I Interview Playwrights Part 677: James Ijames

James Ijames

Hometown: Bessemer City, NC

Current Town: Philadelphia, PA

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I am currently working on a play I’m calling White. (At least for the moment) It’s inspired by the Joe Scanlan/Donelle Woolford/Yams controversy over at the Whitney a few months back. It explores who gets to make black art, what is black art, is personality a work of art and all those sort of contemporary art discussions that I love to have with my visual arts friends. I’m playing with some religious art imagery in the play as well as my expected use of magical realism and storying. I’m also doing some research for another play that uses history as a springboard. I want it to be for younger audiences but I’m not quite ready to talk about that yet.

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 recall driving from Bessemer City to Charlotte with my Mother, Father, Grandmother and sisters. (I think those are the players…not totally sure.) It was fall and my father was driving. My father asked me what I wanted to be for Halloween. I must have been pretty young.  I imagine I was maybe 7 or 8 but I could have been younger. Well I replied that I wanted to be a Ku Klux Klansman. It seemed reasonable enough to me. It’s basically a ghost costume but, you know, with a hat and stuff. My father firmly let me know what I was saying and explained the history that I was too young to understand. From that moment, I have been obsessed with history, with how history vibrated in the present and how humanity has the capacity for great good and the darkest of atrocity. It also was when I started to engage with imagery in a real way. I remember that moment so vividly because it was the first time I realized that an image, and for that matter, a story, can be multiple things. I thought the Klan costume was innocent, but the story that is attached to the image is not innocent. In my plays, I try to unpack story and imagery separately, while also finding the moments where the familiar image suddenly is telling a very unfamiliar story and vice versa.

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

A:  I would make theater more inclusive and by extension less expensive. There are certainly place where these things are happening! The Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia just subsidized their ticket prices for example and I think they are going to draw a much more diverse audience that truly reflects Philadelphia as a whole. Along those same lines in regards to inclusion, I would want to see more stories that reflect the lives that make up all of America and not just a subscriber base, which is demographically a very small lens. I think we can do better with expanding audience and a part of that is grappling with stories that may be uncomfortable or difficult.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  In terms of writing I would say Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Childress, Lucille Clifton, Kevin Young, Lamar Kendrick, James Baldwin, Katori Hall, Derek Walcott, Elizabeth Alexander, Wole Soyinka, Edward Albee, Tony Kushner, Marcus Gardley, Tennessee Willams, and Suzan Lori Parks. These writers, in their various genres have made an indelible print on not only my work but my world view. Also they show me that there is no such thing as “well made.” It’s well made if you made in and it’s what you need and what someone else needs. That’s the point, right? In terms of theatre as a practice I would say George C. Wolfe, Ed Sobel, Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon, Paul Meshejian, Liesl Tommy, Whit McLaughlin, Terry Nolan, Blanka Zizka, Micheal Hollinger, and Ozzie Jones. This is a mix of heroes and actual mentors. People who have had an impact on me directly as an artist. With the exception of Wolfe, all of these people have touched and taught me in a very personal way and continue to.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I love to be moved. Whether it’s moved to tears or laughter or anger. I just want it to affect me, to make me think and long and need. I want to see something sublime and not ordinary. If I wanted to watch my own life I would stay at home. I don’t want to watch someone like me make choices I probably would make. That just doesn’t do it for me. What I love, is when something extraordinary happens to people who are extraordinary, even if they don’t recognize it. I like spectacle and music and big ideas. I don’t like cute and clever. I like my theatre to be epic and euphoric and sexy and smart and sometime difficult to understand. I like those plays that three days later it hits you and you are once again back in that theatre reliving it all over again.

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

A:  Well I’m very much a playwright starting out, so I have a lot to learn, but I would say, find the people that love the things you love and be around them so they energize you. Your tribe, so to speak. Read all of the plays you can get your hands on, from the classics to the very contemporary. Just cause it’s old don’t make it right for you. Find people you trust and who understand your voice to give you feedback and read your work, not in a teacher/student sort of way but in a collaborative way. When I finish a play I send it to three very distinct people who give me three different kinds of feedback. It’s incredibly helpful. Lastly, know your value and your worth and that you have something to say. Some people will get it, some will not and that is entirely okay. Write for the people you want to reach and you will probably reach everyone. It’s weird the more specific I think a play is, the more universal it is. Oh and one more thing. When people say bad things about you, and let’s face it that will happen sometimes, consider the source and get back to work. Light the negativity on fire and used it for fuel.

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I Interview Playwrights Part 676: Ry Herman

Ry Herman

Hometown:  All over the place, really.

Current Town:  Edinburgh, Scotland

Q:  Tell me about Alice in Chinatown.

A:  It's a project that began in 2010 ... I was living in Honolulu then, and the local burlesque troupe, Cherry Blossom Cabaret, wanted to put on a full theatrical show -- that is to say, one with a plot, recurring characters, and significant dialogue, instead of the variety-style shows that are more common in the genre. They decided they wanted to loosely adapt Alice in Wonderland, but make it about the burgeoning arts scene of Honolulu's Chinatown. I was brought in to work on the script, which I ended up co-writing with a member of the troupe named Mabsy. I've now worked on four shows with them total, either as author or co-author, and this year Mabsy and I wrote a sequel, Alice in Chinatown: Through the Looking Glass.

One of the most eye-opening experiences for me as a playwright has been how great it is to write parts for a specific group of people, instead of writing a play in isolation and sending it off to strangers. Especially this group of people, since they're all amazing and creative and multi-talented. The troupe includes not only amazing striptease artists, but also professional or professional level singers, actors, dancers, choreographers, aerialists, contortionists ... one of the ways I start out each time is by basically asking, OK, anything special you want to do in the show? This year, the answers included two fencers who wanted to have a sword fight, a hand juggler, four singers, an aerialist who wanted to do a lyra piece, and someone who wanted to do a striptease in the dark in a costume made of electroluminescent wire, among other things.

When I first started working with them, I discovered to my surprise that instead of being constraining, trying to fit all of these things into a coherent narrative is remarkably freeing. Instead of being a limit ("you must include this thing in the show") it feels like anything is on the table ("you can even include this thing in the show!") I've never felt like I've had the problem of sacrificing thematic or narrative richness in the service of using someone's talents; instead, I feel like I get to use everyone's talents to add to the themes and narrative. AIC: Through the Looking Glass was primarily about identity, belonging, and finding your place in the world as you find out who you are. And also a love story between Alice and the White Rabbit.

Q:  What else are you working on now?

A:  At the moment, I'm working on a science fiction novel, which Mabsy is actually going to illustrate. In terms of the stage, I've just started the planning stages for a show -- it's so early on that the basic idea for it could still change -- that I'm hoping to have written in time for next year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. (I've just moved to Edinburgh recently, and I'm looking forward to the Fringe; this year, my goal is not to bankrupt myself at it.)

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 was mostly raised and socialized by my family's cats. However, they gave up on me when they realized that no matter how hard they tried, I was never going to hunt mice well. Since the mousing career path was closed to me as a result of my incompetence, I turned to writing instead.

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

A:  I'd want theater ticket prices that are comparable to, say, movie ticket prices, and at the same time everyone in the theater paid what their time and effort is worth. (Also world peace and a unicorn ...)

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Tom Stoppard, who used theater and language to examine theater and language, and made it fun and meaningful. Stephen Sondheim, who redefined what a musical could be as an art form. Jeff Daniels, for building the Purple Rose Theater.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  The theatrical piece I've seen that excited me the most during the last few years was Sleep No More. Probably because it was both innovative, entertaining, provocative, and amazingly well done. So, I'd say those are the things that excite me.

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

A:  There is no one right way of writing a play. If there's a play at the end of it, you did it right.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  A number of Ry Herman's plays are available from Samuel French (Voices In My Head, The Monster) and United Stages (Man On Dog, in the collection EATfest: Best of Fest). Excerpts from Ry's plays (Vamp, Voices in My Head) are available in the Meriwether collections Scenes and Monologues from the Best New Plays II and Women's Issues Volume II.

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I Interview Playwrights Part 675: David McGee

David McGee

Hometown:
Tokyo is my birthtown. Temple City, California, is my high school town. New York is my lifetown.

Q:  Tell me about Party In The USA.

A:  Party in the USA! is a drug comedy about the financial collapse. It's based in part on the life of Joshua William Gelb, who's directing it. As the economy was collapsing in 2008, Josh was temping at a major financial institution, illegally squatting in the Plaza Hotel, and did acid for the first time. That's pretty much the perfect summary of the current US: stoned out of your mind, illegally and temporarily in the lap of luxury, aware of the epic shit that's about to hit the global fan, and unable/unwilling to do anything about it. It's a screamlaugh of anger and shock at the state of the financial world, a ridiculous picaresque, and a full-on manic dance party all at once. It's got Russian folktales and German anarchists and talking bears and bucketloads of Bud Light Lime. Plus jokes!

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 three years old, I apparently came to my mother, fairly distraught, and told her that my butt hurt. "Where does it hurt?" she said. I pointed at my elbow and said "Right here." "Honey," she said, "that's your elbow." My eyes went wide with shock and worry. "Well if THAT'S my elbow," I said, "what happened to my butt?"

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

A:  STOP WRITING BORING PLAYS. STOP PRODUCING BORING PLAYS. I don't mean to shout but OK YES I MEAN TO SHOUT. You can do literally ANYTHING in a theater, so you better have a goddamn good excuse if what you choose to do is have rich people talking in a living room about their feelings.

Q:  What else are you working on now?

A:  A production of a play called All the Luck that's... um... about rich people talking in a room about their feelings. BUT (elbow?) it's a hotel room rather than a living room and also it scrupulously refuses to be boring. I think. It's got leprechauns in it, if that helps. I think it helps. I'm also the cohost of a sex and relationship advice podcast that doesn't really give advice. It's called Sex for Smart People (That Means You). As of yet, no leprechauns. There's time yet.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  At the moment, I'd say they're The TEAM, Witness Relocation, Anne Washburn, Dave Malloy, Young Jean Lee, the Krepsko Theater Group in Prague, and whoever's giving Arjen Robben diving lessons (HEY-O!).

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  My favorite kind of theater is theater that acts like a fucking race. The kind of race that slow and steady doesn't win. Vibrant and kinetic: a collective fever-dream.

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

A:  Skip the exposition. We'll figure it out. And remind everybody to hurry!

Q:  Plugs, please:


A:  Party in the USA! At Underbelly's Topside theater as part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe! Tickets! A link to our Fractured Atlas donation page because (surprise!) we are self-funding and (double surprise!) we don't have any money. So if, you know, your personal finances aren't in crisis, we sure would love your help.

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My play Clown Bar extended!!!

photo by Suzi Sadler

Clown Bar, my clown noir play, soon to be published by Sam French is enjoying a remount from last year in the super fancy space, the Box on the Lower East Side with almost all the same cast. www.pipelintheatre.org  It just extended until Aug 23.

Here are some nice things people have said about the play:

Critic’s Pick; “Adam Szymkowicz’s script is unabashedly silly but also shrewd, paying homage to film noir and pulp novels.” --New York Times


"Mr. Szymkowicz has created a new world out old parts, breeding a brand new species of creative animal. He is, in fact, making his own rules – and the pleasure of obeying them is all ours." –New York Theatre Review (2013)


“Throughout the show, enjoyable pauses in the action allow for a song, dance, joke, a reenactment, shoot-out, etc. It is a testament to the strength of Mr. Szymkowicz’s writing that the tight narrative framework of Clown Bar supports these kooky interruptions. Clown Bar is a really gratifying theatrical experience, silly but also moody and mysterious.” –New York Theatre Review (2014)


“completely ridiculous and utterly heart-wrenching.” –Charged FM


“(an) exceptional theatrical experience.” –Theater Pizzazz


“Clown Bar is a top notch immersive event that is unique and bound to be a cult favorite.”--Theatre In The Now


“Due to the cleverly written script by Adam Szymkowicz, the show is such a marvelously detailed and novel spoof of the genre.” --Theater Scene


“a campy and clever play… Written by gifted scribe Adam Szymkowicz … Clown Bar is an entertaining riff on the old Hollywood crime dramas from the 1940s. A charming indulgence, we recommend donning your best clown nose and catching this scrappy production before it packs into its clown car and zooms away. –Flavorpill NY


“The script is tight and funny—hard-boiled schtick.” --The Fifth Wall


“Adam Szymkowicz’s script is a case study in meticulously crafted playfulness… some of the most quotable lines ever heard in a play… Clown Bar is a fantastic way to spend your evening. If you love clowns, go see this show. If you hate clowns, go see this show.” --nytheatre.com


“Clown Bar does detective story spoofs one better by employing every single familiar crime-movie trope — brooding hero, crazy crime boss, conflicted gun moll, hooker with a heart of gold — and making them all...well, clowns. It’s weird how well this works: playwright Adam Szymkowicz has combined two inherently ridiculous forms of entertainment and created a perfect storm of ridiculousness.” --Theatre Is Easy


“There’s not a streak out of place in Clown Bar‘s greasepaint; I can’t think of a better nightcap than the shot of extra funny currently being served by Pipeline Theatre Company.” --That Sounds Cool


“original and terrific… a wonderful idea, dark and funny with priceless moments.” –Time Square Chronicles

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I Interview Playwrights Part 674: Laura Schellhardt

Laura Schellhardt

Hometown: I was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and my family moved around a lot when I was growing up. But we've been in Chicago for the longest stretch of time now, so I consider it my hometown.

Current Town: Chicago, IL

Q:  Tell me about your play in the Kilroys List.

A:  So THE COMPARABLES is a dark comedy about three women vying for control of a high end real estate agency. It emerged in two shifts. The first incarnation was inspired by the series of town hall meetings Julia Jordan launched at New Dramatists several years concerning why female playwrights were so scarce in the Broadway/Regional Theatre circuit. There was some abysmal statistic - something like 10 or 12 percent of the new plays produced around the country that year were by women. So the statistic got me thinking - and by thinking I mean it threw me into that frenzy of rage and despair that often (for me anyway) results in art. However, it was actually a series of comments on an article about those meetings that inspired the plot. A female reporter wrote a thoughtful summation of one of those town halls, and for some reason it prompted a slew of vicious comments from readers - one of which stated women would be happier if we just accepted that men were the creators in this world and women were the caregivers. And that comment was made by a woman. So that happened, and then I started to write.

That version of the play though was just a series of scripted half-thoughts until Braden Abraham and I began discussing a commission for Seattle Rep. Originally we wanted to adapt Genet's The Maids, but it's difficult for American writers to secure those rights - so we decided that what we loved about that piece was its rumination on the specific nature of female cruelty - the unique way women compete with women - and all of a sudden those half-thoughts began to take shape. The play isn't an adaptation of The Maids, and I hope (pray?) it's funnier than The Maids, but it shares the same primary theme.

What else are you working on now? Honestly? Right now I'm working on a way to type with one hand while I hold my newborn with the other. Also how to function on three hours of sleep. Also the world's a whole lot more delightful and terrifying with him in it, so I'm working on finding a balance between those two states of mind.

Writing-wise, I'm working on a commission from The Goodman Theatre about the first state-certified electrocution in America, as well as a young adult piece about a group of kids trying to escape the island they live on in search of a better future. This goal is made difficult by the adults in their lives and the gators surrounding the island. Electricity and reptiles - that's my creative life these days.

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

A:  Well, when I was seven I had the opportunity to meet President Reagan, and I turned it down in favor of the buffet table which had chocolate-covered strawberries the size of my fist. For some reason that story seems relevant to my work.

The story that keeps coming up as I think about that question though is a production of Choose Your Own Adventures that was put up at my grade school in Virginia, with five actors playing fifty roles - including inanimate objects, animals and the weather. I was young at the time, but I know that event was formative for me somehow. It was funny and surprising and seemingly impossible, and also it required physical virtuosity - which I think has become one of my definitions for success.

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

A:  I know most people say it should be less expensive - and I agree with that. I'd also love it if the nightly news replaced some of their sports coverage with arts coverage - or here's a thought, cover them both - so more kids saw both as equally viable options. I'd also like more theatre - mine included - to involve specific communities in process and production. I think that's the fastest way to grow new audiences across the country. That wasn't one thing, sorry. I'm big on change.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:   Oh, most of them are teachers. Paula Vogel and John Logan have been guiding lights in my life - professionally and personally. Paula's changed so many people's lives for the better - I mean, she's got the Pulitzer in drama, but she should also have a Pulitzer in humanitarian effort. John taught me tenacity and rigor. My former acting teacher, Mary Poole, taught me that vulnerability is not a weakness. Also my siblings who find humor in even the darkest of events. Also my husband - who's a classical musician - has a professional discipline I will never achieve, but it's important to have something to shoot for. Also now my son for whom everything is new. I'd love for more of my world to feel new again.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I like theatre that moves quickly - not short productions necessarily, but work that has a fast pulse. Also theatre where cruelty and beauty collide. Also theatre that demands its performers be physically or linguistically virtuosic at some point (or all the time.) And I'll see any play with a chase scene in it.

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

A:  Stay in the game. Unless you fall out of love with the game, then do something else. And don't compare yourself to anyone else. And don't expect that the things you thought would be the most fulfilling are actually the things that will be the most fulfilling. They might be, but also they might not. Oh - and figure out how to type quickly with one hand, because one day you may have a newborn, and that will be a useful skill.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Here are my Chicago shout-outs: Dog And Pony Theatre Company - doing some of the most innovative work in the city, check them out. Ike Holter - follow his work. His new play especially - Exit Strategy - is fantastic. All the writers in the Goodman Theatre's Playwright's Unit - that's a personal plug but mostly a plug for that program and the plays that come out of it. Anything Hallie Gordon commissions for young adult audiences at Steppenwolf. If you're interested in learning about the new classical music scene - check out the Spektral Quartet. I'm married to the violist, so I'm biased, but also they're commissioning a lot of new pieces themselves. And finally - if you're in Seattle next winter (2015), go see The Comparables. We've got one hell of an ensemble.

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I Interview Playwrights Part 673: Katie Forgette

Katie Forgette

Hometown: Seattle, Washington

Current Town: Seattle, Washington

Q: Tell me about A Facility For Living:

A: The play is set in the not-too-distant future. Dick Cheney is our new President. Medicare has been replaced with something called The Senior Provision Act or SPA. SPA's motto is: You cause it! You pay for it! The aged and infirm are housed in Federal Nursing Homes which are renovated Federal Prisons. The prisoners have been outsourced to Pakistan with the exception of a lucky few who remain to take care of the residents. The story takes place in the day room of SPA Facility #273, overseen by Nurse Claudia and her aide, the lovable felon, Kevin. When a new patient is admitted--a former stage actor--all hell breaks loose. It's CUCKOO'S NEST meets GOLDEN GIRLS, a black (gray?) comedy that asks the question: "If the taxpayer is picking up the check for your medical expenses, what is your responsibility in terms of maintaining your health?"

Q: What else are you working on now?

A: I'm re-writing and, as always, attempting to market my plays.

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 kid, I was in love with old movies. I was particularly fond of prison movies. At about this time, my mother operated a daycare center out of our home. (This was in addition to taking care of her own 9 children and caring for her invalid mother who lived with us.) In the summer months I was her helper--that is, whenever she could rouse me from sleep or a television coma. She would ask me to, "Do something with the children!" So, I'd round them up and take them into the backyard and cheerfully inform them, "We're going to play a game called Detention School--and I'm going to play the part of the Head Matron!" Among my brothers' many derelict British sport cars, I had the kids (ages 5 to 10) sit in two rows and I would inform them of their crimes--grand theft auto, armed bank robbery--and then tell them that they were to atone for their sins by being very quiet and, most importantly, obeying the rules. (The kids seemed quite taken with the idea that they were juvenile delinquents and had rap sheets.) As part of their punishment, I would read aloud from the Encyclopedia Britannica--with a pop quiz to follow. We would go on contemplative nature walks, their heads bowed and hands folded in front of them. All responses to my questions were to begin: "Salami, bologna, we love you with all our hearts!" And, of course, part of their rehabilitation was mandatory participation in the Detention School's theatre program. All plays having been written by--you got it--the Head Matron. Our productions were hindered by the fact that some of the actors had not yet learned to read.

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

A: Well, it would certainly be nice to see more produced plays written by women. But that's become such a worn-out lament, you know? The statistics just don't seem to be budging much. I heard an interesting comment from an artistic director at a children's theater once. She said, "Little girls will sit through stories about little boys; but little boys will not sit through stories about little girls."

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A: The kind of theater that makes me forget everything else. Arthur Miller said, "The job of the artist is to remind people of what they have chosen to forget.” But it's my feeling that the job of the artist is also to help people forget—temporarily—what haunts them.

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

A: Be careful not to seek too many opinions about your work. Two or three readers are plenty--choose wisely. Smart, theater-savvy folks--preferably people who read lots of plays. And even then, don't take any one comment too much to heart. It's all a crap shoot and nobody really knows anything for certain. One thing you can control is how much you write. The more plays you finish, the better you get. Once you've got a draft, take a break, maybe a few days or weeks, then re-read, re-write, re-peat. Be patient. As my mother used to say: "God's delays are not God's denials." Personally, I'm pinning my hopes on being discovered posthumously.

Q: Plugs, please:

A: Theater Breaking Through Barriers, Detroit Rep, Kimber Lee (talented writer, wonderful not-crazy person), Barter Theater. ACT Theater. Seattle Rep. Abigail Adams at People's Light. Hedgebrook.

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