Mathilde Dratwa
Hometown: Brussels, Belgium
Current Town: Brooklyn, NY
Q: Tell me about Dirty Laundry.
A: I found out the day my mom died that my dad had been having an affair for six years. So I wrote about it.
Q: What else are you working on now?
A: I'm adapting a New Yorker short story into a feature film with my writing partner, Gillian Robespierre. I'm also working on a couple projects about marriage. And also a play about my maternal grandmother, a Jewish woman who went into hiding in a convent during WWII. She was dressed as a nun. Unfortunately, she was pregnant, and started showing. But really that piece is about schizophrenia, and the strange and uneasy interplay between faith and mental illness.
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'd draw random treasure maps — completely made up — and then try to follow them in the woods. My mom would drop random objects at the base of trees for me to find when I got to the "X". I thought I was magical. I think a lot about that — the ability to dream up something real. Really this is a story about my mother, and about love.
Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?
A: I'd like to see a way for time-sensitive plays — plays that address the current moment — to be produced. Something quick and maybe unpolished but responsive. I hate how long it takes for shows to come through the existing pipelines. It means plays that have an in-built shelf-life are often, unfortunately, DOA.
Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?
A: Actors are my heroes. The best ones are selfless, and transformative. What they do is a gift.
Q: What kind of theater excites you?
A: I like stuff that's visceral, raw, and theatrical. Plays that can only be plays (as opposed to, say, TV shows).
Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?
A: Don't be precious. Write a play, then write another one. Then another. Nothing will happen until you have at least three of them.
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