EBE Ensemble

Today we feature Libby Emmons, playwright of “leaving last night.” Her past work includes: Co-producer: Blue Box’s Sticky. Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission 2009. “The Worm Turns at the Fort Peck Hotel,” 2009 NY Theatre Review. Film: “I Miss You” Acorn Films, LA, 2010; “Malcolm & Margerie,” 2010.  Full-lengths: The Girls From Afar, reading: East West Players, LA; Desipina, NYC.; finalist Yale Drama Series 2010; The Little Room, short listed: BBC’s 2009 Radio Play Competition. Shorts: NYC, LA, Buffalo, Sacramento, New Zealand, Argentina; Collaborator: Polybe + Seats.  She holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence and an MFA from Columbia.

Coming up on Wednesday, our interview with Rhea MacCallum (“Selling Beaver”).

How long have you been writing plays? What made you first dive into playwriting?
I’ve been writing plays since I was about 14. My first experience with the form was in a European history class. The assignment was to write an interview between Chaucer and the sculptor Raphael. It was bawdy, and I was hooked on dialogue.

So far, what has been your most exciting experience as a playwright?
That’s a hard one, there’ve been alot of good times. One experience that stands out though is a play my husband/collaborator David Marcus and I co-produced at Theatre Double in Philadelphia about 2001. The play was mine, called Decomposition in Blue and White, and while by all accounts it was confusing and at times non-sensical, it made me feel naked. We were pretty bare bones on the production, so Dave’s brother Jon and I were the running crew, with Dave and an intern on lights and sound. The set, however, was pretty complicated. I’d talked an architect friend of mine into designing and building the set, and he went nuts. It was made of complex moving parts while being very concise, and because he’d never built a set before, the thing was built to withstand like gale force winds. One aspect of the play was that alot of it took place in a marsh. And there were these little vases built into the stage to hold the catoninetails, and it was my job to put them in before the climactic last scene. For whatever reason this was very exciting to me.

Let’s talk about “leaving last night.” Was there any particular inspiration for it? What has the writing process been like on this play compared to the rest of your work?
I wrote leaving last night after reading way too much tfln and fmylife. I got a little obsessed with it, and thinking through all my weird, unintelligible morning afters. The reason the obsession took this form was that a friend of mine in LA said she was looking for one acts with five characters, so I wrote it up fast to get it to her. Then it turned out I had misread her email: she was looking for nothing too edgy, which I read as nothing is too edgy. She didn’t do the play.

As a playwright, what do you find interesting, helpful, or difficult about rehearsals? What do you feel is the playwright’s position in the rehearsal process?
I think there’s too much apprehension between director and playwright. We’re all on the same team, we’re all working toward the same goal: to tell the same story in a compelling, entertaining, thoughtful way. I don’t believe in all this: playwright sits in the back and doesn’t say anything except to occasionally, cryptically whisper to the director. The playwright isn’t a threat to the director’s authority unless the director hasn’t earned their authority to begin with. I like being at rehearsals, it’s a blast, and sometimes it’s helpful for the director and cast to be able to ask a question they may not have the answer to. Also working with actors and directors is great, they often offer invaluable insights into the work.

How important are actors in your writing process? Do you have paticular voices in mind as you write? How important are readings and workshops in the development of your work?
This really depends on the piece. But generally I would say that I write for actors and am most excited when actors are into the characters, the work. Sometimes an actor gets stuck in my head and their rythms become character rythms. My husband is an actor and in most of my plays there’s a role I can point to and say that’s the Dave role.

What kind of theater excites you? To you have any particular productions or moments as an audience member that stick out in your mind?
I like theater that’s experiential. One experience that’s stood out for me is an early one. When I was 17 I spent the summer in NYC studying acting, and we went to see this play. I don’t remember where, or what it was called, but it was about this guy, a traveller to a smasl town, who falls in with some disreputable types and gets himself killed in a wheatfield. It was loud while at the same time being meditatively calm and I was enraptured by it.

Do you have any advice people writing their first plays?
Do it for fun, do it because you love it, produce your own work, find a day job that doesn’t get in the way but also doesn’t kill your soul.

Check out Libby Emmons’ “leaving last night” in Elephants on Parade 2010, running March 10-20, 2010 at Teatro IATI, 64 east 4th st., part of the FAB arts block. For more information on the show, visit www.ebeensemble.com, or to buy tickets visit us on SmartTix.