photo by Nina Goodheart
Sophie McIntosh
Hometown: Sun Prairie, Wisconsin!
Current Town: Brooklyn.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m juggling revisions of two different projects. First is a screenplay currently titled Provocator, which follows a group of Sabine Women in a sort of dystopian, “RETVRN”-esque recreation of Ancient Rome as they fight to escape their oppressors. The other is a play called Chicane, which follows a pair of Formula 1 drivers who hatch a murderous scheme against the current championship leader to claw their own way onto the podium.
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 was extremely obsessed with creating these extremely intricate war games with plastic animals. My favorites were those Schleich animal figures—you know, the super realistic ones they have on the big racks at Michaels craft stores. But I also had other random ones, like an Aslan lion from some Chronicles of Narnia playset and some rubber snakes from Halloween. I’d divide them into different factions—for example, the lions were the leaders of the Mammals (aside from the Canines, who refused to be ruled by Felines had their own enclave in the tall grass by the wooden fence), while a schism between the Snakes and Alligators had fractured the Reptiles into warring camps. It was all very intense, with dynasties rising and falling and alliances being forged and shattered. I loved to kill characters off, only to promptly replace them with an identical-looking distant cousin or vengeful offspring (since I didn’t have enough animals to sustain my own narrative’s fatality rate). Sometimes real-life circumstances would intrude on my fantasy world, such as when my dad mulched Aslan with the lawnmower and I quickly had to explain this away as a successful assassination attempt by the snakes with the motive of sparking an untimely succession crisis. I still keep a handful of these plastic veterans on my writing desk as a reminder.
Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?
A: The basic answer is that I wish that the theater was provided with more resources in this country, because I believe that’s the root cause of so many of its problems regarding lack of accessibility, failure to implement sustainability (in both the “go green” and “prevent artist burnout” senses), and the prioritization of profit over artistic merit. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of faith that our current government is going to be federally funding the arts anytime soon. So, to shift to something a bit smaller and more specific: a really great and much-needed change would be an update to the AEA Showcase Code, or the introduction of an Equity production contract that falls somewhere between Showcase Code and the Mini Contract. I am firmly pro-union, and love to work with Equity Actors—but the existing agreements haven’t been updated since 2018, and it’s incredibly difficult to successfully make theater with AEA actors at the indie level in the post-Covid financial landscape.
Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?
A: Sarah Kane and Annie Baker, first and foremost. The earliest plays I very intentionally set out to read were by Miller and Williams, who instilled in me an early fixation upon structure. Also, Sarah Delappe, Kimberly Belflower, Lily Padilla, Alexis Scheer, Gracie Gardner, Kaite O’Reilly, Martin McDonagh and Adrienne Kennedy. I’m a big Ibsen gal, too. I feel really lucky to count Martyna Majok, David Henry Hwang, Lynn Nottage, Leslie Ayvazian, and Chuck Mee among my mentors.
Q: What kind of theater excites you?
A: As I mentioned, I’m a slut for structure. My favorite thing to experience in a theater is that moment when all the pieces come together, and something that was presented to us innocuously earlier is recontextualized by a new event or new information that spins the play on its axis (without knocking it fully out of its orbit—the integrity of the world must be maintained!) and sends it off in a new direction. New forms interest me too, but I’m very much hardwired to prefer the Classic Freytag Experience. Spatially, I covet intimacy and proximity—one of my favorite aspects of live theater is the way it allows you to watch a single person’s expression shift subtly from moment to moment without being forced to cut away, and I like to be close enough to witness it fully. (I’m also quite nearsighted, so.) Thematically, I’m fascinated by redemption and its limits. I love moments of realization, and watching them ripple out from character to audience. I adore a painful betrayal, a tragic downfall, and the violent desperation that arises from humiliation. I’m equally compelled by a character whose morality erodes right before our eyes as I am a character who is destroyed by her own rigid adherence to her principles. Above all, I’m excited by works that challenge us to empathize with someone who we might otherwise be repulsed by.
Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?
A: If you are still in school, make sure you are making the most of those resources—specifically, access to space and collaborators! When you graduate, you’ll have to pay for both (or at least buy people pizza when you host them in your living room), so take advantage of having enthusiastic classmates and empty classrooms/rehearsal rooms at your disposal. More generally, my biggest advice is to establish a writing practice for yourself. Make it a part of your routine, whether you’re writing for a certain amount of time each day (or each week) or trying to write a certain number of pages each day (or each week). Everyone has their own setup that works for them. I get my best results from writing for at least an hour every day, and then I have friends that like to let the work build up inside them for weeks and then pound out a new full-length play over the course of a weekend. I used to feel really insecure that I couldn’t do that, because it seemed sort of hardcore and glamorous, but I’m now very happy with the steady progress my own approach provides. Finally, familiarize yourself with the Dramatist’s Bill of Rights before you need to sign your first contract—it’s a lot harder for people to take advantage of you when you’re familiar with industry standards.
Q: Plugs, please:
A: My plays macbitches and cityscrape are available now at the Drama Book Shop or via Theatrical Rights Worldwide! I’m proud to be co-artistic director of Good Apples Collective, alongside my co-founder Nina Goodheart—you can find free resources for indie theatermakers on our website, and the best way to keep up with our work is to follow us over on Instagram at @goodapplescollective! Also, with Adam’s blessing (thank you, Adam!), I’m starting my own interview series called talks with theatermakers. Come check it out!
Support The Blog
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Mailing list to be invited to Adam's events |
| Email: |
