Bryan Stubbles
Current Town: Montgomery, West Virginia
Q: What are you working on now?
A: A one act comedy about West Virginians in LA going through “slaw dog withdrawal.” West Virginians put a form of cole slaw and chili on their hot dogs and call it a slaw dog. It’s delicious but not very common in LA, obviously.
I want to thank Beach Vickers and Tory Casey of the Montgomery Shakespeare Company for inviting me out here for a residency.
And I have to post twice per week on my blog, Unknown Playwrights.
Q: Tell me about Unknown Playwrights.
A: The blog features playwrights not named “Shakespeare.” We try to profile both living and dead playwrights whose work may not be so well-known. Usually I’ll do an analysis of a couple plays and a biographical sketch. For living playwrights, we have an interview much like your blog. I’m big on translation and need to include more of them in the blog. I’ve translated Spanish, Portuguese and Korean-language playwrights and hopefully soon will profile an Indonesian playwright, among others.
Also, every Monday we have “Monologue Monday” where I find videos online of people performing a different monologue. People can see different takes on the piece of writing. In fact we have two of yours up. Sometimes the videos can number into the dozens.
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’m not sure if high school counts as childhood, but this explains a lot: When I was in my first high school play back in Utah, they’d always have their Mormon-style prayer before performances. Not being Mormon and also believing in separation of church and state, I never took part.
After the production, one of the other cast members asked me why I wasn’t at the cast party.
“What party?” I asked.
They’d had a cast party and didn’t even invite me.
A couple of years ago I tried to objectively determine what themes are hardwired into my plays and I noticed that the protagonist is often an outsider and I’m certain that goes back to my formative years in Utah where kids would tell me my family worshipped Satan (we didn’t - maybe we should have?), among other things. People can be very, very, very cruel (also reflected in my plays).
Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?
A: American theater needs to take more risks, be more inclusive, make itself accessible and not be so self-important. Wait, that’s four things. Sorry. American theater should not be the self-satisfied sedate behemoth it currently is, but should instead be a wonderful, hungry, innovative and dynamic monster.
Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?
A: Angelina Weld Grimké. Kwee Tek Hoay. Matthew Weaver. Alexa Derman. Catherine Weingarten. Ryan Bultrowicz. Yolanda Mendiveles. Georgia Bowen Buchert. Lope de Vega. Dhianita Kusuma Pertiwi.
Q: What kind of theater excites you?
A: Horror plays. The world needs way more horror plays. It’s a genre that should inherently fit theatre (as it did with Grand Guignol) but there barely seems to be any horror plays around.
Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?
A: Not just write every day, but also submit every day or at least on a regular basis. Empathize with and be kind to your fellow playwrights. We’re all in the same boat.
Q: Plugs, please:
A: Blog: Unknown Playwrights
Production: I Was a Teenage Fireworks Smuggler will run in Jackson, WY from June 5-8.
Translation publication: Night Market for Brojo by Dhianita Kusuma Pertiwi
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