Hometown: I was born and raised in St. Louis, MO, though my family lived briefly in London.
Education: BA from Yale; MFA from Rutgers, Mason Gross School of the Arts.
Favorite Credits: I just wrote a play called Henry’s Law which is about bullying—and cyberbullying in particular. It was commissioned by Fairleigh Dickinson University and is about to be toured by Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey in fall, 2014—and it is currently being published by Playscripts, Inc. My research for the play broke my heart, but my experience in working with the actors and audiences gave me enormous hope for the future of our schools and communities.
Tell us about Enchanted Arms: Enchanted Arms is a project that takes stories and characters in our common cultural vocabulary and does something unexpected with those stories. By reimagining these characters, I think we bring them closer to the audience’s experience and reference points…we want the audience to say “I recognize that Rumpelstiltskin! I know him. He is an ****!”
What inspired you to write Pastiche?: I am interested in the many—and varying—ways in which love is bound up in success and in the desire to possess. I am particularly interested in the ramifications of this idea for women. I think that, at its heart, this is what Rumpelstiltskin explores.
What kind of theater inspires you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: The theater that inspires me is theater that explores social issues and problems from a character-driven perspective. My point of view is that people make problems but that we, therefore, have enormous and inspiring potential to create solutions. I am inspired by the fact that these solutions can be explored and represented on stage in exciting and challenging ways. This is why I love films like "Dear Heart" and "It’s a Wonderful Life"—and why I love playwrights like August Wilson.
If you could work with anyone you have yet to work with yet, who would it be?: Carolyn Cantor, Tim Sanford, Rachel Chavkin, Jason Eagan, so many more…
What show have you recommended to your friends?: Next Fall
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: It would be called "She Really Really Believed!" or "Heart on her Sleeve" or something (don’t worry; I won’t write it!) and my character would be played by Barbara Stanwyck or Geraldine Paige or Bette Davis. (I don’t know whether I’m supposed to be time traveling for casting…)
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Lying on the couch for eight hours in a row with an Austen, Trollope, Thirkell, Dodie Smith, or Monica Dickens novel and a fuzzy blanket.
What’s the most played song on your iPod?: All songs by Garfunkel and Oates and Holly Cole
If you weren’t working in theater, you would be______?: a professor of English Literature—or maybe a civil rights lawyer or…is Victorian novelist an option? (There’s that pesky time travel again.)
What’s up next?: Oops, I sort of answered this question in “favorite credits.” Playscripts, Inc. is also publishing my play Laugh Out Loud (cry quietly), a comedy about internet dating, and I have several other projects in development.
