up at 5:30 in the morning and sneak into my mom's study and write stories. We'd sit on the shag-carpeted floor and put pencil to ruled paper until it was time to get ready for school. It was dark and cold, but it also felt like we were doing something secret and noteworthy.

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

A:  In this country it's hard to make theater without private backing (the government has other priorities). The good news is it seems like there are a lot of rich people who appreciate theater and want to donate their money to it. The issue, perhaps, is connecting those donors to theatermakers so that there is a more direct flow of funding to incipient theater projects--projects donors might not have heard of yet, but would gladly support. How can we connect these two? Is there an easier way to distribute money without having to go through a foundation/granting organization? How can theatermakers get the funding they need right away to get their projects off the ground? How can donors get a more real sense of the people and projects they are supporting? Is the answer direct patronage à la de Medici? I'd like to see ways in which rich people can easily connect to and give to poor theatermakers.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  María Irene Fornés. Adrienne Kennedy. Jyoti Mhapsekar. Chinese opera makers, old and new. Also, everyone who struggles to be heard as a theatermaker in New York City and elsewhere.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Lots of stuff. I like intellectual theater, emotionally wrenching theater, impressionistic theater, puppet theater, dance theater, straightforward straight-up realistic theater, brave, weird, quiet, deep, outrageous, hilarious, moving theater. People say this often and I agree--if the theater work is rigorously true to itself (whatever form it wants to take, whatever story it is trying to tell), then it'll be exciting.

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

A;  Try not to become bitter. Know that it takes a long time for most playwrights to get where they want to go. Make peace with the fact that you won't make money in theater (and find a different way to earn money if you need to). Exercise your writing and creative muscles. Do other things besides theater to inform your theater-making. Be open. Be generous. Try not to become bitter.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  I have a play called REFRAIN currently running at The Wild Project (November 3-19, Tuesdays-Saturdays @ 8:00 PM; Sundays @ 3:00 PM) / www.refraintheplay.com), directed by amazing collaborator Jessi D. Hill and two actors who are a joy to work with: Brooke Eddey and Marc Santa Maria.