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1100 Playwright Interviews

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Apr 11, 2014

I Interview Playwrights Part 650: Marja-Lewis Ryan


Photo Credit: Courtney Caron

Marja-Lewis Ryan

Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

Current Town: Los Angeles, CA

Q:  Tell me about One in the Chamber.

A:  There was a featured article in The New York Times on September, 28th 2013, which revealed that the rate of accidental death by gunfire in this country is under recorded because there are no hardline laws or rules that a coroner must follow in order to determine if a death is an accident or a homicide. More often than not, deaths as a result of shootings where two people are involved (more specifically in this article, two children) are characterized as homicides. There were all sorts of studies and facts in this article that really stayed with me and One in the Chamber is a fictionalized version of what I imagine the real life human impact of those stats might look like.

The plot: In 2008, a ten-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his nine-year-old brother after their mother left a loaded gun in the couch cushion. Now, six year later, a court appointment social worker must determine if the now sixteen-year-old should be let off parole.

The show takes place in real time with no scene breaks or act breaks. It’s essentially a series of interrupted interviews between the social worker, and the mother, father, older sister, younger sister and the convicted killer.

Q:  What else are you working on now?

A:  I am a screenwriter so this is my only play in the works but I have a script about a transgender ten-year–old with Black Label Media, one about a suburban housewife who comes out of the closet with One Zero Films, a comedy about divorce with Reel FX, a really fun female-lead football movie with Present Pictures, and a couple of TV pilots, but my primary focus right now is finding the very best cat litter out there because my cats poop human poops. I’m open to readers’ suggestions – must be the clumping kind, the non-clumping just seems silly at this point.

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 read your blog so I knew this question was coming and I asked my mother and here are the stories she wanted me to tell you.)

As a kid, we had a baby pool in the shape of a whale that we called Fudgie. On hot summer days, my dad (who is 6’2” and a lean 230lbs) would fill Fudgie up, slip into a pink bathing suit and wade on the front lawn; waving to neighbors coming home from work.

Every Memorial Day weekend, my father, [who has many nicknames including Mr. Green Thumb, because he can’t get grass to grow; Mr. Fix-It, because he thinks Duct Tape is pure magic; and Mr. Plastic (pronounced plas-TEEK) because he wears very old track pants with holes in them everywhere and called them his plastic pants] used to make my brother a “professional” whiffle ball field in our backyard by lining it with flour. And every year without fail the dog would eat it and puke absolutely everywhere for days. But my father thought it was definitely worth cleaning vomit if it meant we got to have a real life baseball field for double headers on Memorial Day.

In the winter of ’96, he had a brilliant idea and rushed to Home Depot bought pink insolation, taped it to the sides of the basketball court he made for me in the backyard and then got the hose and tried to fill it up in hopes that he could make me an ice skating rink. (It didn’t work, obviously, but you had to admire the man for trying.)

That same winter, it snowed three feet and my mother got all the neighborhood kids together and built a luge down the back steps. She even made a tunnel out of snow that our sleds would fly through because she poured water down the luge and let it freeze so we could go faster.

One time, I called my mother to come get me from school because I had to poop so bad and was too embarrassed to go but instead of just showing up, she came with pink plastic handcuffs and made me wear them from the main office all the way home just because she thought it was funny.

Honestly, I could go on and on but I think you get it. That fine balance of magic and trauma turned me into a writer.

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

A:  I would like to stop trying to explain to people that theater is good. There are tons, (millions I’m sure), of horrible, god-awful, unforgivably bad movies out there but people aren’t like, “Ugh, movies. I hate movies.” Theater needs some new PR. Like how broccoli got a makeover this year to try and compete with kale? Yeah. Like that.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Wendy Wasserstein, David Mamet, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Cherry Jones, Donald Margulies and Douglas Carter Beane.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I love dysfunctional families. Anything kitchen sink drama – sign me up. I like plays that work within the inherent confines of theater – one space, no set changes, no flare, nothing distracting, just great actors talking words I’ve never heard talked in that order before. That’s really exciting to me.

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

A:  Everyone is full of advice that is 99% unhelpful because we all have own paths but since you asked… Make your own work. Invest in yourself (yes I mean money, even if it’s not much, people really respond to artists who are willing to bet on themselves). Find smart, patient, passionate actors you can write for.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  You can watch my first movie, The Four-Faced Liar on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc.: http://www.thefourfacedliarmovie.com

One in the Chamber runs Friday, Saturday, Sunday July 12-August 17 at The Lounge Theater 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., LA, CA 90038. We are still fundraising! https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/one-in-the-chamber--2/x/6912226
 

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Apr 7, 2014

I Interview Playwrights Part 649: Ryann Weir


Ryann Weir

Hometown: Wilmette, Illinois

Current Town: Brooklyn, New York

Q:  Tell me about DEBUTANTE.

A:  DEBUTANTE. is a play about a group of heiresses who are expected to debut into high society but turn out to be pretty bad at it. They ride bikes late at night, overdose on TAB soda and Jazzercise to the famed soap opera "Dynasty" all while studying at Ms. Peasgood’s School for Etiquette and practicing deep, lady-like curtsies. They also dig through the trash to find their retainers when necessary.

Q:  What else are you working on now?

A:  In June I’m doing two shows at Ars Nova’s ANT Fest, which is going to be super fun!

The first show is called I Heard Sex Noises, which I co-authored and perform in along side superstars: Andrew Farmer and Claire Rothrock. Direction by my theater-making-partner-in-crime and dear pal: the incomparable Annie Tippe. I Heard Sex Noises is about a coup d’etat in the Roosevelt Island gardening society. High drama. Hydrangeas.

The second show is called Sketch Tragedy, written by comedy wizard: Matt Gehring. I’ll be acting in that show which is structured like a sketch comedy show but sketches end in…you guessed it…tragedy!

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

A:  I grew up in a kind of idyllic, stuffy suburb of Illinois where the neighbor kids played kick the can on Summer nights and rode bikes in the day. The kids ran things in the Summer because in that part of the mid-west, winter lasts for 90% of the year so by June everyone was mental.

Lauren Wiscomb was my next-door neighbor and childhood best friend. We had matching bowl haircuts and listened to Ace of Base songs more often than we didn’t listen to Ace of Base songs. We made our own fun.

Particularly in a game we invented called CASE. Inspired by a heavy diet of Harriet the Spy and Nancy Drew novels, CASE was a game where Lauren and I made up crimes that happened on our block and then walked around trying to solve them. We were like two little Jerry Orbachs hovering over a crack in the sidewalk, trying to get to the bottom of it. Many cases involved a neighborhood cat called Poon who subsisted primarily on Kraft singles. But then there were more mysteries involving our poor siblings Abby and Dylan. We had a book where we recorded everything in- leads, suspects, evidence et al.

When Case had been exhausted for the day, Lauren and I would create harnesses and bungee jumping cords for our stuffed animals and throw them out the window. We always had a spotter downstairs knowing full well the detrimental consequences of bungee related stuffed animal fatalities. We thrilled at their daring and lived vicariously through pink bunnies and monkeys with button eyes who had more courage than we did.

Q:  Who are your theatrical heroes?

A:  Oh Will Eno is my favorite. And everything David Cromer does. And Cherry Jones and Amy Morton. Rachel Chavkin, Anne Kaufman, The Debate Society. Too many to count.

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

A:  One word. Plastics.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A: 

Debutanteplay.com  

Ryannweir.com

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Apr 6, 2014

I Interview Playwrights Part 648: Jeremy Gable



Jeremy Gable

Hometown: Post Falls, Idaho, a town without a theatre company. I had to drive out to Spokane, Washington to see my first play produced. Not that Spokane isn't nice, but I'd love to see a working playhouse in my old stomping grounds.

Current Town: Philadelphia, a town with more theatre companies than you can shake a stick at. If shaking a stick at theatre companies is your sort of thing.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I am currently in the midst of the Core Writers Residency at InterAct Theatre Company. While there, I've been working on two plays. One is about the Amazonian Guard, the women who guarded Gaddafi during his time in Libya. The other is about an indie game developer dealing with the absurdity and misogyny of the video game industry. I also have an upcoming commission for a children's show that I can't really talk about right now because it's not officially announced.

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

A: Apparently, shortly after learning to walk, I would entertain my mother's friends by running into the living room, diving face-first into the carpet, and then taking a bow. I feel like that pretty much explains my aesthetic. Or my desperate need for approval. Or both. I'm going to say both.

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

A: I'd like to see a lot less living rooms. First off, it's making me realize how much better my living room could look. But also, I feel like most of my favorite plays are the ones that venture out into the world, that take me somewhere I haven't been. When I go to see a show, I want characters who travel, explore, sit on something other than couch.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A: My early playwriting heroes were Albee and David Ives. Reading their plays in those impressionable high school years taught me everything I needed to know to get started. Nowadays, my main hero is Tracy Letts, who proved that you can be a exceedingly talented playwright and actor with only a high school diploma, which is my current journey. I also have huge playwright crushes on Annie Baker and Sam Hunter, Baker for seemingly figuring out this whole theater thing at our relatively young age, and Hunter for mining a lot of amazing stories from his northern Idaho roots. Gem State represent!

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A: The kind that invites me to come along and play. Which is not necessarily to say audience participation, though here in Philly, there's some really cool work that directly engages the audience. But more the kind of theater that creates an exciting playground of looks, people, ideas, and then invites me to come along for the ride. With some of my favorite writers, like Letts, Baker, Hunter, Will Eno, Sarah Kane, Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks, Johnna Adams, you feel that passion for not just presenting a story, but sharing it. That's the answer right there. I like theater that shares.

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

A: Two things. First, write what you haven't seen on stage, but always wanted to see. If it's a story you genuinely want to see, chances are other people do, too. Second, get to the end of the first draft. I'm horrible about trying to re-write before I finish the first draft, so for me, most of the battle is just getting to the end.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  The Private Green, my Amazonian Guard play, will have a reading through the Philadelphia New Play Initiative in June. I don't know the exact date and time yet, but they're on Facebook, so you can check that out. Everything else has yet to be announced, so just keep Googling my name. I know I will.

Crossposted to the Kanjy Blog


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Apr 5, 2014

Reading of my play for youth Thurs April 10th

Reading by Primary Stages of

Adventures of Super Margaret
By Adam Szymkowicz
Directed by Michelle Bossy

Thurs April 10 at 7pm
At 59 East 59 Theater (59 East 59th Street, NYC)

(It is intended to be acted for and/or by middle school students.)

Super Margaret is having a hard day. She has too much Geometry homework, and the prom queen and king have been kidnapped. If she doesn’t rescue them from the Nefarious Evil Genius, who will? Certainly not her wanna be sidekick, Louis who won’t stop following her and narrating her life. Certainly not Super Lee who is busy enough at Central High. It’s hard to be super powered and super smart.


Come if you can.

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Apr 3, 2014

2 one minute plays

because what else can you do with a one minute play after it's been performed except put it on the internet.

 
WEIGHT
By Adam Szymkowicz

A BIG PERSON is getting a piggyback from a LITTLE PERSON.

LITTLE PERSON
We have to stop

BIG PERSON
One more time.

LITTLE PERSON
I will break

BIG PERSON
I am the broken one.

LITTLE PERSON
I know but

BIG PERSON
I am the broken one. You saw I was destroyed by circumstances and life and mental illness and addiction and love and you picked me up and dusted me off. And you lifted me up.

LITTLE PERSON
I can only do so much.

BIG PERSON
Just a little more.

LITTLE PERSON
No but.

BIG PERSON
I just need a little more.

LITTLE PERSON
Who will fix me when I break?

BIG PERSON
Someone will come along.

LITTLE PERSON
No.

BIG PERSON
Someone.  Onward!

LITTLE PERSON
Ow.

LITTLE PERSON carries BIG PERSON off in the direction they were going.



MEME
By Adam Szymkowicz

A
I don’t understand.

B
I’m going off the internet.

A
What do you mean?

B
I’m not doing it.

A
You mean facebook?

B
Yeah.

A
Twitter?

B
Yup.

A
Not Instagram?

B
Everything.

A
I mean, you can’t do that.

B
It’s all just me me me.

A
It’s pronounced meme.

B
It’s a waste of my time and energy.  I’m going to do things instead.

A
I don’t understand.

B
I’m not judging you or anything.

A
You’ll come back though, right?

B
I doubt it.

A
We’ll fall out of touch.

B
No we won’t.

A
I’ll forget about you.  Maybe still think of you now and then and wonder what you’re up to but then less and less until I stop thinking about you at all.

B
That’s crazy. 

A
Is it?  Your shoe is untied.

B bends to tie shoe.  A exits.  B looks up after tying shoe but A is gone.

B
Hello?  I’m still here.



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Apr 2, 2014

I Interview Playwrights Part 647: Daniel Glenn



Daniel Glenn

Hometown: Alpharetta, Georgia

Current Town: The great sixth borough that is Yonkers

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  I am imagining what it would be like if Richard Nixon were reincarnated, and were alerted to his past life by the spirit of Indira Gandhi, now residing in a cow. Can he conquer his demons this time around? It's a think-piece.

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

A:  Once, while playing with my LEGOs, I swallowed one of them. It was just a little tiny speck of a LEGO, but I was afraid that somehow this was going to be the death of me. So I went to my parents and I told them I had swallowed a LEGO. Only I was crying so hard, from elemental terror, that I was not able to answer their questions about the nature of the LEGO. So they figured I must have swallowed some giant log that was now obstructing my breathing (although I was using a lot of oxygen in my sobbing: parents sometimes have fuzzy logic). My father then took me over his knee and whapped the crap out of my back to try and get it out. This went on for some time, maybe a Spongebob and a half. Finally he gave up. The LEGO had come out, unnoticed because it was so small. So this taught me to be very specific when I choose my words. A small LEGO. A very small LEGO that gives no cause for alarm.

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

A:  I would make it cheaper, or better. Too much of it is expensive or bad.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Spalding Gray. I have a huge mancrush fancrush on Spalding Gray, and feel robbed since I never got to see him live.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I like anything that stays one step ahead of me. If I can figure out what's coming next, I get bored, and then I get resentful, and then I get thirsty.

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

A:  Well, I'm starting out, so I'm biased, but I would say keep starting out. Start out forever. I think the more inspirational artists are the ones who keep reinventing themselves, who keep trying vastly different new genres and ideas, rather than the ones who find a niche and fill it for decades. So I'm saying more John Guare, more Caryl Churchill, less David Mamet. Now I'll probably never work with David Mamet. But it had to be said.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  I'm scheduled to be part of Pan Asian Rep's NuWorks in June. Or if you're heading South, I'm also performing "Portraits of People I've Never Slept With" at the Atlanta Fringe Festival. Check out danielpglenn.com, or Facebook/com/danielpglenn.



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Mar 29, 2014

I Interview Playwrights Part 646: Adam Scott Mazer


Adam Scott Mazer

Hometown: Birmingham, AL

Current Town: Brooklyn, NY

Q:  Tell me about The Tower.

A:  Where to even start? Hmm. About five or six years ago, I had the idea that someone (I didn't think of myself as a playwright back then) should write a play about the Donner Party, those legendary frontier settlers who got stuck in the mountains and resorted to cannibalism to survive. As I got increasingly into playwriting over the course of the last few years, the idea was always simmering in the back of my mind. After I finished Motherboard, I sorta just knew that its time had come. Early last summer, Philip Gates, Maya Rook, and I ran a developmental workshop for the show, in which Maya - who just happens to be a PhD student in American History - provided us with historical documents that we then collaboratively brought to life. We also played around with character-based improv and hallucinatory dream compositions, and I came away from those couple weeks with an amazing wealth of material and a new understanding of the project. In the fall, we visited Donner Lake, where we met with people at the historical museum and more generally were able to dive deep into the energy of the place. That trip really kick started my creativity, so I took some of the material we had generated along with certain historical documents and used those as sort of guideposts to write the play. What emerged is certainly the strangest play I've written. Both narrative and experimental, The Tower weaves in and out of reality: ostensibly set in 1846 and 1847, the arc of the play takes us not only over the Sierra Nevada’s with the desperate snowshoers, but also into the characters' minds, the future, and possibly even death itself. Titled after the tarot card for chaos, collapse, and destruction, The Tower uses one of America's most notorious myths to explore some of its foundational values: take whatever you can, kill whoever you have to, and above all else, consume, consume, consume. Sounds dark, I know, but it's actually pretty funny too!

Q:  What else are you working on now?

A:  Nothing! The Tower pretty much rules my every waking moment, save for the time I'm doing my day job. The end of this process will mark the end of a yearlong sprint in which I wrote and co-produced this play and illustrated my first book, a graphic poetry collection (with poet J. Bradley, published by YesYes Books). I'm looking forward to taking a couple months to recharge, relax, and see what kind of trouble I can get into.

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

A:  Oh god, I really hate telling stories from my childhood - not because it was terrible or anything, on the contrary, I have a pretty excellent family, so it was actually quite pleasant. I don't really have any Batman-esque tragic origin stories, but I can recall an event that in part informed the writing of this play. When I was maybe 10, I had a really terrible fever; to the point where I was pretty much tripping balls. I remember very vividly being inside of what I thought was a dream, frantically ripping various shirts out of my closet. After enduring a variety of other strange events and compulsions, I "woke up" in the bathtub, sitting on a bunch of wet shirts, my mother wiping my brow with a cold washcloth. Now that I think about it, that whole thing is at least partially relevant to "who I am as a writer," because so much of my writing is about the permeable membrane between what's real and what's imagined. Nothing like a little childhood fever delirium to expose the cracks in the material world.

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

A:  I only get one? Way to ask the tough questions, Adam. I have a lot of issues with the current state of theater, but I think the biggest issue - as with most other things in America - is one of money. I would change the system that prohibits those without means from creating theater - grad school costs an insane amount, self-producing requires deep pockets or deep connections, and grant money is incredibly hard to come by. I have no idea how to do it, but luckily you didn't ask me that - at base level, there's something pretty deeply wrong with an "industry" in which the makers of the product - actors, directors, and writers - can reasonably expect that they will never be appropriately paid for their work.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Ibsen, Ionesco, Thornton Wilder, Richard Foreman, Caryl Churchill, Martin McDonagh, Qui Nguyen, and Robert Ross Parker

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theater that's alive. It's hard to explain what that is, but you can just feel it. Whether it's a kitchen sink drama or some crazy experimental shit, for me there are ultimately two types of theater: living and dead. Does it generate heat, or is it just sitting there rotting? I like it hot.

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

A:  Oh man, let's see. Don't just network, make friends. Ask those friends to read your work, and do the same for them. Give feedback that is supportive, but honest - if we're not helping each other be the best artists we can be, then why bother? Write and rewrite and rewrite again. Don't wait around for people to give you opportunities because they probably never will: produce your own work and prove to them that you're worth their time and attention.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:

My book The Bones of Us came out in March:

More on The Tower at http://antimattercollective.org

Prints of my artwork and more available at adamscottmazer.com
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Mar 25, 2014

I Interview Playwrights Part 645: Adam R. Burnett



Adam R. Burnett

Hometown: Topeka, KS

Current town: New York, NY

Q:  Tell me about Magic Bullets.

A: MAGIC BULLETS completes Buran Theatre’s triptych of works initiated with 2010’s The House of Fitzcarraldo. The piece is primarily about health, wellness and, in a greater sense, sanity and the sublime of suffering. In the piece we find ten people trying—reaching for answers in the midst of their pain and loss. Their hopeful destination is wellness but what happens along the way— psychologically and philosophically—is what we jump around in for the length of the show. In Buran fashion, the tempo is staccato with boisterous and unapologetic, bounding madness and fever-fits. MAGIC BULLETS will be more comprehensive and dynamic than previous efforts. The company has filled out: working with a choreographer, for the first time, and the musical compositions more defined and well-articulated. I think folks who have been following our work will find this to be a logical next step but also be very surprised as to where the piece ultimately lands. It goes without saying, it’d ridiculous to miss this show.

Q:  What else are you working on now?
A:  I’m working on a very large-scale installation-theatre piece about de-extinction and the psychology of romantic love called MAMMOTH. The work pulls from the very real scientific possibility of de-extinction (reviving species) and the ecology of the Siberian tundra since the wooly mammoth disappeared. More so than in the past I am really trying to pull together worlds that I’ve never seen live together: taxidermy and puppetry, live video and nature, specifically, a stage designed of melting ice and lush, colorful tundra. It’s going to very different from anything I’ve done with Buran or otherwise. My work has been chaotic, charged with an anxious, manic energy. The challenge now—and it scares me, quite frankly—is to see if I can use that energy to achieve something longer and, potentially, more static and sustained.

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 spent the majority of the summer, before I was old enough for camp or to be left alone, with my grandma. She owned a very large, old apartment complex that we’d spend our days working in, doing odd jobs. I loved the musty smell of the place and all the people she had to collect checks from or set up maintenance appointments with. Watching her work had a huge influence on me. It was invigorating to hear her get frustrated, her tropes, and the things she repeated over and over as she tinkered and talked to the washing machine and furnace as if they were people, imbuing the property with her personality. It made me understand what real ownership meant: renting something that is tended to for the care of others.

Twice a week we’d travel an hour out of town to visit her mother, Oleva, who had dementia, in a nursing home. Each visit my grandmother would reintroduce herself as her daughter and me as a great-grandchild. It was the same script twice a week. The only thing my great-grandmother ever directly said to me during these visits was, “Adam and Eve and Pinch Me went down to the river to bathe. Adam and Eve jumped in. Who was left?” And thus, twice a week, I was pinched.

I sat quietly during these afternoon visits and listened to mother and daughter sing the same songs: “Won’t you Call me Sweetheart,” “Mairzy Dotes,” and “My Merry Oldsmobile.” My grandma and great-grandma taught me all the old songs from the ‘30’s and ‘40’s. In this way I have always been an old soul. It was cultivated in me, the way your hips move to that music—that where I feel most at home.

Growing up Roman Catholic, despite women not being allowed to enter the priesthood, there was always the strong veneration of the Madonna. I felt more secure in my prayers to the Virgin Mother than I did to Jesus. The miracle of a virgin birth seemed more astonishing than rising from the dead. Anyone Joe Schmoe can rise from the dead, but the mystery of the birth always left me in awe. How does that work? What did Mary say to everyone? How did she endure the doubt and criticism? The strength and resolve, in light of a decision that others thought mad or impossible, made the Virgin Mary a source of inspiration from a very early age.

The rest of my life I have been blessed by the company of very strong and compassionate women: teachers, relatives, friends, and artistic collaborators. It’d be silly to say I attempt to populate the stage in honor of the women in my life: there is no attempt; it is simply what I do. You really have to push me to create a role for a male in my work. I am not interested – there is no mystery in a man, nothing lyrical or beautiful, devastating or dramatic. I think this is the hallmark of my work and my modus operandi as a person: a constant veneration and awe of the women in my life. It’s the well to which I will forever return.

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

A:  I would like to see a culture of equality and transparency, where actors can request to see a budget if they aren’t getting paid, without fear of the director or producer. Especially within the realm the majority of us are creating theatre: more warmth and compassion. You don’t make profits from the type of theatre we create. The pursuit is for a lifestyle and that should be reflected in how we treat one another.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Chuck Mee, Ron Willis, Jo Huseman, Radiohole, Augusto Boal, Vesvolod Meyerhold, Eugene Ionesco, Ellen Stewart, Alicia Gian…the list is very long and ever-expanding. But really, my theatrical heroes are the folks that work with Buran Theatre. I have the privilege and honor to hand pick every designer, performer, writer, choreographer and musician involved with Buran and so I always choose those who know more and are more capable than I am. They are a constant inspiration and I work to make sure they are treated with respect and feel a sense of community. Since Buran tours the United States, it’s so important to create the connective tissue from NYC to Minneapolis to Kansas City to Albuquerque to Las Vegas to Los Angeles and know that there is a community, a purpose to this model: the performers and donors and audiences are interchangeable. The more I work in this model, the more charged I am to make this satellite system of communities flourish so that my heroes have good friends, a roof over their head, and a creative home wherever they travel.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I am excited when something doesn’t know or doesn’t tell me what it is. I am generally not very fond of narrative in theatre. The minute I see a “plot” being set up, I tune out and am readying myself to leave. If we’re coming to a space together, presenting ourselves to an audience, then let us mutually go someplace we’ve never been before. Theatre is a vehicle for community invested ideas: so don’t just tell me a story—I hear those all the time—change my rhythm, wake me up, startle me, make me angry, confused, and definitely make me laugh. When all these elements come together, the experience can be transcendent and I grow because I’ve gone through something with others. I am reminded that this is not an isolated experience.

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

A:  My writing mentor, Ron Willis, always said to me, “Your project is the play. My project is you.” This has stuck with me. So my advice is: find someone who is interested in cultivating your humanity and leaves the work and process for you to discover.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A: 
BuranTheatre’s MAGIC BULLETS
Incubator Arts Project
May 2-11
Tickets: $18



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Mar 22, 2014

Upcoming Productions


First off I have 2 one minute plays going up at Primary Stages in NYC April 2 along with many much fancier playwrights. http://www.primarystages.org/ompf

Then

Nerve (production #15)
Paper Wing Theater Company, Monterey, CA.

Hearts Like Fists (productions #7, 8, 9, 10)
Lost Flamingo Company, Athens, OH.
Ad Astra Theatre, Topeka, KS. 2014.
Common Ground, Tiny Engine, Durham, NC.
California State University, Fullerton, CA. 2014.

but the big news is the remount of

photo by Ahron Foster

Clown Bar this May (and beyond) at Parkside Lounge again by Pipeline.




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Mar 21, 2014

What I'm up to writingwise

I did a blog post for Primary Stages about it:

http://primarystagestheatercompany.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/adam-szymkowicz/


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Mar 14, 2014

I Interview Playwrights Part 644: Brian Otaño



Brian Otaño

Hometown: Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, NY

Current Town: Harlem, New York, NY

Q:  Tell me about your Amoralists reading.

A:  Between the Sandbar and the Shore is the first play in a trilogy about two young couples who move in next door to each other, start families, get close and eventually start to cannibalize each other, figuratively speaking. Play one is set in the early 80’s in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, which was such a nutty time. On the surface, everything seemed pretty idyllic, but every now and again, you'd find a corpse shoved between two cars. This entire trilogy takes place outside the bounds of the digital age, when people knew their neighbors, had way less distractions and, you know, had to really face each other! It’s crawling with ghosts, there are a couple of creepy puppet children in it-- it’s got a real horror streak. It’s a fun, heartfelt, vicious play, which puts it right in the Amoralists' sweet spot!

Q:  Why did you decide to write a trilogy?

A:  I set out to reckon with how a person’s relationship with the truth changes when they become a parent. That’s where What We Told the Neighbors (play two) comes from. Then, I wrote Sandbar (play one). While developing play one, Superstorm Sandy hit and I got the inspiration for The Ocean At Your Door (play three). I made some changes to the origin stories while writing play three, so I had to go back to play one and do some adjusting. I don’t know why I decided to write a trilogy. It’s kind of a huge gamble, but I’ll say this: if I were to drop dead after putting the finishing touches on play one, I’d be happy that I left these behind. You know?

Q:  Dark. What are you working on now?

A:   I’m in the thick of writing a new play called Clean Work, or Zero Feet Away. It’s about a gay couple that decides to explore non-monogamy and how that warps their relationship with each other and their friends. There are hook-up app interactions. There’s a botched threeway. There’s some unexpected romance. And paint. One of the major settings in the play is a scenic art shop.

Q:  A scenic art shop?

A:  A shop where theater scenery is built and painted. It’s dirty work, hard work, it’s where fine visual art and construction meet to play dominos and throw shade.

Q:  Do you believe in non-monogamy?

A:  Yes, for those who can do it without hurting anyone. HA! There’s the rub.

Q:  Did you watch Looking on HBO? Will there be some similarities?

A:  I’m sure there’s an overlap in the territory covered but I’d like to hope our voices are distinctive, yet harmonious? I’m waiting until I have time to binge-watch the entire first season. I’m excited to get into it.

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 won't tell a story, I will tell you this... I'm a gay Puerto Rican who was raised on thirteen years of Catholic education and a steady diet of horror movies. Make of that what you will.

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

A:  JESUS, ADAM. One thing? One... I want to say something about access here. Access to funding for artists and projects, access to affordable theater, but most importantly, access to affordable theater education. OH MY GOD. Hello! Education! Can we get some BFA Dramatic Writing programs in NY that won’t run students into six-figure debt? I’m from one of the last BFA Dramatic Writing graduating classes to come out of SUNY Purchase College. I went on my own dime and came out without a mountain of loan debt because the school was affordable. The President and Provost of the school (along with the Chair of the School of Humanities) TORPEDOED that BFA DW program, despite some uproar from Conservatory students and faculty, because they wanted to save the school some money. For a few extra bucks, they basically priced out kids who may have to forego pursuing a BFA in Dramatic Writing if they can’t find the means to pay what it costs to attend BFA programs at private colleges and universities. The dramatic writing teachers up there are top shelf and having access to them on a consistent (often one-on-one) basis in a conservatory setting made a HUGE difference. BA programs: larger class size, less access to overworked teachers, less workshop time, no showcase… There are many, many strengths to the freedom and flexibility of a BA writing program— which Purchase offers— but it’s a shame that a BFA in Dramatic Writing is no longer an option there. Rant over.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  I’m gonna list my heroes, period. Some are theatre makers. Some are just theatrical. In no particular order: JT Rogers, Mimi O’Donnell, Emily Morse, Stephen King, Daniel Reitz, Nick Gandiello, David Nellis, Francine Volpe, Kris Diaz, Kander and Ebb, Leonard Bernstein, Adam Bock, Tonya Pinkins, Karen O., Doug Lebrecht, Butch Vig, Mark Englert, Stephen Adly Guirgis, scenic designers Christine Jones, Rob Jones and John Macfarlane, Emily Shooltz, Billy Corgan and Alan Ball. To name a few.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I’ve become one of those people who can fall asleep in the theater once the house lights go out. I'm 31. Sad sad. At this rate, if you can keep me awake, you're ahead of the game.

That said... hmm... I'm excited by theater that requires engages with a range of elements-- language is our main ingredient, sure, but I'm also excited by ingenuity with puppets, video, site-specificity. When I write, I think about the juicy bits I'm offering for actors as well as the designers, dramaturgs and directors.

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

A:  Some of your other previous interviewees have given some awesome advice so my first thing would be to READ THIS BLOG.

ALSO, figure out what your best writing model is-- where can you concentrate best, what’s the ideal time of day, amount of hours per day, etc-- and facilitate that as much as possible. Your work and state of mind will totally improve. I’ve tried different models and I’ve found that the one I’m working with now needs some overhauling.

Lastly, I leave you with the Manhattan Theatre Source house rules: Clean up after yourself, practice generosity of spirit, share your information, principles before personalities.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  OK, I leave you with a plug: Between the Sandbar and the Shore, directed by the illustrious Jay Stull!

Monday, 3/17, 8pm, Walkerspace @ 46 Walker Street! Get into it.


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