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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