Hometown: Doylestown, PA
Education: NYU, BFA Dramatic Writing (2016)
Favorite Credits: I once played Javert in my high-school production of Les Mis. I was a very noodly Javert.
Why theater?: I wrote a lot of TV pilots in college, but every scene has to be three minutes tops and can be super constricting. I can write dialogue for hours and theater lets you do that. I like the idea that you in the audience could spend ten-minutes feeling like you’re there in the room, watching TV with people that don’t exist.
Tell us about Our Dead Friend’s Porn: It’s a play about three friends who break into childhood bedroom of their friend who died in high-school, so they can destroy the massive porn collection he left behind. In the magazines they find his old journal, which spurs on a series of flashbacks, forcing them to decide what really happened the night he died and whether or not they caused it.
What inspired you to write Our Dead Friend’s Porn?: I read a story online about someone doing this exact thing. Then I started talking to a lot of guys who were like “Oh yeah all of my friends have a pact to throw my laptop in the river if I ever die.” That whole situation is so dark, and weird and kind of cute. I liked imagining how people would handle that awkwardness. Joel Kirk, the director, read the first draft and thought we could really make something out of it so we just kept making it more and more awkward.
What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Kenneth Lonergan really picks up on the rhythm of way people talk. His movie "Margaret" has one of the best mother-daughter fights scenes. The ending of This Is Our Youth inspired a lot of this play. I’ve learned a lot from the way he does dialogue.
If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: One day, if Kathryn Hahn ever reads a word of my dialogue, I will shit myself.
What show have you recommended to your friends?: The Wolves – does more than most plays in 80 minutes. It made me cry. It’s the most I’ve ever cared about soccer.
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: Spring Awakening. Which I honestly have no excuse for – I just forgot to buy tickets both times.
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: I buy lots and lots of cheese and make fancy platters out of them at cocktail parties. It’s a surprisingly expensive and embarrassing hobby.
If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: A lawyer. I like arguing. I’d also like not being poor.
What’s up next?: Back to writing -- I’m working on a play about assistants at a talent agency. Hopefully my coworkers don’t read this. I also have a two-man show about relationships that I want to act in. Overall, work with more good people. Putting this show together was so fun because of the people.
For more on My Dead Friend's Porn, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1058739920921986/
