Adam Szymkowicz

Oct 21, 2019

I Interview Playwrights Part 1064: Pat Kinevane

Pat Kinevane

Hometown:

A Beautiful seaside town of Cobh in County Cork... the last port of the Titanic and sits on the 2nd biggest natural harbour in the World!

Current Town:
Dublin… a city that feels like a town — I have lived here 30 years.

Q: Tell me about Before.

A: Before is a piece about love... and what happens if we block it from each other. It is full of salutes to the Golden age of Hollywood Musicals and the soundtrack is recorded by our National Concert Orchestra. And it sounds Amazing because of their stunning work.

Q: What else are you working on now?

A: I am working on a number of projects including pruning my garden and painting my kitchen!!

Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?

A: I would ban theatre Elites!! I believe theatre is for everyone, not just the Culture Vultures who claim it exclusively for themselves. I am a working class boy and always will be and proud to have broken the mould in this notoriously snobbish Art form.

Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A: Irish Actors Niall Buggy, Joan O Hara and Des Cave.

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A: Anything that is new and challenging. I am done with posh plays about posh white people written by posh white men!

Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?

A: Be afraid of nothing and don't judge yourself.

Q: Plugs, please:

A: The American premiere of Before at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles, Nov. 14 – Dec. 8. www.OdysseyTheatre.com.

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Oct 9, 2019

I Interview Playwrights Part 1063: River Timms

River Timms

Hometown: Huntsville, AL is where I was born, but I spent most of my childhood in Tanner, AL

Current Town: Nashville, TN

Q: Tell me about Tall Tales.

A: I had just graduated from college and was on my way to my parents' house for my brother's wedding in September 2018, and I was struck with a question that seemed to come out of nowhere: what if I was actually moving back home right now? Growing up in relatively small towns, I always had the dream of moving away, and it seemed like I had accomplished that, but just a short string of bad luck could force me back home at any moment it seems. The thought of moving back home terrified me. Nashville is a progressive(-ish) city, one that I don't totally feel unsafe in as a queer person, but my hometown is... not that. I never thought I would write a "homophobia play," but the story just lept out of me. I began work on 'Tall Tales' on the day of my brother's wedding, and a first draft was finished in about two months.

'Tall Tales' is a horror play about being isolated and othered in the Christ-haunted Deep South, primarily for being gay. It's a play involving Christianity and ex-gays and folk witchcraft and lots of blood. It discusses the idea of queer bodies being seen as political before human, but it's also a play about healing from the deep scars that discrimination and religion can cause, the friends that keep us LGBTQ folk above water when it seems like the world is against us. Living as a queer person in the south is frightening a LOT of the time, but having the right people around makes life better.

Q: What else are you working on now?

A: I'm the Literary Manager of Woven Theatre in Nashville, so I'm still overseeing our season. 'Tall Tales' is our final announced show, and in November, we'll be presenting a reading of 'Torera' by Monet Hurst-Mendoza (which I HIGHLY recommend! It's a wonderful play). Now that TT has opened, I'm moving on to work for my next play "Until the Waves Come," a play about the value of art after an apocalyptic event.

Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?

A: I wish theater would take more chances on weird stuff and new plays. 'Slave Play' by Jeremy O'Harris being on Broadway gives me hope though. There's just a lot of really wonderful theatre out there that's unconventional that deserves to be seen, but I frequently see theater companies choose "safe" classic plays for their seasons instead of bold new plays.

Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A: Sarah Ruhl made me want to be a playwright; after reading "A Clean House," I never looked back. Also, Tony Kushner's brand of fantasy (especially when utilized in plays that deal with gay trauma like in "Angels In America") constantly inspires me to push the fantasy in my work further.

Also, I am indebted to my dramaturg Todd Brian Backus! He really helped turn 'Tall Tales' into something special, and I'll be going to him again for his services.

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A: Oh, gosh, I love magical realism and fantasy-inspired theater. I love seeing a play that provides me with a brand new experience. I also get really excited about any plays that involve LGBTQ characters and storylines.

Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?

A: YOU ARE GOING TO WRITE BAD STUFF SOMETIMES. I scared myself to death trying to hold myself to this standard of everything I write having to be revolutionary. When I heard my first bad play read out loud (in front of people!), it devastated me. It'll probably devastate you too. Let it. Own it! Then, continue forward. That's the nature of this work. There's a lot of failure involved, but experimenting and trying stuff out is honorable, even if it doesn't work out. Also, KEEP your "bad" stuff. There's always something good in there that you can cannibalize for another, better play.

Q: Plugs please:

A: My twitter is @RiverTimms, and Woven's is @Woven_Theatre. We've also got an indiegogo campaign running to help fund the season: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-season-of-new-plays#/. Tickets for "Tall Tales" can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tall-tales-by-ad-timms-tickets-70931697617

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Oct 3, 2019

I Interview Playwrights Part 1062: Richard Curtis

Richard Curtis

Hometown: Born in Bronx, NY, grew up in Queens, NY and subsequently Hewlett, Long Island, NY. In short, I'm a New Yorker from head to toes.

Current Town: Manhattan

Q: Tell me about Quiet Enjoyment?

A: A bizarre incident in the closing of our purchase of a co-op inspired the idea for a comedy about a closing that goes as wrong as a deal can go. I sat on the idea for years till I knew my characters, then let 'er rip!

Q: What else are you working on now?

A: Short and full-length comedies, satires, and farces.

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 five I made up a song about "The Lady Next Door". My mother declared me a story-telling genius, and I never argued with my mother. I have had more than fifty works of fiction and nonfiction published, and many one-act and ten-minute plays produced.

Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?

A: I would quadruple actor pay scales.

Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A: Neil Simon, Feydeau, Paddy Chayevsky, and Dick Van Dyke reruns.

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A: I hold my breath from the opening line to the last one.

Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?

A: Work in the theater, make connections with peers who are on their way up. One day they will be in a position to help you get your work performed.

Q: Plugs, please:

A: Do you mean plug my own work? Say "I've written a comedy about a co-op closing" and people start laughing. They all have a story. But they don't have one as funny as Quiet Enjoyment. A plug for my director Marcus Gualberto? I see funny in the two-dimensions of a manuscript. He sees funny in the three dimensions of a theater, and he makes it even funnier than I ever imagined.

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Oct 2, 2019

Audrey Cefaly's playwriting vocabulary

Audrey wrote a cool list about playwriting terms:

"Fellow playwrights, these are my words for playwright-erly things. Many of them are maybe a little unorthodox, words not typically used in this fashion, but ones that work for me. The idea is to sort of look beyond what's taught in textbooks and give names to techniques that are often undocumented, overlooked and undervalued. In any event, they work for me, maybe they'll work for you too. In no particular order..."

LAVA LAMPING

that thing where you devise a little something interesting to bubble up into a scene every now and then, and maybe it's never fully explained but delightful nonetheless because not everything needs an explanation; it can just be lava or whatever you want it to be

CLOCKING

it's that moment (a skipped heartbeat kind of moment) when a character notices, with undeniable clarity, something of great significance; a solid radar strike...

LINE TOSS

that line you write for a character to be delivered breezily as they pass through the scene and to them it means nothing but to the other character it is total devastation

YELP

a cry of pain; a very quick sharp burst of a line uttered by a character in response to agonizing emotional pain or torment

GOLD

that thing or moment in a script that is so perfect, so right, so genuinely spot-on that, in its absence, the world would stop spinning

VIEW THE FULL LIST: https://www.audreycefaly.com/audrey-cefaly-playwright-vocabulary

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Sep 27, 2019

Plays Of Mine

PRODUCTIONS

Clown Bar 2
Production #1 of CB2

Majestic Rep

Las Vegas, NV

Opens May 20, 2020

Marian or The True Tale of Robin Hood

Production #21 of Marian

Spirit Gum Theatre Company

Winston Salem, NC

Opens October 11, 2019.

Production #22 of Marian
Blue Ridge Community College
Flat Rock, NC
Opens November 13, 2019.

Production #23 of Marian

The Breck School

Golden Valley, MN

Opens March 5, 2020

Production #24 of Marian
Cambridge Street Upper School
Cambridge, MA
Opens March 19, 2020

Production #25 of Marian
Michigan State Univeristy
East Lansing, MI
Opens April 10, 2020

Clown Bar

Production #37 of Clown Bar
Theatre Downtown
Birmingham, AL
Opens September 19, 2019.

Production #38 of Clown Bar
Elon University
Elon, NC
Opens October 3, 2019.

Production #39 of Clown Bar

University of Wisconsin,

Stevens Point, WI.

Opens November 8, 2019.

Production #40 of Clown Bar
Fresno State University
Fresno, CA.
Opens November 15, 2019.

Hearts Like Fists

Production #43 of HLF

Cyrano's Theatre Company

Anchorage, AK

Opens Sept 19, 2019.

Production #44 of HLF
Lee High School
Springfield, VA
Opens November 11, 2019.

Production #45 of HLF

Christopher Newport University

Newport News, VA.

Opens November 15, 2019.

Production #46 of HLF
Texas A and M University
Corpus, Christi, TX
Opens December 5, 2019.

Production #47 of HLF
Restless Artists Theater
Sparks, NV
Opens December 6, 2019

Kodachrome

Production #11 of Kodachrome
Orange High School
Hillsborough, NC.
Opens November 1, 2019.

Production #12 of Kodachrome
Monett High School
Monett, MO
Opens November 11, 2019

Production #13 of Kodachrome
Berkley High School
Berkley, MI
Opens November 15, 2019.

Production #14 of Kodachrome
Fair Lawn High School
Fair Lawn, NJ
Opens November 19, 2019.

Production #15 of Kodachrome
Labette County High School
Altamont, KS
Opens April 16, 2020.

Pretty Theft

Production #15 of Pretty Theft
Mohawk Valley Community College
Utica, NY
Opens October 24, 2019.

The Adventures of Super Margaret

Production #9 of Super Margaret
Driscoll Middle School
San Antonio, TX
Opens November 20, 2019.

Production #10 of Super Margaret
Clarksville Middle School
Clarksville, IN
Opens December 20, 2019.

Rare Birds
Production #8 of Rare Birds
Mesquite High School
Mesquite, TX.
Opens November 14, 2019.

7 Ways To Say I Love You

a night of short plays

Production #34 of 7 Ways
Gladwin Area Friends of the Theater
Gladwin, MI
Opens October 10, 2019.

Production #35 of 7 Ways
Fountain Central Jr-Sr High
Veedersburg, IN
Opens November 22, 2019

Production #36 of 7 Ways
Mercer University
Macon, GA
Opens February 13, 2020.

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I Interview Playwrights Part 1061: Ron West

Ron West

Hometown: Middlefield, Ohio

Current Town: Santa Monica, CA.

Q: Tell me about Neil Simon's Musical Fools.

A: A number of years ago, my songwriting partner's wife directed Fools at the high school where she teaches. Phil wrote on his program, "Better as a musical," and let that incubate for a few years before he told me about it. As luck would have it, we ended up having the same attorney as Neil Simon and we got permission to adapt the play. Mr. Simon did most of the heavy lifting because we adhered to the script closely. I regret to say we never spoke to or heard from him. When Phil's wife Amanda was working at another high school, she produced Neil Simon's Musical Fools and Mrs. Simon (AKA Elaine Joyce) came to see it and gave it the stamp of approval, essentially.

Q: What else are you working on now?

A: A musical adaptation of Richard III in yet another collaboration with composer Phil Swann.

Q: If you could change one thing about theater, what would it be?

A: I would throw more paying work my way.

Q: Who are or were your theatrical heroes?

A: My theatrical heroes are my band and choir conductors who taught me about managing big groups of people. Also, my parents, who didn't tell me, "This is insane; don't do this," even though it was insane and I shouldn't have done it.

Q: What kind of theater excites you?

A: The one where I show up expecting nothing and go away thinking, "I've got to steal as much of that as possible."

Q: What advice do you have for playwrights just starting out?

A: Don't type a lot of stuff in parentheses that tells the actors how to say the lines.

Q: Plugs, please:

A: You mean like, "See Neil Simon's Musical Fools, the funniest thing on 30 legs."

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Adam Szymkowicz

Featured Post

1100 Playwright Interviews

Oct 21, 2019

I Interview Playwrights Part 1064: Pat Kinevane

Oct 9, 2019

I Interview Playwrights Part 1063: River Timms

Oct 3, 2019

I Interview Playwrights Part 1062: Richard Curtis

Oct 2, 2019

Audrey Cefaly's playwriting vocabulary

Sep 27, 2019

Plays Of Mine

I Interview Playwrights Part 1061: Ron West

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