I Interview Playwrights Part 308: Kait Kerrigan

Kait Kerrigan

Hometown: Kingston, PA

Current Town: New York

Q:  Tell me about your show going up at Goodspeed.

A:  My writing partner Brian Lowdermilk and I have been working with producers Beth Williams and Broadway Across America on a 5-person musical called The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown for several years. Goodspeed is the next step in the process. It's not a full production. It won't be reviewed and it won't have an official opening so we'll get a full month of performances to play and fine-tune. We begin performances on August 4th and run through August 28th at the Norma Terrace Theater - which has a turntable so I'm thinking we'll make use of that.

Q:  What else are you working on?

A:  2011 is pretty crazy. We just released our first album (Our First Mistake) and we're in the process of doing a concert series in New York called "You Made This Tour" - which is named for our fans after they raised 35K on our kickstarter campaign. We're also going to the MacDowell Colony to work on a new musical about the Irish Republican Army based on Shakespeare's Henry IV and then I hop out to Northern California to work on a production of my play Imaginary Love.

Q:  Tell me about Primary Stages' ESPA. What can a student in your class expect?

A:  You'd probably get a better answer from some of my students. I have a lot of students who have taken my classes three and four times and they're really progressing. I think the most important thing I can offer as a workshop leader is deadlines. The difference between being a writer and not is pretty simply the ability to finish something so I force that on them. Once you know you can finish something, the whole world opens up for you. In fact, I'm restructuring my first-level class to reflect that. The final product of my first level class is a treatment for full-length musical. But I want to create a mid-point deadline that has them each write a 10-minute musical. I kind of kick my students' asses. Otherwise, I wouldn't be earning my paycheck, but I try to create an environment where the critique is always constructive.

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'm going to tell you the first story that comes to mind. When I was three or four, I got really interested in god. My mom was agnostic, my grandmother was a lapsed Catholic, and my grandfather - who took me to church on Sundays and fed me pancakes afterwards - was Protestant. I was a very literal kid and I started asking my mom a lot of questions about where people come from and how God made us. I think my mom probably talked to me about science and, like, cell formation. But I was really preoccupied by the idea of how bones got inside skin. I couldn't understand how God (or anyone) could put the bones inside without there being seams. A couple weeks passed, and I came running into the dining room. I was so excited. I show my mom the palms of my hands. I said, "Look! I found the seams!"

I guess the reason that story comes to mind because I get really stuck on things I don't understand, things I can't name. Honestly, it doesn't even matter if I name it incorrectly. The naming of it, making something feel like it makes sense, is all that matters. And that's sort of what writing is for me.

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

A:  I wish theater gave audiences more credit. I also wish there were a more porous relationship between theater and popular culture. That's two things...


Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  I met Sondheim when I was 14 and I asked him to sign my cd. He told me that I was the only person under the age of 40 who knew who he was. I was devastated and I almost wrote him a letter to tell him how wrong he was. (As I said, I was a pretty literal kid.) Lynn Ahrens and Steve Flaherty were mentors of mine and Brian's and I think they were some of the best teachers I ever had.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I think the most exciting thing is when a play or musical HAS TO BE a play or a musical. I also love mongral forms, which is probably why I love writing musicals so much. I love when pieces attempt to stretch the boundaries of what has been done before. BRIEF ENCOUNTER, THE BURNT PART BOYS and VENICE are the shows this year that really moved me. In the not too distant past, pieces that really moved me include THE FOUR OF US, RUBY SUNRISE, CAROLINE OR CHANGE, CLYBOURNE PARK, LOOKING FOR THE PONY, and THE SEVEN. But probably the most exciting piece of theater that has happened in the past couple years was documented in film EXIT THROUGH THE GIFTSHOP. That film changed the way I view art, commerce, theatricality, and the age old plot twist.

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

A:  Finish your drafts. Don't be afraid of rejection because you will be rejected. But often the people who reject your first play or musical, remember your name and are excited to read the 2nd one you send. And then, sometimes they're moved by your second piece and they commission your third.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  THE UNAUTHORIZED AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SAMANTHA BROWN is at Goodspeed from August 4th through August 28th. We also have concerts at Le Poisson Rouge on Feb 7 and March 27 and another concert at the Canal Room on Feb 28th. And my play IMAGINARY LOVE opens at the Hapgood Theatre in Antioch, CA on June 3 and runs through the end of the month.

I Interview Playwrights Part 878: Pia Scala-Zankel

Pia Scala-Zankel

Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

Current Town: BROOKLYN

Q:  Tell me please about Street Children.

A:  I have been working on Street Children for 5 years.

The play takes place in NYC circa 1988 and focuses on the LGBTQ youth and, more specifically, transgender women that congregated on the Lower Hudson Piers. I came into my adolescence in New York in the mid-to-late 80s; it was a viscerally exciting time n NYC history. It was also one of the most dangerous times, especially for these kids. The AIDS epidemic, ostracism, violence towards trans and LGB individuals, and oppression were rife in the community. Despite all this, they found and created incredible beauty out of the chaos and darkness by forming street families or ‘Houses’. These constructs gave them a sense of belonging, love and acceptance that their blood families and the rest of the world would not give them. They showed incredible resilience and humanity in the midst of inhumanity. The kids of these Houses forged deep bonds and their ‘House Mothers’ or ‘House Fathers’ took care of them as if they were their own. Everyone searches for and needs a family, but for them the stakes could not have been higher because it was about all about survival. They also had – and still have - the courage that most of us will never know; to live as themselves, no matter what, even if they know they might die for it. Street Children was born out of these deeply moving and profound truths. My play focuses on the journey of one particular street family immediately following the violent murder of their House Mother.

To cast this show, we committed ourselves to working with LGBTQ artists. I reached out to The Center and found an incredible acting class called ACT OUT, which is taught by Brad Calcaterra. Brad graciously invited me into the class and I will be forever grateful. Many of the actors in this show are from that class while the rest of the cast is from Actor’s Access and through word of mouth within the community. Also, my amazing director, Jenna Worsham, is a member of the queer community as well as an activist. Jenna was instrumental in developing the idea of having a chorus of trans and queer youth to not only complete the play’s ensemble but also fulfill the mission of this project: to give the community a platform through theater. In addition to the core cast, we have now assembled a group of 10 dynamic individuals to weave this show together. We could not be more thrilled with this cast! I’ve never experienced this kind of positive energy before in my career.

I also wanted to share that Vertigo Theater Company has partnered with both the youth program at The LGBT Community Center and The Ali Forney Center to offer work readiness internships. Youth who have gone through the LEAP program (Leadership, Education, Advancement, and Placement) will shadow and be mentored by our production team as they gain the professional experience necessary to build their resumes.

Q:  What else are you working on now?

A:  On October 3, Vertigo Theater Company – in association with BRIC Arts Media – is producing “Queering Theater,” which is the next installment of our ongoing salon-style series, Shoptalk. Our guests include playwright Adam Bock, playwright/actor Donnetta Lavinia Grays, director/artistic director Will Davis, and legendary performance artist Carmelita Tropicana, plus moderator, Ginia Bellafante from the New York Times. Right now, since I am wearing multiple hats for this Vertigo Theater Company production (Producer, Artistic Director and Playwright) I am singularly focused on my baby, Street Children.

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

A:  Growing up, I was extremely close to my Uncle Bob. He was my Nanny’s (my grandmother on my mom’s side) brother. When my mother grew up, her father was a violent alcoholic and my Nanny divorced him, which was a bold move back in 1940’s-era Brooklyn. Afterwards, she asked my Uncle Bob to move in with them and they became a family unit and raised my mother. He was one of the kindest human souls I have ever known. I never understood why, but I always knew innately that he needed both protection and my undying loyal devotion. I knew he was different; that he was an underdog. He never had a 9-5 job and he lived with my Nanny for his entire adult life. He was the neighborhood handyman; he built dollhouses; and he could create or fix anything with his hands. I remember accompanying him on his rounds to different homes the neighborhood and you could not help but adore him. He had very soft youthful features. He never had a girlfriend and I remember asking my mom about it. She explained that when Uncle Bob was born, the doctors did not know if he was a boy or a girl. His parents made him live his life as a boy. They cut his hair like a boy and dressed him like a boy. He endured operation after operation and suffered terribly. When he got older and started going through puberty, he began developing breasts. He had to bind his chest with an ace bandage and wear loose t-shirts to hide his physical attributes. By that point, he had been living his whole life as a boy and felt he had no choice but to continue living as a boy. He was ostracized and treated poorly by people and other members of his own family. My Nanny took him away from that and gave him a family with my mom. He was burdened with something so terrible, but his extraordinary strength, and incredibly giving soul allowed him to find the beauty in life. He got the most joy from his little family, but we will never know how much he suffered for not being able to have a voice in deciding who he wanted to be. My experiences with him absolutely shaped who I am as a person and a writer. I seem to always write about raw and painful heartache combined with fierce resilience and child-like innocence.

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

A:  Diversity all around - both on and off stage. Making theater accessible to all walks of life.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Right now- here is who comes to mind

Joseph Papp, Nina Simone, Ellen Burstyn, Gena Rowlands, Tony Kushner, Dominique Morisseau, Lucy Thurber, Taylor Mac, Patti Smith, and, Lin Manuel Miranda.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theater that breaks down the barriers between audience and performance. Theater that makes you feel as if you are inside of the experience from the moment you enter the room. Theater that immerses and transports you into the world of the play and introduces you to experiences that are different from your own.

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

A:  I am certainly not a wise old playwright - I don’t have the pedigree! But I will say this: I NEVER GIVE UP. Don’t stop moving toward your dream of telling the stories you want and need to tell…NO MATTER WHAT. Work at it every day. Get inspired. If you can’t find someone to produce your work then DO IT YOURSELF. Say YES.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Here is the link to New Ohio Website for Street Children

http://newohiotheatre.org/ourcurrentseason.htm

Here is the direct ticket link for Street Children
 
https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/962229

We also have the $18 early bird discount set up - with code "EARLYBIRD"

Also here is our website:

http://www.vertigotheater.org/

SHOPTALK: Queering Theater- October 3rd

http://www.bricartsmedia.org/events-performances/vertigo-theater-company-shoptalk-queering-theater
 
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I Interview Playwrights Part 790: Charly Evon Simpson

Charly Evon Simpson

Hometown: Born in Queens, NY. Raised in Northern New Jersey.

Current Town: New York City

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I am working on a play called Hottentotted in Fresh Ground Pepper’s PlayGround PlayGroup. It is a play that brings together the life of Sarah ’Saartjie' Baartman, also known as the Hottentot Venus, with the lives of contemporary black women in the US. Baartman, if you don’t know, was a South African woman put on display in Europe until the 1800s. I’ve interviewed black women of a variety of ages, asking questions about how they feel their bodies are on display and sexualized, about how old they were when they realized fully what I meant to be black and female, etc. I am interweaving the real stories of these women in hopes of highlighting many of the issues we confront today. I’m lucky enough to be workshopping the piece at the beginning of October and it will have a reading open to the public in December.

Other than that, I am working on a short play called Postmark The Night as a part of EST/Youngblood’s Asking For Trouble. It will be one of 20+ ten minute plays going up in mid-October.

And lastly, I just started my MFA in Playwriting. My playwriting class is taught by Annie Baker…which means I feel like I should be working on anything for that class 24/7.

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

A:  Two things come to mind when trying to think of a story. First, when I was four or so, my favorite movie was Dirty Dancing. While watching, I would get up on the coffee table and dance along. All my dolls and stuffed animals would be piled together so they could watch me. I would replay the dancing scene over and over and over again. When I was seven, I moved on to Pretty Woman, which I was told I couldn’t show at my birthday party because other kids may not be ready for it yet. This may explain why I started out more as an actor, continue to write one-woman shows every once and a while, and am a sucker for a good RomCom.

The second memory is that I was always writing stories. In second grade, we wrote short stories that would get “published” so we could take them home and show our families. I wrote story after story, often lying and saying I had already written a “sloppy copy” so I could go ahead and work on the final published copy. I was always writing something and hated going back to the old stuff. I am much better about editing now (but I still think it is the worst…) and, predictably, my turnout is not as fast as then, but I still always have a ton of stories in my head.

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

A:  The lack of diversity that sometimes haunts our theater spaces. I mean diversity of the audience, the theater organization officials, the playwrights, the actors, the directors, the designers, the characters being portrayed on stage…And I mean diversity of gender, race, ability, age, class, etc. The theater I see that excites me the most usually shows me a world that is in someway diverse. I think diversity makes theater stronger. I would change many barriers to theater that cause this lack.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  José Rivera and Sarah Ruhl were my first heroes. I got lost in their words and worlds and soon was considering this whole playwriting thing a lot more. Now? I feel like I have too many heroes to name. There are so many talent theater people and I truly am in awe of a great number of people. Anyone committing to this path and overcoming hurdles and trying their darnedest is a hero in my book.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theater that is passionate and what I mean by that is you can tell all involved are passionate about the piece. I get excited by others being excited about the work. It doesn’t always mean I love the work, but it excites me. I love theater that feels like it has been infused with magical realism and jazz. I love theater that feels like a punch to the gut. I love being surprised. And like I said above, I love theater that is diverse. Leaving the theater energized and not drained—that excites me.

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

A:  First piece of advice: It is okay to be unsure. It is okay to not really know if this is what you want to do. Take the time and the detours. Test the waters. Freak out. Come back.

Related to the above: Use whatever you learned and whatever you experienced during that time and those detours in your work. Those times and detours are fertile ground.

Lastly: Find the artists you admire and want to work with. Find the artists that love your work. Hopefully there will be some overlap. Talk to them. Become friends. Find your community of people because when you can’t find the motivation, they can scrounge up some for you.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Come to Asking for Trouble at Ensemble Studio Theatre! Also, visit my website (charlyevonsimpson.com) in the coming weeks for the official dates of the Hottentotted reading.

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I Interview Playwrights Part 710: David Bucci

David Bucci

Hometown: Providence, RI

Current Town: Seattle, WA

Q:  Tell me about Possum Carcass.

A:  The play was first commissioned in the early 2000s by Woolly Mammoth Theater Company and the New Play Network. Possum Carcass is a “cover” of The Seagull. I’ve always been a huge Chekov fan, and I wanted to see what I could learn by compressing the play to six characters and relocating it to New York City. Ultimately the goal was to write a play that let a theater audience see The Seagull in a new way and a non-theater audience to enjoy a this dark-comedy without being alienated by the distant time and location in which it is set. In the ten years since I first wrote the play, it’s been read or work-shopped at Woolly Mammoth (DC), Clubbed Thumb (NY), University of Maryland, Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas), Knitting Factory (NY), and Annex Theatre (Seattle).

Q:  What else are you working on now? I hear you have retired from playwriting. What is that like and how has it changed your perspective?

A:  These days my main creative project is my band.   I started playing music and writing plays at about the same time, but I’ve always been much more passionate about music than theater. Playing music allows me to write, direct, and perform in a much more nimble creative unit than a traditional play production, and it allows for more concrete documents of the work (recordings and videos). In my experience, music draws a much more varied audience than theater. I was disappointed by how few working class or non-theater artists seemed to attend plays in New York.

Since moving to Seattle in 2007, I’ve been able see a lot of strange and provocative performance work at On the Boards, who host wide variety of national and international artists. I’ve worked as a sound designer, musician, dramaturg, and performer in some short works at OtB, but that is about the extent of my theater work these days. As far as writing goes, I’ve been focusing on short fiction, comic strips, and screenplays.

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

A:  My very first memory is of a music class my mother brought me to when I was five. The class was in the form of a puppet show about classical music. Apparently I was transfixed.

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

A:  The audience.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  “Heroes” is strong word. But I’ve been most inspired by Chekov, Brecht, Sam Shepard, Paula Vogel, Mac Wellman, and Ruth Margraff.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I’m more excited by broken narratives and performance art than conventional theater productions these days. Last year I got see Kristen Kosmas’ “There There” at OtB and it was amazing. OtB is bringing Richard Maxwell this season, and I’m excited to see some of his work again.

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

A:  #1 Be born into a wealthy family. Use that privilege to pay for housing, food, and health insurance.

#2 Go to an obscenely expensive private east coast college. Use that network to find collaborators and funders for your work.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Possum Carcass at Theatre of NOTE in LA: Dec 2-22th and Jan 2-10th http://theaterofnote.com/

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I Interview Playwrights Part 859: Paola Lázaro

Paola Lázaro

Hometown: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Current Town: New York Crispy City

Q: Tell me about your show coming to Atlantic.

A: First let me just say: Thank you to the Atlantic Theater and The Tow Foundation for making this crazy shit happen. I'm forever grateful.
The play is called "Tell Hector I Miss Him" and it's a 12 character beast with tentacles and algae and graffiti and a slight cocaine addiction. It follows the life of 12 people in a slum in Old San Juan.
Here's a little blurb:
"You're in Puerto Rico. Old San Juan. You're a tourist, you walk down the stairs of this beautiful old fort built by the Spaniards. When you reach the bottom, you realize you're in the hole, a slum. Welcome to La Perla, the barrio and the underbelly that lies under the tourism and behind the fort walls. You spend some days there, you don't want to leave. Oh no, you're addicted to the beauty, the women and the drugs."

Q: What else are you working on now?

A: I'm working on a new play called "There's Always the Hudson" and it's about uh, two fucked up people who try and get revenge from the fucked up people that fucked them over.

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

A: Back in PR, 3rd grade. My best friend, beautiful, sweet, everyone loved her and looked up to her. Recess ends, bell rings, if you're late you get in trouble. I start running to the classroom, but I see my buddy sitting on the floor, not moving. That's weird. She's mad responsible, some shit ain't right. So I say, shit, let me go check on her. I go over and I say "Tiny, the bell rang." And she says: "Yes". I say "well, let's go" and she says "I can't" and I say " ¿Qué pasó? and she says "Acércate, come closer" and I do. And she whispers in my ear "Me cagué (I shat myself)" and I say "Right here?" And she says "Right here" and she's sitting Indian style on the floor in her uniform too hot for the caribbean weather. And the kids are still running around trying to get to class. And she says "Go to class, don't be late, tu mamá gets mad" And I look around at the kids hustling and I look at her and I sit on the floor next to her, Indian style, and I say: "No te preocupes por mi
​ni mami ​(Don't worry about me or my mom)". She's crying now. I say: "Tengo un plan. We're gonna sit here until everyone gets into class and then we slowly, hidden,
​chillingly, ​without any kids or teachers knowing, we're gonna walk to the bathroom and I'll walk behind you so nobody sees the poop and then we clean you and then no poop"
Basically, I'll stay and sit next to you when you shit yourself and I'll make sure no one makes fun of you or fucks with you. Then. I'll make sure you're clean so you can go on with the rest of your day.

Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A: René Marqués
Miguel Piñero
Hector Lavoe (Salsa singer)
Raúl Juliá
Cheo Feliciano (Singer)
Danny Rivera (Singer)
Chuck Mee
José José (Singer)
Stephen Adly Guirgis
Kelly Stuart
Tony Kushner
Laurie Anderson
Woody Allen (his 70's shit)
​My father​ and mother and grandma
and more....​

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A: Honest, transparent shit. I get enough bullshit on a day to day basis. I wanna see and hear people say the shit they can't say in life.

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

A: Write. Don't let the editor come into the room before they have to. The editor doesn't know shit about creating. The editor has no clue about it. Write. Don't judge it yet. There will be time for editing later. Trust. Don't fuck with the editor before you have to.

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I Interview Playwrights Part 1033: Emily Hageman

Emily Hageman

Hometown:  Highlands Ranch, CO

Current Town: Sioux City, IA

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  What am I NOT working on right now would be a better question????

I just finished up an extremely successful speech competition season with my students at Siouxland Christian (our tiny school with an enrollment of 68 just secured our second Critic’s Choice Banner in the area of one act, making us the first school in the history of the program since 1982 to be named the top one act in the state of Iowa twice in a row). This was achieved our first year with my one act “Back Cover,” and this year with my one act “The Cages We Build.” I am currently working on creating a full length play that I would feel comfortable submitting (right now, the only place I’m comfortable putting my full lengths is in the garbage disposal). I am also writing a one act for my middle schoolers (all twenty-six of them!) as well as the one act for my high schoolers next year. I am also trying to stay alive, but that’s been sort of placed on the backburner for the time being.

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 in third grade, we were learning about writing using quotations. I wrote a story about my family during a thunderstorm (for whatever reason, I can still remember my opening line--"YIKES," Emily said as a bolt of lightning streaked through the sky.) My third grade teacher, who spent most of her time glaring at me because I liked to walk around the classroom without my shoes and had the habit of rolling my eyes every time we had to do math, pulled me aside before class began. Naturally, I assumed I was going to be chastised for my eye-rolling, shoeless ways. Instead, she asked me, “Would you mind if I read this to the class?” Baffled, I said yes. She read the entire short piece for my class and praised me for my creativity and descriptiveness. I wasn’t a popular child. I wasn’t athletic or particularly good at anything. But in that moment, I was heard and I was understood, and I’ll never forget it.

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

A:  I want there to be better roles out there for young people, and for women. I want women to be allowed to tell their own stories, not to have their experiences explained for them. I also am desperate to get better scripts in the hands of young people. I truly believe that high school age actors should have opportunities to act in plays where they get to play their own age, but also where they get to explore modern issues. I am really tired of seeing the same plays getting produced over and over again. Teenagers need to be able to do plays where they feel like their voices are being heard--they desperately want to tell noble, important stories. Our best playwrights should be writing for high school. It is an incredibly worthy endeavor.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  I love the work of Arthur Miller. Reading Stephen Karam’s The Humans changed me as a writer. I am a huge Charley Evon Simpson fan. Jennifer O’Grady is one of the best people I’ve ever met, and she is also a magnificent playwright. And beyond that, there are truly too many to count and list.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I love theater that makes me feel. I love plays that are strange, frightening, hilarious, touching, but more than anything, I am drawn to theater that is genuine. I love theater that makes me feel connected to the performers, the playwright, the director, and the audience around me. I love theater written by people who love people--or at least people who are fascinated by people. Theater that has a profound emotional impact on me (not an easy thing to do) inspires me.

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

A:  Write what YOU want to write. Don’t worry so much about getting produced. Try not to sweat the rejections. I view any production I receive as an honor. It’s incredible to have your voice picked out as being valuable, and heard. Determine why you are writing and go from there. Let yourself be inspired by the people around you and their incredible stories. Write as a gift, expecting nothing in return.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  On March 10, my play “The Orchid” was performed at the Dramatists Guild of America for their “Talking It Out” event, which is a series of plays that have to do with mental illness. Many high schools across the country are performing my plays--"Back Cover," my award winning one act, being the most popular choice (thirteen productions and counting!), but I’ve also had “Character Arc,” “Something Profound,” “One Seriously Ugly Duckling” and “The Thought Doesn’t Count” picked up by Universities, High Schools, and Middle Schools. I also recently had my play “Everafter.com” published by YouthPLAYS.

https://www.youthplays.com/play/everafter-dot-com-by-emily-hageman-517&ref=search.php%3Fquicksearchbox%3Deverafter.com

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I Interview Playwrights Part 333: Kia Corthron

Kia Corthron

Hometown: Cumberland, Maryland. A working class Appalachian town, walking distance to West Virginia.

Current Town: Harlem, Manhattan, New York City.


Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  A big secret!

Q:  Tell me about your upcoming France trip.

A:  It's a colony called Dora Maar House, administered by the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Dora Maar was an artist and photographer, and one of Picasso's lovers. Apparently he bought this house for her near a small village in the south of France. From the website it looks beautiful, and I know two people, a poet and a visual artist, who have been there and raved. They take two writers and one visual artist at a time. (There is also a piano so they must also sometimes take composers.) Your travel is paid for plus a generous meal stipend.

Colonies aren't for everyone, but I love 'em! Without the distractions of home, you feel like you have forty hours in a day, all for writing!

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

A:  It took me awhile to figure this out - I think because everything from my childhood explains who I am as a writer and a person.

The town I grew up in was at least 95% white. Very working class except all those factories that made it a booming place in the '40s were closing in the '60s and '70s, when I was growing up. My mother's cousin lost his job in the textile place after twenty years or more and was left with nothing - no pension, nada. (As an adult of course I know now all those places went internationally to hire sweatshop workers from among the desperately poor.) My father had a horrible job, but one of the very few remaining steady ones, at the paper mill. So one of his perks was to bring home pens and pencils and reams of plain white paper. And even staplers! (My mother was so delighted with the latter I remember her once stapling all over a piece of paper until she finally stapled her finger.) I made use of all those in my play - making up stories and turning them into little books.

Coming of age in such an atmosphere, there were wonderful things: running the neighborhood till we had to go in at dusk without our parents locking us up in the yard, fearing for our safety. There were also plenty of incidents of racism (and sexism). I'll name just one, though this is when I was a little older - high school. I guess I was in ninth grade. Gym class. There were about fifteen of us girls on the steps in our gym clothes, waiting for the others to get ready. I was the only black girl. One girl was standing. She said she had a joke to tell - but then she realized she couldn't tell it. Another girl begged her to tell it. She whispered it to her, and the second girl cracked up, but agreed, they couldn't tell that joke. The other girls begged for the joke. I didn't. I knew exactly what it was. And if I had any doubt that it was anything but a nigger joke, it was all clarified when the joke that could not be spoken aloud was whispered to every single girl sitting there except me. In a deliberate way, no one looked at me as the joke was passed around.

I'm not even sure why I shared that story, except that it has stuck with me all these years and that would seem significant. I would imagine it (and a thousand other youthful incidents) would speak to issues of race in many of my plays. And living in such an economically depressed area certainly influenced my writing about classism and workers' issues. Also, as someone who spent much of my young life as an outsider to a large degree, I can write about outsiders - frequently do - and am perfectly satisfied being alone. (I've gone to artist colonies where I am the only person there, and loved it! Sans socializing, even more time to write!)

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

A:  One! Okay. I wish there was more respect for the arts here, as in other countries, so that work could be exponentially more subsidized. This could allow for bigger cast plays. Not every play is a three-hander, and I think the pressure to write these small plays, that sort of self-censorship, has cost the American theater harshly in creativity. More subsidies could also provide for cheaper ticket prices, allowing for more diverse audiences and reducing the suicidal stigma of theater as art for the elite.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  This question always stresses me out cuz I know I'm going to forget somebody important! So here are just a few: Aristotle, Amiri Baraka, Augosto Boal, Bertolt Brecht, Hallie Flanagan, Adrienne Kennedy, David Rabe, Peter Sellars, Ellen Stewart, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Luis Valdez, Naomi Wallace.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I like to be surprised. I like challenges to the status quo - which are surprising. I like courage on the part of the writer - which, in production, then requires courage on the part of everybody else.

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

A:  Never feel the need to take unsolicited advice; there are a lot of people out there who would love to rewrite your play for you. But do ask the opinions of those you trust, and (in the case of a post-show discussion, for example) listen to the thoughts of strangers as well. Be polite, but work hard to stay true to your own intentions. Which may mean discarding 95% of what you hear - but that usable 5% might prove to be invaluable.

I Interview Playwrights Part 604: Ayad Akhtar

Ayad Akhtar

Hometown:  Milwaukee, WI

Current Town:  NY, NY

Q:  Tell me about Disgraced.

A:  The basic story of Disgraced tracks the unraveling of a Pakistani-American corporate attorney's marriage and career as the long-guarded secret of his Muslim origins comes out at work. The body of the play is a dinner party where a group of successful New York professionals begin to talk about Islam, and Amir, under extreme stress from his work situation, begins to unloose long-stanched emotions related both to his Islamic heritage -- which he is profoundly at odds with -- but also with being Muslim in America.

Q:  What else are you working on now?

A:  I have a new play going up in 2014 at La Jolla Playhouse and at Lincoln Center's LCT3 in New York. It's called The Who & The What, and is a partly comedic exploration of Muslim-American matrimonial mores. Also at work on a heavy rewrite of a play called The Invisible Hand. It has new productions in Seattle and Portland at the end of next summer. Have a couple of commissions I am plugging away on, as well as my next novel. I'm keeping busy.

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

A:  This is a story I've told a few times. But it's really the central one when it comes to my story as a writer. I had an amazing high school teacher who changed my life, who made me want to write. Her name was Diane Doerfler. (We called her Ms Doerfler.) She was in her late fifties at the time that I took her class, an eccentric, remarkable woman, who lived on sixty acres of land in forest-country north west of Milwaukee, with a farm-sized garden she awoke at four AM to tend every morning, usually surrounded by her ten great danes. She'd been married five times, divorced all her husbands, and carried herself with an assuredness that belied her station as a high-school teacher. Her bearing was at once regal and acute. She didn't suffer fools well. And she didn't take kindly to kids who didn't do the evening assignment. Suffice it to say, I don't recall a single incident of insubordination in her class.

Our first assignment that semester was to read Friedrich Durrenmatt's short story, "The Tunnel." It's about a man who wakes up on a train and doesn't understand how he got there, or where the train is going. He goes from car to car, asking the passengers, the conductor, the workers, but no one seems to know. Most don't care and shrug. Others point to someone else further up the chain of command for an answer. Finally, having made his way to the locomotive, the protagonist finds the driver: A madman shoveling coal maniacally into the engine. The protagonist asks him where the train is going. All the driver can do is point at the ceiling. The protagonist climbs the short ladder and peers over the perch to see: A tunnel of darkness into which the train is headed with unstoppable fury.

I hadn't the slightest idea what to make of it. When Ms Doerfler strode purposefully into class the next day, her right hand buried -- as it always was -- in her sport coat pocket and playing with a set of keys there, she asked us to explain the meaning of the story. I was confounded. I couldn't understand how anything so incoherent as the story I'd read the previous night could have a meaning. No one had an answer. And so she proceeded to explain: The train was life. And sometimes we awaken to the question of where it is headed, how it began. Unfortunately, as we look for an answer from others, they often have no interest in the question, and those who might have an interest have no answer. The most that one could do was to confront the truth -- after great effort -- and that was itself a conundrum: That life is unknown headed into a deeper unknown.

I was stunned. I remember the moment I understood what she was saying. It was like lemon juice on the surface of milk, parting the murkiness, revealing something clear underneath. It struck me then (and it still does) that giving shape in stories to the deeper questions of existence was the most remarkable thing I could imagine doing.

Ms Doerfler responded to my newfound passion with care and guidance. I spent a great deal of time around her my senior year, doing independent studies and writing essays about what she had me read. She introduced me to Thomas Mann, Robert Musil, Albert Camus, and Franz Kafka. And when I was done with those, she had me read Sartre and Rilke and Mishima and Proust. It was a baptism in world literature, a formation I still draw from everyday...

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

A:  Ticket prices!

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Eleanora Duse, Andre Gregory, Arthur Miller, Jerzy Grotowski, David Mamet, Ariane Mnouchkine, Kate Valk, Tony Kushner, Solomon Mikhoels, Ibsen, Reza Abdoh, Jean Genet, Anatoly Vasiliev, Kazuo Ohno, Cherry Jones, Bertolt Brecht.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theater that takes audience engagement seriously, which isn't to mean work that panders to the audience. It's a matter of who the primary interlocutor of the work really is. Is it dramaturgy, form, the process of storytelling? Or is it the audience? To me, this is the distinguishing line. Not that the former isn't valid. I admire so many writers whose primary interlocutor is really the form. But I find that it just doesn't excite me as much.

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

A:  Keep at it. Stay open to criticism from those you admire and trust. Work hard. Expect that it may take much much longer than you would ever imagine. Show business is about attrition more than anything else. You have to have the staying power -- which I associate with creative drive -- to keep at it.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Little, Brown and Company is bringing out an edition of Disgraced the second week of September 2013. Aasif Mandvi -- who starred in the play at Lincoln Center -- will be joining me for a reading and discussion at the Union Square Barnes and Noble on Thursday Sept 12 at 7.00 PM. Aasif is a very talented and funny guy. Should be a lot of fun. http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/81350

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I Interview Playwrights Part 661: Lucas Kavner

 
Lucas Kavner

Hometown: Plano, TX

Current Town: Brooklyn, NY

Q:  Tell me about Carnival Kids.

A:  It's about a Southern guy moving in with his son in Manhattan. I had the idea after seeing a dad doing laundry in my apartment's basement and his son was showing him how to use the machines, how to get a laundry card. The whole scene really stuck with me.

In my play the dad used to be a touring musician but stopped playing in his 20s, and he comes to New York City with only a vague job lead and the desire to spent time with his kid. Instead, everyone ends up falling down far stranger rabbit holes.

It's also about sex.

Q:  What else are you working on now?

A:  I have a Sloan commission through E.S.T that I'm working on through the summer about the invention of chewing gum in Staten Island. A bunch of TV/Film things are in various stages of development, some of which I'm working on with my friend Nick Jones, another writer who has appeared on this very site.

Acting-wise I'm probably heading back on tour with this Stephen King/John Mellencamp musical I've been working on for about 3 years. This'll be the fourth iteration of it that I've been a part of.

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

A:  In 8th grade I moved to Plano, Texas from Los Angeles, California and struggled to make friends. I was angry and weird and said "dope" a lot, because everyone in California said "dope" at the time.

About halfway through the year our Texas History class was assigned a video project about the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791 and I took it very seriously. I found costumes, wrote a detailed script, really tried to make the production values stand out. Our group got close during the filming and they became some of my first friends in Texas.

When we screened the finished video for the class, it got an amazing response. Kids laughed! I felt great. But our teacher gave us a B-minus because we took "too many liberties with the history" and the group with the boring PowerPoint video got an A. After class I flipped out at the teacher and got sent to the principal.

In retrospect, I really have no idea what this says about me. Maybe I was far too passionate about the Whiskey Rebellion.

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

A:  We all say it, but affordability is just The Biggest Thing. If the people who actually LOVE theater, who are active members of the community, can't afford to see it, that's such a profound problem.

The affordability thing ends up playing into so many other things, too. Because when only old, rich white people can afford to see new plays then the plays have to cater to the old, rich white people. And that often leads to very boring plays.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  McDonagh's The Pillowman had a major impact on me early on. I had a rather life-altering experience working with Amy Herzog and Tamara Fisch on 'After the Revolution' at Williamstown. I love Kenneth Lonergan and Kneehigh and the Mad Ones. Sarah Burgess is a playwright I hope we'll be seeing a lot in the coming years. Also that Arthur Miller guy is cool.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Shows about real characters, rather than ones with Overarching Macro Messages in neon letters. Genuinely funny plays excite me, as do things I would never think to write myself -- L'Effet De Serge at Under the Radar from a few years ago always comes to mind. It was so simple: just a guy bringing some friends over to test out his weird inventions. But it was so endearingly honest and fun. When it comes down to it, I just really want to be entertained.

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

A:  Put up your own stuff. There are so many opportunities to do it -- apply to the Fringe, to Ars Nova's ANT Fest, for a slot at a comedy theatre. There's really no excuse for not putting your work up in NYC, if that's what you want to do.

See/do improv. There's a weird disconnect between the improv and theatre communities here, which I think should be bridged. Improv is often meant for comedy and comedy alone, but the best improv is also weirdly moving. Some of the best scenes I've ever seen onstage have been on improv stages, and I think it can really inform one's writing.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Carnival Kids runs June 5-28 at TBG Theatre. The wonderful Stephen Brackett directs. I also have a play for teens running this weekend at 52nd Street Project. They're the best.

And I perform made-up musicals with Hello every Friday night at 9:30 at the Peoples Improv Theater.

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