Featured Post

1100 Playwright Interviews

1100 Playwright Interviews A Sean Abley Rob Ackerman E.E. Adams Johnna Adams Liz Duffy Adams Tony Adams David Adjmi Keith Josef Adkins Nicc...

Sep 30, 2017

1000 PLAYWRIGHT INTERVIEWS



Update June 24, 2021--  Go here for 100 more interviews.  





1000 Playwright Interviews

The first interview I posted was on June 3, 2009.  It was Jimmy Comtois.  I decided I would start interviewing some of my playwright friends.  It was fun and I had a blog and wanted to do something different and people like getting interviewed.  So I started doing this.  I thought I would stop after 50.  I thought I would stop after 100.  And now I'm at 1000 and I think I'm done for real.  I'm just tired.  It's inspirational but also sometimes it's a lot of work.

This is in no way a definitive list.  There are so many people I didn't interview and some of them I don't know.  And some don't want to do it and some I meant to ask and forgot.  Or I did ask and they forgot.  Or I never asked but I should have.  I'm also really disorganized.  I don't know how this all happened.  This is all to say there are lots of amazing playwrights not on this list.  In fact, there are probably 15-20K playwrights writing in the US today.  Here are 1000 of them.

9/30/17


A
Sean Abley
Rob Ackerman
Liz Duffy Adams
Johnna Adams
Tony Adams
David Adjmi
Keith Josef Adkins
Niccolo Aeed
Nastaran Ahmadi
Derek Ahonen
Kathleen Akerley
W.M. Akers
Ayad Akhtar
Rob Askins
Chiara Atik
Forrest Attaway
David Auburn
Jon Robin Baitz
Hannah Bos
Andy Bragen
Leslie Bramm
Benjamin Brand
Jami Brandli
November Christine
Jennifer Fawcett
Joshua Fardon
Basil Kreimendahl
Carson Kreitzer
Gregg Kreutz
Caitlin Saylor Stephens
Ariel Stess
Vanessa Claire Stewart
Nelle Tankus
Kate Tarker
Jona Tarlin
Judy Tate
Roland Tec
Lucy Teitler
Marina Tempelsman
Cori Thomas




playwrights, playwriting, playwrite, playright, writing plays, write, amwriting, writers, writing, play wright, plays, theatre, theater, the stage, stageworthy, words, page, interview, process, how, advice, 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter Your Email To Have New Blog Posts Sent To You

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Support The Blog
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mailing list to be invited to Adam's events
Email:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adam's Patreon

Books by Adam (Amazon)

Posted by at 163 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I Interview Playwrights Part 1000: C. Denby Swanson



C. Denby Swanson

Hometown: Austin, TX

Current Town: Austin, TX

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  A Sloan/EST science-play commission called NUTSHELL, a one-woman show about Frances Glessner Lee, who is considered the “mother of forensic science.” She built the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, these precise miniatures of crime scenes, which are housed at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore and still, as Frances intended, used to train homicide detectives. I’m also writing a memoir and TV pilot about my first year as a foster parent. I fostered for five years and adopted my son in 2014.

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 a kid, like 6 or something, I was visiting my maternal grandparent’s house in East Texas, and a family friend came over. She was an opera singer. I thought she was quite glamorous. She asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up and I wanted to impress her so I said that I wanted to be an actor. My grandmother got angry and told me I was NOT going to be an actor, I was going to be a journalist. And I thought, Oohhh, if I grow up to be an actor it will make her mad! THAT IS SO COOL. Now I MUST be an actor. I went to HSPVA, the arts magnet high school in Houston. Then I was a theater major in college. My intention was to be an actor. My grandmother died my senior year. That’s when I found out that she had toured East Texas doing productions of Shakespeare. When she married, she gave it up and never spoke about it again. And I am actually a writer.

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

A:  More yes.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Caryl Churchill, Irene Fornes, Adrienne Kennedy. And then Suzan-Lori Parks 365 Days/365 Plays. What kind of theater excites you? Small, intimate, unexpected, physical, impossible theater. The company I worked for in the 90’s, Frontera@HydePark Theater, did a production of Naomi Iizuka’s POLAROID STORIES, and I felt spiritually renewed every time I saw it.

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

A:  My 7th grade science teacher, Mr. Cole, urged us to observe 10 things a day. Which I still do. Other than that, I heard someone ask Suzan-Lori Parks how to start a play and her answer was just, you know, “Start.” Start. Do it. Say yes.

Q:  When not writing on a computer, what's your go-to paper and writing utensil?

A:  I like the Miquelrius journals with graph paper and a fine-tipped blue ink pen. I doodle a lot and draw lots of arrows. 

Q:  When on computer, what's your font? 

A:  I used to experiment with fonts but then I became a parent and now don’t have the time or energy to mess with anything other than Times New Roman.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  My “killer comedy” THE NORWEGIANS is available through Dramatists Play Service. And I have several plays for young people available through Playscripts. I just finished a workshop of a new play I’ve been working on with Stephen Bittrich and David Marantz, a one-man holiday-themed dark comedy called I AM MY OWN SANTA, which received Seed Support from ScriptWorks, the Austin playwright services organization. We’re working on some production options. My new one-act for young actors, THE SUBSTITUTE TEACHER’S TALE, is being produced this fall in Dallas. I wrote the play for the students of a former student of mine about my high school English teacher, Mrs. Catley, and her love of the Canterbury Tales. I like the legacy of writing about an important teacher for a student who is now a teacher with students of his own.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter Your Email To Have New Blog Posts Sent To You

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Support The Blog
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mailing list to be invited to Adam's events
Email:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adam's Patreon

Books by Adam (Amazon)


-->
Posted by at 10 comments:

Sep 29, 2017

Jack and Jill Plays - Part 44 - Dusty



another short play.  All right reserved-- don't produce or reproduce without my permission.

Dusty
by Adam Szymkowicz

(JACK and JILL facing each other, not quite seeing each other)

 JACK
The wind kicks up and I can barely see through the dust.  I know she's there, but the dust.  The dust!

JILL
There's a buried city in my head.  So many stories, memories, worries, wishes, hopes, anger, disappointment, joy, loss, so much drama all enacting but one click and it's all over.

JACK
I'm a cowboy and I pull up my kerchief over my nose and I put on the goggles so I can see.  She's there.  I know she's there.  One day the dust will settle and I'll find her again.  I just have to keep going.

JILL
Jack?

JACK
Jill, I hear you.  Where are you?

JILL
Somewhere you can't follow.

JACK
Jill!

JILL
Jack! ... Jack!

JACK
Jill!

JILL
nn.

JACK
But she's gone.

JILL
One click and it's over.  The electric impulses die.  Life was... whatever life was.  It continues for others.  But for me.

JACK
The dust and the dust and the dust and the dust.

JILL
And then the rain.

JACK
But nothing gets washed away.

JILL
You'll remember me, won't you?

JACK
I still have teeth marks on my arm.

JILL
Remember me.

JACK
I'll try.

JILL
And then the wind blows once more and I'm gone.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enter Your Email To Have New Blog Posts Sent To You

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Support The Blog
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mailing list to be invited to Adam's events
Email:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adam's Patreon

Books by Adam (Amazon)

Posted by at 5 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)