Ensemble Studio Theatre has been holding their marathon of one-act plays since 1977. Now in the second series of their 36th year (with one more still to come!), they're offering a myriad of exciting and innovative work by playwrights Lloyd Suh, Christopher Shinn, Julia Specht, Christina Gorman, and Leah Nanako Winkler. We got the chance to chat with the writers about their plays, the festival, and their work at large. Check out the interviews below!
Julia Specht, Down Cleghorn
Tell us about your play!
It's about two sisters who are trying to make a tuna casserole to grieve the recent passing of someone they knew well, but their mother is interfering. It's mostly funny!
As a playwright, what are the challenges and rewards of working in the one-act medium?
You have to be brutal with your story, which is both a challenge and a reward! There's no room to let the narrative get baggy because you have less than 30 minutes. Because you have to keep it so tight, you can give the audience a lot in a really short time, which is a gratifying feeling.
What inspired you to write this play? Do you find yourself returning to similar ideas/themes in your work?
I initially wrote this play for the Boston theatre community - I wrote it to be performed in an apartment kitchen, because there aren't many performance spaces left in the city. I came up with the story when I learned that the woman who introduced me to theatre died - I wanted to write something to remember her, and to reflect on the community she taught me to love.
Do you have any playwrights or writers of one-acts who particularly inspire you or who you try to emulate in certain capacities in your own work?
There are so many because people are really, really smart. Annie Baker writes beautifully realistic dialogue. I can't emulate her work, but Sarah Ruhl builds images that I spend days thinking about, and I try to think about how I can do that too. Also, Emily Dendinger always gives her characters something to do - I remember a scene from a play of hers where two characters were discussing their dead friend while blowing up a giant pool raft and I loved it so much and I learned a ton from it.
In writing this play and/or in approaching writing a play in general, are there any things you always keep in mind?
The very best writing advice I ever got - "Imagine your audience needs to pee more than they've ever needed to pee in their lives. Make them pick your play over going to the bathroom." I think about that every single time I write.
How important is it to you that your work relate to our current political/social climate?
Super important. My next play is a backdoor election play - it's about faith and belief systems and Bigfoot.
Christopher Shinn, Falling Away
Tell us about your play!
My play is about two people in a complex friendship working through what their relationship should be.
As a playwright, what are the challenges and rewards of working in the one-act medium?
The challenge is to create tension in a short amount of stage time without its feeling forced. The reward is the same as with a longer play -- you feel good when you solve the problem of how to make something interesting.
What inspired you to write this play? Do you find yourself returning to similar ideas/themes in your work?
I was in a painful personal situation and tried to represent it through fictional characters.
Do you have any playwrights or writers of one-acts who particularly inspire you or who you try to emulate in certain capacities in your own work?
I remember an Arthur Miller one-act at EST about a man buying jewelry for his dying mistress. The play asked, what does having sex with someone mean beyond the fact of the sexual act itself? After seeing it, I understood that a short play could investigate a profound question.
In writing this play and/or in approaching writing a play in general, are there any things you always keep in mind?
How can I write something that is truly from me yet still universal?
How important is it to you that your work relate to our current political/social climate?
I don't think art changes things in the world, but making sense of the world for myself through my writing helps me personally.
Christina Gorman, On the Outs
Tell us about your play!
The play was inspired by a news article about exonerated prisoners and their first week of freedom. I was especially interested in the extreme anxiety of choice these newly freed people experienced.
As a playwright, what are the challenges and rewards of working in the one-act medium?
I love how compact they are. No subplots, no time to waste. Get in and get out. The biggest challenges for me are how to quickly but effectively immerse the audience in the world, and how to be sure I’m writing a play and not a just a scene. One-acts are tough, but when a playwright gets them right, they’re little gems.
What inspired you to write this play? Do you find yourself returning to similar ideas/themes in your work?
See the answer to question #1.
Do you have any playwrights or writers of one-acts who particularly inspire you or who you try to emulate in certain capacities in your own work?
Inspiring? Sarah Ruhl, Tony Kushner, Tom Stoppard, Stephen Sondheim…the list goes on and on and on.
In writing this play and/or in approaching writing a play in general, are there any things you always keep in mind?
I remind myself that writing a play is a marathon. It’s going to take time and it’s going to hurt, but I’ll feel exhilarated in the end.
How important is it to you that your work relate to our current political/social climate?
This particular play does relate to the current climate, and that’s important to me. But in general, what I end up writing about feels like it chooses me more than I choose it. And sometimes the themes I’m working with are in direct response to what’s “current,” and sometimes the themes are more timeless.
Lloyd Suh, Disney and Fujikawa
Tell us about your play!
It's a conversation between the illustrator Gyo Fujikawa and Walt Disney, in 1942, the first year of WWII. Among other things, it's about being a cartoonist in a time of war.
As a playwright, what are the challenges and rewards of working in the one-act medium?
Probably what's most exciting to me, both in writing and watching one-act plays, is that everything is just a little more loaded. The canvas is smaller, but the gestures are the same size, so they take up more of the whole. It's exciting when single moments and single actions can tell an entire story.
What inspired you to write this play? Do you find yourself returning to similar ideas/themes in your work?
I'm a great admirer of Gyo Fujikawa and her work. Lately I've been really interested in examining key figures and moments in Asian American history, and this particular play came from a convergence of a lot of different impulses. One of which was, admittedly, the very weird moment of time we're currently living in, and finding emotional parallels in the past.
Do you have any playwrights or writers of one-acts who particularly inspire you or who you try to emulate in certain capacities in your own work?
I studied with Romulus Linney, who was a master of the short form and a mainstay of the EST Marathon. I can't say I've ever tried to emulate him - his work is so singular and particular to his voice - but I can't even think about short plays without his work reminding me what the form is capable of.
In writing this play and/or in approaching writing a play in general, are there any things you always keep in mind?
I suppose I try to remember it's not all about me, but that I also can't leave myself out of it.
How important is it to you that your work relate to our current political/social climate?
I don't know how to answer this except to say that it's practically impossible for me to write something that doesn't reflect my particular state of mind as I'm working on it, so even if I'm not super self-aware of it as a reflection of the political or social climate, that will inevitably be a part of it.
_____________
Leah Nanako Winkler, Linus and Murray
Tell us about your play!
Linus and Murray is about an unlikely friendship between a dog and a cat. But really it's about how our differences can enhance us even though it can be scary at first.
As a playwright, what are the challenges and rewards of working in the one-act medium?
I love challenging myself to give audiences a full theatrical experience in twenty pages, and when it works it's very rewarding. I think a one-act makes you look at your own structure with a microscope, and every page truly counts. All of that is exciting and also difficult.
What inspired you to write this play? Do you find yourself returning to similar ideas/themes in your work?
I'm an alumnus of Youngblood - a great writers group for professional playwrights under the age of 30 at EST - and they present a monthly series called "brunch" where audiences can literally eat brunch while watching five ten-minute plays by members of the group. I wrote a shorter version of Linus and Murray for the "Shame" brunch. I thought of a cat and a dog because when I think of things that have no shame, I think of cats (while dogs tend to have a sense of remorse). This is the first time I've explored that theme in particular, but I have written animals in my plays before (though not to this extent - I like subverting the idea of animals being smart and more insightful than humans so in my writing animals are sort of dumb and mean). I also love putting bodies who look different from each other on stage — which this play does — and I do find myself returning to that over and over again.
Do you have any playwrights or writers of one-acts who particularly inspire you or who you try to emulate in certain capacities in your own work?
I don't emulate other writers consciously, but I'm sure I do because we all do.
Also, I grew up loving Christopher Durang's one-act For Whom The Southern Bell Tolls which premiered at the Marathon in 1994 - so it's really amazing to have a play on the same stage (with Patricia Randell who starred in it playing a lead in the same series no less!)
In writing this play and/or in approaching writing a play in general, are there any things you always keep in mind?
Stay honest and true in voice and intent. Don't try so hard to be funny or touching. Let it come naturally. Also, nobody asks you to be a playwright - so enjoy doing it and have fun.
How important is it to you that your work relate to our current political/social climate?
Pretty important - though it doesn't have to be direct. Sometimes it's important just to make people laugh.
