250 Playwright Interviews alphabetically

Rob Ackerman
Liz Duffy Adams
Johnna Adams
David Adjmi
Derek Ahonen
Zakiyyah Alexander
Luis Alfaro
Lucy Alibar
Joshua Allen
Sofia Alvarez
Terence Anthony
Alice Austen
Rachel Axler
Annie Baker
Trista Baldwin
Courtney Baron
Mike Batistick 
Chad Beckim
Nikole Beckwith
Alan Berks
Brooke Berman
Susan Bernfield
Jay Bernzweig
Barton Bishop
Lee Blessing
Jonathan Blitstein
Adam Bock
Jerrod Bogard
Deron Bos
Hannah Bos
Leslie Bramm
Jami Brandli
George Brant
Tim Braun
Delaney Britt Brewer
Erin Browne
Bekah Brunstetter
Sheila Callaghan
Darren Canady
Ruben Carbajal
Ed Cardona, Jr.
Jonathan Caren
Aaron Carter
David Caudle
Clay McLeod Chapman
Christopher Chen
Andrea Ciannavei
Alexandra Collier
James Comtois
Joshua Conkel
Kara Lee Corthron
Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas
Erin Courtney
Cusi Cram
Stacy Davidowitz  
Lisa D'Amour
Heidi Darchuk
Dylan Dawson
Gabriel Jason Dean
Vincent Delaney
Emily DeVoti
Kristoffer Diaz
Jessica Dickey
Dan Dietz
Lisa Dillman
Zayd Dohrn
Bathsheba Doran
Anton Dudley
Laura Eason
Fielding Edlow
Erik Ehn
Yussef El Guindi
Libby Emmons
Christine Evans
Joshua Fardon
Kenny Finkle
Sam Forman
Kevin R. Free
Matthew Freeman
Edith Freni
Patrick Gabridge
Madeleine George
Meg Gibson
Peter Gil-Sheridan
Gina Gionfriddo
Michael Golamco
Jessica Goldberg
Daniel Goldfarb
Jacqueline Goldfinger
Christina Gorman
Craig "muMs" Grant
Katharine Clark Gray
Kirsten Greenidge
Jason Grote
Sarah Gubbins
Stephen Adly Guirgis
Jennifer Haley
Christina Ham
Sarah Hammond
Rob Handel
Jordan Harrison
Leslye Headland
Ann Marie Healy
Marielle Heller
Amy Herzog
Andrew Hinderaker
Cory Hinkle
Richard Martin Hirsch
Lucas Hnath
David Holstein
J. Holtham
Les Hunter
Sam Hunter
Chisa Hutchinson
Arlene Hutton
Laura Jacqmin
Joshua James
Julia Jarcho
Kyle Jarrow
Karla Jennings
David Johnston
Nick Jones
Julia Jordan
Rajiv Joseph
Jeremy Kareken
Greg Keller
Anna Kerrigan
Boo Killebrew
Callie Kimball
Johnny Klein 
Krista Knight
Larry Kunofsky
J. C. Lee
Young Jean Lee
Dan LeFranc
Andrea Lepcio
Steven Levenson
Michael Lew
EM Lewis
Jeff Lewonczyk
Kenneth Lin
Matthew Lopez
Stacey Luftig
Kirk Lynn
Mariah MacCarthy
Laura Lynn MacDonald
Jennifer Maisel
Martyna Majok 
Kara Manning
Ellen Margolis
Ruth Margraff
Sam Marks
Tarell Alvin McCraney
Daniel McCoy 
Ruth McKee
Carly Mensch
Molly Smith Metzler
Charlotte Miller
Winter Miller
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Rehana Mirza
Michael Mitnick
Alejandro Morales
Desi Moreno-Penson
Dominique Morisseau
Itamar Moses
Gregory Moss
Megan Mostyn-Brown
Paul Mullin
Julie Marie Myatt
Janine Nabers
Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
Brett Neveu
Qui Nguyen
Don Nigro
Dan O'Brien
Dominic Orlando
Jamie Pachino
Kristen Palmer
Tira Palmquist
Peter Parnell
Julia Pascal
Steve Patterson
Daria Polatin 
Craig Pospisil
Jessica Provenz
Michael Puzzo
Theresa Rebeck
Amber Reed
Daniel Reitz
Molly Rice
Mac Rogers
Andrew Rosendorf
Kim Rosenstock
Kate E. Ryan
Kate Moira Ryan
Trav S.D.
Sarah Sander
Tanya Saracho
Heidi Schreck
August Schulenburg
Mark Schultz
Jenny Schwartz
Emily Schwend
Jordan Seavey
Christopher Shinn
Rachel Shukert
Blair Singer
Crystal Skillman
Mat Smart
Alena Smith
Tommy Smith
Nick Starr
Deborah Stein
Jon Steinhagen
Victoria Stewart
Andrea Stolowitz
Gary Sunshine
Caridad Svich
Jeffrey Sweet
Adam Szymkowicz
Daniel Talbott
Kate Tarker 
Lucy Thurber
Dan Trujillo
Alice Tuan
Jon Tuttle
Ken Urban
Enrique Urueta
Francine Volpe
Kathryn Walat
Malachy Walsh
Kathleen Warnock
Anne Washburn
Marisa Wegrzyn
Ken Weitzman
Sharr White
Claire Willett
Samuel Brett Williams
Beau Willimon
Pia Wilson
Gary Winter
Stanton Wood
Craig Wright
Deborah Yarchun
Lauren Yee
Steve Yockey
Kelly Younger
Stefanie Zadravec
Anna Ziegler

250 Playwright Interviews

Jordan Harrison
Alexandra Collier
Jessica Goldberg
Nick Starr
Young Jean Lee
Christina Gorman
Ruth McKee
Johnny Klein
Leslie Bramm
Jennifer Maisel
Jon Steinhagen
Leslye Headland
Kate Tarker
David Holstein
Trav S.D.
Chad Beckim
Ruben Carbajal
Martyna Majok
Sam Marks
Stacy Davidowitz 
Molly Rice
Julia Pascal
Yussef El Guindi
Meg Gibson
Daniel McCoy
Amber Reed
Joshua Fardon
Dan O'Brien
Jonathan Blitstein
Dominique Morisseau
Fielding Edlow
Joshua Allen
Peter Gil-Sheridan
Tira Palmquist
Sarah Hammond
Charlotte Miller
Deborah Yarchun
Anna Kerrigan
Luis Alfaro
Jonathan Caren
Jennifer Haley
Sofia Alvarez
Kevin R. Free
Ken Weitzman
Michael Golamco
J. C. Lee
Ruth Margraff
Kirk Lynn
Tanya Saracho
Daria Polatin 
Delaney Britt Brewer
Alice Tuan
Alice Austen
Jeffrey Sweet
Dan LeFranc
Andrew Hinderaker
Brett Neveu
Christine Evans
Jon Tuttle
Nikole Beckwith
Andrea Lepcio
Gregory Moss
Hannah Bos
Steven Levenson
Molly Smith Metzler
Matthew Lopez
Lee Blessing
Joshua James
Chisa Hutchinson
Rob Ackerman
Janine Nabers
Cory Hinkle
Stefanie Zadravec
Michael Mitnick
Jordan Seavey
Andrew Rosendorf
Don Nigro
Barton Bishop
Peter Parnell
Gary Sunshine
Emily DeVoti
Kenny Finkle
Kate Moira Ryan
Sam Hunter
Johnna Adams
Katharine Clark Gray
Laura Eason
David Caudle
Jacqueline Goldfinger
Christopher Chen
Craig Pospisil
Jessica Provenz
Deron Bos
Sarah Sander
Zakiyyah Alexander
Kate E. Ryan
Susan Bernfield
Karla Jennings
Jami Brandli
Kenneth Lin
Heidi Darchuk
Kathleen Warnock
Beau Willimon
Greg Keller
Les Hunter
Anton Dudley
Aaron Carter
Jerrod Bogard
Emily Schwend
Courtney Baron
Craig "muMs" Grant
Amy Herzog
Stacey Luftig
Vincent Delaney
Kathryn Walat
Paul Mullin
Kirsten Greenidge
Derek Ahonen
Francine Volpe
Julie Marie Myatt
Lauren Yee
Richard Martin Hirsch
Ed Cardona, Jr.
Terence Anthony
Alena Smith
Gabriel Jason Dean
Sharr White
Michael Lew
Craig Wright
Laura Jacqmin
Stanton Wood
Jamie Pachino
Boo Killebrew
Daniel Reitz
Alan Berks
Erik Ehn
Krista Knight
Steve Yockey
Desi Moreno-Penson
Andrea Stolowitz
Clay McLeod Chapman
Kelly Younger
Lisa Dillman
Ellen Margolis
Claire Willett
Lucy Alibar
Nick Jones
Dylan Dawson
Pia Wilson
Theresa Rebeck
Me
Arlene Hutton
Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas
Lucas Hnath
Enrique Urueta
Tarell Alvin McCraney
Anne Washburn
Julia Jarcho
Lisa D'Amour
Rajiv Joseph
Carly Mensch
Marielle Heller
Larry Kunofsky
Edith Freni
Tommy Smith
Jeremy Kareken
Rob Handel
Stephen Adly Guirgis
Kara Manning
Libby Emmons
Adam Bock
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Liz Duffy Adams
Winter Miller
Jenny Schwartz
Kristen Palmer
Patrick Gabridge
Mike Batistick
Mariah MacCarthy
Jay Bernzweig
Gina Gionfriddo
Darren Canady
Alejandro Morales
Ann Marie Healy
Christopher Shinn
Sam Forman
Erin Courtney
Gary Winter
J. Holtham
Caridad Svich
Samuel Brett Williams
Trista Baldwin
Mat Smart
Bathsheba Doran
August Schulenburg
Jeff Lewonczyk
Rehana Mirza
Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
David Johnston
Dan Dietz
Mark Schultz
Lucy Thurber
George Brant
Brooke Berman
Julia Jordan
Joshua Conkel
Kyle Jarrow
Christina Ham
Rachel Axler
Laura Lynn MacDonald
Steve Patterson
Erin Browne
Annie Baker
Crystal Skillman
Blair Singer
Daniel Goldfarb
Heidi Schreck
Itamar Moses
EM Lewis
Bekah Brunstetter
Mac Rogers
Cusi Cram
Michael Puzzo
Megan Mostyn-Brown
Andrea Ciannavei
Sarah Gubbins
Kim Rosenstock
Tim Braun
Rachel Shukert
Kristoffer Diaz
Jason Grote
Dan Trujillo
Marisa Wegrzyn
Ken Urban
Callie Kimball
Deborah Stein
Qui Nguyen
Victoria Stewart
Malachy Walsh
Jessica Dickey
Kara Lee Corthron
Zayd Dohrn
Madeleine George
Sheila Callaghan
Daniel Talbott
David Adjmi
Dominic Orlando
Matthew Freeman
Anna Ziegler
James Comtois

I Interview Playwrights Part 250: Jordan Harrison

Jordan Harrison

Hometown: Bainbridge Island, WA

Current Town: Brooklyn

Q:  Tell me about Futura and your triple premiere.

A:  Futura is having a shared premiere this fall at Theatre @ Boston Court, Portland Center Stage, and National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO) in New York. Three different directors, three different productions – it’s weird and wonderful, and I hope it doesn’t make me crazy. The play was having a hard time finding a home – there were a few heartbreaking close calls – and suddenly three theaters all came forward the same month. So it made sense to have this kind of loose partnership.

The play begins with a 35-minute lecture about typography – then it goes somewhere very different. I liked the idea of writing a sort of thriller about fonts. And there are some stylistic things in the play that I almost never try: long, extended scenes; lots of crackling backstory. When I started working on the play, I quickly learned that I couldn’t write about typography without also writing about the extinction of the printed word. Which is happening so quickly that it’s hard to write predictive fiction about it.

Q:  What else are you up to?

A:  I’m workshopping a new play called Maple and Vine about a couple who move to a 1950s reenactionist society. A world where it’s always 1955, with all the gender and racial implications of that. It began as a project I was developing with Annie Kauffman for The Civilians, based on interviews with people who retreat from the modern world: the Amish, cloistered nuns, off-gridders, etc. And ultimately we decided to toss out the interviews – I wrote a whole new play fertilized by the ruins of the interview play. It was pretty scary to start over, but I was sort of relieved to discover that I’m better at making things up than editing. (I had always secretly wondered if I was better at editing, since I enjoy splicing things together a lot more than staring at a blank page.)

I also have a children’s musical called The Flea and the Professor at the Arden Theatre in Philly in the spring. I adapted it from Hans Christian Andersen’s final story with the composer Richard Gray. I don’t think I’ve ever had a better time writing something. There’s a giant magnifying glass and a cannibal princess and a big Carnival-type number in which the only lyric is the word “Gobble.” I’m also working on a grown-up musical called Suprema with the composer Daniel Zaitchik and the director Sam Gold. I kind of love musical theater. I was in denial for a while.

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

A:  Everyone would go to it.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  (in reverse chronological order of encountering them) Charles Ludlam, Stephen Sondheim, Janet Cardiff, Wedekind, Paula Vogel, David Greenspan, Pina Bausch, Caryl Churchill, Strindberg, Tennessee Williams, Puccini, Meredith Willson (for The Music Man), and the kid who played Riff in high school.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Big and generous and ambitious and unabashedly theatrical.

There are some wonderful writers and directors who get a lot of mileage out of understatement and dryness, but I confess that I’ll often walk out of a theater saying, “Couldn’t someone have killed someone? Or fallen in love? Or time traveled?” I like to be taken somewhere, even if there isn’t a plot per se. I like things that risk tipping into melodrama or poetry. I like a play or a performance to go a little off the rails, but to have a strong sense that the artists are taking me there on purpose.

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

A:  After I wrote my first play, someone said to me “You’ll write a great third play.” And of course that stung: “I have to write a whole second play just to get to the third one?” But my third play ended up being the play that started everything for me, and by then I was glad that the first two plays were shut away in a drawer somewhere, safe from scrutiny. So don’t get hung up on the fate of your first play, or your second play. Just write the next one. It may be a boon if it takes a little longer to be recognized.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Oh, gosh. I’m almost effortfully out of the loop. My friend Bash Doran has a beautiful play called Kin coming up at Playwrights Horizons. I haven’t read Greg Moss’s play coming to Soho Rep, but I always love his writing. Will Eno’s wonderful play Middletown is coming to the Vineyard soon. What else. The High Line. Freaks and Geeks on Youtube. Banh mì at Hanco’s. Any kind of greasy noodles from the Flushing mall.

I Interview Playwrights Part 249: Alexandra Collier

Alexandra Collier

Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

Current Town: Brooklyn, NY

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  Too many things at once, including writing a TV series with my friend Georgia Clark called On This Side (a drama set in Brooklyn about a group of late 20/early 30-somethings trying to be adults), also writing an eternal screenplay and a play that I just started working on at the Erik Ehn silent retreat that’s set in a small dusty Australian town populated by - yes, I am going to say this and destroy my attempt to rid American’s minds of an Aussie cliché - crocodiles.

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

A:  It’s a 2 year lab to support playwrights. I haven’t started the lab yet but it seems like a totally kick arse, invaluable resource for female playwrights. We also get to connect with female producers and directors through those labs that run simultaneously.

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 think writing stuff down is a kind of compulsion that starts pretty early on in life. As a kid, I often used to stay at my grandparents house on the weekends – and I’d spend the whole time in the backyard reading or writing and drawing in a big scrapbook, it was really my favourite thing to do. I composed some genius poetry, which I discovered recently and read to my Mum. For some reason she was laughing a lot. My grandparents bookshelves were stocked with all my Mum’s old English girls' boarding school books about playing lacrosse and having midnight feasts. Totally outdated and completely irrelevant to my life but for some reason, I devoured them. So I think writing and reading was and always will be a complete escape from reality – a daydream of being somewhere/someone else. Writers are just kids who get to keep playing out these fantasy games in their head and putting them down on paper, all the while pretending to the world that we’re adults and passing it off as a profession.

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

A:  That it’s more rigorous and more spectacular – in the same breath, so they’re one thing really.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Harold Pinter (I’m sad I never got to meet him), Caryll Churchill, Tennessee Williams, Wallace Shawn, Anne Bogart, Sam Shephard, Sarah Ruhl, Margaret Cameron (Aussie writer/director/performer) and too many others to name…

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theatre that takes stamina. Theatre that is visually stunning. Theatre that uses words economically but poetically. I remember seeing Chuck Mee’s Iphigenia 2.0 at Signature Theater a few years back and the actors were literally running up the walls and breathing in sync. At the end of the show people were standing up out of their chairs and weeping (OK, maybe that was just me). But I think that is what theatre should be – enough of all this sedentary sitting around in the living room talking. Actors should kick arse – they should be gods. And writers (myself included) and directors should work to eliminate mediocrity in our work.

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

A:  Read a lot. Write a lot. Write a lot of terrible, terrible plays. I keep re-reading these Tennessee Williams essays – and this was a guy who had great success and great failure all in one lifetime - and the fact is, he just didn’t stop writing for his whole life. Even when he was accused of being what he called “a ghost of a playwright.” He wrote and wrote and wrote – some of it was embarrassingly bad. The more you write, the better you’ll get and maybe the closer you’ll get to saying what you want to say. I need to take my own advice and go write now.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  May Adrales and I have been working on a play I wrote called Deathless – about living forever in a world that’s falling apart – that we plan to have a workshop of in the coming months at IRT (stay tuned).


www.alexandracollier.com

I Interview Playwrights Part 248: Jessica Goldberg

Jessica Goldberg

Hometown: Woodstock, NY.

Current Town: LA.

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I'm working on a new play with Darrell Griffin Sr. who lost his son in Iraq. Darrell, a CPA from Van Nuys, became obsessed with what happened to his son there, and decided he needed to go to Iraq to find out--together we've turned his extraordinary story into a piece of theater. I'm writing an adaptation of the book PASSING STRANGE by Martha Sandweiss for HBO, a pilot for ABC, and rewriting the film Heart of a Soldier for Universal.

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

A:  My parents used to pile the three of us kids into their beat up yellow station wagon to visit the grandparents in Connecticut. Ten minutes into the drive, we'd be beating the shit out of each other. The only way our parents could get us to calm down was to put a Leonard Cohen in the tape deck, soon we'd be singing along.

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

A:  Support, support, support.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Chekhov, Fornes, Churchill, Shepard... those are the first to jump into my head.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Character, story, language, imagination...

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

A:  Build community. If you cant get your work up, put it up yourself. And, most importantly, always be writing.

I Interview Playwrights Part 247: Nick Starr

Nick Starr

Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

Current Town: Brooklyn, New York

Q: Tell me about The Awesome Dance

A:  It follows for souls through four lifetimes as they try to work out mutually inflicted traumas and find harmony. I guess what I was hoping to do with this play was examine the idea of good guys and bad guys and try to turn the whole notion of victimhood on its ear. David Mamet says that we watch television in order to see good people do bad things and bad people do good things. I think this is a very intriguing claim: that in some way we have a deep desire to see the good and the bad transposed. I believe this desire - perversity? - is driven by a deep and maybe unresolvable understanding that good and bad (people, actions, ideas) are nearly impossible to distinguish from one another, at least in real time.

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

A:  I have this idea for a season of theater, the working title of which is "Off Off is On" where the best Off Off Broadway productions are staged in the biggest Broadway houses and the big Broadway musicals are crammed into tiny grungy fourth floor walk up black box theaters. What appeals to me about this idea is...well it's kind of perverse. But also, I think we're hiding a lot of the best things that happen in this city in very small, hard to find places as if we're ashamed of them. So, the world of theater is like the world of everything else: upside down. I would like to change that.

Q:  What else are you up to?

A:  I was just hired to write and perform a rap song for a viral video promoting a new e-reader. I'm also working on a movie about body switching and a play about cults.

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 standing in the backyard with my little brother Jim. I’m seven, he’s five. And I have decided to invent my own martial art. So, I ask my brother to kick me. The plan is, he will try to kick me, but I will block the kick. Then I will respond with an inspired combination of punches, kicks and eventual chokeholds that will comprise the basis for a New Era in the world of self-defense.

So, I’m in the process of asking Jim to kick me when I’m interrupted by this strange ringing, noise. I cannot figure out where this noise coming from, but it’s very loud and very high pitched. And what I realize, after a moment, is that the ringing is actually coming from within my own head.

When I asked my brother to kick me, he responded with a lightning fast exquisite roundhouse to the left side of my jaw. At the same time I experience all this, I watch it all unfold from above. It’s a classic slapstick: the bully suddenly in the shoes of his intended victim.

It’s a transcendent moment and my first moment of theatre. Not only am I the older brother, I’m the younger brother, too. More strangely, I’m the backyard and the roundhouse kick. I relive this experience every time I work on a new play. I watch the characters, and I am the characters. I think that day in the backyard truly injured my brain.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I like plays written by Checkov, Caryl Churchill, Annie Baker, Conor McPherson; directed by Les Waters, Sam Gold; staged in gyms or churches or converted gyms. I prefer humor so dry it could burst into flame at any moment; drama that makes you laugh and you don't know if you should be laughing; plays like The Weir that are so much scarier than horror movies.

I Interview Playwrights Part 246: Young Jean Lee

Young Jean Lee

Hometown: Pullman, WA

Current Town: Brooklyn, NY

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I have a 13P show coming up in the spring, which is called ONE-WOMAN SHOW and which will be performed by me. Singing and dancing will probably be involved. I can't act and hate performing, so it should be interesting to see what happens. The YJLTC show I'm working on is called UNTITLED FEMINIST MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY SHOW, which is basically what it sounds like, and which we'll be workshopping at the New Museum in December. I'm also writing a horror movie set at an artist colony for Plan B and Paramount. I'm preparing for YJLTC's fall tours of THE SHIPMENT, and I'll also be directing a production of PULLMAN, WA in London with an all-British cast in the fall.

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

A:  My first memory of writing for an audience was in math class. I was sitting at a table with a bunch of other girls, and I had written really disgusting erotica involving each of them and whatever boy in school they happened to find the most unappealing. I remember reading the stories out loud and watching each featured girl writhe around in grossed-out agony while the other girls laughed hysterically. It never would have occurred to me at the time that I would someday make a living doing something very similar.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Shakespeare, Beckett, Ionesco, John Ashbery (he's written some amazing plays), Richard Foreman, Elizabeth LeCompte, Richard Maxwell, Mac Wellman, John Jesurun. There are a lot of other theater artists who inspire me, but those are the ones who made me want to make theater in the first place.

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

A:  If you want a playwriting "career", then you have to think of it as a business. Get to know your market. Think from the perspective of the producers and presenters. What do they need to do in order to keep their jobs? What has succeeded and failed for them in the past? How do you fit into that equation? Find people for whom you'd be the perfect fit and convince them of this. Don't ever think of yourself as a supplicant, hoping you're what they're looking for. Figure out what they're looking for, and if you're not it, then either become that thing (if that's what you want to become) or don't waste your time on them. Someday they may change their minds and come to you. If someone they respect likes your work, then tell them so (instant door-opener). Apply for things--even if you don't get them, important people will see your work. If you end up working for someone who could help your career, WORK YOUR ASS OFF FOR THEM (unless they are ungrateful pricks, in which case quit immediately). Don't fall into the trap of feeling entitled to career success solely on account of your talent. There's a huge market for mediocre art, and the less-talented wipe the floor with the more-talented every day.

I Interview Playwrights Part 245: Christina Gorman

Christina Gorman

Hometown: Colts Neck, NJ

Current town: Westchester, NY

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  The play is titled Orion Rising. It’s about a woman who becomes obsessed with a dilapidated store window display, convinced it depicts her recent near-drowning in the sea. All kinds of strange events start happening inside and outside the window display, causing the woman to start questioning what’s reality and what may be her insanity.

In its first draft, Orion Rising was this quasi-fairy tale of a play. Then my father died, and now the play has taken, perhaps not surprisingly, somewhat of a dark turn. It’s become very, well, personal—more personal than any other work of mine. But I have this quote from Craig Wright that I read everyday about writing to save your own life, about sharing your dreams, fears and obsessions. So, yeah, I’m going with it and we’ll see where it takes me.

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 raised in central New Jersey, and every year for my birthday, my parents would bring me to see a Broadway show. (I saw The Tap Dance Kid. Oh yes I did.) This once-a-year business wasn’t near enough to satisfy me, but my mother would have none of it. As far as she was concerned, “the city” was this nearby yet faraway place where no decent parent allowed their innocent children venture alone. So I did what any self-respecting teen would do: I lied. I’d tell my mother I was going to a friend’s house for the day. Then I’d take the train into Penn Station, snag a ticket at the TKTS booth, see a matinee, and take the train back home.

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

A:  Paychecks, as in, will and/or wish them into existence.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes.

A:  Stoppard, Kushner, and Vogel, for starters.

Q:  What kind of theatre excites you?

A:  I love the kind of theatre that hits me in both the heart and the head. If I walk out of the theatre having been intellectually challenged and at the same time having been incredibly moved, I’m so wound up I don’t sleep the whole night. It’s the best kind of exhaustion there is.

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

A:  Unless you’re incredibly lucky or immensely talented (and often even if you’re immensely talented), this profession is a war of attrition. Be patient. Very very patient. Keep at it. Try to enjoy the small successes along the way. And for God’s sake, get out there and meet people. So much of this business is about relationships, and next to no one produces a play by a playwright they’ve never heard of or met.

I Interview Playwrights Part 244: Ruth McKee

Ruth McKee

Hometown: Ottawa, ON, Canada

Current Town: Los Angeles, CA

Q:  Tell me about Full Disclosure.

A:  Full Disclosure is a one-person show that my company Chalk Rep just produced site-specifically in Los Angeles. I started Chalk Rep about two years ago with a bunch of friends from grad school (at UCSD). Our mission is to do intimate plays in unconventional spaces and create theatre that is always an event to attend. Full Disclosure is about a real estate agent who is trying to sell a house, and as she gives the audience her sales pitch, plying them with wine and cookies, she starts to disclose a few things that she probably shouldn't. We performed the play in actual homes that were on the market, so the piece doubled as an open house for those sellers. It was a very successful run.

Q:  What else are you up to?

A:  I've just finished a first draft of a new play called The Rubber Room, which is about a teacher who finds himself in professional limbo after one of his students commits suicide. I wrote it as a part of Center Theatre Group's Playwrights Workshop this past year. Other than that, I had a bunch of readings of my play Hell Money this summer, and I'm spending a good amount of time chasing after my seven-month-old, who has just learned how to crawl.

Q:  Tell me please about Young Playwrights.

A:  I worked for Young Playwrights for about four years, first as a Teaching Artist, then as their Literary Manager and Educational Coordinator. This was in the years between undergrad and grad school. It was an amazing experience: I learned how to teach playwriting, read thousands of plays by young people, met tons of amazing theatre artists, and was given responsibilities and experiences far beyond my years. I was also moonlighting as an Off-Broadway sound and light op during those years, so I consider that time my practical theatre education. But I wasn't getting a whole lot of writing done, so grad school eventually called.

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 thirteen, my father got a job with Unicef and moved our family to Bangladesh. A few months into our stay there was a coup, and the ousted President was put on house arrest at the end of my block. The soldiers guarding him camped out in the empty lot next to my house. Then a month or so after that the Gulf War broke out. There was anti-American rioting, half kids at my school evacuated, and our bus was followed by a jeep full of armed guards every morning. Then in the spring there was a massive cyclone and over 100,000 people were killed. Bush sent Marines from the Gulf to help with the clean-up operations, and they camped out in the school gym. It was a dramatic year. I had no friends. I wrote a lot.

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

A:  I would change the way theatre is taught in schools. Shakespeare is important, but I don't think it's a great entry point. We're losing a lot of potential audience members because we're not giving them exciting first experiences.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  My first obsession was Stoppard. I actually read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead before I read Hamlet. After that it was Fugard. I wanted to grow up to be him. Now Albee, probably. I'd love to still be as relevant as he is when I'm his age.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I love small plays that make a big explosive mess. When I go to the theatre I'm always hoping for a story that makes me laugh so hard that I'm not sure when I started crying. Or the other way around.

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

A:  Don't wait for someone else to produce your work.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A: 
My play Stray was just published by Playscripts: http://www.playscripts.com/play.php3?playid=2097
And please check out Chalk Rep: www.chalkrep.com

I Interview Playwrights Part 243: Johnny Klein

Johnny Klein

Hometown:  Roseville, CA

Current Town:  Los Angeles

Q:  Tell me about your upcoming show in NYC.

A:  It's called Auto Graphic Novel and it's part of the Dream Up Festival at Theater for the New City. One friend described it as a William S. Burroughs pop-up book for kids. It's about the visions you get from a child's eye, the soft space behind your skin which is spirit and death and being interested in sex and the girl you like and your best friend and not being able to put it in any other words. It's set in my two favorite and most formative decades--the 1990's and the 1970's.

Q:  What else are you up to?

A:  Nothing. This is all that I'm doing. I'm writing, directing and acting in this play and I'm so happy to be doing nothing else.

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

A;  There was this crooked bridge in Roseville that I loved to cross. It went over these railroad tracks and I loved everything about that place. There were hobos in dark clothes sitting in the bridge's shade, and there was the smell of iron and oil, and trash littered from the time and I always felt alone and so happy to be alive watching all of this. The place made me feel very watchful.

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

A:  I guess I'd erase it. I mean completely erase it so that none of us knew anything about it or what it was. Then if something wanted to come from that place, we'd all be here to make it.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  I think anybody who ever taught me anything about theatre. I really love and miss my elementary school teachers and librarians who told me stories, and my first mime teacher who gave me my first wordless event to tell, and all my subsequent teachers who really loved theatre and taught it to me heart to heart. That's a cheesy 80's tv show, but you know there's even love in that if you break it down into the individual people who told those stories.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I need to sense that whoever made this thing spent a lot of time not knowing what was about to happen.

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

A:  Find a way to surprise yourself. Constantly.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  If there's time to publish this we're having a Benefit Performance in LA on Monday, August 23rd at 7pm at the new space Circle X and EST share in Atwater. 3269 Casitas Ave, LA, CA 90039.

Also, come to Theater for the New City
155 First Ave, NY, NY 10003
www.dreamupfestival.org

August 29-31 7pm, Sept 1 9pm, Sept 4 2pm.

I Interview Playwrights Part 242: Leslie Bramm

Leslie Bramm

Hometown: Mostly San Francisco.

Current Town: Washington Heights, New York City.

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  A children’s play for adults. “Molly Jones Steals Home”. I’ve been reading a lot of Joseph Campbell lately and wanted to write a hero’s journey. I do so in the context of this 9 year old girl, who’s terminally sick, and trying to, as the Irish say, “have a good death”. She must escape the clutches of the hospital bureaucracy, and her zealous parents and doctors, all bent on keeping her alive out of their own fear. I like the idea of a children’s play, because it will force me to keep the structure, dialog, and metaphors as simple and pure as possible. Plus I’ve never written one. So, the break from my “usual” is very stimulating. If it weren’t for the encouragement of one of my publishers I don’t know that I would have.

Q:  Tell me about Diz Dam.

A:  We were an Indie Rock Band in the 80s and 90s, made up of film star Kevin Corrigan, and our dear, late friend, Angelo Alvanos. We wanted to live out a rock n’ roll fantasy and boy did we. We played around the city, recorded some songs and even got a little radio play. We played CBGB’s which is a great memory. Standing on that stage, surrounded by all the graffiti, knowing who had been there, it was an honor to paint another layer of sound on those hallowed walls. In the middle of one number the drum kit fell apart. Angelo was able to keep the beat on just the high hat. He reassembled the kit with one hand while we covered him. He never missed a beat. The gallery next door, CBs 313, was a theatre and I had a play produced there. So I actually gigged CBs as a playwright and a musician. I’m very proud of that. I was walking down Bowery the other day and it looks like they turned it into a Citi Bank, or something. Very fucking sad.

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

A:  My Aunt gave me my very first Beatle Album. “Beatles ’65”. I placed the needle (yes it was vinyl) on a random track. “No Reply”. I was hooked ever after. My Lennon obsession has guided me through adolescence and adulthood. Every great piece of writing should strive to capture the details and emotions textures of a Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane combo.

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

A:  I’d make all tickets, for every show, anywhere in New York, 25 bucks. Make them accessible to everyone. I’d beg the audience to raise their standards and redefine what entertainment is. Once they demand better, deeper, more raw and real art, theatre makers will change the way they create.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Don’t have any. I don’t mean to sound smug, but the hero idea, in real life, makes me feel like an imitation of an imitation. Two plays drew me into wanting to be a writer. “House of Blue Leaves”, and the “Pirates of Penzance”. Other wise my muses come from the most unlikely, often no-theatrical places. I thank the Gods for them.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  That’s tough to put into proper prose. So let me throw some adjectives out there. Raw, bold, daring, human, emotional, messy, cheeky, abstract, real, hilarious, compelling, truthful, beautiful, provocative, political, imaginative, and almost anything that has a couple of comp tickets attached to it. Rock my world with your work. For the 90 minutes I’m in the world of your play, make me forget about my real world. Entertain me.

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

A:  Drop out of college. Forget Tisch. Forget Yale Rep. Leave Julliard in the dust. Those institutions are fine, but they teach you how to write safely. How to make correct theatre. I’ve seen an awful lot of safe, academic plays out there. They lack dare, emotional courage and a sense of gamble. If you want to write great plays sit down and write them. Write, and write and write. Write and fail, write and fail better. Have the guts to give them to actors, and then give them to the world. Let the theatre scene hammer them like there’s no tomorrow. Then go back and rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Stack page on page. Eventually, if you have the chops, a certain kind of magic will start to happen. Elements and characters will start peeking through your blur of words. Your voice will begin to emerge. If you must read a book, then I suggest Aristotle, “The Poetics”. It’s a great guide for the practical mechanics on how to make a play.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  VENUS AND MONA is currently running in the New York International Fringe Festival. Fringenyc.org, venusandmona.com, and check out nytheatre.com for our great review. Here’s a teaser so you can get an idea of what the play’s about:

“Junky/drunk's dying, there's a demon in the heap, and the Tredwater twins are trapped on the roof of their mother's doublewide. They slug it out in this black comedy, about the battles fought to grow up and learn love.”

The play is directed by the amazing Melissa Attebery, with fight direction supplied by Carrie Brewer. Two heavy hitters in the Indie Theatre scene. We also have a stellar cast.

I Interview Playwrights Part 241: Jennifer Maisel

Jennifer Maisel

Hometown: East Rockaway, N.Y.

Current Town: Los Angeles

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I’m tinkering with OUT OF ORBIT – the play I workshopped at The Sundance Theatre Lab at Mass MoCA this year. It’s about a woman who is a scientist at JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab), working on the Mars Rover Expedition. When the rovers first landed on Mars the scientists and engineers lived on Mars Time (a martian day or sol is about 39 minutes longer than an earth day) and I became obsessed with the theatricality of these people living on Mars Time while their families were living on Earth Time. So the play focuses on the scientist and her teenage daughter who are going out of sync with each other and living on different planets. It’s very much about exploration on a personal and universal level and the yearning for connectivity in our increasingly disconnected world. This is one of those plays that I kept getting stuck in and going back to and getting stuck in again for years, and the Sundance Lab created a huge opening for me where I got through that stuck-ness and the play took off in an absolutely unexpected direction. I can’t believe I finally I have a full good draft – I was sure it was going to be one that was stuck in the drawer forever.


And I’m about to dig in to rewrite my newest piece, MATCH. It’s about altruistic kidney donors who are not necessarily so altruistic. It’s a journey into the underbelly of bartering for organs and explores the question of whether there really is any such thing as a gift with no strings attached.

Q: You also write TV and film. Do you have to mentally adjust when writing for the screen vs theater?

A: In the ideal world one feeds the other. A play’s form is more organic and writing one can be incredibly freeing after working in the stricter structure of television and film, but I also find that having practiced the craft of screenwriting makes my story and structure stronger for theatre. I am always about bringing a great depth of character to the screen work – and people in that arena credit my theatre background for it - but it may just be me, I like character, I need to know what makes people tick in order for a story to satisfy me.


Some of the mental adjustment comes in who I’m writing for – when the stars align and the film/tv writing is a paid gig there may be a huge number of cooks weighing in on the process who I must listen to because I’m doing it for them. In theatre I’m doing it for me – the cooks may weigh in but I have the final say.


I do tend to find myself yearning to work on one when I should be working on the other. A great form of procrastination.

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 grew up in a picture perfect suburb where every house on our side of the street was the same. I came home one night when I was in high school and parked my mom’s station wagon, only to have to go back to the car when I realized I forgot to lock it. Then next morning – it was February and freezing - I went out to walk the dog and there was a dead man in our driveway. The rest of the day unfolded in a bizarre comedy of errors that culminated in my high school boyfriend telling me he loved me for the first time. I felt like I was trapped in a surreal nightmare where no-one stopped to think about this person whose life ended so sadly. We never could find out who he was - but for years after he came to me in my dreams, telling me if I hadn’t gone back to lock the car doors he would have been able to keep warm inside and would still be alive.

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

A:  I’m on a council for the college I went to for undergraduate and it’s comprised mostly of these incredible professional women in very high-powered, well-compensated careers ( I’m one of their few artists). I got into a conversation with one woman, a corporate lawyer I believe, about the intricacies of theatre in Los Angeles and which of the smaller theatres she liked. It came up that the actors in showcases make about $7 a performance. She gasped in horror and said “why would they do it then?”. At the time I thought, oh she just doesn’t get that that’s what theatre is about – it’s not about the money. She doesn’t get the love for it. That we have to do it. It’s the only way to do it. But now her reaction resonates in me as a deeper response – one that opens up the door for questions about what is valued and how value is assigned. A long way of saying “the ability to make a living as a theatre artist”.


By the way, we never even got to how often playwrights are compensated with the phrase “you should just be honored we’re reading your play.”

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Maria Irene Fornes, Paula Vogel, Joseph Papp, Tom Stoppard, the late great Los Angeles actress Pamela Gordon who I am still writing parts for…


- and every single one of the playwrights that belong to the playwrights groups I’m part of - The Dogear Playwrights Collective (http://www.dogear.org), Playwrights Ink and Circle Rising (originally formed out of Paula Vogels ASK Theatre Projects Bootcamp). These playwrights are my greatest champions, I am their biggest fan. Their work always inspires me to better mine. Their support, friendship, honesty and challenges have gotten me through many dark periods in my life and in my writing.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theatre that’s written for the theatre – things that couldn’t be done anywhere else. Scenes that are impossible to stage staged. Those moments when the play crystalizes and you become enraptured.

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

A:  Form a writers group. Stick by those people. They will be your constant.


Write for actors you know will speak your language as if it is their own.


Be open to someone doing it in a way that is absolutely not how you pictured it.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:

KINGDOM OF IF – a short kids play written specifically for my fabulous 15 year old actress, commissioned by the Virginia Avenue Project this weekend in Los Angeles

http://www.virginiaavenueproject.org


THE LAST SEDER at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul

http://www.parksquaretheatre.org/plays/2011_lastseder.php


An upcoming reading of THERE OR HERE by KPCC and Pacific Stages and a reading of OUT OF ORBIT in Ensemble Studio Theatre – LA Project’s Winterfest, dates to be determined.

I Interview Playwrights Part 240: Jon Steinhagen

Jon Steinhagen


Hometown: Chicago

Current Town: Chicago

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I'm spinning a bunch of different plates at present. Currently, my play THE ALTOONA DADA SOCIETY PRESENTS THE VELVET GENTLEMAN is playing at the New York Fringe, produced by the fabulous people at Playlab NYC - performances continue through August 26th. Here in Chicago, I'm deep into rewrites for ACES, a "Las Vegas comedy" that will open in May at Signal Ensemble Theatre. Next week, Raven Theatre is presenting a 3-performance workshop production of my play DATING WALTER DANTE. This October, Marie Kemp is directing a black box production of my play SOMETHING MORE COMFORTABLE at Syracuse University. Sometime this fall there will be a second reading of a new play that was recently read at Chicago Dramatists, BLIZZARD '67. In the hopper is a first draft of a play called MENDICITY CITY - which manages to combine Depression-era Chicago and vampires - and a bunch of short stories burning to be written, but - alas - time is at a premium, so they ferment as notes only for now. I'm a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, so I'm also working to get my next project ready to be read at our Saturday Series readings, which happen every weekend (barring holidays, of course) and are enormously fun and helpful in the development of the plays!

Q:  You are also an actor. How does your writing affect your acting and vice versa?

A:  I learn something new about storytelling with each new role I play and from every actor with whom I share a scene. I recently ended a long run of Neil Simon's THE ODD COUPLE - I played Felix - and I was amazed at the rhythm of the language, the pacing of the humor...but also found another layer to the play I didn't suspect was there. I don't know that I would have found it had I not been physically engaged in the story. I just opened Tom Stoppard's THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND at Signal Ensemble Theatre - I'm playing Birdboot, the philandering critic - and the richness of the language and the density of ideas is astounding. As if closing one show and opening another in a space of nine days isn't crazy enough, I began rehearsals this week for CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, in which I'll be playing Big Daddy. Table readings have been amazing. That play's got the best second act of any play I know - maybe one of the best acts anywhere, really. Essentially, performing these great roles in these great plays reminds me, always, that as a storyteller myself I ought to focus on the "what happens next?" of the story, seek urgency, and examine my story ideas in terms of "what makes this day [in which the play's action begins] different from all the others?" And - as a playwright - it has always been of utmost value to me to have informal, table readings of my new scripts, because nothing replaces hearing how an actor speaks the dialogue. Lastly, because I'm an actor and know so many fantastic actors, I tend to lean towards peopling my stories with characters that I'D want to play: male, female, young, old...anthropomorphic...

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 eight or nine years old, I won a prize in a state-wide poetry thingamajig - one of those conferences where schools are solicited for entries from students. I had written a poem called "Toast," which was essentially an brief ode to toast, the text shaped like a piece of toast. I got to go to the conference, which I remember very well for so long ago - the guest speaker (I do not recall who she was) spoke on creativity, and illustrated a point about imagination by posing the basic of a situation and asking the students to come up with the backstory. Evidently, I raised my hand and concocted a rather lurid and racy response (something about a dogcatcher's wife poisoning the dogs as an act of revenge for divorce proceedings). Everyone laughed at me because that came out of the mouth of a child. I recall being somewhat upset by the laughter because I was being dead serious. Nowadays, I'm not so upset.

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

A:  I'd love to see more collaboration between theater companies. I realize that's a very tall order - the logistics of co-producing a show, getting the opportunity organized, getting the talent lined up...but I think it would be huge fun and an excellent way for those who tend to be a little isolationist within the bound of their theater company to meet new people, get new perspectives on stories and audiences...and maybe even have the wherewithal to produce new and established plays that require larger casts.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  I started out writing music and lyrics for musicals, and Frank Loesser's work inspired me at the outset and continues to be a golden hallmark. I tend to have influences and heroes from many disciplines, not just theater but movies and literature as well: Woody Allen, the collaboration between Alfred Hitchcock and John Michael Hayes, Steven Millhauser, Kevin Wilson, Will Eno, Agatha Christie...Edward Albee looms large in my life and thoughts...Mia McCullough's work made me consider attempting plays as well as musicals - she's the playwright I wished I could be...Theresa Rebeck is brilliant, as she does wonderful work in theater, television, and literature (her two novels are prizes)...

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  All kinds, I find all of it inspiring, from "The Bald Soprano" to "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" to "The King and I" to "Next To Normal" - that, and everything that's happening now and tomorrow. I'm always keen to find out what's coming up next, what playwrights are writing, how they're writing it, and how they are telling their stories. I am very lucky to be living and writing during a very inventive time.

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

A:  Get involved with a theater company, somehow. Even if you can't act, find some way to connect with the people who will someday be directing, acting in, producing, designing, and marketing your work. Keep lots of notebooks. See as much as you can. Read the old and the new. Ask people how they're doing. Ask them what they're working on. Encourage them to tell you their stories, and they will ask you to tell them yours - it's the best and easiest way to determine if what you're dreaming is going along in a way that energizes you and someone else. Be a person people are happy to see. I'm reminded of a Gertrude Stein quote, which I shall now paraphrase and probably misquote, but: start with a small audience - if they understand you, they will make a big noise.

Q:  Plugs, please:


A: 
Playlab NYC presents
THE ALTOONA DADA SOCIETY PRESENTS THE VELVET GENTLEMAN
at the New York International Fringe Festival
through August 26th (Venue #15)
http://web.mac.com/playlabnyc/Site/Home.html

Signal Ensemble Theatre presents
ACES
opening May 2011
http://signalensemble.com