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1100 Playwright Interviews

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Jan 15, 2017

I Interview Playwrights Part 906: Jonathan Dorf




Jonathan Dorf

Hometown:  Broomall, Pennsylvania (I wasn't born there, but I moved there before third grade and did most of my important growing up there).

Current Town:  Los Angeles, CA

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  Unfortunately, I'm working on too many things, so it feels a bit like inching an entire row of pawns forward one at a time. Most of my stage work is for teens, which is what I'm best known for. On that note, I'm nearly finished a draft of Me, My Selfie and I, a one-act play that contemplates the selfie. But I'm also working on a mash-up parody of Lord of the Flies and Lord of the Rings for a potential YouthPLAYS anthology and was asked by another publisher (hint: it's one that publishes some of my most produced works) to contribute a ten-minute play to a new anthology they're putting together. In the meantime, I'm working on a long overdue update to Young Playwrights 101, my how-to book for young writers—fingers crossed for spring sometime. I'm also hoping to work on some web series (or TV) and short film projects, and I'm polishing some scripts that I could potentially shoot later this year.

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 ten, we did our epic family vacation, spending nine weeks driving all over the US. It was actually supposed to be ten weeks, but we hit the wall in New Mexico and decided to drive home from there. We started in Pennsylvania and, with an emphasis on national parks (Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, etc), toured all over the country. I had a lot of back seat time, and I'd lie there—at that point being small enough to fit sideways—and read. A lot. I was reading the Great Brain series, possibly some Agatha Christie, maybe Encyclopedia Brown and probably a few others. I tore through books so quickly we actually had to stop partway through the trip to buy more. Luckily, those were the days when bookstores were still plentiful. While the obvious takeaway is that I read a lot—I still do, but I feel that too much of my reading now consists of scripts that have been submitted for consideration by YouthPLAYS, my little publishing company—the subtext, as it were, is that I'm a plugger. My dear friend and mentor, the late Thom Williams, used to say that it was a Capricorn thing, that we just put our heads down and plunged forward. The challenge for me these days is to make more of that plunging actual writing, rather than administrative work, whether for YouthPLAYS, for the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights (which I co-chair) or even for my own self-promotion. Sometimes I wonder "what if" I didn't do all of these other things—how much could I accomplish? Who knows—maybe one day I'll find out. Life was certainly simpler when I could fit sideways in the back seat of my parents' car.

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

A:  I'd want to change how severely underfunded theater is, both at schools and nationally. There should be opportunities for all young people to have drama classes from elementary on up, and it should be a requirement that is just as important as math or English—and it should include trips to and visits from quality theater groups. For the cost of a few high-tech fighter jets, you could fund a huge amount of theater, and it would help us turn out better, more thoughtful human beings.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  I've always been a fan of those twin towers of menace, Edward Albee and Harold Pinter. I've always thought of them as late absurdist brothers from another mother, and both of them influenced how I think about dialogue, and particularly the silence between it. And of course, both of them wrote plays that could be disturbing and unsettling, and disturbing and unsettling us is one of the theater's most important jobs. I also love the work of Suzan Zeder, who creates pure magic for young people and for many years has helped mentor playwrights and pass along her knowledge.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  I love theater that has some kind of magical, expressionist or heightened elements about it—I like to see something that shows me I'm in a theater. That could be an Angels in America or Marisol or Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or Doubt or Mother Hicks. Or it could be a show with awesome poetry in its language (which some of those do too), or a play like Ruined, which is beautiful and shows us something we need to see that isn't part of our everyday.

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

A:  1. Plays are written to be produced. So read and see as much theater as you can, so that you can understand the relationship between what you put on the page and where it needs to go after that. And the more you see, the more ideas you get for what may be possible, and the more styles you're exposed to.

2. Remember that they're not doing you a favor by producing your play. Yes, we all want our work produced, but chances are they're not paying you enough to compromise your integrity. Get acquainted with the Dramatists Guild Bill of Rights, and don't give those up.

3. You learn by hearing your work read, and even more by seeing it on its feet in front of an audience. Whenever possible, sit behind the audience so that you can watch both the show and them watching the show.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  I'm lucky that I typically have a goodly number of productions upcoming at schools and youth theaters. While 4 A.M. is my most produced play at this point—check out its new companion, The Magic Hour (A Play), of which I'm quite proud—I've been particularly pleased that the one-act version of Rumors of Polar Bearss seems to have hit people's radar of late, with a half-dozen productions scheduled from December 2016-March 2017. I hope that those looking for longer plays will look at its full-length version, as I think it's some of my strongest writing. You can visit my website at http://jonathandorf.com to learn more, as I wide range of plays, from wild comedies to more thoughtful, serious pieces.


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Jan 13, 2017

I Interview Playwrights Part 905: Seamus Sullivan



Seamus Sullivan

Hometown: Glenside, PA.

Current Town: Jersey City, NJ, by way of DC and LA.

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  This month, I'm getting together with my friend Jason Schlafstein to start collaborating on a mythological wrestling epic he's had brewing in his head for years. I'm a wrestling outsider, so I'm looking forward to an educational process. I've also been writing a lot of short fiction lately, stuff about suburban superheroes and Greek mythology and even some realistic fiction, which I don't normally do. It's been a fun opportunity to build new muscles.

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 elementary school I wrote and drew my own comics, and they were wildly derivative, but I kept them up for a year or two, doing one comic every month. And I wasn't a great artist or a great writer or anything by the time I finished doing all those comics, but I proved that I could stick to a schedule, and I probably knew on some level that if you can do that for long enough then you'll probably write something good eventually.

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

A:  Over the summer I interviewed some occasional theatergoers for a Theatre Development Fund project. The aim of the interviews was to get an understanding of why people did or didn't go to see plays. And one of the younger people we talked to, who didn't go to the theater often, said that she did go to sporting events all the time because she'd grown up going to sporting events, and it was a regular pastime in her hometown. And I thought about this, and my Dad did take me to plays at the Arden in Philadelphia when I was growing up, and I did theater in school, and that's probably why going to see plays is such a given for me now. So if I could change one thing, it would be for theater culture to be more widespread, more of a regular, community thing that you do with your family all the time, wherever you live. Easier said than done, I know. I think more arts education and lower ticket prices and shows that tap into the energy and fun of pop culture (quick shout-out to Jason's and my DC-area theater company Flying V here!) are all part of the solution. We'll probably never catch up to sports, but it should at least be easy for kids and adults who want to get into theater to get into theater.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  Theater that plays with genre, like Conor McPherson writing ghost stories for the stage or The Honeycomb Trilogy doing a giant sci-fi family saga grounded in old school dramatic structure.

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

A:  Write plays that make you happy, and work with people who make you happy. Not every play is going to work out exactly the way you want it to, creatively or professionally. So you should at least make sure you're having a good time and building relationships as you work.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  My next show with Flying V, Brother Mario, starts previews on February 23 in Bethesda, MD. It is a mashup of Chekhov and Super Mario Brothers. It will make you laugh and feel things, and may cause you to spend more time thinking about King Boo than is your wont.

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Jan 12, 2017

I Interview Playwrights Part 904: Vicki Vodrey




Vicki Vodrey

Hometown:  Kansas City, MO but I travel to NYC often.

Q: Tell me about Thank You Notes: Headed To Heaven W/ Flat Jimmy Fallon.

A: Thank You Notes: Headed To Heaven W/ Flat Jimmy Fallon is a dark comedy with a twist. We’re there for Angela’s funeral, who put a bullet in her head. She has requested in her will three things – that she is buried with her dog’s ashes, that her life-size cut out of Jimmy Fallon be put in the casket with her, and that her twin, Ethan, give her eulogy in the fashion of the Thank You Notes segment on The Tonight Show. After all, she was his biggest fan. Shortly after the service starts, Angela gets out of her casket, along with Flat Jimmy, to help tell her story. And towards the end, it takes an unexpected turn.

Q: What else are you working on now?

A: I just recently completed my dark comedy, The Exit Strategy Club, which is having a staged reading in February. I’m now leaving quirky comedy for a bit to write a drama, Sixteen Seconds.

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 remember, on the playground when I first started kindergarten, going around the bases in a game of kickball. Some kids were yelling, “Look! She runs funny! She doesn’t know how!” It didn’t strike me until much later that they were right – I wasn’t running, I was galloping. I was obsessed with animals (still am), especially horses, and I’d pretended so often to be one, that I only knew how to gallop. I used to gallop around my back yard, jumping over bushes. As an only child, I had a lively imagination. I think that helped form me, both as a person and as a writer. If I was ever treated as an outsider, or was every lonely, I had my trusty imagination.

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

A: I wish it was more accessible to people financially. I understand why it is so expensive, but people will opt for a more affordable movie ticket over a play or musical. Kudos to the theatres that have “pay what you can” nights. What a wonderful concept!

Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Oh gee, there are so many. Joseph Papp is a big one for me. I’d love to meet Tracy Letts, Theresa Rebeck and Neil Simon because I think they’ve influenced my writing.

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A: I’m excited by any theatre that gives good actors a chance to dig their teeth into a role. I started out as an actor, and so I love and appreciate great actors. Luckily, I’ve been fortunate to work with some very talented ones. When they perform something of mine, they make me forget that I’ve written it.

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

A: My advice to writers starting out would be first, to write something that excites them, that they’re passionate about. That makes the writing so much easier, at least for me. Then have a few trusted friends over to read it out loud, and get some solid feedback. If only one person has a problem with a certain scene or element, that doesn’t always mean the writer needs to change it. If they’re getting the same comment numerous times, it needs to be addressed. After rewrites and now having a script that they feel really good about, find a way to cheaply produce their own work a time or two. You learn so much from it! Some festivals are economically affordable. If you can get a reviewer or two to come, and give you a few quotes to use, it gives you something you can use, to market yourself with. And have patience – lot and lots of patience.

Q: Plugs, please:

A: My play The Exit Strategy Club will have a staged reading by Script2Stage2Screen in Palm Desert in February, and The Frowning Ladies of Shady Pines will be getting a series of readings by Actors' Choice in the Kansas City metropolitan area starting in April.

http://vickivodrey.com/

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Jan 11, 2017

I Interview Playwrights Part 903: Natalie Margolin



Natalie Margolin

Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

Current Town: New York, NY

Q: Tell me about Tutus:

A: Tutus is a play about a girl who poops in her tutu during her first ballet recital. It explores how we process experiences; reminding us how important it is to laugh when things feel tragic, and questioning what happens when there's no room for laughter anymore.

Q: What else are you working on now?:

A: I just finished a production of my first play, The Power of Punctuation, this summer at the Davenport theatre and now my focus is on Tutus and learning how to cook chicken.

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 second grade I was given an assignment to write a picture book. I was eight years old. My classmates wrote stories about their moms and dads, soccer, princesses, and pets. I, however wrote a picture book titled "The Real Fake Story of Bill Clinton." At the second grade presentation of these picture books another parent looked at my father and said, "well, she is different."

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

A: I would change the price of tickets! I want theatre to be accessible! I want to get young people in the seats!

Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?:

A: Bernadette Peters, Martin McDonagh, Steven Sondheim, Robert Askins, August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, my college professor and mentor Wendy Macleod and my high school teachers Ted Walch and Michelle Spears.

Q: What kind of theater excites you?:

A: A wide range of theatre excites me! I think overall what I react most to is honesty. I love theatre that feels rooted in truth. I love theatre that is funny and heartbreaking. Because life is funny and heartbreaking! I'm a strong believer that comedy and drama should not be mutually exclusive. I love walking out of the theatre still carrying the story I just saw with me, it can feel like such a precious gift.

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

A: What a kind question! My biggest piece of advice is to trust your instincts and the stories you want to tell. It's important to both be in tune with the world around you and to take the time to be alone, developing and finding your voice. Write 20 minutes every day! (I honestly don't do that but I really want to start doing that.)

Q: Plugs, please

A: I'm so thrilled to be working with the insightful director, Alyssa White, and an incredible cast on this reading! The cast includes Matt Walker, Sarah Sanders, Julia Greer, Sarah White, Peter Falls, Taylor Harlow, and Raffaello Perfetto. Please come to Theatrelab on Wednesday the 18th at 7pm or Sunday the 22nd at 2pm! http://www.blackcoffeeproductions.org/

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Jan 10, 2017

OPENS JAN 28 in NEW YORK CITY


Adam Szymkowicz’s play is a gender-bending, patriarchy-smashing, hilarious new take on the classic tale. Robin Hood is (and has always been) Maid Marian in disguise, and leads a motley group of Merry Men (few of whom are actually men) against the greedy Prince John. As the poor get poorer and the rich get richer, who will stand for the vulnerable if not Robin? What is the cost of revealing your true self in a time of troubles? Modern concerns and romantic entanglements clash on the battlefield and on the ramparts of Nottingham Castle. A play about selfishness and selflessness and love deferred and the fight. Always the fight. The fight must go on. Learn more here: http://www.fluxtheatre.org/marian/


Tickets now live

Jan 28- Feb 11

http://www.fluxtheatre.org/open-book-marian/


Do you wish to read the play?  If you're on NPX, you can read it here for free.

https://newplayexchange.org/plays/78056/marian-or-true-tale-robin-hood

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Jan 9, 2017

I Interview Playwrights Part 902: Patrick Flynn




Patrick Flynn

Hometown: Wilmington, Delaware

Current Town: Bethesda, Maryland. But I've also lived in Washington, DC, Alexandria, VA, Silver Spring, MD, Los Angeles, CA, and North Wales, PA.

Q:  What are you working on now?

A:  Right now I've got a commission with Flying V Theatre called Sheila & Moby. It had its first reading at the Flying V Awesome-a-Thon fundraiser in December and that went very well.

My play Anatomy of an Infidelity from 2016's Page-to-Stage Festival at the Kennedy Center was received very well as was my Capitol Fringe show Giant Box of Porn. The problem is, as always, breaking the cycle of: having a reading, the audience/actors loving it, and then nothing. Obviously, commissions don't usually suffer that fate but there's so much great theatre here in DC, I'm really struggling with what do with these scripts once we've had readings and/or workshops.

It occurred to me recently this is probably why so many people form their own theatre companies. But I have less than no interest in doing that. So: ONWARD!

Q:  Tell me about the Original Cast Podcast.

A:  I had two or three podcasts while I lived in L.A. but never found one I really liked. Once Erin Teachman had me on his DC theatre podcast Exit the Stage Door, I started to think about having a podcast of my own again.

The idea came simply because I was shocked to discover no one else was doing it. Original cast albums are this uniquely theatrical artifact and they have their own life independent of the shows they are attached to. My theory was that every theatre person had one cast album that really lit their world on fire when they were young. And it seems I was right.

The show debuted in March 2016 and has been growing very steadily since. It's had some good luck. Robbie Rozelle became a fan early on and tweets about the podcast a lot. And, just recently, I was fortunate enough to catch Daisy Eagan between performances of The Secret Garden at Shakespeare Theatre her in town which obviously got some downloads.

I did the first live episode at the Flying V Awesome-a-Thon and really am looking forward to doing more.

It's a lot of work because I edit the 2-hour interview down to 45-55(ish) minutes for release and add songs clips and such but I love doing it. It's a lot of fun.

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

A:  This is going to sound cheesy but it's 100% true.

When I was a kid, I did a lot of theatre at the Wilmington Drama League. Every summer they host the Jeff Walker One-Act Festival for young directors. Tech in those days was an all-day affair. Most people are in more than one show so we would just come and hang out all day.

My friend John Bromels told me I should watch the tech of a show he was in. As I sat in the house I saw this guy about my age running from the stage to the house and back again. I found he was not only acting in the play but directing and had written it as well. That was Keith Powell who would later go on to play Toofer in 30 Rock.

It had never occurred to me before that someone my age could write a play. I just didn't know you were allowed. I met Keith and we became friends and later collaborated on a lot of web content.
I wrote my first two one-acts that fall and just never stopped.

footnote - you can learn about Jeff on my blog here which could also be an answer to this question: http://www.unknownpenguin.com/2015/04/someone-elses-story-2/

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


A:  The cost. I'm sure there's a reason tickets are so expensive but it is inaccessible to so many because of the cost. It really pisses me off that seeing live theatre is not something you can just do on a whim. I don't know what the answer to the problem is but if I had a magical theatre wand, that is how I would wield it.

Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A:  Bob Fosse is my theatrical idol in a lot of ways. I find him fascinating, brilliant, and frustrating.
David Ives, Yasmina Reza, and Stephen Sondheim are probably my three biggest heroes from a writing standpoint. More than anything I admire their efficiency of language. They create and present clean, clear, & crisp characters using as few words as possible.

Ives's All in the Timing is a book every theatre kid my age had and it has really stuck with me.
Reza's Art is a play I'm constantly chasing.
And Sondheim is Sondheim.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  That's a really hard question to answer. I guess the answer is: anything alive. Anything that people are doing for the love of it. Anything where the energy from the stage is infectious. Anything where everyone left it all on the boards. That's what excites me.

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

A:  Don't be precious with your gift. The more you write, the better you get. So don't be afraid to throw away pages and pages of a script to make it better. And listen to everyone's notes. You want the best idea in the room, no matter who suggested it.

And cut Scene 1.

Q:  Plugs, please:

A:  I'm doing Play-in-a-Day here in Bethesda on February 18, writing and directing a 10-minute play in 24-hours representing team Adventure Theatre MTC. http://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/play-day
I'll have something at Page-to-Stage at the Kennedy Center but I can't really announce that yet (possibly because I haven't written it yet).

And listen to The Original Cast on iTunes. I'm really proud of it and I think all music theatre fans will love it. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-original-cast/id1093807015?mt=2

And you find all about me at http://www.unknownpenguin.com/about, on twitter at https://twitter.com/unknownpenguin, and at the New Play Network at https://newplayexchange.org/users/1099/patrick-flynn.

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