5 Questions with Chisa Hutchinson

The 13th reading in our FORUM "Soundings" series is THE WEDDING GIFT by Chisa Hutchinson. This reading will be begin at 7:00pm on January 25, 2015 and will be held at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ. Click here for directions. Click here for a printable map of the campus (the Dreyfuss Theatre is located in Building 9).

In a Far Off Place that might be Earth, Doug finds himself playing a very unique role at the wedding of Nahlis and Beshrum, two “people” he has never met, and who do not speak his language. All he wants to do is go home, but given the circumstances, that may not be possible. 


Chisa Hutchinson (B.A. Vassar College; M.F.A NYU - Tisch School of the Arts) has happily presented her plays DIRT RICH, SHE LIKE GIRLS,THIS IS NOT THE PLAY, SEX ON SUNDAY, TUNDE’S TRUMPET, THE SUBJECT, MAMA’S GONNA BUY YOU, SOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER, ALONDRA WAS HERE  and DEAD & BREATHING at such venues as the Lark Play Development Center, SummerStage, Atlantic Theater Company, Working Man’s Clothes Productions, the BE Company, Partial Comfort Productions, Mad Dog Theater Company, the Wild Project, Rattlestick Theater, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the South Orange Performing Arts Center and the Contemporary American Theater Festival.  She has been a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a Lark Fellow, a Resident at the William Inge Center for the Arts, a New York NeoFuturist and a staff writer for the Blue Man Group, and is currently a second-year member of New Dramatists.  Chisa has won a GLAAD Award, the John Golden Award for Excellence in Playwriting, a Lilly Award, a New York Innovative Theatre Award, the Paul Green Award, a Helen Merrill Award and has been a finalist for the highly coveted PoNY Fellowship.  A recent foray into screenwriting won her Best Narrative Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival.  By day, Chisa writes copy for a retail company.  To learn more, visit www.chisahutchinson.com

1) What was the inspiration for THE WEDDING GIFT?

The short answer is slavery. The longer answer is I feel like America's getting brave enough to start being honest with itself about its history of brutality against and oppression of blacks.  You can see it in the movies that are coming out. But the way in which we're examining it strikes me as both insultingly literal and from too safe a distance. White America can go, "Oh, it's a good thing we don't chain them up and beat them like that any more" (except they kinda do) or "Oh, it's so terrible what happened to those black people hundreds of years ago" (except it's still kinda happening). Hence, 12 Years A Slave gets every accolade ever, but Fruitvale Station and Dear White People get the shaft. It's too soon to be facing up to shit that happened just now. But look. I get it. White people don't want to have their faces rubbed in their persistent reputation as entitled, oppressive assholes any more than I wanna have my face rubbed in my chronic victimhood, over and over. 

 So I'm trying something different. A new context for the discussion, a new vehicle to drive the point home. Something just strange enough and just familiar enough to be engaging. And vaguely science-fictiony. Because white folks love science fiction. We'll see how it lands. In any event and however people feel about it, it was fun as shit to write and even more fun to see actors play with it.  

 2) The Dramatists Guild of America recently announced the winners of its annual awards. You received The Landford Wilson Award for early-career work. Where were you when you got the news and what was the first thought you had when you heard you won?
I was in my house, already in a terrific mood because my grandparents were visiting me from Evansville, IN. (I frickin' love my grandparents.) And my phone rings and it's an unfamiliar number and I'm like, "Aw shit, what bill haven't I paid?" And I almost didn't pick up because whatever, my grandparents are here and it's Christmas time and who the hell wants to be dealing with bill collectors at Christmas time, right? But I did pick up. And I'm so glad I did. And the first thought that went though my head was, "For real? But I was just an alternate!"  Because I was put forth as an alternate nominee by Emily Morse at New Dramatists after having my name pulled second from a hat for the nomination lottery. I had no idea I was nominated by like 4 other people, apparently. No idea. 

3) You recently decided to give screenwriting a try. What do you find are the most similar elements between playwriting and screenwriting and which are the most different?
The biggest similarity: they're both HARD AS HELL. Every time. No matter how many times you do it. Biggest difference: for a play, you can have two people just sitting around talking to each other in a living room for 90 minutes and call it interesting. Not so much for screenplays. You better get those fools out of that damn living room and have something explode. Or at least a car chase.

4) By day, you write copy for a retail company. How did you come by this opportunity? Any “Seinfeld J. Peterman” moments you can share with us?
Dude. I got the job through Craigslist. Never underestimate Craigslist. Craigslist has paid many a bill. And HA! Yes. Seinfeld J. Peterman moments. I actually post some on Facebook as a series called "Today's Bad Copy." I just posted one right before answering these questions: "Today's Bad Copy: 'Sure, the whole point of it changing color is to let you know when it's hot enough to cook in and all, but come on. That's just f*cking cool."-- the Color-Changing Ceramic Pan"

5) What is the most unique wedding gift you’ve ever given?
I usually just stick to the registry. It's just practical. But one time, I was so broke because I just spent over 800 precious, inter-gig dollars on a bridesmaid dress, bridal shower gift, travel, hotel etc. and had literally $48 left in my account before I did my Craigslist voodoo and got my J. Peterman job, but my bestie from college was getting married so what else could I do, right? So I humbly framed the poem that she asked me to read at the ceremony. Simple. Unique. Affordable on a $48 budget.

 Playwrights Theatre will present these readings free of charge, with an optional donation of $10

♦ A $25 dollar donation will get you a FORUM pass that covers all of the readings.

♦ A $250 donation will get you a rehearsal pass that allows access to all reading rehearsals.

♦ Reservations can be made online at or call (973) 514-1787 X10

Click here to reserve your seat to see THE WEDDING GIFT.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.

 

5 Questions with Yasmine Beverly Rana

The 12th reading in our FORUM "Soundings" series is JASMINE SPRING by Yasmine Beverly Rana. This reading will be begin at 7:00pm on January 24, 2015 and will be held at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ. Click here for directions. Click here for a printable map of the campus (the Dreyfuss Theatre is located in Building 9),

Jasmine Spring is an exploration of democracy, its definition and implications viewed under the lens of the female protagonist, a university student and participant in the Arab Spring uprising in Tunisia. Kia’s identity as female and her sexuality are under assault as she is conflicted between her role as citizen and woman. Her lover, Amir, a photographer and proponent of social media as a tool for civil disobedience, encourages her to use an image of her body as a symbol of democracy and freedom. Within the confines of a dorm room, a digital photograph, that will change both their lives, is taken and posted through social media.

Yasmine’s plays have been presented in the United States and abroad, notably La MaMa E.T.C, Halcyon Theatre of Chicago, New Stages Performing Arts Center in the Berkshires, Write-Act Repertory Theatre in Los Angeles, The Looking Glass Theatre, Johns Hopkins University Theatre, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Tara Arts Theatre and New Diorama Theatre, both of London.  Publications include The Alabama Literary Review, The Best Women’s Monologues and The Best Stage Scenes (Smith and Kraus Publishers), Blackbird, The Kenyon Review, TDR: The Drama Review, and The Contemporary European Idea. Translations include Cinci Piese de Teatru. The University of Chicago Press and Seagull Books’ In Performance series published The War Zone is My Bed and Other Plays.  The anthology was reviewed in the Slavic and East European Journal.

Awards include a Paulette Goddard Fellowship from New York University and a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship in Playwriting from the Sewanee Writers Conference. Yasmine was a finalist for La MaMa Experimental Theatre’s inaugural Ellen Stewart Award. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.  Yasmine is also a Registered Drama Therapist, New York State Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, and educator.  She has volunteered as a teacher and drama therapist in Bosnia and The Republic of Georgia.  Yasmine implemented an arts and education program for Bosnian youth through the Jacob Foundation in Zurich and The American School in Switzerland.

Yasmine has served as Writer in Residence at T. Schreiber Studios in New York which produced The Fallen, along with a revival of Blood Sky, and Fauna and Blood (T. Schreiber Shorts).  Fauna and Blood was inspired by artist Imran Qureshi’s “Roof Garden Commission” for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was published in The Kenyon Review. 

Another Spring was developed through Playwright’s Theatre of New Jersey’s Emerging Women Playwrights Project. The most recent draft, Jasmine Spring was subsequently presented at La MaMa Experiments Play Reading Series.

In November 2013, Yasmine was selected by the Tommy Hilfiger Company and Glamour Magazine as one of four outstanding women of New Jersey to benefit the Women of the Year Malala Fund.

Yasmine was a recipient of the Paramus Education Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award in October 2014.

Scarred  began as a one-act play that will be published in The Kenyon Review in 2015 and performed in New York at T. Schreiber Studio Theatre’s “ Freedom Short Play Festival.”

1) Where did you get the idea for JASMINE SPRING?
Jasmine Spring was written in response to the recent political uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East.  With daily images and narratives of student demonstrations and the fragility of their political leadership, I wrote from the perspective of the female citizen in that region who also demands change but finds herself dangling between paradoxical circumstances.  Will she be represented?  Will her voice be heard?  If you extend the conversation with the addition of social media as a tool to give rise to democracy and the intimacy of a video or photograph, the implications can be tumultuous.  PTNJ has been instrumental in the development of this play which began as Another Spring.  There were moments I considered abandoning this, believing it was over after a few readings and that all that could be explored had been, but there seems to be a voice within the pages whispering to me to continue, to keep the characters alive and continue this discussion which leads to another question. How does a writer know when a play is finished?  The answer is from within and encompasses an almost primal sense of completion.  I’m nearly there with Jasmine Spring.

2) You are a Writer in Residence at T. Schreiber Studios in New York. Can you tell us a little about what that means?
It’s wonderful!  It’s wonderful  having a master director as Terry Schreiber who has identified the value in my voice produce two full-length plays and two one acts (the latter this coming March).   Writing can be a solitary experience, but finding a community with Terry’s team of actors, directors, and producers is a gift.  I’m deeply grateful for that time and that sounding board to write and try out new plays in New York City. How many playwrights have that opportunity?  

3) In November 2013, you were selected by the Tommy Hilfiger Company and GLAMOUR MAGAZINE as one of four outstanding women of New Jersey. What was it like to be dressed by Tommy Hilfiger for the event? Did you feel a wee bit like a super model?
Everyone should try it.  What a surreal experience!  The teams at Tommy Hilfiger and Glamour Magazine were wonderful.  It’s a marvelous return to childhood play and dress up for one night.  Who was that in those very high heels?  I didn’t recognize myself.   What was equally humbling was being selected with three other greatly talented and giving women who have contributed their time and vision to their communities.

4) Your play Fauna and Blood was inspired by artist Imran Qureshi’s “Roof Garden Commission” for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Did you approach this play in the same way you would any play you’ve written or did you come at differently since it was a written piece inspired by a work of art that was painted on the rooftop of the Met where outside elements played a part?
I must be honest.  I read plays.  I do see theatre, but my greater inspiration comes from other genres, particularly fine art. In my play, The Fallen, one of my favorite scenes is set in London at the Tate Modern as Dejan and Anais, the museum security guard and a visitor, both from the former Yugoslavia stand in a room with Jean Fautrier’s sculpture, “Head of a Hostage.” The two walk slowly, gracefully, as if in a dance, as they encircle this statue representing what was once a person, but is now a burnt piece of flesh with a hollow face.  The statue speaks to them and incites their dialogue that they too may be the victims, as our “Head” or the perpetrator responsible for his demise.  I saw this statue in London where I was at Tara Arts Theatre for a book reading. Subsequently and quite accidentally, the moment at the Tate has become a part of my own personal narrative and writing life.  Imran Qureshi’s “Roof Garden Commission” is another example of art provoking my writer’s soul, but this time I wrote from the perspective of the observer rather than the subject.  Who would visit this work?  What is her story?  How did Qureshi’s response to the violence in his home country influence these visitors?  Had they shared his experience?  The process was effortless and fruitful as the play was performed at T. Schreiber and published in The Kenyon Review.   Support for the play was outstanding with Qureshi’s and the Met Museum’s contributions to the publication with exhibition photos.

5) What time of day do you feel most inspired to write – Morning, Afternoon, or Night and why?
I write anywhere anytime. I teach all levels of English as a Second Language at Paramus High School during the day. Three times a week, I study Japanese and Russian.  I tango.  I go to my favorite jazz clubs and listen to my friends play.  I have a family and very loyal friends.  I go to gallery openings.  I read.  I write.  I live with an idea until I’m ready to sit down and type it out.  Luckily I’m a fast typist so the process of the first draft is expeditious.

 Playwrights Theatre will present these readings free of charge, with an optional donation of $10

♦ A $25 dollar donation will get you a FORUM pass that covers all of the readings.

♦ A $250 donation will get you a rehearsal pass that allows access to all reading rehearsals.

♦ Reservations can be made online at or call (973) 514-1787 X10

Click here to reserve your seat to see JASMINE SPRING.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series. 

 

5 Questions with Bob Clyman

The 11th reading in our FORUM "Soundings" series is ABOVE WATER by Bob Clyman. This reading will be begin at 7:00pm on January 23, 2015 and will be held at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ. Click here for directions. Click here for a printable map of the campus (the Dreyfuss Theatre is located in Building 9).
 
Paul decides to bring his much younger girlfriend, Rachel, with him on vacation with his longtime friends, Max and Maggie.  After realizing that Rachel could possibly be the best thing to happen to him since his wife, Carol, died two years before, they all come to learn things about each other that they never expected.

Bob Clyman’s plays have been produced Off-Broadway and at regional theatres, such as the Alley Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, San Jose Repertory Theatre, George Street Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Colony Studio Theatre in Los Angeles, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, and L.A. Theatre Works, in addition to touring Scotland.  His play Secret Order was initially commissioned and produced by The Ensemble Studio Theatre under the auspices of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.  It was subsequently produced at 59E59 Theatre in New York, where it was nominated for an Outer Circle Critics Award for the best script in 2008, and has since been produced at many regional theatres.  His plays Tranced and The Exceptionals were both supported by Edgerton Foundation New American Play Awards.  Tranced has been produced by San Jose Repertory Theatre, Laguna Playhouse and Merrimack Repertory Theatre, among others.  The Expectionals was produced by the Contemporary American Theatre Festival and Merrimack Repertory Theatre, where it was nominated for both Best Play and Best New Play of 2012 by The Independent Reviewers of  New England.  His most recent play The Good Bet, was chosen for The Ashland New Play Festival in 2014.  He has been awarded a number of national prizes, including a Eugene O’Neill Summer Conference Fellowship, Geraldine Dodge Fellowship, Playwrights First Award, New Jersey State Arts Council Award, Edward Albee Foundation Fellowship, Berilla-Kerr Foundation Award, Djerassi Foundation Fellowship, Shenandoah Valley Playwrights Fellowship, and Theater in the Works Fellowship.

1) Where did you get the idea for ABOVE WATER? A friend was visiting a Caribbean island when he experienced something a little like this.   The story, as he reported it, would have played as a pretty straightforward melodrama, so in the service of greater complexity, my friend will have to accept that he is no longer the hero.

2) You’ve had a play tour Scotland. How did this come to be and did you get to see the play in Scotland and eat haggis?
An American director who had directed a workshop of that particular play in New York later moved to Scotland and convinced a producer there to let him first mount it in Edinburgh and then move the production to Glasgow.  I never got to see how it played there, and it's almost as hard for me to imagine those characters speaking with Scottish brogues as it is to imagine eating haggis.  

3) What do you enjoy most about the art of playwriting?
I like starting a new play, when my mind's an open faucet with words pouring out, but I think I enjoy the act of cutting them back later even more.  My early drafts are always massively overwritten, filled with undigested ideas and the crushing weight of too much language.  It's a joy to finally realize what the play is about, so I can begin shedding some of that weight. 

4) What is your favorite book, movie, play or musical and why?
Carol Churchill and Wallace Shawn probably do a better job than any other playwrights working at disturbing me while making me laugh.  

5) Are you a regular slice of apple pie kind of guy or are you an ala mode guy?
Now you're getting a little too personal.  

 Playwrights Theatre will present these readings free of charge, with an optional donation of $10

♦ A $25 dollar donation will get you a FORUM pass that covers all of the readings.

♦ A $250 donation will get you a rehearsal pass that allows access to all reading rehearsals.

♦ Reservations can be made online at or call (973) 514-1787 X10

Click here to reserve your seat to see ABOVE WATER.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series. 

 

5 Questions with Lia Romeo

The 10th reading in our FORUM "Soundings" series is A PEFECT FIT by Lia Romeo. This reading will be begin at 7:00pm on January 22, 2015 and will be held at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ. Click here for directions. Click here for a printable map of the campus (the Dreyfuss Theatre is located in Building 9).

Nicole just started dating her roommate, a girl, and her parents are actually cool with it.  Her mom, Janet’s relationship with her husband isn’t like it used to be, and she gets a little jealous of what Nicole seems to have with Jill.  Through their own ups and downs, mother and daughter both have a lot to learn from each other.

Lia Romeo earned her B.A. from Princeton University and her M.F.A. from Rutgers.  Her plays have been produced or developed at the Kennedy Center, 59E59, Project Y Theatre Company, Abingdon Theatre, the Lark Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, HotCity Theatre, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, New Jersey Repertory Theatre, Kitchen Dog Theatre, Performance Network Theatre, Stillwater Theatre, Renegade Theatre Experiment, and elsewhere. She has been a finalist for the O'Neill, PlayPENN, WordBRIDGE, the Reva Shiner Comedy Award at Bloomington Playwrights Project, the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, and the Heideman Award.  She was the 2008-2009 National New Play Network Emerging Playwright-in-Residence at Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, and was a member of the 2011 New Jersey Emerging Women Playwrights Project.  She is also the author of a novel, Dating the Devil (BelleBooks), and a humor book, 11,002 Things to Be Miserable About (Abrams Image), which has sold over 30,000 copies worldwide.

1. Where did you get the idea for A PERFECT FIT?
A PERFECT FIT was inspired by an article I read in The Guardian called "Why It's Never Too Late to Be a Lesbian" about how more and more women are coming out late in life, often after having married men and had children.  The idea that these women may have ended up on a heterosexual path because it didn't really occur to them that they could do anything else really resonated with me, and I started thinking about how many more choices young women have today in terms of sexuality and gender compared to the choices women had in the past.

2. You wrote your book “11,002 Things To Be Miserable About” with your brother, Nick. What was the process like sharing writing duties with your sibling?
It was a lot of fun!  That was my only experience with collaboration, and I don't know if I could do it with anyone else, but Nick and I know each other really well and have a similar sensibility, so we were able to work well together.  Also, if you're sitting around making a list of all the world's miseries (which is literally what that book is), it's marginally less depressing to do it with someone else.

3. How difficult is it to switch hats from playwright to literary manager for Project Y Theatre Company? In the former, you get judged and the latter, you are the judge.
I think every playwright should do literary work... talk to local companies and ask them if they need script readers or people to help in their literary department... because it's been fascinating and so informative for me.  Reading a lot of scripts has helped make me a better writer, of course, but switching roles has also been really helpful to me in terms of self-promotion, because I see what works and what doesn't work when other writers are trying to approach me, and I'm able to apply some of that when I approach other companies.

4. You are a playwright, novelist and comic writer. What made you decide to pursue a M.F.A. in playwriting from Rutgers?
I was going through a bad time after college... living in my parents' basement and working a temp job as the receptionist at a porn agency... and so my parents suggested that it might be a good time to apply to grad school.  I'd always known I wanted to be a writer, and having those three years to focus and learn how to translate that desire into a daily writing practice was tremendously helpful, as were the connections I made with other people in the business.

5. Where is your favorite place to buy pretty shoes?
Local boutiques.  Also Target! - they have surprisingly good shoes there.

Playwrights Theatre will present these readings free of charge, with an optional donation of $10

♦ A $25 dollar donation will get you a FORUM pass that covers all of the readings.

♦ A $250 donation will get you a rehearsal pass that allows access to all reading rehearsals.

♦ Reservations can be made online at or call (973) 514-1787 X10

Click here to reserve your seat to see A PERFECT FIT.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.  

5 Questions with Ken Scarborough

The 9th reading in our FORUM "Soundings" series is ECSTASY by Ken Scarborough. This reading will be begin at 7:00pm on January 21, 2015 and will be held at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre, 285 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ. Click here for directions. Click here for a printable map of the campus (the Dreyfuss Theatre is located in Building 9).

Having just started a new job as a stagehand at a theater run by a friend, Jeremy is convinced that so few people are left who can truly appreciate the beauty of classical music.  Then his slacker cousin shows up and everything he thought he knew starts to change.

Ken Scarborough has four Emmys for his television writing: as a staff writer for Saturday Night Live, and for his work as a head writer on various childrens’ television series. Long before that, he worked as a stagehand. 

1) ECSTASY’s main character, Jeremy, is a stagehand. You used to work as a stagehand. How much of your real life experiences are in this script?
I was a slightly more competent stagehand than Jeremy, but mostly because I lack his grand ideals. (I think Jeremy would be deeply unimpressed with my work.  He'd doubtless consider any effort spent in trying to put on a good show a particularly cringeworthy form of toadying.

2) As a staff writer for SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, where did you get your ideas for each week’s show? Do you start with a skit and fit it around the guest host or do you write to fit the guest host?  
I came up with all my best ideas the week after the show aired.  (There’s a really funny SNL in my head.)  The production itself was the most fascinating part of the experience  —  the closest I’ve come to doing live theater on a weekly basis.

3) You've won four Emmys for your television writing. What is the moment like after you hear your name called?
I briefly gain superpowers which I try to use for the good of mankind.  (Emmy voters take note!  Thx!)

4) You've also written for several children’s television shows such as ARTHUR, MARTHA SPEAKS and DOUG. Do you use a similar process whether your are writing for a young audience or an adult audience or do you approach them in a vastly different way? For the most part I write like an adult when I’m writing for children and like a child when writing for adults.
I guess in practice that means that I do try to take kids' concerns as seriously as I’d hope to have them taken if I were a kid. In both cases I try to write things that would entertain me—so even if everyone else is suffering, I’m having a great time! Whoo-hoo!

5) If someone was to write a television version of your life story, who would you want that to be and why?
Me or Shakespeare.  (Probably Shakespeare —it might sound conceited if I wrote about myself.

Playwrights Theatre will present these readings free of charge, with an optional donation of $10

♦ A $25 dollar donation will get you a FORUM pass that covers all of the readings.

♦ A $250 donation will get you a rehearsal pass that allows access to all reading rehearsals.

♦ Reservations can be made online at or call (973) 514-1787 X10

Click here to reserve your seat to see ECSTASY.

You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.