Jack Gohn is the Librarian for Baltimore Theatre Festival (BPF). He is also an accomplished playwright. Jack’s new play, entitled Quitting Time, opens at Baltimore Theatre Project on February 21. It is produced by Theatrical Mining Company and is directed by Barry Feinstein.
https://theatreproject.org/quitting-time/
Jack sat down with BPF Board Advisor Larry Lambert to discuss the play, his writing and his process.
L – What is the premise of Quitting Time?
J – Retirement holds no allure for Robert, a senior science professor. His career still gives his life meaning. When Kim, his younger department chair, tries to force Robert out by reducing his pay and confiscating his equipment, he refuses to go quietly. In the ensuing battle, there are no prisoners taken.
L – Why did you decide to write Quitting Time?
J – I wanted to address the prospects and the choices for those nearing the endings of their careers and their lives.
L – What inspired you to write Quitting Time?
J – The play was developed over the month of July 2018. It evolved from an overall piece about toxicity of big corporate workplaces to a more intimate focus even though it involves a big state university. By the beginning of December 2018, I had a completed first draft, one that I completed over a five-day trans-Atlantic cruise. I highly recommend this process.
L – Did you ever experience a similar situation?
J – At 75 I’ve experienced growing older issues, but nobody ever fired me or told me to quit a job. I did choose to leave one workplace where I no longer felt welcome.
L – What in your work history led you to become a playwright?
J – Actually, nothing in my work history. I made the choice to retire seven years ago and I knew there were things I wanted to do. I had been writing theater reviews since 2009 for BroadwayWorld.com. I think I started playwriting around 2015 and this was a logical progression.
Upon retirement I had been writing plays for three years already. Retirement gave me the opportunity to further explore play writing.
L – Your work as BPF Librarian exposes you to many, many play submissions from local playwrights. Have any of them influenced your writing?
J – I don’t think so. It is humbling to see the riches of talent and skill in the 50 plays we consider each year. I’m not immune to other pieces but they haven’t moved me to change my style. We announce the ten or so top plays a year but there is a wealth of startling merit in all the submissions. I can look at a script and say I wish I’d written that, but I don’t actually find myself saying that that gives me a way of making my own work better or more interesting.
L – Did you have a general structure in mind when you sat down to write Quitting Time, or did it evolve over time?
J – In my playwriting characters generally come first and then situations. The idea grew over a month. The play has gone through enormous revisions. It went through eight drafts before going to the director (Barry Feinstein). There have been nine drafts since then. It got shortened quite a bit but lengthened in some places. Much of the current structure was developed in response to the director’s suggestions. For example, one character was originally offstage but now is an on-stage presence.
L – Was Quitting Time ever a staged reading?
J – Yes, there were two readings before this production. The first reading was a pandemic zoom reading staged by Country Players, a local company that gives private performances. It was directed by Russ Morris. One of the attendees was a scientist who had a similar story.
The second reading courtesy of my law club, the Wranglers, when the pandemic was lifting. Act One was performed outdoors in a gazebo on a golf course. There were 20+ people there in the audience.
L – How hard was it to translate Quitting Time into a full production?
J – In a sense it was really easy. The participants brought more background and form to the production. Now I can sit back and do some other things, like rewriting and photography. I’m not in the driver’s seat now and it’s fine by me.
L – How do you determine the effectiveness of a director translating your words into action?
J – If the director is getting the actors to understand their character, then the director is doing his job. Even though I know what words are coming there’s an element of tension and an element of surprise and it is exciting to see them develop.
L – Where do you go from here?
J – My play, What Was Done, originally produced under the auspices of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival, will be receiving a second production at Opening Night Productions, in Indian Head, Maryland. That’s in Charles County, which is the setting of much of the play.
I would like to stage some plays that are in my drawer. I want to keep on writing plays and finding directors who can make them sparkle.