I Interview Playwrights Part 298: Andrea Kuchlewska

Andrea Kuchlewska

Hometown: Malden, MA, then Arlington, MA. I went to high school in Cambridge and it feels like home.

Current Town: New York City

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I’m working on THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH, the second in my cycle of plays about Americans and language, with director Tamilla Woodard (http://www.tamilla.com/). It’s early in its development. Here’s how I describe it so far: A comedy in which the history of the English language collides with American history. Nerdy-chic linguist by day and reluctant superhero by night, Criseyde contends with Chaucer, the Oakland Ebonics controversy of the 90s, her own dead mother, and writers who claim Eskimos have a large number of words for snow.

I’m also writing HUMAN FRUITBOWL, a solo show for actress Harmony Stempel about artists’ models, which will be in the Prague Fringe in May and June 2011. I’m using all found text and it’s very satisfying to work on.

I’m stumbling forward with THALIA, a play that’s very close to home. There will be a reading in March 2011, so I’m writing toward that. Actress Lyndsay Becker and director Alice Jankell are taking the leap with 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 did the est training at age nine. The use of language in that subculture was specific and differed in important ways from the English I had been speaking up until then. It was a lot of fun for me to use language in this new way, and at the same time, sometimes what was said inside the organization didn’t make sense to me. This was a potent combination for me as a child – using language to empower myself, but also being confused at times by what I and others were saying. It forever changed the way I think and how I speak. I grew up to study linguistics and write plays about language. My play Complete is inspired by both the language of est and the scientific study of syntax and semantics.

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

A:  I’d change the economics of theater. I’d like performances to be more accessible to more people. And I’d like it to be easier for artists to make a living so they can do more work.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  David Dower for founding The Z Space Studio in San Francisco as a development home for new plays (it was my artistic home when I lived in San Francisco) and for all the work he does for new plays now.
Anne Galjour for being an early mentor of mine.
Arena Stage for putting five playwrights on salary through the American Voices New Play Institute Residencies.
Paula Vogel for saying, “I don’t believe in fixing plays. I believe we have to get out there and write flawed plays that disturb everybody, and change the atmosphere” (in a 1993 interview in American Theatre).
The Women’s Project for… actually for everything they do.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Right now I’m excited by theater that does not take place on a stage. That includes anything from actors delivering lines from the house to people performing on stilts in town squares.

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

A:  Get your work produced at whatever level you can as early as you can. Self-produce when necessary. You will learn more about playwriting from this, and people will get to know your work sooner.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  I’m a member of the 2010-2012 Women’s Project Lab (http://www.womensproject.org/labs.htm) and am so in love with the whole group I want to plug all of them. Directors: Tea Alagic, Jessi D. Hill, Sarah Rasmussen, Mia Rovegno, Nicole A. Watson. Producers: Elizabeth R. English, Manda Martin, Roberta Pereira, Stephanie Ybarra. Fellow playwrights: Alexandra Collier, Charity Henson-Ballard, Dominique Morisseau, Kristen Palmer, Melisa Tien, Stefanie Zadravec.

7 MINUTES, a short play I’m writing for actresses Barbara Spence and Lori Kee, will be produced in FAST & FAB II at The Barrow Group Theatre (http://barrowgroup.org/) in February 2011.

http://www.andreakuchlewska.com/

I Interview Playwrights Part 297: A. Rey Pamatmat

A. Rey Pamatmat

Hometown: Port Huron, MI and it's environs (mostly the environs)

Current Town: New York, NY (Jackson Heights, Queens, to be specific)

Q:  Tell me about the play you just won the Princess Grace with.

A:  EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM is about three kids who are essentially abandoned on a remote farm and end up raising themselves, and then what happens to them when the outside, grown-up world decides that they don't like the ways they've chosen to do it. I grew up in the middle of nowhere (like NOWHERE nowhere), so the play started from a magnification of those childhood feelings of isolation. As the piece evolved, though, it became equally about the wonderful things that came out of the way I was raised. For example, I read and wrote as much as I did as a kid to entertain myself and, obviously, that's been paying off lately!

Q:  What else are you up to?

A:  EDITH is getting it's world premiere in the 2011 Humana Festival in March, and we're about to start design for that. It was also read as part of the National New Play Network Showcase in December, so hopefully Humana will be the first of several destinations for the play. Other than that, I'm doing the 2011 Anthology Project at Humana with Dan Dietz, Jennifer Haley, Allison Moore, and Marco Ramirez. We're writing about the Apocalypse! My piece is about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse sharing an apartment and fighting over Kashi. So I've got a lot of great stuff on my plate at the moment. Plus, there's a new play percolating, something noir-ish...

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

A:  As a kid, I was a fairly good Dungeon Master. That's right AD&D Dungeon Master. I now believe D&D is a gateway to playwriting. Like pot is to crystal methamphetamine.

Also, when I was 13, I used to stand in our backyard and shoot a compound hunting bow at bales of hay. I first shot a pistol when I was 8 and visiting relatives in the Philippines. Come see EDITH — Edith shoots things, too.

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

A:  The prevailing impression that plays about bi- or tri-cultural experiences are "ethnic" plays, when in reality they are truly American plays — America is still the only place where many of those plays could actually take place. And the accepted restriction that black people can't write white people and white people can't write black people. I've noticed that most of my Asian-American playwriting peers write people of all cultural backgrounds and so far no riots have erupted. Wait — that was two things. Okay, but I can make them one: I would blow up the limited ideas people have about racial/ethnic/cultural narratives in American Theatre.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Maria Irene Fornes, Tony Kushner, David Henry Hwang, August Wilson, Caryl Churchill... I could go on forever.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theatrical, imaginative stuff. We've started to overvalue "real" and "authentic" narratives and the aesthetics that will support them. I'm not saying I don't like stories like that, I just get more excited when I see the larger than life stuff that balances it out.

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

A:  Find a group of peeps and work with them. A lot. You need them more than anything else in the theatre. Not only will they support your work, but the right ones will make you a better artist, a better business person, and (more importantly) a better person person.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Go see THE WIFE by Tommy Smith before it closes.

Check out Vampire Cowboys SATURDAY NIGHT SALOON, if you've never done it before. It's a real treat.

Keep an eye on the writers who had readings at 2g's FREE RANGE. I'll be selecting a couple of them soon to develop full-length plays with 2g.

And come to the Humana Festival in March 2011 to see EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM and THE END (the Anthology which includes my play THIS IS HOW IT ENDS).

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/