Harron Atkins
Hometown: Detroit, MI
Current Town: Brooklyn, NY
Q: Tell me about your play in the EST Marathon.
A: Dominick is secretly in love with his best friend. But is the feeling mutual? Fed up with the pain of harboring this secret and plagued by his need to know the truth, Dominick decides it's time for some answers. Lucky for him, there's an app for that. ;) Tempo is a play about love and longing and friendship and lots of candy corn.
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 a kid, I would recruit my friends to have full out Pokémon battles during recess, ask to be excused from class for a bathroom break that would turn into a Harry Potter-esque exploration of our "ancient" school building to uncover it's magical secrets, and sit for hours on the phone with my best friend reviewing our plans to break into abandoned buildings in Detroit and banish the supernatural spirits inside...
I think I longed for escape and adventure. Longed to access the rainbow-colored truth beyond my black and white reality. As a theatre artist, I'm still searching for that deeper truth. I still believe that there is magic in the world and in humans. And I'm still out here recruiting folks to band together, get into creative spaces, and find ways to tap into it.
Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?
A: I'd make theatre more financially accessible.
Theatre should not be an elitist art. Houses should not be filled almost exclusively by upper-class white patrons.
Quality theatre should be available to everyone because theatre serves everyone.
Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?
A: Ntozake Shange, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Lynn Nottage, Dominique Morisseau, George C. Wolfe
Q: What kind of theater excites you?
A: I am passionate about new voices (especially those of marginalized people) being represented on stage.
I am excited by art that takes risks and challenges audiences to re-think what theatre can do and be.
I love seeing elements of fantasy, horror, and sci-fi explored on stage. I geek out.
Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?
A: Write. Write write write write write. Carve out time for yourself to sit down and just write. Make that time YOUR time and do not abandon it. You have to take yourself seriously and make writing a priority. Show up for yourself. If you can wake up for work at 5am to clock in as a cog in the machine of someone else's dream, then you can wake up at 5am to make your own dreams come true.
Q: Plugs, please:
A: On June 19th at 7pm, I have a public reading of a new play of mine in Youngblood's Bloodworks series at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Come on out! It's free!
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