Jan 25, 2013

I Interview Playwrights Part 548: Matt Pelfrey


Matt Pelfrey

Hometown:
 Los Osos, California.

Current Town:  Pasadena, California.


Q:  Tell me about The Pilo Family Circus now playing at the New Ohio. How did you come to adapt it and what was the process like?

A:  I read the Pilo Family Circus novel and immediately thought of Joe and Godlight. The novel was such an imaginative blast and everything I like in stories: scary, funny, and full of unexpected twists and turns. While the novel has some big moments that had to be re-imagined to work as a play, we've kept the heart and soul of the book intact.

Q:  What else are you working on?

A:  Next up with Joe and Godlight is an adaption of DELIVERANCE.

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 young, I was at my grandmother's house which was on a big plot of land. My dad wanted me to go up the hill to the front gate and get the newspaper. I told him I didn't want to because I was afraid of snakes. He yelled at me and made me go anyway. At the top of the hill, coiled up, was a rattle snake. I ran back down the hill screaming about what I'd just seen. Nobody believed me. I finally made a big enough deal that my dad, pissed, stormed up the hill. Thank god the rattle snake was still there. Weird shit happens.



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

A:  More funding for small theaters that do visceral work.



Q:  Who are or were your theatrical heroes?


A:  Besides Jose Rivera? Eric Bogosian.

Q:  What kind of theater excites you?

A:  The kind that makes me think: "there's no way they'll go there." Then they do.



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

A:  Write five rough pages every day, and read as much as you can. The rest will work itself out one way or the other.

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