Hometown: Concord, MA
Current Town: Brooklyn, NY
Q: Tell me about your play in the EST Marathon.
A: Tricycle Backflip is a short comedy about two sisters in an emergency room and the men who brought them there. It’s a relationship study with a few left turns, and it’s written for the team that’s doing it at EST: Molly Carden, Drew Lewis, Erin Roché, and director Matt Dickson. They are amazing.
Q: What else are you working on now?
A: A new draft of Polar Bear in a Fish Tank in a Mall in China, which is a murder mystery/sex farce about the contestants on a gay reality dating show. Rewrites on Mike Pence Sex Dream, which is a queer marriage play. It just had a great first production with First Floor Theater in Chicago and I’m incorporating some things I learned. Also a pilot and a very new play, but I can’t talk about them yet or they’ll die.
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 on the campus of boarding schools (I’m a prep school faculty kid) and when I was maybe five, the school where we lived did A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The drama teacher recruited three faculty kids to play fairies. I was the smallest fairy* and I had one line. When Bottom asked for my name, I was supposed to say: Mustardseed.
The night of the show, I walked onstage in my pastel tunic and butterfly wings and I don’t remember if I was scared or just stunned, but I froze. I don’t think I’d really understood that basically everyone I knew would be there. One of the kids who used to babysit me was sitting in the front row, and I waved at her. The entire audience did a big “Aww.” I completely forgot what I was supposed to be doing. When Bottom asked for my name, I told him: Daniel.
*(foreshadowing how I would grow up to be, at 6’6”, the biggest fairy)
Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?
A: I wish we’d stop pushing the idea that buying a ticket to a play is an act of civic virtue. That’s flattery. Audiences who buy that flattery expect it to continue once the play starts, which creates a whole bullshit marketplace that values theatre in terms of its ability to flatter its audience, and places the burden to flatter on artists who have better things to do. Theatre can only help you change if it’s free to defy your expectations. I like being pandered to as much as anyone, but what I want more than anything when I see a play is for someone to tell me the truth. Don’t give me plays that flatter me. Give me plays that trust me.
Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?
A: Right now, my friends and peers. It’s rough out here for playwrights starting out. It’s encouraging how much great stuff is getting traction, but a lot of beautiful work still goes underappreciated. That’s the work right now that matters most to me.
Q: What kind of theater excites you?
A: Anything with a heart, a brain, and guts.
Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?
A: Mostly passing on what others have told me, scattershot:
Take care of other artists. Think critically about your biases. Whenever you can, give the best part of your day to writing. When you can’t, write anyway. Know that the people who will champion you are usually people who’ve rejected your work at least once. Write for your friends and ancestors. Protect your right to fail. When you get notes, know that that people describing symptoms usually have something important to tell you, and people offering diagnoses usually don’t. Before the reviews come out, splurge on a beautiful pen and carry it in your pocket. Listen to criticism that comes from care. Write someone’s favorite play. Be gay; do crime. Do what you love.
Q: Plugs, please:
A: The Marathon of One-Act Plays at Ensemble Studio Theatre runs through June 29th!
Also, check out the kickstarter for 3Views.
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A: I wish we’d stop pushing the idea that buying a ticket to a play is an act of civic virtue. That’s flattery. Audiences who buy that flattery expect it to continue once the play starts, which creates a whole bullshit marketplace that values theatre in terms of its ability to flatter its audience, and places the burden to flatter on artists who have better things to do. Theatre can only help you change if it’s free to defy your expectations. I like being pandered to as much as anyone, but what I want more than anything when I see a play is for someone to tell me the truth. Don’t give me plays that flatter me. Give me plays that trust me.
Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?
A: Right now, my friends and peers. It’s rough out here for playwrights starting out. It’s encouraging how much great stuff is getting traction, but a lot of beautiful work still goes underappreciated. That’s the work right now that matters most to me.
Q: What kind of theater excites you?
A: Anything with a heart, a brain, and guts.
Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?
A: Mostly passing on what others have told me, scattershot:
Take care of other artists. Think critically about your biases. Whenever you can, give the best part of your day to writing. When you can’t, write anyway. Know that the people who will champion you are usually people who’ve rejected your work at least once. Write for your friends and ancestors. Protect your right to fail. When you get notes, know that that people describing symptoms usually have something important to tell you, and people offering diagnoses usually don’t. Before the reviews come out, splurge on a beautiful pen and carry it in your pocket. Listen to criticism that comes from care. Write someone’s favorite play. Be gay; do crime. Do what you love.
Q: Plugs, please:
A: The Marathon of One-Act Plays at Ensemble Studio Theatre runs through June 29th!
Also, check out the kickstarter for 3Views.
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Support The Blog
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