1. Tell us about your writing background. I know you’ve had a script in ConfettiFest, yes?
I started out doing theatre in my youth, but soon discovered historical reenacting, which fed a love of history, costuming and theatre in one all-consuming package. I wrote lots and lots of articles, programming, and semi-scholarly “how-to’s” for various reenactment & museum groups. I got back into theatre about 9 years ago, and. . . I put my hand to script-writing during the pandemic. Wrote my first one-act,“Grace Notes,”which was produced by ConfettiFest and won a TANYS award for playwriting. That was encouraging.
2. How is writing a monologue for these soldiers different from writing a play?
First of all, I love monologues! (I’ve long admired Ruth Draper, perhaps the best monologist of the 20th C.) I had the opportunity to write and perform for the “Famous Ladies’ Tea” a couple of times, and it just felt right for me: Historical Research! Theatrical Interpretation! Period Costume! Yay!
In 2021, I co-wrote, as well as directed, “Voices from the Grave,” performed at Bennington Old First Church Cemetery. I figured that the key to these kinds of monologues is re-creating a personality, finding the “hook” that the life story can hang on. Facts must inform the character of course, but don’t need to be dwelled on. And unlike a play where plot is at least as important as character (well, usually), in monologues, the narrative arc serves the character.
3. What has been the greatest challenge in writing these monologues?
Um, everyone dies. In violent, nasty ways. The audience knows this. After all, it is “Voices of the Fallen,” the ones who didn’t get to tell their own stories, because they died. How to make this uplifting, yet respectful of the sacrifice they made, in blank verse no less? By trying to find the humanity of these men, gleaned from the scraps of information we have from eye-witnesses– the nobility, the frailty, the universal quality of their very specific stories, that was a challenge.
4. What would you like audiences to come away with from the “Voices of the Fallen” experience?
For all its soaring and heartfelt rhetoric about freedom, liberty and independence, the American Revolution was indeed a civil war; people of good conscience fought and died on both sides. One of the “Fallen” characters laments “how easily the tender ties of kin and sympathy are severed” by deep political divisions, leading to tragic results. Perhaps every generation needs to be reminded of this.
5. What is a play that changed your life and how?
Lauren Gunderson’s “Emilie, la Marquise du Chatelet Defends her Life.” I saw it at Confetti Stage, directed by Laura Darling. I was just gobsmacked. That is the kind of theatrical experience I want to see, that I want to create. Beautifully written, big ideas, highlighting poignant figures from history who deserve attention, and yeah, period costumes.
Note: The award-winning Confetti Stage was incorporated in 2004 and produced its inaugural production, ‘night, Mother, by Marsha Norman in January 2005. Since then, the company has successfully brought to the stage over 40 productions. Confetti Stage has performed in several Capital Region communities and as far away as Carmel, IN. Confetti Stage prides itself on bringing quality performances to its community and allowing artists to expand their talents while collaborating to bring about a final product. Confetti Stage offers a full season of quality community theatre every year, as well as the area’s only 100% local Short Play Festival. Confetti Stage is a proud member of the American Association of Community Theatre and the Theatre Association of New York State.
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