I Interview Playwrights Part 558: Stuart Flack

Stuart Flack

Hometown: Evanston

Current Town: Chicago (Lincoln Park)

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  1) a evening length multi-displinary performance piece in collaboration with The Seldoms a Chicago based dance company run by the amazing Carrie Hanson about LBJ and the exercise of political power, which will premiere at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2014.

2) Floaters -- full length play about hallucinations, reading at Chicago Dramatist in April 2013

3) A couple of other full length plays, one with puppets, one based on the weirdest story in the old testament.

4) Maybe a musical featuring people recently exonerated and released from Jail.

Q:  How would you characterize the Chicago theater scene?

A:  Wonderful in aggregate. Best in the U.S. Although many/most companies and artist live hand to mouth, which is a shame.

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

A:  Saw from up close world champ Milwaukee Bucks (1970) with Kareem and Oscar Robertson, play against the Bulls a bunch of times with my best friend (at the time) Steve and his parents at the old Chicago stadium. Back in the day when good seats didn't cost a fortune and were for people who loved the game, not silly celebs. The best two man combo ever on a basketball court. Who better? Maybe the best combination of two people doing anything together ever. Who knows? Bulls of that era also not so bad either.

Kareem was and still is a miracle.

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

A:  More people should come to things that aren't bway musicals and sketch comedy (both of which are fine by way, but come on. enough.)

Q:   Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Beckett and Brecht.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Plays that invite you to feel, think or experience something new; A Red Orchids recent production of "The Aliens".

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

A:  Fasten your seat belts and put your seat-backs and tray tables in the upright position

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Go see actual plays. Many worse ways to spend two hours and twenty bucks.

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We were SOLD OUT. Now we're EXTENDED.

Clown Bar Extended!

We completely sold out (like SOLD OUT sold out) our current run but luckily we figured out a way to extend.  Clown Bar will now run until April 12.  Three more weeks!  For a total of 7!

New dates--

Friday, March 29, 9PM
Saturday, March 30, 9PM
Thursday, April 4, 8PM
Friday, April 5, 8PM
Thursday, April 11, 8PM
Friday, April 12, 8PM
     
But please buy tickets now in the not-unlikely case we sell out all those performances too. http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/336282

The reviews have been great and the audience response awesome:

Critic’s Pick; “Adam Szymkowicz’s script is unabashedly silly but also shrewd, paying homage to film noir and pulp novels.” --New York Times

"Mr. Szymkowicz has created a new world out old parts, breeding a brand new species of creative animal. He is, in fact, making his own rules – and the pleasure of obeying them is all ours." –New York Theatre Review

“The script is tight and funny—hard-boiled schtick.” --The Fifth Wall

“Adam Szymkowicz’s script is a case study in meticulously crafted playfulness… some of the most quotable lines ever heard in a play… Clown Bar is a fantastic way to spend your evening. If you love clowns, go see this show. If you hate clowns, go see this show.” --nytheatre.com 

“Clown Bar does detective story spoofs one better by employing every single familiar crime-movie trope — brooding hero, crazy crime boss, conflicted gun moll, hooker with a heart of gold — and making them all...well, clowns. It’s weird how well this works: playwright Adam Szymkowicz has combined two inherently ridiculous forms of entertainment and created a perfect storm of ridiculousness.” --Theatre Is Easy

“There’s not a streak out of place in Clown Bar‘s greasepaint; I can’t think of a better nightcap than the shot of extra funny currently being served by Pipeline Theatre Company.” --That Sounds Cool

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I Interview Playwrights Part 557: Lindsay Joy

Lindsay Joy

Hometown: Hudson, New Hampshire

Current Town: Brooklyn!

Q: Tell me about The Rise and Fall of a Teenage Cyberqueen.

A: Rise/Fall is the story of a flawed American family uprooted and unhinged by the rapid pace of online chat rooms and video feeds. The play centers around Lyla, a 14 year old girl, and what happens to her family as videos of her go viral. I wanted to use the duality of our "online selves" versus our true selves to unravel the intertwining lives of a family. I don't want to give away too much, but I will say that I'm crazy proud of the play. Director Padraic Lillis and the entire cast have done an amazing job.

Q: What else are you working on?

A: I'm working on a few new projects. I'm working on a multi-writer, collaborative project based on the hero's journey with AMios Theater Company. I'm also developing two new full length plays with my company, the LabRats.

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 that growing up in New England gave me a unique voice. New Englanders show their love by teasing...hard. It allows me to find laughter in awful situations.

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

A: The one thing that I would change about theater? Getting more people to come out and see it.

Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A: Martin Mcdonagh, Paula Vogel, Tracy Letts, Lee Blessing, John Patrick Shanley, Sam Shepard, Marsha Norman...I could go on and on!

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A: I love theater that makes me laugh hard really right before the bottom drops out in a scene (the big reveal in the second scene of Pillowman comes to mind). That excites the shit out of me. There's so much great new work out there right now- new voices. We are on the edge of a paradigm shift to new work and I'm all in.

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

A: Advice? Secrets. Secrets are your best friend. Give each of your characters (even the smaller characters) a secret and it'll open a new play right up for you.

Q: Plugs, please

A: Please come and see the show! http://www.facebook.com/l/zAQHBHaJqAQGwYPZRzHQbsjDkPUeuwweNQxo-VafkDZkgcw/riseandfall.brownpapertickets.com/
5 shows left. $10 tickets with pw: teenqueen

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Episode 3 of Compulsive Love

3rd episode of my web series Compulsive Love is here!  Watch it and previous episodes on Koldcast or Blip or Daily Motion or Boomtrain or Youtube or JTS.

Embedded #3:

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I Interview Playwrights Part 556: Stan Richardson

"I'm on the left; Matt Steiner is on the right."

Stan Richardson

Hometown: St. Louis, MO

Current Town: NYC

Q:  Tell me about the new Representatives show. 

 
A:  O Happy Happy Aztecs! is a short dark comedy about an aspiring actress and her gay best friend who move to NYC from Small Town USA. They have all the big dreams of 20-year-olds, but they are in their early-30's. And they carry with them their overwhelming need for safety and convenience which effectively castrates the dangerous and exotic city they have always wanted to call home.

Q:  What else are you working on?

A:  I'm writing the next play for The Representatives which will be a loose adaptation of Turgenev's Fathers & Sons called Bazarov. It's about, among other things, the entrance of a nihilist into a haven of well-meaning, but sedentary liberals; he blithely suggests that all of their useless ideals and institutions should be obliterated and this causes some problems. Unlike most of The Representatives' projects, Bazarov is simply too large to be done in an apartment and will be presented in a larger venue this coming August.

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

A:  Aside from having it meaningfully subsidized by the U.S. government? I would like for playwrights to devote themselves to work that makes them extremely uncomfortable. That discomfort is inherently entertaining and relevant. If what you are currently working on does not absolutely scare the shit out of you, keep me in the loop about future projects.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Edward Albee; Pina Bausch; Caryl Churchill; Cherry Jones; Craig Lucas; Elizabeth Marvel; Jan Maxwell; Joe Orton; Wallace Shawn; Ivo van Hove; Lanford Wilson; and The Wooster Group.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I'm very drawn to theater that feels like it was created Just Now. The key to this, it seems to me, is not so much topicality but depth of feeling and conviction. Playwrights, unlike politicians, need not under-express their views in order to "stay in office." But another obstacle is the stultifying years-long wait to be produced. The Representatives has given me the opportunity to see my work onstage nearly as fast as I can write it. Matt Steiner, my co-artistic director and an actor for whom I've been ceaselessly inspired to write for the past seven years, and I try to streamline the production process. We figure out who we want to work with and where we'll be performing, then I start writing and a few months later we do the play. Most of these projects have been elegantly staged by Ben Vershbow, a pragmatic poet of a director. And we are continually having the pleasure of working with incredibly talented actors: mesmerizing ambassadors to whatever world we collectively dream up.

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

A:  I would give this advice to any playwright, including myself, at any stage of his/her career. It's a Godard quote: "At the moment that we can do cinema, we can no longer do the cinema that gave us the desire to do it." Let's acknowledge and honor our theatrical ancestry and then pop out some troublemakers of our own.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Nobel Peace Prize nominee Bradley Manning has a rather important new show running off-off-Broadway right now down at Fort Meade. It's called The Obama Administration Is Going To Destroy the Role of Whistleblower If We Don't Do Something About It. Seats are still available! Please show your support: https://www.bradleymanning.org/
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Finding Collaborators

It’s been a while since I posted an actual blog post that I wrote myself that isn’t to promote one of my projects. Here goes.

I’ve been reading a bunch of plays recently for contests and such as well as in my new role as a Lit Mgr for an off off theater in town. (Yes, I’m being intentionally vague)

As a reader of over 200 plays in the last six months, I get really excited each time I read something really good. The other day I read a funny heartfelt play by an emerging writer that I was blown away by. (Again, intentionally vague.  Please don't try to guess.)  I immediately started to wonder who I could show the play to. Was there a theater in New York who could do the play? After a quick google search, I realized the play had already been done and had gotten mixed reviews in New York. The times had not been kind. And I knew a couple of the cast members and knew them to be very talented and I knew the play and knew of the director. And I wondered…

What Went Wrong?

1. Was I mistaken in my assessment of the play? That’s certainly possible, but I don’t think so.

2. Did the play just have bad reviewer luck? Did the wrong people see it and not get it? That is a definite possibility and frequently happens.

3. Were the wrong people involved in the production? Was it miscast? Was it the wrong director? Were there communication problems? Has the very talented writer not yet learned how to explain the play to her collaborators?

It could be any of these but let's suppose it’s # 3. Let me ask you, how did you learn how to find the right people to work with? Does it continue to be a struggle? Do you know when to say no? How does a talented writer learn how to cast and choose a director and work with a team to realize the best possible production of a play.  How do we make necessary compromises while keeping intact the vision and structural integrity of the piece?  How do we find the people who will make the play better than it should be?

I’m still wondering if there are theaters out of town I could recommend the writer send the play to, theaters who are young and exciting. The trouble is, how does one recover from bad reviews? The play which should be published, is not. And what to I say to this writer? And how does one talk theaters into it who are leery of multiple bad reviews?

I don’t have the answer to this. What do you think? Certainly, write the next play. Continue. Can anything be done?

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I Interview Playwrights Part 555: Basil Kreimendahl

Basil Kreimendahl

Hometown: Louisville, KY

Current Town: Iowa City, IA

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  A new play, that takes place in Louisville, KY; it's about an unconventional drag house on the wrong side of the Ohio River flood wall, and their desire and need for dignity and belonging. They take performing realness to another level by preparing to give the performance of a lifetime at the Kentucky Derby. It's a play that explores "passing" not in terms of gender but in class.

I'm also working on an adaptation of La Ronde, with one of my favorite directors at the University of Iowa, Nathan Halvorson.

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

A:  Because I quit school young, at 14, I've been working full-time for a long time. Back then, one of my jobs was doing yard work for a lawn company. One day, I had a toothache, the summer heat was suffocating and the weed whacker kept breaking. I'd have to stop and fix it over and over again. In a moment of frustration, I stopped for a minute and sat down on the grass. It was the first time I actually took in the house and the neighborhood. There was a fountain in the yard, a statue and a Mercedes parked in the driveway, and I thought just one of these things could fix a whole lot of toothaches.

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

A:  At this moment, what I wish for theatre is that we stretch our ideas about what  we think is commercially viable. I hope that the kind of theatre our audiences want to see encompasses a broader range of forms, stories and experiments than we give them credit for.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  My heroes are not just my heroes because their work inspires me, but because I like how I see them walk in the world. So just to name a few, Naomi Wallace, Lucy Thurber, Christina Anderson, Polly Carl, Jen Silverman, Kia Corthron, Francine Volpe, Bonnie Metzgar... apparently, a lot of amazing women.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  This is one of those things that's bound to change with time, I'm still discovering things that excite me. I'm interested in work that I want to be in conversation with, because it challenges me and moves me. Plays that queer everything. Work that has a bold sincerity, even when it's being ironic. Theatre that goes to those places we don't often go, where it's a little frightening to go, but once we've been we're not the same anymore.

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

A:  Write the next play. Read something other than plays. Finally, to quote Mama Cass, "You gotta make your own kind of music, sing your own special song."

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  My classmates, the group of talented playwrights I'm about to graduate with: Kat Sherman, Bonnie Metzgar, Deborah Yarchun, and I have to include a graduating director from Austin, Will Davis. A new project Gabrielle Reisman and I organized, The Iowa/Austin Exchange. Last but not least, a big congrats to my dear friend and fellow Iowan, Andrew Saito for his playwright residency at Cutting Ball.

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Episode 2 of Compulsive Love!

Second episode of my web series Compulsive Love is here!  Watch it on Koldcast or Blip or Daily Motion or Boomtrain or Youtube or JTS.

Embedded #2

And here is episode 1 in case you missed it


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I Interview Playwrights Part 554: Cory Finley

Cory Finley

Hometown: St. Louis, MO

Current Town: Brooklyn, NY

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I’m working with a director friend, Ashley Rodbro, on a romantic comedy about loneliness, addiction, and illegal pharmaceutical testing. A character transforms over the course of the play from a 25-year-old man to a 61-year-old woman. I’m in the Shaping The Mess stage of writing, which is the best one.

I’m also continuing work on SUNK, a domestic horror play, and UGLY PEOPLE, about a group of friends gathering after a death and jockeying for control of the deceased’s tech startup. I’m doing research for a play about cybersecurity and Midwestern power companies.

I’m also putting in some serious time in the gym – it’s cold out now, but beach season is right around the corner.

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 elementary school used to show videos of this dude McGruff the Crime Dog, a cartoon bloodhound who wore a trenchcoat and talked about crime awareness ("Take a bite out of crime," if that rings bells for anyone)

For some reason, I created a pretend game with my little brother wherein we were secret agents working for said Crime Dog, fighting the invisible criminals living in our front yard, under our beds, behind our television, etc.

Over time, the pretend game became increasingly paranoid and hysterical, until we were stalking on our own family members, who, we’d been “told” by this anthropomorphic dog, were actually sinister lookalikes. This so rattled my brother – maybe 6 or 7 at the time – that he asked me to step out of character for a moment and reassure him that we were playing a game. I refused.

As a writer, I’m always trying to create illusions as detailed, persuasive, and unnerving as the ones that fueled those games.

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

A:  I have an impossible dream of a world where no one reads reviews and marketing blurbs, where audiences walk into plays with no expectations. I actually love reviews and learn a lot from them, but when read BEFORE playgoing, they compromise surprises and revelations. They frame the audience’s experience of the play, and therefore cripple the whole enterprise of good storytelling. I always most enjoy plays and movies (and books, and magazine articles -- and kind of even dates) when I go in without any idea what I’m about to see. I love just being along for the ride.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:   Theater that I can’t imagine coming up with myself. Plays that locate a totally surprising source of conflict and action.

Dialogue that’s full of silent menace and accidental grace. Devised work in which the elements of spectacle – light, sound, projection – are deployed not to overwhelm and astound but to punctuate, emphasize, dilate, disorient.

Stories that ask me not just to admire likeable people but also to extend my empathy to profoundly unlikeable people.

Theater that, like artfully mussed hair, works really really hard to appear effortless.

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

A:  Be humble, make bad jokes, put yourself in odd situations, run toward rather than away from worldviews you find strange and wrong, stay until the tail-ends of parties.

Basically just this.

And apply to Youngblood – you can't find better people in this city!

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Grace, a short musical I wrote with Mark Sonnenblick and Stephen Feigenbaum about a forlorn Kansas native finding his voice in a church talent show, is running as part of Prospect Theater Company’s PORTRAITS, through this weekend.

And this Sunday is EST/Youngblood’s EINSTEIN ON THE BRUNCH, where you’re likely to find, if not the best audiences in NY theater, then certainly the best matinee audiences in NY theater.

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Two Things

Two Exciting things in my world today.  The first episode of my web series Compulsive Love is here!  Watch it on Koldcast or Blip or Daily Motion or Boomtrain or Youtube or JTS.



And today is the first performance of my play Clown Bar in New York with Pipeline Theater.  It runs until march 23 at the Parkside Lounge on East East Houston.

Promo video here:  www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ct6c7V6VxXU

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I Interview Playwrights Part 553: Jenelle Riley

Jenelle Riley

Hometown:  Salem, OR

Current Town:   After 16 years, the post office tells me I'm no longer in Culver City, I'm in Los Angeles proper.

Q:  Congrats on the LA Weekly nomination.

A:  Thank you! Can I tell you the weirdest story about how I found out? I was interviewing Jim Leonard, the writer of "Bad Apples" (my day job is the Film and TV Editor of Backstage Magazine.) He got a text informing him he had received 12 LA Weekly nominations for his show. I was trying to pull up the list to find out if my friend French Stewart was nominated for "Stoneface" because it was his birthday and I was hoping he would get a sweet present in the form of a nom. As I was scrolling through the list, I saw my name. Somehow, I had forgotten I had even done a show that was eligible--it just wasn't even something I was considering. I kind of blurted out in shock: "Oh! I'm...nominated...too!" Jim was so gracious and excited for me, and told me this was his best interview ever.

Q:  Tell me about the show you were nominated for.

A:  "A Kind of Love Story" is a parody and homage to the romantic comedy genre. It's the story of two people who were made for each other, true soulmates, who have never met. We follow the comic and tragic misadventures of Mark and Ally as their lives crossover and intersect, hoping for the day they might meet. Along the way, each has to overcome their own obstacles (Mark is the perpetual "good friend," Ally can't seem to shake her loser boyfriend) and hope for the day they find each other.

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  A film adaptation of "A Kind of Love Story," hopefully to shoot this year. It's being produced by Andrew Carlberg, who is responsible for a few of Neil LaBute's screen adaptations, including the upcoming "Some Girl(s)," so I'm in good hands. Awaiting word on a pilot I worked on for FX. Also, my first novel, currently titled "Not the Girl." None of those things are theatre related, so I guess I'm a big sell-out.

Q:  How would you characterize the LA theater scene?

A:  It's my home, my community, my refuge. Sacred Fools Theatre is full of amazing, talented people who have become my family. I've been allowed to experiment, fail, and succeed on their stage through their various programs and shows. For better or worse, they're responsible for the writer I am today.

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

A:  Much of "A Kind of Love Story" is very autobiographical. Like the heroine, my first kiss was the result of a bribe. In first grade, a boy I had a crush on wanted to see this fossil I had found and I told him he could see it if he let me give him a kiss. He did, I kissed him, he was disgusted and pushed me down. Kind of a perfect metaphor for both my love and writing lives. But putting it on stage and making people laugh was more healing than thousands of dollars in therapy.

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

A:  That more people would go see it.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  First and foremost, Martin McDonagh. Theresa Rebeck, Stephen Sondheim, David Mamet, Neil LaBute, Stuart Gordon, Neil Simon. On the acitng side, Mandy Patinkin, Jessica Chastain, and Hugh Jackman, who gave one of the most perfect performances I've ever seen in "Boy From Oz."

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I'm not someone who seeks out a certain kind of theatre. Honestly, I just want to be entertained. If that means a community theatre production of "Into the Woods," I'm in. I do have an aversion to one-person shows but having said that, I've seen some pretty perfect ones, like Denis Leary's "No Cure for Cancer."

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

A:  Write. It's a cliche for a reason; the people who I know that are getting things up are the ones who never stop writing. Don't wait to get paid for it.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Check out www.sacredfools.org to see what my company is up to, it's got some wicked talented people. And some talented wicked people. But we won't do "Wicked," I promise. My blog at www.goodanotherblog.wordpress.com, and my writing at backstage.com and backstory.net. Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jenelleriley where I occasionally post "Futurama" porn.

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I Interview Playwrights Part 552: Jonathan Rand

Jonathan Rand

Hometown: Jacksonville, FL

Current Town: Santa Monica, CA

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  An evening of short comedies

Q:  Tell me about Playscripts. How did it come about?

A:  Fifteen years ago my brother Doug and I were two playwrights baffled by the lack of innovation in the play publishing and licensing industry. We founded Playscripts to fill that need and provide playwrights an opportunity to have their work read and produced as much as humanly possible. What started with eight plays in a dorm room has now become a fully-staffed Manhattan enterprise that represents over 1,800 plays by over 900 playwrights, and was ranked by Inc. Magazine as one of the nation’s fastest growing companies. It's been an exciting time.

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

A:  In the sixth grade I wrote and directed a play in English class called A Nightmare on Sesame Street, in which Big Bird and the gang turn to a life of crime. Huge Pulitzer snub.

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

A:  I'd like to say something profound, but my knee-jerk answer is to have a machine that automatically powers down all audience members' cell phones. I'd like to see this for movie theaters, too. And at funerals.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  My grandfather Jerome Sorkin was a master carpenter who made a career building Broadway sets and working as a stagehand. I'd like to think he's the genetic force behind my entire family's theatre obsession.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  The kind where I forget I'm in a theater.

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

A:  You'll hear that it's healthy to write as much as possible, to write first and edit later, and so forth -- and that's all great advice. But in order to even get started, you need to sit down and do it. And that means powering down email, Twitter, your iPhone -- everything. If you have to lock all your devices in a safe, do it. Once you've truly eliminated all distractions, you'll have no excuse but to focus on nothing but the page in front of you.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  jonathanrand.com, playscripts.com


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I Interview Playwrights Part 551: D.L. Siegel

D.L. Siegel

Hometown: Staten Island, NY

Current Town: Astoria, NY

Q:  Tell me about Chosen.

A:  Chosen is a one-act play about cultural pride, racism, family, and love. It is without a doubt the most personal play I've ever written. But it's a comedy! Because I think the most painful stories in our own lives should always be funny to other people.

Q:  What else are you working on now?

A:  I'm in the research stage for a few big projects right now, which is a fun and terrifying place to be. One play is a collaboration with Melissa Crespo (the director of Chosen and my spiritual other half). Melissa and I are working on a devised piece together that's going to be really politically charged and personal for both of us. Or at least that's the hope.

And then I'm also moving towards the early workshop stage for a new full-length play commissioned by IVP, a really fantastic group of female performers, co-founded by my childhood friend, Ashley Adelman.

Honestly, I feel very lucky to be so busy right now.

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 around 9 years old, my parents, my older brother and I all went to see Miss Saigon on Broadway. I don't remember feeling very affected by all the sexy stuff happening on stage -- I just thought all the dancing and noise was exciting. Besides...we had really great seats and it was my 2nd Broadway show ever; so they could have been sacrificing a live goat up there and I would’ve been enthralled. Anyway. When the lights came up during intermission, my mom took a deep breath, turned to me and blurted out ‘honey, do you know what a prostitute is?’ I honestly don’t remember my exact response. But I figure it was the kind of rushed affirmative response that attempts to steer clear of having ‘the talk’ in the middle of Miss Saigon. I think that’s still how I look at theater…the ideas I love to see portrayed on the stage, the taboos I most love to see broken and opened and re-purposed, those are the topics I am least likely to willingly discuss with my mother.

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

A:  The emphasis on first-runs is a killer. When and why did the branding of a ‘world premiere’ become so important? Given how many Broadway and Off-Broadway shows are revivals, it seems ridiculous to me that new work at the ground level often gets only one shot to it get it right. Bonkers.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  I love the Greeks, especially Sophocles and Euripides. So I’m a sucker for writers and directors who don’t just re-translate these classics but adapt them in new, crazy, remarkable ways.  Like Ed Sylvanus Iskandar with his food and his gorgeous stage pictures and his generally jaw-dropping direction of 'These Seven Sicknesses.' And Charles Mee, who would be one of the guests at my dream dinner party.

Also, Sarah Ruhl, Erik Ehn. Shakespeare. Tony Kushner. August Strindberg. Laura Maria Censabella, who made me braver than I thought possible.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I want the passion, the risk. I don’t want to see a slice of life, I want a peek at the characters’ most lurid secrets and dreams. I crave magic, and not just in the stagecraft. Get the actors out of their chairs, away from their tables, and give them some choreography or some puppets or some confetti to throw around. I like to leave the theater feeling like I just saw an almost supernatural event in front of me. Plays where the actors sink into the upholstery for two hours do not generally interest me.

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

A:  Don’t expect all the people in your life -- even the really important ones -- to fully understand what you do or appreciate how hard it is. Because most of them just won't. They can't, and they'll frequently doubt your sanity. So get a therapist and a gym membership and do what you can to surround yourself with people who make you laugh. And don't let anyone tell you that romantic relationships distract you from your work. Because true love inspires. Also, unrelated to that last point, take naps. Lots of naps. Writing's exhausting.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  Chosen @ HERE Arts Center, presented by the Downtown Urban Theater Festival. Wed. March 13th at 8:30pm. For more info and tickets: http://www.here.org/shows/detail/1148/

My website, hot off the presses: www.dlsiegel.com

IVP, a great group of gals making theater together. http://infinitevarietyproductions.com/

Corey Pajka, my boyfriend, is also a playwright, and he's got a play coming up in the Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival next week. http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=OLD10 Oh, and one more plug! The New Voices Festival is about to start up at the New School for Drama. The MFA Playwriting thesis plays are serious business, go if you can.
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550 Playwright Interviews (alphabetical)

Sean Abley
Rob Ackerman
Liz Duffy Adams
Johnna Adams
Tony Adams 
David Adjmi
Keith Josef Adkins
Nastaran Ahmadi   
Derek Ahonen
Kathleen Akerley
Daniel Akiyama   
Zakiyyah Alexander
Luis Alfaro
Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro 
Lucy Alibar
Joshua Allen
Norman Allen
Mando Alvarado 
Sofia Alvarez 
Christina Anderson
Eddie Antar
Terence Anthony
David Anzuelo
Rob Askins 
David Auburn 
Micheline Auger  
Alice Austen 
Elaine Avila   
Rachel Axler
Jaclyn Backhaus
Jenny Lyn Bader
Bianca Bagatourian   
Annie Baker
Trista Baldwin
David Bar Katz
Jennifer Barclay 
Courtney Baron
Scott T. Barsotti
Abi Basch 
Mike Batistick 
Brian Bauman
Neena Beber
Chad Beckim
Nikole Beckwith 
Maria Alexandria Beech
France-Luce Benson
Kari Bentley-Quinn 
Alan Berks
Brooke Berman
Susan Bernfield
Jay Bernzweig 
Hilary Bettis
Liza Birkenmeier
Mickey Birnbaum  
Barton Bishop
Martin Blank
Radha Blank
Lee Blessing
Jonathan Blitstein
Adam Bock
Jerrod Bogard
Emily Bohannon
Rachel Bonds
Margot Bordelon
Deron Bos
Hannah Bos
Leslie Bramm
Jami Brandli
George Brant
Tim Braun
Deborah Brevoort  
Delaney Britt Brewer
Jessica Brickman  
Erin Browne
Julia Brownell  
Bekah Brunstetter
Aaron Bushkowsky
Monica Byrne
Dan Caffrey
Renee Calarco
Zack Calhoon 
Sheila Callaghan
E. J. C. Calvert
Robert Quillen Camp  
Darren Canady
Ruben Carbajal
Ed Cardona, Jr.
Jonathan Caren
Aaron Carter
James Carter
Lonnie Carter
Nat Cassidy 
David Caudle
Laura Maria Censabella 
Emily Chadick Weiss
Eugenie Chan
Anupama Chandrasekhar  
Clay McLeod Chapman
Christopher Chen
Kirsten Childs 
Jason Chimonides
J. Julian Christopher
Andrea Ciannavei
John Clancy
Eliza Clark
Alexis Clements
Paul Cohen
Randall Colburn
Bárbara Colio 
Alexandra Collier
James Comtois
Joshua Conkel
Jennie Contuzzi  
Kara Lee Corthron
Kia Corthron  
Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas
Erin Courtney
Cusi Cram
Lisa D'Amour
Gordon Dahlquist 
Wendy Dann  
Heidi Darchuk
Bilal Dardai 
Stacy Davidowitz
Adrienne Dawes 
Philip Dawkins
Dylan Dawson
Colby Day  
Gabriel Jason Dean
Vincent Delaney
Devon de Mayo 
Emily Dendinger 
Emily DeVoti
Kristoffer Diaz
Jessica Dickey
Dan Dietz
Lisa Dillman
Ivan Dimitrov  
Zayd Dohrn
Colman Domingo  
Bathsheba Doran
Anton Dudley
Christopher Durang 
Laura Eason
Nate Rufus Edelman 
Fielding Edlow
Reginald Edmund 
Erik Ehn
Yussef El Guindi
Michael Elyanow  
Libby Emmons
Jennie Berman Eng
Saúl Enríquez 
Christine Evans 
Jennifer Fawcett 
Joshua Fardon
Halley Feiffer 
Lauren Feldman
Gina Femia  
Catherine Filloux   
Kenny Finkle
Stephanie Fleischmann
Kate Fodor
Sam Forman 
Dana Lynn Formby
Dorothy Fortenberry 
Darcy Fowler  
Kevin R. Free
Matthew Freeman
Edith Freni
Patrick Gabridge 
Fengar Gael
David Gaitán
Nick Gandiello
Anne Garcia-Romero
Gary Garrison
Melissa Gawlowski 
Philip Gawthorne
Madeleine George
Meg Gibson
Mira Gibson
Sean Gill
Lucy Gillespie 
Sigrid Gilmer 
Peter Gil-Sheridan
Gina Gionfriddo
Kelley Girod
Megan Gogerty 
Michael Golamco
Jessica Goldberg
Will Goldberg
Brian Golden
Daniel Goldfarb
Jacqueline Goldfinger
Jeff Goode
Idris Goodwin
Tasha Gordon-Solmon
Christina Gorman
Craig "muMs" Grant
Katharine Clark Gray
Donnetta Grays
Elana Greenfield   
Kirsten Greenidge
D.W. Gregory 
David Grimm
Rinne Groff 
Jason Grote
Sarah Gubbins
Stephen Adly Guirgis
Lauren Gunderson
Adam Hahn
Laurel Haines 
Jennifer Haley
Ashlin Halfnight   
Christina Ham
Sarah Hammond
Rob Handel
Trish Harnetiaux 
Jordan Harrison
Megan Hart 
Leslye Headland
Ann Marie Healy
Julie Hebert 
Marielle Heller
Charity Henson-Ballard 
Amy Herzog
Ian W. Hill  
Andrew Hinderaker
Cory Hinkle
Richard Martin Hirsch
Ron Hirsen  
Lucas Hnath
David Holstein
Ike Holter  
J. Holtham
Miranda Huba  
Quiara Alegria Hudes 
Les Hunter
Sam Hunter
Monet Hurst-Mendoza 
Chisa Hutchinson
Arlene Hutton
Lameece Issaq 
Tom Jacobson  
Laura Jacqmin
Joshua James
Julia Jarcho
Kyle Jarrow
Rachel Jendrzejewski   
Karla Jennings
David Johnston
Daniel Alexander Jones
Marie Jones
Nick Jones
Julia Jordan
Rajiv Joseph
Ken Kaissar 
Aditi Brennan Kapil
Lila Rose Kaplan
Stephen Karam  
Jeremy Kareken 
Lally Katz
Lynne Kaufman
Daniel Keene 
Karinne Keithley 
Greg Keller
Daniel John Kelley 
Sibyl Kempson
Jon Kern 
Anna Kerrigan
Kait Kerrigan
Lyle Kessler
Jeffrey James Keyes  
Boo Killebrew
Callie Kimball
Alessandro King 
Johnny Klein 
Krista Knight
Josh Koenigsberg 
John Kolvenbach
Robert Koon
Kristen Kosmas
David Koteles
Adam Kraar  
Sherry Kramer
Carolyn Kras
Andrea Kuchlewska
Larry Kunofsky
Aaron Landsman 
Eric Lane  
Jennifer Lane
Deborah Zoe Laufer
Jacqueline E. Lawton 
Ginger Lazarus
J. C. Lee
Young Jean Lee
Dan LeFranc
Forrest Leo  
Andrea Lepcio
Victor Lesniewski 
Steven Levenson
Barry Levey
Mark Harvey Levine  
Michael Lew
Alex Lewin  
EM Lewis
Sean Christopher Lewis
Jeff Lewonczyk
Kenneth Lin
Evan Linder 
Ethan Lipton 
Michael Lluberes
David J. Loehr 
Matthew Lopez
Tim J. Lord 
Alex Lubischer 
Stacey Luftig
Kirk Lynn
Taylor Mac  
Mariah MacCarthy
Heather Lynn MacDonald 
Laura Lynn MacDonald
Maya Macdonald
Samantha Macher 
Wendy MacLeod 
Cheri Magid
Jennifer Maisel
Martyna Majok  
Karen Malpede   
Kara Manning
Mona Mansour 
Warren Manzi
Chelsea M. Marcantel  
Israela Margalit 
Ellen Margolis
Ruth Margraff
Laura Marks
Sam Marks
Mark Mason
Katie May
Oliver Mayer
Tarell Alvin McCraney
Mia McCullough
Daniel McCoy
Jayme McGhan
Caroline V. McGraw
Ruth McKee
Gabe McKinley  
Ellen McLaughlin 
James McManus
Charlotte Meehan
Carly Mensch
Molly Smith Metzler
Dennis Miles
Charlotte Miller 
Jane Miller
Susan Miller 
Winter Miller
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Yusef Miller 
Rehana Mirza
Michael Mitnick
Chiori Miyagawa 
Anna Moench
Honor Molloy
Luis Enrique Gutiérrez Ortiz Monasterio  
Claire Moodey
Concepción León Mora
Alejandro Morales
Desi Moreno-Penson
Dominique Morisseau 
Susan Mosakowski  
Hannah Moscovitch 
Itamar Moses
Gregory Moss
Megan Mostyn-Brown
Kate Mulley 
Paul Mullin
Carlos Murillo  
Julie Marie Myatt
Janine Nabers
Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
Brett Neveu
Don Nguyen   
Qui Nguyen
Don Nigro
Timothy Nolan  
Dan O'Brien
Matthew Paul Olmos 
Dominic Orlando
Rich Orloff
Marisela Treviño Orta
Sylvan Oswald
Jamie Pachino
Kristen Palmer
Marc Palmieri 
Tira Palmquist
A. Rey Pamatmat
Kyoung H. Park
Jerome A. Parker  
Peter Parnell
Caitlin Montanye Parrish
Julia Pascal
Steve Patterson
Greg Paul 
Daniel Pearle
Matt Pelfrey
christopher oscar peña
Anne Phelan 
Greg Pierce
Greg Pierotti 
Begonya Plaza
Robert Plowman
Brian Polak 
Daria Polatin
John Pollono
Larry Pontius
Chana Porter
Max Posner  
Craig Pospisil
Jessica Provenz
Michael Puzzo
Brian Quirk
Marco Ramirez 
Yasmine Beverly Rana
Adam Rapp
David West Read 
Theresa Rebeck
Amber Reed
Daniel Reitz
M.Z. Ribalow
Molly Rice
Tania Richard
Kiran Rikhye
David Robson  
Mac Rogers
Joe Roland 
Elaine Romero
Greg Romero
Lynn Rosen
Andrew Rosendorf
Kim Rosenstock
Ben Rosenthal 
Sharyn Rothstein
David Rush  
Kate E. Ryan
Kate Moira Ryan
Trav S.D.
Riti Sachdeva  
Erica Saleh 
Sarah Sander
Tanya Saracho
Heidi Schreck
August Schulenburg
Sarah Schulman  
Mark Schultz
Jenny Schwartz
Emily Schwend
Jordan Seavey
Adriano Shaplin 
Erika Sheffer
Katharine Sherman
Kendall Sherwood 
Christopher Shinn
Rachel Shukert
Jen Silverman
David Simpatico 
Blair Singer
Crystal Skillman
Mat Smart
Alena Smith
Matthew Stephen Smith  
Tommy Smith
Ben Snyder
Sonya Sobieski  
Lisa Soland
Octavio Solis
Steve J. Spencer
Stephen Spotswood 
E. Hunter Spreen 
Peggy Stafford
Diana Stahl 
Saviana Stanescu
Susan Soon He Stanton  
Nick Starr
Deborah Stein
Jon Steinhagen
Caitlin Saylor Stephens
Vanessa Claire Stewart 
Victoria Stewart
Andrea Stolowitz
Steven Strafford 
Lydia Stryk 
Lloyd Suh
Gwydion Suilebhan  
Gary Sunshine
Chelsea Sutton 
Caridad Svich
Jeffrey Sweet
Adam Szymkowicz
Daniel Talbott
Jeff Talbott 
Kate Tarker 
Roland Tec 
Lucy Thurber
Paul Thureen
Melisa Tien   
Josh Tobiessen
Joe Tracz
Catherine Trieschmann 
Dan Trujillo
Alice Tuan
Jon Tuttle
Ken Urban
Enrique Urueta
Jean-Claude van Itallie
Karen Smith Vastola 
Francine Volpe
Kathryn Walat
Ian Walker
Michael I. Walker 
Malachy Walsh
Kathleen Warnock
Anne Washburn
Marisa Wegrzyn
Anthony Weigh   
Ken Weitzman
Sharr White
David Wiener  
Claire Willett
Samuel Brett Williams
Beau Willimon
Pia Wilson
Leah Nanako Winkler 
Gary Winter
Bess Wohl
Tom Matthew Wolfe  
Stanton Wood
Craig Wright
Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig
Anu Yadav
Deborah Yarchun
Lauren Yee
Steve Yockey
Kelly Younger
Stefanie Zadravec
David Zellnik  
Anna Ziegler
Martín Zimmerman
Don Zolidis


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