Some light braggadocio, if you'll permit me: A ten-minute play I wrote (The Interview) will be appearing both in this May's Boston Theater Marathon and this July's Hovey Summer Shorts Festival.
I really cannot overstate what an accomplishment this is for me. For more years than I am prepared to admit, it has been a major goal of
mine to get something I had written included in the Boston Theater Marathon. And to that
end, I wrote a decently okay play during my senior year of college and slavishly tweaked, submitted,
retweaked, and resubmitted that same thing several times, each time
receiving the flattering rejection note. (I guess I'm assuming that there is a less effusive version of
that letter. Maybe all their rejections are flattering...)
The truth is, I don't really know what that play was about. It was called Dating Athena—smarmy
business guy has several bad dates with the Greek goddess. It had an
ambiguous ending I thought to be "theatrical" but did not mean anything
to me. I just wanted to see my work on stage. Any work.
The Interview does mean something to me... and in fact, I
was worried that it was in some ways too literal, too earnest. But
that's my style, and if the work feels disingenuous to me it'll show to
others. Thanks in large part to my blog, I'm learning to be less
precious and more direct with my writing, and I think that's
why this particular play is responding with people: I've stopped trying
to be clever and started trying to be me.
I can't wait to see what the directors and actors of each production bring to it.
