So, Mr. De Vere, I understand you write plays?

October 16, 2009 8:55 AM

Help me interview a playwright.

I need to interview the author/composer of the show currently running at the theater I work for. This will become a blog post, and my boss wants it to focus on the fact that he's a local boy (well, a 55 year old local boy, but still). The play has won awards, and has been translated into several languages all over the world, as well as having been part of Oxfringe and other festivals.

He's a working artist with a solid career, but not by any means a household name.

I've formulated some questions, but I'd rather reserve them til I hear what the hive mind would want to know. Help me write a great interview!

posted by nax to media & arts (11 comments total)

Read or see the play, if you haven't already, and jot down what interests you about the show. Ask him about the local angle. I don't mean to be flip, maybe that's a given, but the intent is to generate interest in the production and sell tickets, so lots of stuff about his process might sound dry.
posted by rainbaby at 9:06 AM on October 16

I have seen the play, just to clarify. Okay to give me obvious stuff that seems a given, even though I've come up with some of it on my own already. Will it be helpful to share what I've already come up with? Didn't want to prejudice answers.
posted by nax at 9:11 AM on October 16

An online acquaintance of mine writes for the Onion's AV Club. She once mentioned that the thing famous folks are most tired of hearing is basically, "How do you do what you do?"

It'll be immediately apparent if you haven't done your research or aren't interested. Unfortunately, as interviewers we don't often have the luxury of either researching as much as we'd want or knowing what questions to ask. One thing that helps is to get them talking about something, anything, that they are passionate about or find interesting. A nationally respected journalist I met once wore down a very tough subject (for reference, I think it was a Grand Wizard of the KKK or something) by asking him about his silverware collection. The reporter learned about the subject and how he thought; the subject got more comfortable; eventually, they moved on to the "meat" of the interview.

I write faculty profiles pretty frequently. Here are a couple of other strategies I use:
--I have my main questions that I ask everybody. "Please describe your day -- what 'regular' things do you do/committees do you serve on/how much time do you spend on writing," "How did you come up with the concept for this project? How did you move from your previous project?" "What is your next project, and how did you get into that from your current work?"

--Pay attention and play along. You can often get into pretty interesting stuff by moving from something they tell you as the interview is happening. Make notes as they speak.

--Focus your questions ahead of time. Asking too much is just as bad as asking too little.

--Don't ask yes or no questions; stay open-ended. Instead of saying, "Did you like working with Famous Actor?" say, "What was it like working with Famous Actor?"

Above all, there are two things to remember. 1) LET THEM SPEAK. Often, they'll send themselves into really interesting places or let something wacky slip through. Don't be tricky; let them get comfortable. (Maybe too comfortable, tee hee.) And 2) You're a journalist/writer, but more importantly you're a regular person. What would you most like to know? Would the article look weird if you didn't talk about X? Would a discussion of Y be too boring for most readers? Are you entertained by stories about pranks/hobbies/parents that bring a larger-than-life person off the page and into reality?

Good luck!
posted by Madamina at 9:22 AM on October 16

what was it like for you having your work translated into another language? what kind of concerns, if any, did you have about changes in tone as the dialog shifted?

do you feel like growing up in $PLACE has informed your work? what, if any, local influences do you see cropping up in unexpected places in your work?
posted by rmd1023 at 9:52 AM on October 16

It might be helpful to take a look at Clyde Fitch's regular feature on theatre folk, "5 Questions I've Never Been asked." The first three I believe are always the same - what's the most perceptive/most idiotic/weirdest question you've ever been asked, and then two more specific questions. If nothing else, the responses should give you an idea of what theatre artists enjoy being asked and what they hate. It's kind of tedious being asked the same questions about the writing process over and over, but, well, it seems to be what people want to know about, and that's publicity for you, so don't feel *too* bad about asking something you're sure someone else has asked before!

The one thing I beg of you is not to ask: "So tell me why your play is so good." That was absolutely the worst talkback question I've heard in my life. So uncomfortable.
posted by ilana at 10:58 AM on October 16

Simon Ogden at The Next Stage does a regular interview series with theatre follks. I've linked to one, but you can check out the rest under "The Interview Series" in a column at the bottom right.

This One Goes to Eleven
posted by stray at 11:08 AM on October 16

I just interviewed a man who is a docent at various historical places in SF. This really drew him out: "Is there such a thing as a typical day for you? Can you describe it for me?"

I also asked about whether he loved storytelling as a child, and how that carried over into his work. He told me about the authors he loved as a kid, and how he drew on the stories he remembered to create his presentations.
posted by vickyverky at 11:24 AM on October 16

Who are his artistic influences, get him to talk about his history in your/his town...
posted by bunny hugger at 12:16 PM on October 16

Hm. I'm a theater critic and a playwright, so I have been on both ends, and there's no real one answer to this. I tailor my questions to the playwright and the play.

That being said: Process questions can be very interesting or very dull, depending on the play and the playwright, but they're worth asking. How did you come up with this? How did the play itself come about? How did it end up getting produced. Was it workshopped? If so, where, and what was that like?

If the play was inspired by some historic event or is autobiographical, ask about that. Usually, there's a lot more to a story like that than can fit into a play, which is a relatively abridged format.

Find out if they had much to do with the production you saw. If so, ask if there are any stories about the production. A lot of playwrighting nowadays has a quality of site specific authorship, in that the playwright tailors the play to a theater or specific actors. If that's the case, you'll probably be able to get some good details about the company, and the needs of the company, and the way in which the script was adapted to the needs of the company, or written for those needs.

A good playwright either loves or despises theater, in a manner of speaking. If they love it, they can usually tell you some stories about plays they've seen that have influenced them. If they hate it, they're writing plays to correct what they see as the failings of theater. But, if they're good, they are writing specifically for theater, and will have some things to say about what that means, as opposed to writing for film, or books, or whatever.

That's all I can think of without knowing the specific playwright and the specific play.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:38 PM on October 16

Wow. I've got a long list of ideas, need to hone it down to a 40-minute interview. I'll post the link to the final interview (if a mod is reading this-- am I allowed to do that?) Metafilter will definitely get a credit and a link on the blog; thanks so much everyone.
posted by nax at 6:19 AM on October 18

Interview is up. MeMail if you'd like to read it. Thanks so much everyone.
posted by nax at 6:33 AM on October 24