1. TWO OF US is a recent play you’ve submitted to The Baltimore Playwrights Festival. What is it about?
TWO OF US is a two act comedy focusing on how friendships and relationships can fray, about the disconnect that can set in, and how differently people react to similar experiences. In TWO OF US, these themes are explored following the friendship of Madi and Casey. Madi is a teacher. She’s organized and prepared and life with her fiance Parker will be perfect. Probably.
Casey is a singer. She’s passionate and fool-hardy and not organized, which means she forgets important things — like telling Boyd, who she drunkenly married in Vegas, critical information that will impact their future.
All relationships — including friendships — change over time. When Madi and Casey’s divergent lifestyles lead to a fight, they set off in opposite directions, but their lives follow similar paths. They marry, they fight, they miss each other, and come close to reconnecting, but not quite.
There’s also a conversation with a pineapple, so clearly something for everyone.
2. When did the theme of the play become apparent to you, and how did that knowledge impact the play’s development?
With a creative project like this, there is usually a distinct event or idea that gets the ball rolling. Heck, I wrote a book entitled SEX, MONEY, GOOD GRADES & OTHER THINGS YOU WON’T GET IN COLLEGE that was inspired by the memory of me crying after receiving a care package from my parents when I was a freshman at Lock Haven University. Something gets me thinking about a topic, then I figure out what to do with it. As I’m writing, the idea evolves and changes until it becomes what it should be.
For TWO OF US, that germ of an idea started with someone I knew from theatre in Baltimore a few decades back. Not long after my twins, Logan & London, were born, a friend reconnected. We hadn’t been in touch because of a fracture in our friendship that took both of us growing up a little to heal. After we began talking, we discovered our lives had followed similar trajectories and it got me thinking about the way lives of those dear to us continue after losing touch.
3. Where do you get your ideas from? How do you know an idea has legs?
Most of my ideas are taken from real life experiences (like the above mentioned care package) and I twist stuff around in my head with a healthy dose of ‘What If?’
If I’m really lucky, those ideas continue to grow and change to become something special. Too often, they end up in the circular file. I don’t often know if my writing has legs until the characters start ‘writing themselves.’ My best work is that where I re-read it and am shocked by what is created. There are a few passages in TWO OF US where I was surprised by what the characters said. Seriously, I have no idea where the pineapple conversation came from, but it makes me laugh each time I read it.
4. Tell us about yourself.
Me? Oof. I’m not that interesting. I have a job and a family and too many pets. I grew up loving comic books, music, movies and books. I know too much arcane superhero trivia and 90’s alternative rock factoids. I’ve been involved with theatre in some way for most of my life, regardless of where I lived or what was going on in my life. I’m active in the world of podcasting and I’ve been performing with Ovation Dinner Theatre for the last three years. I think theatre and live performance is something that’s taken for granted and this past year has made us more aware of its value.
5. What are you working on now?
I am in the middle of releasing Say Yes – A Weekly Radio Play via podcast. I probably wouldn’t have done it as a radio play if not for the current limits on live performance. It follows a couple who has a one night stand and ends up living happily ever after (OR DO THEY?!).
I am the Host/Co-Founder of the Cosmic Geppetto Podcast, where we interview cool people about cool stuff like books and movies and music. On occasion, episodes feature scripted skits I’ve written and somehow convince suckers talented individuals to lend their time and abilities.
6. What is coming up next for you?
I am working on what I am calling a coffee house musical. It’s something that would lend itself to an intimate performance space. The play follows a musician who encounters someone important from his past. The book is written, but the music needs work. Lotta guitars and pianos mixed with the small stakes but big emotions I like in my writing. It is unlikely you’ll ever see something written by me that involves the word DEFCON.