We're going back-to-back! Our April Rough Readings Series continues with Bekah Brunstetter's House of Home! It will be read on April 23rd at Stanford and April 24th at Thick House in San Francisco.
People start writing at different stages of their lives. How did your career as a playwright begin?
I've written stories and
poems since I was a kid, starting doing theater in high school to make some
friends, was an actor (BADLY) then wrote my first play freshman year of college.
I was instantly hooked - it was something that felt like it was mine, while
simultaneously connecting me with other people. I continued to write plays all
through college. I had no idea what I was doing, but was able to see these
plays produced. Next up, grad school for play-writing, then life, and here we
are!
House of Home is based on a true-story, is it more or less difficult to depict a true-story without over or under-exaggerating specific events? Or how do you go about not offending the people that were actually a part of the true-story?
I think it's important
(unless you are creating a Laramie Project-esque piece) to fictionalize the
event and characters that are serving as your source material. A.) Because
usually, you don't know every in and out of the story, and you don't want to
pretend to know - so it's important to make it yours. Creating a new narrative basedon
the actual event allows you to actually be a dramatist with the story.
Otherwise, when receiving notes, you end up with this defense mechanism of
'well, that's not what really happened' which oftentimes isn't helpful for the
play's development. As for the Maxwell family - I can't pretend to fully
understand them as human beings, or understand what happened to them. But I was
so gripped by what happened to them - they felt so familiar to me, as humans,
that I had to write a play about it. To do so, I had to invent, as
opposed to fully recreate.
There is an abundance of topics to write about out there, and I would think that would make it difficult to hone in on one topic. If you could narrow your favorite writing topics down to three, what would they be and why?
I always come back to religion, love/relationships and the military
families. Religion and faith because it is something that always has and always
will intrigue and confuse me, in the best way. I was raised in a very Christian
household, and even as I move far into adulthood, it's still something that I'm
trying to figure out for myself. I'm constantly worried that I'm not making the
right decision in my terms of my faith, and I always come back to writing about
things that I'm afraid of. Love / relationships because of unrequited needs
from middle school. Military families because of my brothers serving in the
Marine Corps - and what I perceive to be a lack of plays dealing with those in
the service, and their family members, that aren't about politics or
post-traumatic.
Let's end with inspiration! What single piece of advice would you give an aspiring playwright?
It's important to write, and write a lot. It won't matter what awards or
productions or fellowships you might get if you're not writing constantly. The
more you write, the more you'll find and hone your voice. Not just write
constantly, but submit constantly! The more you put your work out there, the
more it works for itself. It's incredible what can happen
because of a tiny ten minute in a tiny theater - if the writing is truthful,
and you - people will respond to it, and it will beget more opportunities for
you.
To obtain more information about Bekah's Rough Reading, please visit: http://playwrightsfoundation.org/index.php?p=53
Want to delve deeper into Bekah's mind? Visit her blog at: http://blog.bekahbrunstetter.com/
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