Jacqueline Lawton: How long have you lived and worked as a playwright in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
Thembi Duncan: I’ve lived and worked in this area all my life, so it was a foregone conclusion that once I began to transition from actor to playwright that I would remain. Once my daughter leaves for college in a few years, who knows? I can write from anywhere, so I may fly away and move near her dorm. But wait, there’s something quite special about the diverse populace and numerous cultural offerings in the DC area – I never get tired of this place! DC is the “Cheers” to my “Norm.” JL: Have you ever been a member of a DC area playwrights writing group? If so, did you find it useful? Would you recommend that other playwrights join them? TD: I’m a member of the DC-Area Playwrights Group, which is about to post its second season of the Beltway Drama Series at Busboys and Poets in Hyattsville. We don’t write together, but we’ve created another opportunity for local playwrights to see their work. I think that each playwright should give herself the time to develop a clear voice before joining any kind of group. Since theatre is such a collaborative art form, it helps to have a strong sense of one’s own place so that one knows when to bend and when to assert one’s ideas. JL: In DC, we have the Capital Fringe Festival, the Intersections Festival, the Source Theatre Festival, the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival, the Black Theater Festival, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. We also have the Mead Lab at Flashpoint Theater Lab Program. Have you participated in any of these? If so, can you speak about your experience? TD: I’ve performed in Champagne, a 15-minute piece that I wrote and directed for Monte Wolfe’s Brave Soul Collective, which was produced during the Black Theater Festival. I had reservations about performing in the work, because I really wanted to see it from the audience. After time, though, I came to appreciate the writer/actor/director experience all happening at once in my person. I consider myself a playwright who writes for actors. I write characters that I want actors to be excited about inhabiting. By being inside both those bodies at once, I was able to revise the acting and writing in tandem, which (I think) made the piece better. I’ve also had my short play Gridiron: Adventures from the Sidelines produced twice by Active Cultures for the Sportaculture Play Festival. The second time I saw it was with revisions and with a different cast and director, so it was quite helpful to see how the work played out with different bodies and a different vision. The dramaturgical input from Active Cultures was a big help in my subsequent revision – I heart dramaturgs!! JL: What kind of work do you do to pay the bills? How do you balance this work with your writing? TD: I work as the Lead Teaching Artist and Program Administrator at Ford’s Theatre. This job gives me the occasional opportunity to write dramatic pieces for students, among many other thrilling responsibilities related to the shaping of young people’s minds. My work pleases me, so I don’t often feel that I’m neglecting my writing through my work. Sometimes I have great stretches of time when I could feasibly be writing, but I don’t. I choose to write when the muse hits me, and I refuse to feel guilty for not writing at any given time. [Full disclosure: the latter part of that statement was a recent development. Like last week.] And if I ever get prickly about my quietude, I think of Saul Bellow, who wrote, “...all the while you thought you were going around idle, terribly hard work was taking place... excavation and digging, mining, moling through tunnels...working, working, working, painting, hauling, hoisting. And none of this work is seen from the outside. It's internally done...” JL: How many plays have you had produced in the DC area? Were any of these plays self-produced? If so, where and what did you learn from that experience? TD: The above were the only plays I’ve had produced in the area, and neither of them are full-length, so now I’m ready to take that next step – I suppose when the muse hits again? I’ve had two very well-attended and helpful staged readings of Mon Chaton, a full-length piece set during the Harlem Renaissance, and soon I’ll be ready to do some serious workshopping. Time will tell. Self-production may be the only way this piece gets seen in the area, and I am SUPER okay with that. Teaser: another piece that I’m working on will be mentioned at the end of this interview. JL: If you could be produced at any theatre in DC, which would it be and why? TD: Perhaps the fact that I haven’t given that much thought is directly connected to the fact that I haven’t been produced at any of the major theatres in DC. I honestly don’t know if there’s a theatre whose vision fits my voice – or vice versa, I suppose, since I’m the one who needs the exposure. I would want my work produced at a DC theatre that has a reputation of treating its actors and production staff well. JL: DC audiences are ... TD: ... Underutilized and undercultivated. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are ... TD: ... Courageous, clique-y, passionate. JL: DC critics are ... TD: ... Knowledgeable about theatre history and stagecraft, and I often feel a little more educated after reading the reviews of some of the more experienced and exposed critics, but let’s face it - they have their favorites. Favorite actors, favorite theatres, favorite playwrights. They try to mask it, but it seeps through. Ah, but I love to read reviews, whatever the temperature, if only to get yet another perspective on the work. It takes all kinds! JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity ? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to get your work produced on the main stages? TD: This community generally has its heart in the right place, but action speaks louder than words. Awareness of race and gender disparities are ever-present in my African-American, female person, so I’m often super-sensitive to what is missing vs. what is being shown to me. I would give main stages in this area a C+ grade for producing work by a variety of genders and ethnicities, mainly because I don’t consider reusing the same “ethnic” playwright season after season very diverse. Now, many of the smaller companies are doing original and lesser-known work driven by the vision of their members (rightfully so), who are often not very diverse ethnically. It’s not something I take personally, nor do I necessarily think it should change. I think there’s room for all of us. Everyone has a right to tell her/his own story, and I don’t want to depend on anyone else to allow me to tell mine. I just have to shove the obstacles aside and find a way to be heard. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based playwright or a playwright who has just moved to D.C.? TD: Go to as many shows in as many different area theatres as you can in order to get a true sense of what’s being produced here. See what local audiences get excited about, and determine if your work might serve an established audience. No? Then build the audience from scratch. However long that takes. It’s not a race. Ok, that last statement was more to myself. JL: What's next for you as a playwright? Where can we keep up with your work? TD: Right now I’m working on a cross-gender musical satire of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, written for the magnificent James Foster Jr. and the phenomenal Michael Sainte-Andress. That will see some staged readings within the next couple of months and will likely be produced within the next year or so, but not necessarily on local stages. I’m on Facebook and Twitter, and one of these days, I just might re-launch my website! Anything’s possible in Duncania (otherwise known as my spotless mind)...
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Jacqueline Lawton: How long have you lived and worked as a playwright in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
Renee Calarco: I moved to DC in the mid-80s right after graduating from college with a degree in English and absolutely no job prospects. Amazingly, I found a job within a week, doing editorial assistant work for a teeny-tiny trade publication. I’d always been a writer and had done a little bit of theater…and I ended up falling in love with comedy improv after I moved here. I began learning, performing, and teaching improv and eventually realized that improv was essentially a kind of spontaneous playwriting. So in the late ‘90s I started writing ten-minute plays, then eventually full-lengths. The theater scene here just absolutely exploded (as did the improv scene). I loved it all so much that I had to stay! JL: Have you ever been a member of a DC area playwrights writing group? If so, did you find it useful? Would you recommend that other playwrights join them? RC: Up until recently, not really. I’m a very very bad (and lapsed) member of an online writing group. But I’ll be joining a group later on this fall, and am really looking forward to it. I need the friendly pressure and camaradarie of other playwrights! JL: In DC, we have the Capital Fringe Festival, the Intersections Festival, the Source Theatre Festival, the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival, the Black Theater Festival, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. We also have the Mead Lab at Flashpoint Theater Lab Program. Have you participated in any of these? If so, can you speak about your experience? RC: I’ve had plays in (and have performed in) the Source Festival. It’s where I began to understand playwriting: how plays work, how they don’t work, and why it’s so important to write for an audience and not yourself. I’ve had plays (and performed in) Page-to-Stage, too. There’s no substitute for having a reading in front of an audience because you learn very quickly what the next revision will look like. JL: What kind of work do you do to pay the bills? How do you balance this work with your writing? RC: I’ve got a handful of part-time jobs. I teach improv and playwriting at the Theatre Lab; I teach playwriting at George Washington University; I do freelance writing; and I’m a licensed DC tour guide. It’s tough to balance sometimes, but it’s all working out (knock wood). For years and years, I did the 9-to-5 thing, which meant that I wrote primarily on the weekends and in the early mornings. Now that I’m essentially a full-time freelancer, I’m still figuring out my writing schedule. JL: How many plays have you had produced in the DC area? Were any of these plays self-produced? If so, where and what did you learn from that experience? RC: I’ve had two full-length productions: SHORT ORDER STORIES at Charter Theater and THE RELIGION THING at Theater J. I had a commissioned production of IF YOU GIVE A CAT A CUPCAKE at Adventure Theater. I’ve had a one-act and a handful of 10-minute productions at the Source Festival. JL: If you could be produced at any theatre in DC, which would it be and why? RC: Theater J—which has produced me! I love that it’s a writer’s theater with a fierce, contemporary (and political) point of view. I love the community outreach and programming. I love that Theater J produces women playwrights consistently. And shoot, I don’t think there’s a DC-based playwright out there who wouldn’t want to be produced at Arena Stage or Woolly Mammoth or Round House or Theater J or any other DC theater. JL: DC audiences are ... RC: Smart, opinionated, and incredibly supportive. And not shy about letting you know why your play works (or doesn’t). Passionate. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. RC: Serious geniuses at what they do. Also: inventive, collegial, generous…. JL: DC critics are ... RC: Not just for breakfast anymore? It’s great that there are now so many more critical voices being heard. There’s such a huge variety of voices. I think social media has changed the way audiences learn about shows, artists, and theaters in general, too. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity ? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to get your work produced on the main stages? RC: We’re getting there, but slowly. It’s fantastic that we have Intersections and Fringe and the Black Theater Festival and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival—there’s clearly a demand for more diverse work and more experimental work. But DC has too many artists who aren’t being seen or heard. Which is why it’s great that Theater J has made a big commitment to DC-based writers, women playwrights, and playwrights of color. As have: Theater Alliance, The Hub Theatre, Pinky Swear, Forum… JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based playwright or a playwright who has just moved to D.C.? RC: Go see a lot of plays. Join the DC Area Playwrights Facebook group. Take classes in acting, improv, and dance. Usher for shows. Basically: get out of the house! JL: What's next for you as a playwright? Where can we keep up with your work? RC: I’ve got a reading coming up at Page-to-Stage as part of the DC Playwrights Slam. Monday, Sept. 3 at 8pm in the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre. And I’m working on a new play about religion and swindling. And there are a couple of other things in the works that aren’t quite final yet, but once they are, I’ll have the information up on my website: www.reneecalarco.com Jacqueline Lawton: How long have you lived and worked as a playwright in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
Natsu Onoda Power: I moved to DC in 2006 for a Visiting Assistant Professor job at Georgetown. Prior to that, I lived in Chicago finishing my Ph.D. and running a very small theatre company called Live Action Cartoonists. I was heartbroken to leave Chicago, but now I LOVE my job... I've been blessed to have such incredible colleagues and students. My position became tenure-track in 2011 so now I am here for the long haul. JL: Have you ever been a member of a DC area playwrights writing group? If so, did you find it useful? Would you recommend that other playwrights join them? NOP: I haven't. I am curious. I'd love to learn more about such groups. JL: In DC, we have the Capital Fringe Festival, the Source Theatre Festival, the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival, the Black Theater Festival, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. We also have the Mead Lab at Flashpoint Theater Lab Program. Have you participated in any of these? If so, can you speak about your experience? NOP: I have done two projects with the Fringe, one as a writer/director and one as a designer. I love all the energy the Fringe brings to the city. I also participated in the Source Festival as one of the 10 minute play directors. This was a true challenge... primarily because of scheduling, but also because the play I was assigned to direct was very different from my usual style. When I think back, it was a really valuable experience in stretching myself... and everyone can (and should!) safely stretch themselves for a ten-minute project! The same goes for my Mead Lab experience. I participated as one of the ten-minute-play directors for Rorschach Theater's Klecksography project in 2010. I had a lot of fun with that. These projects connect you to people and communities that you wouldn't otherwise meet (especially if you are not a naturally social person). JL: What kind of work do you do to pay the bills? How do you balance this work with your writing? NOP: I love my job. I am one of the most fortunate people in the entire world. I teach theater and performance to young, brilliant people. Students give me so much inspiration. I do most of my research for plays through teaching. For example, I taught a course on Madness and Performance while I was working on a play called Madness and Civilization, partly an adaptation of Michel Foucault's book of the same title and partly about my brother-in-law who was in a group home for the mentally ill. Again, I have an amazing job. I get to share my research with students and really investigate the material through discussions and performance exercises. These are my best classes too — I just have so much passion and dedication in the classroom when my pedagogical, scholarly and creative interests align in such a direct, immediate way. JL: How many plays have you had produced in the DC area? Were any of these plays self-produced? If so, where and what did you learn from that experience? NOP: I have written and directed six plays at Georgetown, one for the Fringe, and one at the Studio 2ndStage. My Fringe show was self-produced... I did it on the third floor of my husband's restaurant (he is the owner/chef). It was such a garage-band operation, I was the writer-director-projections designer-costume designer-light board operator-box office. I bought my lights at IKEA and installed them myself on the ceiling. I built my tech booth out of milk crates. It was hilarious. Oh and I cracked my windshield transporting a set piece too. I am currently in the process of working on a show with Synetic. JL: If you could be produced at any theatre in DC, which would it be and why? NOP: Hmmm not sure. I think it's more about the team than the venue. JL: DC audiences are ... NOP: Not sure if I can make general statements about audiences anywhere. Audiences are just individuals, and that's why it's so hard to make theater that caters to everyone's taste. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. NOP: I have met some amazing people here. Actors, designers, directors, and also some really talented and dedicated technicians, people who would stay with me until 3am fixing a prop. JL: DC critics are ... NOP: I don't read enough reviews to make general statements about dc critics... But I will say that the critics I have met in person (for interviews, mostly) have all been so insightful, and FASCINATING as people. This was shocking (in a good way) and took some getting used to. My husband is a chef and i was more used to his relationship to food critics. He is not even supposed to know what they look like! JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity ? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to get your work produced on the main stages? NOP: Hmmmm!!! I have a lot to say about it and can't really contain it here. Can I get back to you on that? JL: Absolutely! Now, what advice do you have for an up and coming DC based playwright or a playwright who has just moved to D.C.? NOP: I wish I had good advice... but I don't. JL: What's next for you as a playwright? Where can we keep up with your work? NOP: I am doing a show with Synetic that goes up in December. It's an adaptation of Georges Melies 1902 film A Trip to the Moon, combined with other narratives of lunar travel, real and fictional. It's secretly about romantic idealization and disappointment. After that, I have a show with Forum in July. It is a reworking of a project I did at Georgetown in 2008, a collection of stories from DC's transgender community/communities. Jacqueline Lawton: How long have you lived and worked as a playwright in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
Denise Hart: I have lived in DC for the past 24 years. I came to DC to attend college in 1988 and I stayed because I wanted my son to grow up living near his father. JL: Have you ever been a member of a DC area playwrights writing group? If so, did you find it useful? Would you recommend that other playwrights join them? DH: Yes I have participated and yes I would recommend this experience to other playwrights. I've been a participant in The Playwrights Forum. I sound the forum sessions to be invaluable because it was helpful to be able to try out my writing choices in a group environment and receive immediate feedback. JL: In DC, we have the Capital Fringe Festival, the Intersections Festival, the Source Theatre Festival, the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival, the Black Theater Festival, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. We also have the Mead Lab at Flashpoint Theater Lab Program. Have you participated in any of these? If so, can you speak about your experience? DH: Yes, I have participated in the Page-to-Stage Festival with a reading of my work. It was a helpful experience to see the play produced with a good amount of rehearsal and working with the actors and director. I was able to work more quickly on the rewrites because of the collaborative experience. JL: What kind of work do you do to pay the bills? How do you balance this work with your writing? DH: To pay the bills, I work as a tenured professor of theatre at Howard University where I coordinate the playwriting concentration. I also opened my own training studio, The Performing Arts Training Studio in Takoma DC where I offer playwriting workshop groups for advanced writers and playwriting and acting classes for folks who are just starting out. Because I also act and direct I tend to create in seasons. For example, I just completed a playwriting season working on my newest play, Nothing to Lose. I'm now moving into a season where I'll focus on acting. However, I also return to playwriting when I need to. I actually took sabbatical in the fall of 2011 to focus more intently on writing my most recent play. JL: How many plays have you had produced in the DC area? Were any of these plays self-produced? If so, where and what did you learn from that experience? DH: I've had one of my plays produced at Howard University. I learned that it was important for me to be a part of the process, particularly during a first production. JL: If you could be produced at any theatre in DC, which would it be and why? DH: I'd like to be produced at Arena Stage. I feel that Arena Stage has done a great job of cultivating a diverse audience through both imaginative casting and producing playwrights of color. JL: DC audiences are ... DH: ... segregated as black or white (for the most part). JL: DC actors, designers and directors are ... DH: ... wonderfully creative and supportive. JL: DC critics are ... DH: ... supportive! JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity ? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to get your work produced on the main stages? DH: I feel like the DC theatre community has started to address race primarily through the creation of the DC Black Theatre Festival. Also, many of the prominent critics, including The Washington Post and The DC Theatre Scene, reviewed plays produced in the Festival which encouraged a more diverse audience to attend the festival offerings. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based playwright or a playwright who has just moved to D.C.? DH: Join one of the writers workshop group for the support, accountability and feedback. Join the Dramatists Guild for the professional support and the community of playwrights. JL: What's next for you as a playwright? Where can we keep up with your work? DH: I'll be submitting my newest play, Nothing to Lose to several national competitions and am in talks with a Montgomery County group about producing the play in the near future. Jacqueline Lawton: How long have you lived and worked as a playwright in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
Mary Resing: I wrote my very first play, Bar Stories, while working as a lifeguard at the Watergate (no one ever came to the pool). I’m a native. I’ve lived in all four quadrants of DC. I like it here. JL: Have you ever been a member of a DC area playwrights writing group? If so, did you find it useful? Would you recommend that other playwrights join them? MR: Although I have never been a member of a formal playingwriting group, for years Jacqueline Lawton and I would take turns dramaturging each other's work. We are both formally trained as dramaturgs. I dramaturged her Blood Bound and Tongue Tied, A Delicate Balance and The Devil's Sweet Water. She dramaturged my Hansel and Gretel Eat Crabs, Petri Dish Circus and Visible Language. It was wonderful to get detailed feedback from a dramaturg who is also a playwright. I'm obsessed with structure and style and she is in love with narrative and character, so we really liked to hear what the other had to say. Her input definitely improved my work. I also co-author plays with other writers. JL: In DC, we have the Capital Fringe Festival, the Intersections Festival, the Source Theatre Festival, the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival, the Black Theater Festival, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. We also have the Mead Lab at Flashpoint Theater Lab Program. Have you participated in any of these? If so, can you speak about your experience? MR: I worked with the Source Theatre Festival for 11 years as a writer (Transitional Neighborhood; From the Tube to the Boob, etc.), director (Life’s a Beach; Jenny, a Lady; New Times; Full Title Boogie) and organizer. The festival is a crazy, wonderful thing and was a true artistic home for me. This year, Active Cultures will participate in the Intersections Festival with .govaculture, an hour of one minute plays about working for the federal government. JL: What kind of work do you do to pay the bills? How do you balance this work with your writing? MR: I run a theatre company, Active Cultures, the vernacular theatre of Maryland. In the past I have worked in marketing, fundraising, research and development and project management. JL: How many plays have you had produced in the DC area? Were any of these plays self-produced? If so, where and what did you learn from that experience? MR: I’ve written thirteen plays. Twelve have been produced by theatre companies here in DC. I’ve directed five of them. I greatly prefer it when a theatre produces my work and someone else directs it. Theatre is a collaborative form and my work requires critical mass. As a writer, I feel that my best ideas are already in the script. I don’t have much left over for directing and producing. JL: If you could be produced at any theatre in DC, which would it be and why? MR: I prefer productions at Active Cultures. It has a strong mission, reaches a diverse, multi-generational audience, and draws fantastic artists. JL: DC audiences are ... MR: Unlike audiences anywhere else in the world. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. MR: Driven, scrappy, visionary and politically savvy. JL: DC critics are ... MR: Just like the rest of us. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity ? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to get your work produced on the main stages? MR: As a writer, I am interested in power dynamics both on and off stage. I’m fascinated by the intersections of race, gender, class, education, age and political agenda. And, obviously, all of these things come in to play when a theatre picks a season. One thing I have noticed, although I have not personally experienced it, is that DC Theatre is quite Agist. Many theatres decide to allocate a disproportionate share of programming, funding, and artistic opportunities to artists under 30. This is particularly true of opportunities for actors and directors. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based playwright or a playwright who has just moved to D.C.? MR: Volunteer to help out at a small theatre company. Blog for the Washington City Paper about the DC Fringe Festival. Get to know some local artists. Find some kindred spirits. But don’t limit yourself to the theatre world. Get to know some Hill staffers, join an Ultimate Frisbee team, learn to hand dance, renovate houses as part of Christmas in April. Live an interesting life so you have something to write about. And make friends. Create an audience for your work. JL: What's next for you as a playwright? Where can we keep up with your work? MR: My play Faceless will be performed in October 2012. It is one of a trilogy of ghost stories being produced under the title HellSpawn II: Black Aggie Speaks. You can read about it at: hellspawnii.wordpress.com Jacqueline Lawton: How long have you lived and worked as a playwright in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
Rebecca Gingrich-Jones: I've lived in DC for eight years now - can't believe it's been that long! I came here fresh out of undergrad without much direction, but knowing DC had a good women's rugby team that I could play for. It took me a while to get back into playwriting once I moved here, but then I quit teaching in 2008 to get an MFA at Catholic University. I graduated last year and have continued finding and making opportunities for myself in the area, so it seems like a good place to stay and make my art. JL: Have you ever been a member of a DC area playwrights writing group? If so, did you find it useful? Would you recommend that other playwrights join them? RGJ: I found a lot of support in my workshop classes at CUA, and liked the structure of sharing new pages every week. That's something I've missed since graduating, but on the other hand, sometimes I also need time to write in isolation. When the work is very new I can sometimes get too influenced by outside critiques - I try to find the balance where I trust the work and am also ready to hear how it sounds to others. JL: In DC, we have the Capital Fringe Festival, the Source Theatre Festival, the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival, the Black Theater Festival, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. We also have the Mead Lab at Flashpoint Theater Lab Program. Have you participated in any of these? If so, can you speak about your experience? RGJ: And, now we have the DC Queer Theatre Festival too! Matt Ripa, Alan Balch and I co-produced the first annual festival with the DC Center this year in May (featuring new work by DC-area playwrights) and we'll be bringing it back in 2013 and beyond. As far as other festivals, I've had good - and challenging - experiences at the Capital Fringe Festival, and mostly think it's a great opportunity for producing new work. I've also had readings at Page-to-Stage and appreciate being able to hear new work in front of an audience. JL: What kind of work do you do to pay the bills? How do you balance this work with your writing? RGJ: This year I was very honored to receive a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council that has allowed me to write essentially full time for several months. Now it's time to find another day job, and I'd be glad for any leads! This spring I was a teaching artist with Wobble Rocket Productions in Alexandria - I enjoy educating the next generation of theater artists, and being able to get paid for work related to my profession. JL: How many plays have you had produced in the DC area? Were any of these plays self-produced? If so, where and what did you learn from that experience? RGJ: I've had four plays produced in the area: The Furies was commissioned by Active Cultures for their Sportaculture festival, She Said/She Said was produced at CUA as my thesis, The Teacher's Lounge was my first play in the Fringe Festival, and I co-produced Singing Eggs and Spermless Babies (with music by Ben Shallenberger) at the Fringe Festival. It was a lot of work being a producer, and playwright, and in that case acting in the play as well! I think my big takeaway from that experience was to enjoy myself despite the stress and challenges - that's why I'm a playwright, for the love of writing and theater, so it doesn't make sense to get too freaked out. JL: If you could be produced at any theatre in DC, which would it be and why? RGJ: I love the work at Woolly Mammoth, Theater J, Forum - there are too many to choose! I like theaters that make new plays a priority. Classics are great, but even as an audience member I love watching plays that speak to where we are as a culture and human beings in the 21st century. JL: DC audiences are ... RGJ: Diverse and smart, and I think hungry for new plays. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are ... RGJ: Fun to work with. We have lots of talent in DC and I want to see theaters continue to take advantage of that, without always looking to New York. JL: DC critics are ... RGJ: Getting better about championing new work. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity ? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to get your work produced on the main stages? RGJ: I don't think enough has been done to achieve race and gender parity at most theaters. If a theater doesn't consciously make parity a priority, then the status quo, which still favors white men, will continue to prevail. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based playwright or a playwright who has just moved to D.C.? RGJ: Get involved with the DC-Area Playwrights Group, which Gwydion Suilebhan and I founded last year! Join the online discussions on the Facebook group and meet up for the events that get planned throughout the year. And for any artists anywhere, develop and deepen your spiritual practice to give you strength when you start to doubt your talent or ability to "make it." JL: What's next for you as a playwright? Where can we keep up with your work? RGJ: I'm working on the first draft of a new comedy, and I have a production or two in the pipeline that I'll be announcing soon on my website, rgingrichjones.com. Jacqueline Lawton: How long have you lived and worked as a playwright in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
D.W. Gregory: I have lived in the D.C. area for about 20 years now, coming here in the early 90s with my then-husband, who was offered a job at USA Today. After we separated I stayed on to complete an MFA program at Catholic University. Except for a year residency at a New Jersey theatre, I have been here ever since. JL: Have you ever been a member of a DC area playwrights writing group? If so, did you find it useful? Would you recommend that other playwrights join them? DWG: I'm a former member of Woolly's Playground, now defunct, and I am a founding member of the Playwrights Gymnasium, a process-oriented playwrights' workshop. Our focus in the gym is on development of craft through directed exercises. I started it in 2004 with Paul Donnelly. We were both tired of workshops that involved bringing in 20 pages for critique. That kind of approach can motivate you to write, but I think it has its limits, particularly if the discussion is not well moderated. We wanted a format that would force us to break out of our comfort zones and take a more dispassionate approach to our work, to identify weaknesses in our writing and fight past any impulse to take a critique personally. So exercises and writing prompts seemed to help make that happen. JL: In DC, we have the Capital Fringe Festival, the Intersections Festival, the Source Theatre Festival, the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival, the Black Theater Festival, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. We also have the Mead Lab at Flashpoint Theater Lab Program. Have you participated in any of these? If so, can you speak about your experience? DWG: Early on, the gym produced an evening of short plays in the first Capital Fringe Festival -- though it was a sellout show--we actually made money---in my opinion it was not a particularly good showcase for our work. Just a lot of things went wrong and we were not really ready to put it up, but we did anyway, and after that I decided that if I produced again I would focus only on one play at a time and that it would be mine! So the next project I did was a fringe show in Philadelphia that did very well -- critically and financially. It was named a "show you can't miss" by Philadelphia Weekly and I went on to develop it into a full-length, which is now slated for three productions in 2012-13. The Philadelphia Fringe is a harder festival to work with because you have to find your own venue and they offer a lot less support than the Capital Fringe. But both festivals are real frenzies of production, and cutting through the clutter and attracting an audience is a tough job. JL: What kind of work do you do to pay the bills? How do you balance this work with your writing? DWG: I'm a reporter for Bloomberg -- by day I write about tax policy, by night I fantasize about having time to write other things. My writing/work balance is pretty damn poor, so I end up being a binge writer -- I start a play and the only way to finish it is to work round the clock like an insane woman for a month or two at a time, then take a month off and clean the house. JL: How many plays have you had produced in the DC area? Were any of these plays self-produced? If so, where and what did you learn from that experience? DWG: See above. My productions in D.C. have been scant, largely limited to 10-minute plays and the thesis play I produced at Catholic U. I did work with Imagination Stage for a couple of years writing original plays for their acting students -- two of which went on to be published and receive productions around the country. Most of my work though is produced outside of D.C. I am a resident playwright at NJ Rep, an Equity theatre in Monmouth County, NJ. They've produced two of my world premieres and I am working on another project for them. JL: If you could be produced at any theatre in DC, which would it be and why? DWG: Need you ask? I'd love to see something go up at Theatre J just because Ari is such a gutsy producer and it would be fanastic to work with him. Most of my stuff, in my opinion is rather deceptive. It seems like safe suburban fare, but it's a lot more challenging and it is, at bottom, kind of subversive. You get past the exterior package and dig in and you discover its posing some unsettling questions. For that reaosn, I think a lot of my work would do really well at Round House. I have some large ensemble pieces that would be suitable for Forum Theatre. And of course, who would not fantasize about a production--of anything--at Arena Stage? JL: DC audiences are ... DWG: Rather conservative, as a whole. There is so much competition for their time and attention -- and I don't think audiences here are especially adventurous -- though perhaps that is changing. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. DWG: As good as you'll find anywhere. New York, Chicago -- they don't really have the edge on DC when it comes to talent -- but they do have money. JL: DC critics are ... DWG: Hard to categorize ... I think Peter Marks is the real deal -- a critic whose work overall will enlighten you. A lot of people write reviews, but how many of them are real critics, who can put a work in context and evaluate it from a strong basis of understanding? That's Peter, for sure. And Nelson Pressley, who in my opinion is a pretty generous critic; I think he makes a real effort to be supportive of smaller companies. Really what a lot of artists need is attention -- and a good critic can do an immense service simply by shining a light on a new or emerging company. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity ? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to get your work produced on the main stages? DWG: I have no idea, really -- my impression is that there is more attention to giving voice to African American and Latino writers than to female writers, but that's not necessarily an informed impression. I don't know that my ability to get work on stages here is in any way affected by this issue -- I can't get attention in general, so it's not peculiar to DC. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based playwright or a playwright who has just moved to D.C.? DWG: Go somewhere else. If you are just starting out, if you have a choice of where to live -- Philadelphia is a much more livable city with a lively theatre scene. Chicago has a real network of support -- including Chicago Dramatists, where you can take classes, workshops -- and the theatre scene there is vast compared to D.C. Or try Minneapolis -- a lot of new working being produced, and the Playwrights Center is an incredible resource. JL: What's next for you as a playwright? Where can we keep up with your work? DWG: I am now online at my blog, dwgregory.com/blog. You can look for updates there. In the near term -- my new drama SALVATION ROAD opens at New York University Oct. 26, followed by a production at Walden Theatre in Louisville, Ky., in November, and a production at Seton Hill University in April. And there may be an interesting development to talk about soon, though not at liberty to say at the moment. Jacqueline Lawton: How long have you lived and worked as a playwright in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
Laura Zam: I’ve worked as a playwright in DC since I got here in 2001. After grad school at Brown, I was either going to stay in Providence or move to California. I even got a job in Berkeley that summer to see if I could set things up there as I love the Bay Area. However, on my way driving there (a yummy post-grad road trip), smack dab in the middle of the U.S., I got a call from an old friend, offering me a job at Arena Stage. The job was to be part of the Living Stage Company, a social-issue theater ensemble that creates devised work. I was offered the position of company member, dramaturg and assistant director. A full full-time job making theater? When do I pack? At Arena, I stayed for three seasons, eventually becoming Director of Education and Director of Southwest Community Programs. During that time, I was writing on the side, but it was difficult for me to balance this double life: I need to write in the morning; otherwise, it doesn’t happen. So I left Arena so I could start writing again. And I have! What’s kept me here is the community of smart, talented, worldly people. And also love. I met my husband here and we have set up a perfect DC life that is urban yet calm. JL: Have you ever been a member of a DC area playwrights writing group? If so, did you find it useful? Would you recommend that other playwrights join them? LZ: I was a member of the Ernie Joselovitz’s Playwrights Forum and also Playground Playwrights, which was housed at Woolley Mammoth. I found both these groups very helpful. More recently, I’ve had very intense collaborations with directors, artistic directors, and dramaturgs. This has replaced a writing group for me¾for these projects anyway¾because I don’t want too many opinions very early in the development process. In addition to these groups, I’m also an active member of DC-Area Playwrights, which is not a writing group: it’s a formalized (digital and in-person) community of playwrights and other theater folk. It’s an amazing way to be connected to other playwrights in town! JL: In DC, we have the Capital Fringe Festival, the Intersections Festival, the Source Theatre Festival, the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival, the Black Theater Festival, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. We also have the Mead Lab at Flashpoint Theater Lab Program. Have you participated in any of these? If so, can you speak about your experience? LZ: I’ve put shows up in Fringe since it’s inaugural year in 2005, six of those have been one-person plays and one performance was a series of monologues written and performed by my solo performance students. I love Fringe, but I think it works best if it fits into a larger framework of development. For me, I use it to mount a piece for the first time. Then these pieces go on tour for many years afterward. I can work out kinks during Fringe and, hopefully, get good reviews (I’ve been pretty luck – spit, spit). All of this helps me get gigs afterward. So it’s a great investment of time and money. As for the other festivals, I participated once in Page-to-Stage and enjoyed it; I’d definitely do it again if I felt it helped my developmental process. For the first time, I’ll be participating in the Intersections Festival (March, 2013). I’m not sure what the future of this piece will be, but I’m sure I’ll find one. I’m all about the future! JL: What kind of work do you do to pay the bills? How do you balance this work with your writing? LZ: I make my living from a combination of writing (articles and essays), performing (touring one-person plays), and teaching. The latter mostly consists of my Solo Performance Lab and a workshop called How to Make a Living in the Arts, which is what you think it is. I also do some private coaching in both these areas. As an extension of my teaching, I work with traumatized populations, using the arts (storytelling and performance) to foster healing. For example, this fall I’m teaching a workshop at a healing retreat for female military veterans at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. All of these endeavors comprise my career. In other words, I don’t see myself solely as a writer. So I don’t have to balance a day job. I do have to balance this career triad though, and this mostly comes down to scheduling. Essentially, I write all morning and then use the afternoons for everything else, including rehearsals, emails, phone calls, and sometimes teaching. Classes are held in the evening or on a Saturday. If I need more writing time, I cut into my afternoon activities. On my tombstone I’d like it to read: “She had complete control over her day and therefore she was happy.” JL: How many plays have you had produced in the DC area? Were any of these plays self-produced? If so, where and what did you learn from that experience? LZ: I’ve had six full productions in DC, and I’m about to have my seventh. Four of these were self-produced. In addition, since I tour my work, I frequently work with presenting organizations; in these instances, I sort of collaborate on producing. What I’ve learned from all these experiences is that it’s critical for a playwright to know how to get her work on the stage—from soup to nuts. Once a playwright does this, even once, she understands that she can always bring her work in front of an audience. There’s’ no need to wait for gatekeepers to validate or empower you. This DIY mentality is pervasive in all the arts right now. So if an artist not thinking this way, she is missing out on a lot of opportunities. She might even be missing the boat. Also, when I’m not producing I tend to be involved in all aspects of production anyway because I have an agenda: I’m going to do something with this play after the run. This is not to say I don’t love having a theater provide marketing, tech, directors, etc. I treasure this collaboration and support, but even in these instances, I want to make sure my vision is driving the production process. I never sit back and just let “them” take care of it. Self-producing has taught me that I can orchestrate things from all production angles. I have found that theaters appreciate this input as they are often understaffed. And who cares about your play more than you? JL: If you could be produced at any theatre in DC, which would it be and why? LZ: Well, right now I’m working with Theater J, who commissioned my newest play MARRIED SEX, and they’re producing a workshop presentation of it on September 23. This collaboration has been a dream come true. Shirley Serotsky is directing, along with Batya Feldman. Ari (Roth) has been essential in helping me shape this material. Based on this experience, I am interested in continuing to work with Theater J. I’d also love to work at Studio and to put something up in the Cradle (at Arena). JL: DC audiences are ... LZ: ... smart, sophisticated, and very worldly. They also like to have fun: I adore the silliness that comes out during Fringe¾from the artists but also the audience laughing their silly heads off. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are ... LZ: ... full of talent. And more keep arriving! Keep moving here, people! JL: DC critics ... LZ: For the most part, they are really interested in the health of the DC theater community. Along these lines, I have found them generous and constructive. I have especially found this to be true of the professional critics in town. I always read my reviews and take them to heart because I feel like most critics want me to succeed. Maybe I’m deluding myself, but that’s my impression. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity ? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to get your work produced on the main stages? LZ: I’ve thought a lot about the lack of non-white voices on the stage. In a city that’s predominantly black, that seems very odd. That said, I know some theaters are, more and more, addressing this lack of representation. In terms of how it affects me: undeniably, I benefit from this White privilege. There’s no getting around that. So I try to voice my opinion about this as much as I can. This is very international city. I’d love to see more plays by people from all over the world, all races. When it comes to gender parity though, I have to say that it’s not something that I’ve really thought about until recently when statistics started going around regarding DC theater seasons and how many women vs. men were being produced. I think it’s ironic that most theater-goers are female (some say upwards of 70%); yet the overwhelming majority of produced plays were written by men. This seems ridiculous, so I’m in favor of changing this status quo and I’m involved in the conversation, but I’m also…careful when it comes to issues of injustice and women. I suppose I want to participate in a movement that feels constructive and empowering¾as opposed to something that paints women as victims. Making a connection to the previous question about self-producing, I can’t help but feel that women have exactly the same opportunity as men to do this, to take things into their own hands. So, for me, the answer lies more in continuing to produce my own work than in putting a tremendous amount of energy into changing theater seasons in town. I guess I’m not a radical. Or, I’m a different kind of radical. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based playwright or a playwright who has just moved to D.C.? LZ: Come out to any DC-Area event! Go see plays and introduce yourself to the theater artists. Join a writing group, especially if you are relatively new to your craft or need help with development. Find a director (or two) that loves your work. Cultivate a relationship with other theater people you admire. Put something up in Fringe or some other place where you can self-produce. JL: What's next for you as a playwright? Where can we keep up with your work? LZ: You can always catch me at LauraZam.com. In fact, I’m in the process of upgrading my site, but the old one works just fine for now. I’ll have a workshop presentation of MARRIED SEX on September 23 (5 pm) at Theater J. Here’s the link. After that, the play will be produced Off-Broadway next year. (I’m the lead producer on this production; self-producing in DC has taught me how to self-produce in NY as well!) I’ll be turning this play into a book this year also. As for teaching, I’ve got my Omega workshop and also My Solo Performance Lab starts on Sept 24. It’s a 6-week class in creating a solo show (a Level Two class immediately follows). Check it out here. I’ll be teaching How to Make a Living in the Arts as a course at George Mason University in the spring. Prior to this, I’m offering a one-day workshop for anyone on November 10. Here’s that link. On a final note, many thanks to Jackie Lawton for this fabulous opportunity. So glad to have great soul mates like her in town! Jacqueline Lawton: How long have you lived and worked as a playwright in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
Kathleen Akerley: I've been a DC-area resident since I was 2; had my first play produced (in the original Source Festival) in 1999 then didn't write for several years. I started participating as a writer in eXtreme eXchange in 2006; produced my own play Theories of the Sun in 2008 and have been writing steadily ever since. I've stayed because my progress has been overlapping; that is, whenever I was developing something that might have taken me out of the area to explore I was doing it on a foundation of something else supportive and steady. But I am currently giving some thought to leaving. JL: Have you ever been a member of a DC area playwrights writing group? If so, did you find it useful? Would you recommend that other playwrights join them? KA: I'm a member of a playwriting collective called Lizard Claw that has been incredibly useful to me but very few of the members are local. JL: In DC, we have the Capital Fringe Festival, the Intersection Festival, the Source Theatre Festival, the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival, the Black Theater Festival, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. We also have the Mead Lab at Flashpoint Theater Lab Program. Have you participated in any of these? If so, can you speak about your experience? KA: I collaborated with Scot MacKenzie and Dan Istrate on a CapFringe piece (and have also directed a CapFringe piece, by NY-based playwright Callie Kimball); I had a one-act in the original Source Festival (Banquo's Dead, Jim) had a 10-minute play (Feet) in the new Source Festival as well as worked on one of their artistic mash-ups (. . . listening) as well as wrote for their 24-hour new play arm (1,952 Miles); and I was once granted a slot in the Mead Lab program (that I did not, ultimately, use -- but that was as a director, not a playwright). The Source work has been the most writerly, so if I don't discuss the others that's not a tactful omission! I am all praise for the Source Festival: even in change of leadership the goals seem to have remained to include as many local artists in as many ways as possible. I had some frustrations with some of the processes, but no more than would be likely on any new play project. JL: What kind of work do you do to pay the bills? How do you balance this work with your writing? KA: I work part-time in an office job that is incredibly flexible -- they even let me take leave without pay for a month to go direct a play in Belfast. I also make a little money over a year from freelance directing, acting and teaching. I just finished my training to be a massage therapist and hope to be certified by October: I am very lucky in this regard that I have maintained for years employment that is steady but not consuming and hence I can build writing time into my schedule. JL: How many plays have you had produced in the DC area? Were any of these plays self-produced? If so, where and what did you learn from that experience? KA: Counting festivals etc. and NOT counting readings (my take on 'produced'), 16. Four were self-produced -- all at my own company Longacre Lea. I think I may be guilty of never learning from experience! I can't think of an answer to the final part of this question. JL: If you could be produced at any theatre in DC, which would it be and why? KA: Not to be evasive but this answer really depends on which of my plays is a the forefront of my mind. I've currently got several in that waiting-to-cohere mode of being semi-outlined and with half-written scenes on the back of an envelope blah blah: if I imagine any of them being staged the one that makes sense at Theater Alliance doesn't make as much sense at Forum, the Woolly is odd at WSC and vice versa, and so on. A particular one of these it would have been my drop-dead dream to get into the hands of Joy Zinoman, because of her unmatched capacity for the beat work of human details in degrading circumstances: this is why you have to get plays written because otherwise people retire and there goes that fantasy. JL: DC audiences are ... KA: uh. 'Cake or death?' JL: DC actors, designers and directors are .. KA: 'So my choices are . . . "or death?"' JL: DC critics are ... KA: OK, as to this question and the two preceding questions [grin]: maybe I don't learn from experience because I am artistically insular and egomaniacal, maybe I am a self-producing a(uteur)-hole, but if I have a good point it's that I don't over-generalize about classes of people. There's a critic in this town who could easily switch to directing and have the respect of everyone he cast, another who many of us read only because battling an apoplectic fit can be funny when you do it with friends. And so on as to audience, actors, designers, directors, playwrights . . . JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity ? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to get your work produced on the main stages? KA: Yeah, I'm not qualified to answer this one because of the schism in my brain that causes me never to see myself as part of a socio-political whole. JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based playwright or a playwright who has just moved to D.C.? KA: I don't have any DC based advice: I have the networking/business skills of a concussed vole. If my general advice to anyone is at all pertinent to them, I'd go for the old Bene Gesserit maxim: Exposition is the mind-killer. Exposition is the little-death that brings total obliteration. JL: What's next for you as a playwright? Where can we keep up with your work? KA: My play Goldfish Thinking is up right now at the Callan Theatre, until 9 September. To learn more about Longacre Lea, follow this link: www.longacrelea.org Jacqueline Lawton: How long have you lived and worked as a playwright in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
Jennifer L. Nelson: I came to Washington in 1972 to work with the Living Stage Theatre Company (LSTC), which was the community outreach program of Arena Stage. LSTC was completely improvisational and devoted to the mission of making art that would make a difference in the lives of children and adults, who had been left out of the middle class vision of America. I had done a little playwriting in grad school (before I dropped out), but had no real intention of becoming a playwright. In truth, I was much more focused on using theatre to save the world than on any personal theatre-related goals. Ah, youth! Over the years, LSTC became interested in preserving some of our best improvised scenes and I became the designated scripter. Eventually, I began writing short plays that were completely of my own devising, customized for LSTC’s social mission and cast. Since then, I have left DC twice (first to NYC, then to LA) and each time came back for personal and professional reasons. It’s been a good place for me. As Kurt Vonnegut wrote “wherever you go, there you are.” JL: Have you ever been a member of a DC area playwrights writing group? If so, did you find it useful? Would you recommend that other playwrights join them? JLN: I have not been part of any playwrights’ writing group. I used to be a poet and I was part of a poet’s group for a while which was insightful. I was more involved with the local women’s poetry community than I have ever been with the playwrighting community. Go figure. JL: In DC, we have the Capital Fringe Festival, the Intersections Festival, the Source Theatre Festival, the Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival, the Black Theater Festival, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. We also have the Mead Lab at Flashpoint Theater Lab Program. Have you participated in any of these? If so, can you speak about your experience? JLN: I have had two plays read in the Page-to Stage Festival. It is a good opportunity to hear one’s script in front of an objective audience, but there does not ipso facto guarantee you’ll have an audience other than your friends. My play 24, 7, 365 was produced by Theater of the First Amendment and featured as part of the Intersections Festival. Once I became a small theatre producer, much of my focus turned to directing and supporting/developing the work of other writers. I produced plays that went to the Black Theatre Festival and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival. I’m very proud of my record of producing work of young writers. After the production of my play that got the Helen Hayes MacArthur Award (Torn From the Headlines) most my artistic energies were outer-directed and my own work took a waaaay back seat. JL: What kind of work do you do to pay the bills? How do you balance this work with your writing? JLN: I am currently Director of Special Programs at Ford’s Theatre. Before that, I was Producing Artistic Director of African Continuum Theatre (ACTCo). I also am a freelance director and have been an adjunct professor at American University, George Washington University, Georgetown University and (upcoming) University of Maryland College Park. I do not teach playwriting. JL: How many plays have you had produced in the DC area? Were any of these plays self-produced? If so, where and what did you learn from that experience? JLN: I’ve never had a full length play produced anywhere else. Torn from the Headlines was “semi-self” produced. It was a co-pro of an earlier version of African Continuum and Everyday Theatre, a now defunct social outreach arts organization where I was then employed. Then Hubert & Charlie was produced through what later became African Continuum. What did I learn? Don’t self produce if you can help it. Of course, it can be done, but the writer is better served if there is a trusted, supportive and objective eye. There is so much more to producing than putting your script into actors’ hands. JL: If you could be produced at any theatre in DC, which would it be and why? JLN: ... I prefer not to have those fantasies. JL: DC audiences are ... JLN: ...responsive to diversity on stage. JL: DC actors, designers and directors are ... JLN: …smart, talented, ambitious, multi-generational, creative. JL: DC critics are ... JLN: ...a necessary adjunct to The Way Things Are. JL: How do you feel the DC theatre community has addressed the issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to get your work produced on the main stages? JLN: In my long career here, the theatre community has made huge steps in terms of inclusion of ethnic diversity on stages especially in terms of actors. A prime example is how August Wilson’s popularity opened a door in so-called mainstream theatres for plays about the African American stories. Not surprisingly, most of Wilson’s characters are male. Big steps followed by smaller steps. The DC theatre community is not too different from the national theatre community in this. Issues of race and gender are mostly addressed on stage in vehicles that are profitable for the theatres. For example, when a high profile playwright or actor is attached to a piece of work, it will jump to the top of the desirability chart. If a play is a big hit in New York, the larger regionals will pile on to bring that play to their communities. The playwrights may or may not be brilliant, but what is really at stake is theatres’ bottom line. They’d be foolish not to pick plays that have the most likelihood of selling tickets. Of course, there are exceptions to this: theatres that were willing to take risks based on their own values. We’re seeing some really wonderful and daring new work in smaller theatres that don’t have as much at risk. Unfortunately, they also don’t pay as big royalties. It would be convenient to blame the relative invisibility of my own work on race and gender bias but who knows? JL: What advice do you have for an up and coming DC based playwright or a playwright who has just moved to D.C.? JLN: Write what’s in your heart and don’t pin your identity on what anybody else thinks. JL: What's next for you as a playwright? Where can we keep up with your work? JLN: I’m interested in writing about baseball and slavery. I don’t know what's next. You can visit my website: jenniferlnelson.net |
My BlogI'm a playwright, dramaturg, and teaching artist. It is here where you'll find my queries and musings on life, theater and the world. My posts advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equity in the American Theatre and updates on my own work. Please enjoy!
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