Find Your Writer

So here's part one: find your writer. This is not about how to work with your playwright which is far more important, substantive and complex. Its just about finding your writer.

After the success of valparaiso by don delillo with the rude mechanicals, I was able to wrangle a number of meetings. One of which, through amy potozkin at berkeley rep, was with tim sanford of playwrights horizons.

His advice: find your writer. If you want to do new plays, look for a writer who is at your level career-wise, who is as hungry as you are, who you connect with. Start working with him or her however you can, as often as you can, any way you can.

Earn enough trust from the playwright so that you are "attached" to the material. When you meet with literary managers, pitch that writer. Offer to do a reading of a play of theirs that you like and that you have some ideas for.

Obviously, you must really connect to this writer's voice, and that's the challenge: how do you find each other?

I got lucky.

Through Delillo I met Will Eno. Will sent me a copy of Tragedy: A Tragedy. I loved it. I loved his voice and his humor. And his sensitivity. But most of all, here was a peer. Someone I see eye to eye with about theater

A few months after valparaiso's run, I did a reading of tragedy with the rude mechanicals and will and i started working together. A workshop of king: a problem play (also how I met keith reddin), another reading of tragedy, a short play of his for the rude mechanicals.

Inevitably, we kept working together - and I directed a ten-minute version of thom pain for naked angels as part of their issues project series.

I worked on several applications for grants with him. And we worked together on a new play that the rude mechanicals commissioned. Ultimately, I directed his first full fledged new york production, the flu season, which won will an oppenheimer award. And before closing night in feb of 2004, we flew ourselves to london, where nina steiger of soho theatre got us a workshop of the full length thom pain with james urbaniak.

Thom Pain was produced by soho theater, taken to the fringe, where james won best actor of the festival Soon after, daryl roth and bob boyette produced the show at the dr2 and well, you might know the rest. Or not.

The important thing is that in will, I had found my first writer. We developed a great synergy and I truly connected to his language, his humor, his pathos. And he's a great guy. We have a lot of fun together. And you want that too if you can find that.

Anyway, its a good example of finding your writer. I'd modify that slightly: find your writers. You have to, if you want to eat. But you have to start with one person.