I Interview Playwrights Part 296: Sean Christopher Lewis

Sean Christopher Lewis

Hometown: Pine Bush, NY

Current Town: Iowa City, IA

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I just directed ATLAS OF MUD by Jennifer Fawcett for Working Group Theatre, performed KILLADELPHIA at a bunch of venues (Woolly Mammoth, Cape May Stage, La Salle University, etc...), finished a commission for Interact Theatre in Philly about immigration, starting a commission for Adirondack Theatre Festival, in the middle of a commission with Davenport Theatricals, started to adapt my play MILITANT LANGUAGE into a comic book and am prepping a new solo show JUST KIDS to open at Available Light Theatre in January.

It's been busy.

Q:  Tell me about Working Group Theater.

A:  Working Group was started by myself, Jennifer Fawcett and actor Martin Andrews. We all went to the University of Iowa together but had worked as professional artists in separate cities (Me in NY, Jenn in Toronto, Martin in Cincinnati). Basically, we wanted to do a lot of plays. New Plays. That were challenging and difficult. And we wanted to tour them across the US and more... and we wanted to do it from Iowa.

When I was in Playwrights Workshop for Grad School every Monday night we would have play readings and someone would bring in a play: Jenn, Sam Hunter, Mary Hamilton, Sarah Sander and more and I'd be like- this is better than most of the plays I saw in NY or regionally in the past year. But like everyone knows- most of those plays never saw production- at best they went through the professional workshop mill. And then I went to some conferences and had a bunch of readings and I always left frustrated- it felt somewhat fake. We were all telling ourselves that this was helping the plays around us- but none of the plays ever got to their feet.

So we just said fuck it. We'll do them. And if theaters think these plays are still problem riddled or difficult we'll put it up and we'll prove that they work. And the writers we choose to work with- we'll do what we can to ensure a future life for their projects through touring and advocacy. So far the shows have gone on.

ATLAS OF MUD- our current production is huge. It was developed at the Lark, the Kennedy Center and a bunch of others but people told Jenn that the piece (which takes place in separate time periods, has multiple scenes and in our production has a 23 foot boat on stage) was undoable.

Well, we just did it. And are getting invited to bring it elsewhere.

If the system doesn't work- you make your own system.

Q:  Tell me about Killadelphia.

A:  Killadelphia is a solo piece about the inmates at Graterford Prison in Philadelphia involved with the city's Mural Arts Program. These are men who are serving life sentences for murder but are also charged with painting some of the 3000 murals that beautify the area.

It's kind of like a cross between Spalding Gray and Anna Deveare Smith using verbatim interviews from the inmates, hip hop artists and politicians coupled with my own first hand account of meeting the men and working with them over a period of time.

It's been an amazing and lucky experience to tour the play- a lot of credit to my collaborator and good friend Matt Slaybaugh at Available Light- it's played over 40 venues from colleges to theaters to prisons and detention centers. It's the only piece I've ever done that has connected with people to this degree. is till get emails and "thank yous'... a few months ago doing it at the Southwest Idaho Juvenile Detention Center near Boise was life changing.

It made me realize that I want to keep doing projects that have a community base in some way.

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

A:  To be honest I don't really remember much of my childhood. It wasn't fun. I know that.

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

I'd take away the entitlement and the arrogance. The feeling you need to be someplace specific- whether that be physically or professionally- I'd make it about the art and the connection it has, first, and let the rest fall where it may.

And I'd take heed to that myself more often.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Sam Shepard was the first time I read a play and said "holy shit that's a play."

Danny Hoch, Eric Bogosian and John Leguizamo were the first time I saw something and said "I wanna do that."

Naomi Wallace got me through Grad school.

On the business side of things I've learned everything I know and don't work a day job basically because of the hustle of the Wu Tang Clan, Atmosphere, Blueprint, Def Jux records and more. If you listen to how they talk music industry- it's really similar, I often just do what they did in a theatrical model.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I want something visceral and thought provoking. i don't want to be spoonfed- I have Judd Apatow and CBS Friday Nights for that.

I want it in my stomach and throat you know- I want to feel it well up as I watch it. I want to leave invigorated or angry or still in a hysterical fit.

I don't want it culled from NY or from the Times Reviews. I want it to go out on a limb. I want it to push the theater and the light and sound board and the actors on stage to the limit and past.

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

A:  Listen to more Wu Tang.
Start a theater even if it's in your basement.
Don't listen to anyone who says you have to go there or here to have a career- if they say that often look at what their career is (is it teacher or actor? data entry or playwright?)

Be motherfucking brave. Be honest. Even if it might make someone mad. Have your heart in the right place. Keep writing. Keep screaming.

They are out there. The ones who will scream and laugh and cry and watch- they're out there.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  People places and things you should know:

Available Light Theatre (the unheralded new work gym of the midwest), Jenn Fawcett (how epic and poetic do you want your female playwrights), Philip Dawkins (go see the HOMOSEXUALS at About Face), Matt Moses (an ill playwright and we suffered through Binghamton University together), Matt Dellapina (hire this actor, seriously, what are you doing he's in the Civilians, just leave a message with them) and there are so many more...

I Interview Playwrights Part 295: Rachel Bonds

Rachel Bonds

Hometown: Sewanee, Tennessee. It’s a little college town in the mountains.

Current Town: Brooklyn, NY. Greenpoint, specifically.

Q:  Tell me about Michael & Edie.

A:  Michael & Edie actually began as a short story about a guy who worked at a pizza joint on the West Side of Chicago and had a crush on his co-worker, who always seemed distant and sad. He made pizzas and pined away for her during the day, and at night he visited his dying sister in the hospital, sitting up next to her in a chair and reading through every book on the list of The 100 Greatest American Novels. And he would go out on the roof of the hospital and smoke cigarettes and think about the girl in the pizza place.

At some point I started experimenting with how I could make this story theatrical—I started wondering what would happen if I put the characters in real time and real space and made them talk to each other (or to themselves, in Michael’s case). And the story shifted quite a bit as I found its theatricality and delved into the possibilities therein.

It remained a story about grief, though—about living with grief and the corners and crevices of escape we create in our minds. And though the story deals with the possibility of romance between the two title characters, I was more interested in the idea of a “near miss,” in something more human and wonky—something lovely and brief between two people that passes and is gone.

Robbie Saenz de Viteri, who directs the show, and Matthew Micucci, who plays Michael, came to me over the summer and said, “Hey, remember the play we did a reading of 2 years ago? Let’s do that play.” So I dug out the script and made extensive revisions and we worked to produce it, along with our friend/co-producer John DuPre. It’s been a fantastic process, one of my favorites, and the script has made leaps and bounds through the rehearsal process, with the help of our very smart cast, who have cared for the story as their own.

Q:  What else are you working on?

A:  I’m working on revising a new full-length called The Noise Play, a play I’ve been working on with director Portia Krieger. We staged an excerpt of the piece at New Georges in November, and we’re aiming to further develop the script in the near future. The play explores the idea of living with fear—and centers around Ellie, who, while falling in love with Amos, finds herself haunted by The Noise, a dark creature that plagues her at night.

I’m also working on a new short play called Ghost Life, about a young man, George, who becomes deeply infatuated with a stranger visiting his town for the summer while his mother is simultaneously losing her mind. It’s a play about obsession.

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 dad always used to tell this story to describe me: When my sister and I were growing up, we lived on a street that was a circle. And my dad would walk us around this circle—and while my sister liked to walk a little bit, turn around, inspect something, turn back around, wander a bit, explore something else, etc., I liked to walk directly around the circle in a straight line, very focused, without stopping.

I relate this to the reason I like to run---it’s something about the need to push through something and get to the other side. I approach my writing in this way. It’s athletic.

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

A:  I wish producing plays was simpler. I wish productions happened more frequently. There are so many incredible writers and not nearly enough organizations to produce their plays. I’m interested in finding more ways to produce produce produce—as I think it’s the best thing we can do for our scripts.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Oooh. I have a lot of heroes, some people, some places. It’s a running list: Pig Iron, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Tim Crouch, The Bushwick Starr, Linsay Firman, Susan Bernfield and New Georges, ERS, Ellen Lauren, Melissa James Gibson, Jenny Schwartz, Lisa D’Amour, Bill Irwin, Billy Carden, George Bernard Shaw, Wedekind, Caryl Churchill…

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I’m interested in the marriage of theatricality and simplicity. Like, if someone on-stage held up a plastic shopping bag and shone a flashlight on it and called it The Moon. I love seeing things transform like that.

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

A:  Make time to write, even if it’s just 30 minutes every day. Carve out that time. Even if it feels like a waste and not a real job and you feel guilty. It’s not a waste.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Michael & Edie runs through December 19th at Access Theater in Manhattan. We’ve just been named a NY Times Critics’ Pick---so seats are filling up fast! You can get tix through our website: www.greenpointdivision.com/michaelandedie

I Interview Playwrights Part 294: Lynn Rosen

Lynn Rosen

Hometown: Gary, Indiana

Current Town: NY, NY

Q:  Tell me about Apple Cove.

A:  Blurb time: When newlyweds Edie and Alan King move into the gated  community of Apple Cove, they trust they have found a safe haven from  the chaotic world outside. But when lush and forbidden roses start popping up in their garden, they quickly learn that nothing, not even  electric gates, can keep nature out. Especially one's own nature.

The idea of gated communities has intrigued me since I was 16. I started to see them sprout up near my town replacing swaths of beautiful trees. I always wondered exactly who or what the homeowners were keeping at bay with those gates and rules? The world? Were they trying to tame themselves somehow?

But it was also 9/11. The ensuing wars and political climate, which continue today, as well as a personal tug of war about whether to have a child in such a world, that informed Apple Cove, and helped me  clarify Edie’s journey. Edie is so scared of the world that she chooses to give up personal liberties in the name of security, and instead opts to live in a "paradise-like" community where everyone is safe, but where nature and differences are feared. In Apple Cove, we watch as Edie struggles to find and define her own paradise.

How to live in the world, not hide from it, and how to look past our fear to find beauty is a mystery to me at times. I suppose I’m grappling with that mystery via Apple Cove.

The play is very funny, but there is heartbreak as well. It's also highly theatrical. There are a lot of surprises in store and hopefully some beautiful, and carefully plotted, chaos. We have an amazing cast and design team - they're dreamy.

It’s so apt that Apple Cove found a home at Women's Project. I'm honored that the whip-smart spunksters Julie Crosby and Megan Carter chose my play because I think they have their finger on the pulse of what's exciting and relevant in theatre today. And I'm not just kissing up - they're already doing my play.

Q:  What else are you working on?

A:  Most immediately, I’m involved with The Germ Project at New Georges - an exciting project at a very exciting theatre company.  They've commissioned me and three other playwrights to dream up plays of great scope and adventure. My play is called Goldor & Mythyka: A Hero Is Born (Based On a Truly True Story) and is directed by Shana Gold. It's a very American tale that involves a love story, a bank heist gone awry, Dungeons & Dragons, and people struggling to empower and define themselves. Supporting the text is music, video, (it’s very 3-D) and acrobatic feats both mental and physical.

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 ages 11-14 I went to a camp in the midwest called Harand Theatre Camp. Every year I faced a disastrous malfunction.  Scarecrow in Wizard Of Oz - lost my voice and could only hit a few notes. (When I sang "If I Only Had A Brain" it sounded like "If I Brain".) Aunt Eller in Oklahoma -sang too fast but the accompanist refused to keep up with me so I finished singing and then had to churn butter for an eternity while he finished playing. Also, skirt ripped from body in a dance sequence revealing what I'm sure was big white underpants sticking out from a bunchy leotard. Rosie in Bye Bye  Birdie - shoe flew off foot into audience. Adelaide in Guys And Dolls - threw my feather boa off the stage by accident and in a moment of sweaty desperation grabbed the boa of a girl I knew wouldn't fight back. (I'm not proud of this.) And the choreographer told me I danced like I had poop in my pants. (It's hard to dance all "sexy Hot Box dancer" when you're 13.) But I finished each number and I kept going back because I loved theatre ferociously. And even when I felt humiliated and crushed I could find a way to laugh about it. (Or maybe I'm just a masochist?)

Q:  You and I have the same agent. Isn't Seth a rockstar?

A:  Seth IS a rock star! And he has very big biceps which I know from giving him hugs. I think those muscles are a result of a disciplined workout schedule that alternates between hackey-sack, juggling, and ultimate frisbee. ;)

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

A:  It would certainly be great if it were more affordable and more accessible. That's something I loved about my production of Back From The Front with The Working Theater. We had the most diverse audience (economically, ethnically) I'd ever seen and it was pretty thrilling.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  I think actors are pretty heroic. I used to act (see churning butter) and it eventually became too terrifying for me. Seeing "Noises Off" by Michael Frayne when I  was about 12 is the moment I decided theatre was for me. I left that play floating. I had never laughed so hard or seen theatre done so cleverly and creatively. I love so many playwrights, but John Guare and Tina Howe come to mind right away. Their work is epically theatrical but honest and human at the same time. Also, John and Tina are very generous people, which is as inspirational to me as their work. Tina mentored me on Apple Cove during my time at The Lark Play Development Center, (as did the wonderful Arthur Kopit via the Lark Playwrights Workshop), and my time with her was a highlight of my writing life.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  See above! I prefer a messy  exciting play over a very neat and tidy play that doesn't have any creative lift, you know? I liked to be surprised. But I learn  something from every play I see.

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

A:  Write, write, write. Have faith in your own voice, surround yourself with people whose feedback you trust and respect, and then write some more. And have a sense of humor. It’ll help when you get rejected.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Of course Apple Cove January 29 - March 6 at the  Julia Miles Theatre. Always a shout out to the Lark Play Development Center where I developed Apple Cove and where I met one of my favorite collaborators, Giovanna Sardelli. She's been working with me on Apple Cove since 2004. She’s a fantastically talented director  and has great hair. Also, Out of Time & Place - a two-volume anthology which features plays by Women's Project Lab Alumni  (2008-2010). My play Back From The Front is included as are diverse and vibrant plays by my incredibly talented co-alumni. And please check out The Germ Project show this June at 3LD. Oh and my play Nighthawks, a trilogy based on three Hopper paintings and published by Samuel French, (produced by Willow Cabin Theater Company and The Studio Theatre) is out there too.

I Interview Playwrights Part 293: Jennifer Barclay

Jennifer Barclay

Hometown: Rochester, NY

Current Town: San Diego, CA. I came here to get my MFA at UC San Diego, and my husband and I fell in love with the California life.

But my Artistic Home is still Chicago, where I lived for 10 wonderful years. It's the place that fostered my early career both as an actor and as a playwright, and I think of it as my artistic home away from home. So far, I've been fortunate to get to go back there lots for workshops and productions of my plays.

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  Two plays, a feature screenplay, and a TV pilot.

Writing in three genres at once sometimes creates a pressure-cooker in my brain (like now, when the deadlines are closing in), but for the most part I find it incredibly stimulating and healthy to have several balls in the air. I'm learning constantly about how to be a better story teller, and about all the visual and verbal tools I have at my disposal.

I started developing my play, QUARRY, while I was the Playwright in Residence at South Coast Repertory last year. It's set in Chicago against the background of northside gentrification and Cabrini Green relocation. My feature screenplay, THE RIGHT TRACK, is my first romantic comedy. TAKE TWO is my new pilot-- it's my first sitcom, and one of the most challenging things I've ever tried to write. And I've been developing a community-based play with the Old Globe about the foster system called EMANCIPATED. It's one of the most rewarding projects I've ever been a part of. I've had the chance to get to know 4 amazing young adults who went through the system, and who've been brave enough to let me interview them and share their stories on stage.

And, other than writing: my husband and I are on a quest to explore all the National Parks in California. So far we've done 7 of the 9. After that, we'll move onto other states...

Q:  How would you characterize Chicago theater?

A:  Nurturing, stimulating, and grounded. I feel it's incredibly open and welcoming to people who are hard-working and ready to collaborate and create. Part of that is the wealth of opportunities (over 200 theatre companies, constantly buzzing), and part of that is how easy it is to live there. Granted, you have to deal with the biting winters, but you don't have to work tons of hours in a day job to afford a nice apartment, time to do your art, and a pretty high quality of life. It's a place where, I've found, many theatre artists go out of their way to help others. Big theatres like Steppenwolf and Goodman not only co-produce with smaller companies, but their artistic staffs also help to make collaborative connections between emerging artists. For the most part, Chicago theatre people are game-- ready to take a risk and open up their doors, while still maintaining incredibly high standards. The theatre community is highly visible and clearly prized in the city. This, combined with its affordability, make productions accessible to a wide range of pretty diverse audiences.

Q:  Tell me about Vienna.

A:  Oh, Vienna. After graduating from Northwestern, I backpacked through Europe for 6 months on my own. Chicago veteran actor Greg Vinkler had told me about this great English speaking theatre company in Vienna, the International Theatre, and so when I was there I knocked on their door and asked if I could do a monologue for them. A few months later they had an opening in their company, so I moved there for a little while and performed the now-and-forever classic THE MOUSETRAP on weekends, and my one-woman show CLEARING HEDGES on off-nights. The company had a gorgeous apartment and a bike for me to use, and I used to go for rides down the Danube. I taught English for extra cash, learned enough German to order damn fine breads and coffees from the cafes and bakeries, saw the opera for $3, and took weekend road trips to Hungary and Italy. It was heaven.

Q:  What could a student in your playwriting class at UCSD expect?

A:  It's important to me to base a class in not only lots of reading of plays, but also in seeing as many productions as possible so that the students can constantly be reminded that it's a three-dimensional collaborative art, not just a literary one. Luckily, at UCSD, that's easy because there are several productions a week. I think it's essential to foster an atmosphere in the class which is completely supportive and collaborative; where students feel free to take risks and share their constructive feedback. I owe lots of my teaching techniques to my wonderful mentor, Naomi Iizuka.

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 5, I woke up in the middle of the night, padded downstairs, and announced to my parents that I was changing my name to Micky. When I was 7, I decided I wanted to be a boy, cut off my waist-length hair and renamed myself Chris. And when I was 9, I went up to the front of my fourth-grade class to announce that they should call me Fisher from now on. I've always felt the right and ability to reinvent myself; such an American sensibility. Now, through acting and playwriting, I get to keep trying to reinvent myself over and over again-- while still keeping my old common, feminine, given name.

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

A:  More new plays, less Shakespeare.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  The wickedly talented and generous teachers I've been so lucky to have, including David Downs, Allan Havis, Karl Gajdusek, Adele Shank and Naomi Iizuka.

My other theatrical heroes include Chekhov, Shepard, Pinter, Albee, Stoppard, Kushner, Steppenwolf, and the Donmar Warehouse.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Juicy, raw, surprising. Dark plays with a twisted sense of humor. Balls-to-the-wall acting. Stories which un-peel new meaning with each revealed layer, and leave me stewing for days or months or years after leaving the theatre.

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

A:  See lots of plays and set aside strict hours for writing. Find collaborators you love, stick with them, and organize your own readings so you can hear your work out loud. Don't get too hung up on one play; keep plunging forward. And this career requires a lot of stamina; make sure you surround yourself with people you love, and a life that inspires you.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  My play, FREEDOM, NY, will have its world premiere at Teatro Vista in Chicago May14 - June 12, directed by Joe Minoso.
http://teatrovista.com/stage/freedom-ny.html

For updates on my work and to check out my favorite fiction writer (my husband), my favorite potter (my mother) and my favorite photographer (my father), check out our family's website:
http://www.barclaystudios.com/

I Interview Playwrights Part 292: Peggy Stafford

Peggy Stafford

Hometown:  Bainbridge Island, WA

Current  Town:  Brooklyn

Q:  What are you working on now? 

A:  I’m collaborating with Madelyn Kent and Maja Milanovic on an opera set in the former Yugoslavia during the 1984 Winter Olympics and also in 2008, the year Radovan Karadzic was captured on a city bus. I’m writing a stage adaptation of Marguerite de Angeli’s The Door in the Wall for Seattle Children’s Theatre. I just finished the first draft of Jewel Casket, a play inspired by a Joseph Cornell box.  And I’m working on the book for Sunrise at Hyde Park, a musical based on the 30-year correspondence between Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok.

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

A:  In third grade we all sat at small wood desks (the kind with tops that open), in rows that faced the front of the class. Inside my desk, I kept hidden small eraser people with faces, tiny match boxes, and also some trolls with bright hair. I set up elaborate scenes for my eraser people and trolls, and as much as possible I’d open up my desk to look at them in there. I also ran into sliding glass doors three times throughout my childhood and nothing happened to me except the last time I cracked a tooth.

Q:  What kind of theatre excites you?

A:  The kind that wakes you up & is de-familiarizing. Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, Richard Maxwell, W. David Hancock, ERS, Young Jean Lee, Madelyn Kent, NTUSA, Caryl Churchill, Judith Thompson. Theatre/spectacle like Robert LePage, Dan Hurlin, Erik Ehn’s Saint Plays, Big Dance Theatre, Joseph Cornell boxes.  Funny plays by Charles Ludlam, Mac Wellman, Sibyl Kempson, Beckett. Chekhov, too, is exciting.

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

A:  See a lot of theatre. Listen to real people really talking.  It’s helpful & smart to write down things that you hear on the street or in the emergency room. Find collaborators who can interpret your plays.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Daniel Alexander Jones/Soho Rep,  Kristen Kosmas’ Twenty-Five Cent Opera of San Francisco at Barbes.

I Interview Playwrights Part 291: James McManus

James McManus

Hometown: Donora, PA

Current Town: Long Island City, NY

Q: Tell me about Cherry Smoke.

A: I wrote Cherry Smoke as my grad thesis. I literally wrote over 100 scenes for the play and then put it together like a jig saw puzzle in order to make a play. I based the story on the boys and girls I knew growing up. Our area was ravaged by poverty and many were not able to take advantage of even a primary education because of worsening family situations. But even in the ignorance, there was a beauty in both the language and the dreams. Many of them didn't make it off of those riversides whole, but I guess that I'm bold enough to think that all of those lost souls got together and want me to write their story. Cherry Smoke is enjoying its 6th production and I am keenly aware that the boys and girls I write about never got a chance to see places like Sydney or Scotland or even New York City where it has been produced...and I get an unending kick out of thinking about how these kids who could see every place that they had traveled by climbing a tree are now jet setters. I allow myself that little thunderclap of hope in the brutal world of Cherry Smoke.

Q:  What else are you working on?

A:  I'm working on a play about meth addicts titled Blood Potato. A screenplay that I can't contractually talk about. And I've recently started work on a musical set in the early 1900's in the world of the County Fairs of Western PA. It's my first time trying to write a musical and it's just tickling me to death.

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

A:  One day, I was eating a McRib sandwich, fries and an orange pop at the Donora McDonald's, the next day it was closed. The local paper said McDonald's left town because the townsfolk could no longer afford to eat there due to the mill closing down. I wish I was making this up.

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

A:  I would love it to not be so cost prohibitive.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  As a kid near Pittsburgh, I knew nothing of theater until someone introduced me to free tickets to Two Trains Running by August Wilson. I've always had a soft spot for Wilson since then. I love so many of my contemporaries, but would leave someone out if I named just a few. I will say that seeing a production of MUD by Maria Irene Fornes 5 or so years back changed the way I look at theater and reading SCARCITY by Lucy Thurber was like taking brave pills.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Brave theater. I think the role of the artist is to not take one fucking step back from what the truth is no matter how it looks or how it makes you feel. I like theater that makes me uncomfortable. I like theater that turns a mirror on folks who I have never seen before.

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

A:  Write all the time. Write about big things. A hundred years from now no one will give a damn about conversations you overheard about the 7 train in New York City.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  My play, Cherry Smoke, runs at The Side Project thru December 19th. thesideproject.net has all the pertinent info for tickets.

I Interview Playwrights Part 290: Philip Dawkins

Philip Dawkins

Hometown: Chicago (though, full disclosure, I was born in Phoenix, AZ. But it was never my hometown.)

Current Town: Chicago

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I just finished costuming an opera, which isn't writing, but it's story telling in a way, yeah? It's called "Boojum! Nonsense, Truth, and Lewis Carroll," and it's a co-production between my company, Chicago Opera Vanguard and Caffeine Theater. It's a really whacked out existential musical trip through the brain space of Lewis Carroll, and I'm proud to have worked on it, and happy to be finished.

Writing-wise, I'm working on a children's play for a theater in NY about death and grief. (!!!) And I just finished a first draft of a new play called FAILURE: A LOVE STORY.

In the new year, I'll be gearing up for About Face's premiere production of my play, THE HOMOSEXUALS. I just honestly couldn't be more excited about that.

Also, I'm nearing a test for my black sash in Shaolin Kung Fu, and trying my darndest to train for that.

Q:  How would you characterize Chicago theater?

A:  Blue Collar. Chicagoans take their theatre seriously. We've had a long day at work, and we're either going to put on our duck boots and Carharts to go to the bar where it's warm and we know we can count on good conversation, good whiskey, and a good fist fight; or we can put on something nice and try to find snowy parking to see a show. So, if we choose a show, it better be worth it. Which is not to say that a Chicago audience isn't cultured. No, Chicagoans know what they like, they know what's good, and if it isn't good, they're not going to give you a standing ovation on principal. They're going to stand up and say, "So that sucked. See you at the bar?" No phoning it in with Chicago Theatre.

Also, I think, Chicago theatre is accessible in a way. The cost of putting up a show here is . . . well, let's just say it's possible. And you can afford to take a big risk, do the show that maybe most people will hate but that you desperately feel needs to be seen. Why not? You won't go bankrupt. And if the people who need to see that show get to see that show, then Yahtzee! It's a success. A financial success? Maybe not. But it got done, it got seen, and no one went to the poor house.


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 in Phoenix, a lot of my friends were Mexican or Native American. But, as a kid, of course, I didn't recognize any cultural distinctions. My best friend all through grade school was a Mexican American kid named Manny. We spent pretty much every recess together, and if I remember correctly, he was one of only two kids who bothered to show up to my tenth birthday party. Manny was very, very quiet, very shy, didn't say much, but a nice nice kid. We got along great.

A few years ago I was talking about Manny with my mother, and she said, "Philip, you know that Manny didn't speak English, right?"
News to me.

All this to say, I'm pretty comfortable with monologue.

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

A:  I'd like more people to go to it.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Personal mentors. I was a child actor, and I was very very lucky to be looked after by the most amazing roster of adult performers and theatrical nurturers. I dedicated my first published play to David Wo, who was sort of my theatre father. He gave me my first professional writing gig when I was sixteen, and then died later that summer. I had no idea he was even sick. He knew, and he went out of his way to give me that experience, to show me that I really could do this with my life. I don't believe in angels, but if I did ... David Wo.

And many others. A long list. I was a very, very fortunate child of the theatre.

Currently, my heroes are my students. Not all of them. Some of them are massive chores. But most of my students are, if not heroic, then inspirational to me. I think most teachers would agree with that...

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theater with a story. There' s a lot of really excellent spectacle being done all over the place. I mean, REALLY excellent. Breath taking. But if there's no story, if there are no characters journeying against all odds toward something they want, then I'm out. Spectacle without story is, in my mind, circus. There's nothing wrong the circus, but I didn't say goodbye cruel world to join the circus. I left to join the theatre.

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

A:  Write, Listen, Relax. Repeat.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  The play at About Face
http://aboutfacetheatre.com/?pg=homosexuals

The Opera at the Department of Cultural Affairs
http://www.dcatheater.org/shows/show/boojum_nonsense_truth_and_lewis_carroll/

My published kids plays
http://www.playscripts.com/author.php3?authorid=928

Cino Nights, Chicago

Here is a great article about Cino Nights.  19 playwrights asked to write a full length for the 7th street small stage at Jimmys No. 43 in nyc.  I'm doing it.  Great insight into some of the playwrights involved.  It's a lot of fun.  And it's free.  I suggest you see as many as you can.  The schedule is here.  Pretty much one a month through March 2012.

You in Chicago?  Come see my reading of Elsewhere at Chicago Dramatists at 7pm on Mon the 6th.  I will be there.