Playwrights Interviewed
9 Questions
Each playwright is asked to answer 9 questions.
Each playwright is also asked to kill one question and replace it with a new one for the next playwright.
Most Recent Interview:
Mat Smart
Mat Smart is a current McKnight Advancement Grant recipient and a former two-time Jerome Fellow at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. Plays include: Samuel J. and K. (Williamstown Theatre Festival and Steppenwolf for Young Adults), The Hopper Collection (Magic Theatre and Huntington Theatre Company), The 13th of Paris (City Theatre, Horizon Theatre, Public Theatre of Maine, Warehouse Theatre, Seattle Public Theater and LiveWire Chicago) and The Bebop Heard in Okinawa (O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference). He is a co-founder of Slant Theatre Project in New York City and serves on the Board of Directors for The New Harmony Project. Undergraduate: University of Evansville. M.F.A.: UCSD.
Whose work would you recommend for emerging writers to study?
I think it’s really important for emerging writers to know their peers’ work. We can learn a lot from the playwrights who are in the trenches next to us. Get to know the writers in your city, go to their readings and productions, see how their work changes from play to play – and most importantly, go drinking with them. At the same time, I believe any chance you get to see a Chekhov or August Wilson play, you should take it. Those plays can be see and re-seen, read and re-read, and every time there is something that resonates in a new way.
What play, musical, screenplay, etc. do you wish you had written and why?
Glengarry Glen Ross. I think it’s a perfect play. Not a single word is unnecessary.
What writers do you know that should be produced more and why?
In the next couple of years, I fully expect these three yet-to-be-produced plays to be done all over the place: Alexandria by Alex Lewin, Perpetua by Vincent Delaney and Better by Ruth McKee. Alex has the uncanny ability to write political plays that are incredibly moving. Vincent is a master of the compelling psychological drama. Ruth dramatizes intimate stories that ask globally important questions.
What piece of conventional wisdom about playwriting have you found to be the least helpful?
There’s a ton of career/business advice out there, but really the most important thing is to write a great play. It’s about the writing. I feel like people don’t talk about that enough.
If for some reason you were suddenly forbidden to write plays (or films or tv shows), what would you end up doing?
I’d try to get a job as an official scorer at Wrigley Field.
What is most helpful to you as you sit down to write a first draft?
To have a good stock of coffee and Red Bull, a week or two without much scheduled, and to always keep Anne Lamott’s great advice in mind: "Shitty first drafts."
How do you know when your play isn't working? Or more specifically, how/when do you know the difference between “I’m just stuck. I’ll work through it.” and “This play isn’t meant to be.” And what do you do about it?
Not to be flippant, but I know a play isn’t working when no theatres will produce it. I used to get depressed about it. Now I just try to write a new play.
"I am a closet _____________"
Ke$ha fan.
What is your least favorite question about your work?
"What kind of plays do you write?"