Playwrights
Claudia Allen and
Joel Drake Johnson
March through July, openly lesbian and gay Chicago playwrights Claudia Allen and Joel Drake Johnson see the new fruits of their labor. Between the two writers, three of their plays are being produced in Chicago. Both writers are Resident Playwrights at the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theater. Currently at Victory Gardens, Claudia Allen's play, Unspoken Prayers, starring All My Children's Taylor Miller (Nina Cortland), speaks to the controversial topic of the death penalty. In late April and May her comedic lesbian play, Dutch Love premieres at Bailiwick Theatre. And late May through July Victory Gardens presents Joel Drake Johnson's The End of the Tour, a funny and touching story of a gay man going home to Dixon, Ill., the birthplace of Ronald Reagan, with his lover.
Claudia Allen: So Joel, do you feel more like a gay playwright or a 'regular' playwright?
Joel Drake Johnson: I feel more like a regular playwright. Because I feel like I write about the world I know, not just the gay world.
CA: But the gay part is incredibly important to us.
JDJ: It is very important to me. I actually pledged to myself to never write a play without a gay character in it. I stopped doing that. But at one point, I thought it was really important to always have a gay character. What about you?
CA: I too define myself more as a playwright. You know, many things are attached—a woman playwright, a gay playwright. I do think that I write about my life and part of that is being gay, but part of that is about my grandma, and she wasn't gay as far as I know. I write about all sorts of things. Somebody when I first started writing gay plays, and he has actually gone on to make lots of money not writing gay plays, worried that I was putting myself in the gay ghetto. But it was really important to me to write about everything. I wasn't going to cut off my arm and just write things to make money. I wanted to write plays I wanted to see. And to be honest, in the '80s, there weren't many gay plays to see. Nothing I was really entertained by. So the first reason I am a 'gay' playwright is for my own entertainment.
JDJ: Well you are not a gay ghetto playwright at all … though a lot of your plays deal with gay relationships.
CA: Half or less are gay plays. It also depends on what you write that gets produced. Depending on what you see of mine you think I write plays with lesbian characters or you think I write really serious Michigan porch plays. It depends on what you've seen. I do hope (audiences) give them all a chance. What about your new play, The End of the Tour? What would you classify that (piece)?
JDJ: One of the reasons I wrote it, is I love the people I have worked with and (there are some actors) I worked with back in '98 and I wrote the play with them in mind. I love writing for actors. It helps.
CA: It does help you hear the voices in your head. As opposed to the scary voices in your head!
JDJ: Exactly. So I had these five actors and this director who I loved and I wanted to write a piece that I thought could bring us all back together. That was one of the biggest reasons I wrote it. And also, the more and more memorabilia came out with Reagan and the more that Dixon (Illinois) became known as the hometown of Reagan, and this weird juxtaposition of this gay kid, me, who came out in a town that was the home of Reagan, this homophobic president. He did a lot of bad things for our community. I mean (in essence) killed gay people (if we look) at the AIDS issue.
CA: So you are saying you are not proud to come from there? You are a child of Dix but not a big fan of Ronald. But it was your home.
JDJ: (laughing) Yes it was.
CA: You don't want to be too happy in your home or you wouldn't be writing plays! Somebody asked me once why don't you write about Ann Arbor? And I said I was happy there. So far I have never written a play set there.
JDJ: Talk to me a little about Unspoken Prayers.
CA: I came at it a little more intellectually than I usually do. It became a very personally gut-wrenching play. I had done a production of Hannah Free in a small conservative town and we had some great discussions. People were really surprised by the reception the play got and it reminded me how important theatre is. And how you can make people think and talk and feel things by putting a face on an issue. I started thinking about the death penalty a few years ago. I thought I wanted to write something very pompous with everybody holding forth with speeches and (the show would last) eight hours, but then I came to my senses! After a lot of research I found that I could approach the issue very personally in a way that would affect the audience. Basically I asked the question, how would you feel if it was your family? If your sister was murdered or your child? It's a question. And hopefully the audience comes up with their own answer.
JDJ: Was it difficult for you to sit so close to the piece?
CA: It was a depressing Fall. I spent the Fall of 9/11 reading on the death penalty. I would turn off the coverage (on the TV) of 9/11 and then go read research on death-row inmates. But once I figured out who my characters were, it was easier
JDJ: Can I ask you how you stand on the death penalty?
CA: I am anti- (death penalty). But I can see both sides of it. That is something that bothered me about other theatre and movies I had seen (on the topic). I think they hit you over the head with whichever is their side. And I think both sides are honest. They really deeply believe. I wanted to hear both sides.
JDJ: If someone killed someone in my family I would probably want revenge. I do understand the two sides of the issue.
CA: Well it is a very serious play. So, I am looking forward to my play, Dutch Love, being produced at the Bailiwick. Cause everybody is going to need a laugh! It is a very silly play that I wrote based on a friend who was telling me about his marriage of some 30 years. He and his wife had a really nice companionship but there was a point where after they had been married maybe 25 years she started seeing somebody. He had been flagrantly chasing around and she (his wife) started seeing another woman, and he felt a little outraged about it. We had a funny conversation in a restaurant about this and it became Dutch Love.
JDJ: When does it open?
CA: April 24 so there is overlap. My out-of-town friends can come to Chicago and see them both.
JDJ: What does 'dutch love' mean?
CA: It's an old expression of my grandmothers 'hotter than dutch love.' And there is a old neighbor woman, Edna, of (mine) and she said the whole expression is 'hotter than dutch love and hey now.' There is a character in the play named Dutch who is a scruffy mechanic, a very butch mechanic.
JDJ: It's a wonderful play.
CA: Well I think (when I wrote it) it was ahead of its time. It is a good date play. Now, you said you wrote Tour specifically because you wanted it to play at Victory Gardens with its cast and crew.
JDJ: Yes. Truly a lovely experience in all ways. I love how much the playwright is involved in the actual production (at Victory Gardens). You are made to feel a part of not only the play but also the production and you have an ownership of what happens. It is incredibly generous here and there is a smart spirit with both Sandy (Shinner) and Dennis (Zacek) as directors (of our plays). I have never worked with Dennis but in working with Sandy, it is incredibly generous how she allows everybody to take part in the process and the rehearsal period.
CA: Sandy really serves the play. Some directors have the style of 'look at me, look at me' but she really does what is best for the play. And so is Dennis, having just worked with him (on Prayers). They are both always paying attention to what you want in putting your vision there. It is exciting to get to see the first production of your play.
JDJ: Something about the atmosphere here makes you feel welcome and special.
CA: One of the ushers asked me for my autograph today. So how special is that! There is something about this building with all of the theatre going on and in giving other theatres a home too. I remember when Julie Harris came do a reading (for me) before she had done any of my plays, she walked in the door and she loved the atmosphere and the promotion of new work.
JDJ: The fact that she wanted to work here says a lot.
CA: And she wants to come back. So I have written her a new play called Hanging Fire and she is going to come back next year. So for those of you who want to see the woman who kissed James Dean come on down! Well, you are going to be hanging out in a big establishment next year, Steppenwolf.
JDJ: They are doing a play of mine (The Fall to Earth) that was originally read here at Victory Gardens. It opens in the Steppenwolf Studio in April of next year. They've also commissioned me to write another play.
CA: You are a hot playwright Joel Drake Johnson!
JDJ: People have been coming up to me and saying it is really great that you are getting a production at Steppenwolf. And I just say, Yeah, it's really neat. It has taken forever. It does take a long time. But Thank God. You have to keep at it. I am really excited about working at Steppenwolf and about continuing my relationship with Victory Gardens.
CA: You teach high school. Are you out?
JDJ: I don't wear a banner but I start really being out when my plays (get produced)…
CA: Cause I could see somebody thinking you were a straight playwright.
JDJ: Yeah, yeah. (laughing) Students have been to see my shows, many of which are really gay.
CA: Do you think it helps your gay students be who they are in your classes?
JDJ: I think students feel comfortable to write about what they want to write about and I talk about taking from your own life in how you approach writing plays. How about you? (You teach) on the college level.
CA: I somehow find a way to mention that I am gay in the first class. I feel I have to share my story and if there is a gay student there that is great. Of course if they think I am a jerk then it is a bad advertisement for the gay thing. But we are our material. I do think it is important to be as out as possible. It is important to me to feel that freedom.
JDJ: I just directed the Laramie Project with my students and I had no problems getting it produced and we had a wonderful reception to it. You can't do that everywhere.
CA: I am teaching in Michigan right now and I had a student write a scene about a young girl whose mother really wanted her to be gay and she's not. She's trying to please mom and dad but she just can't be gay and I thought that was a really funny phenomenon.
JDJ: I have had some students write one-act plays about being gay. That is a great thing about even public schools. Things are becoming more out and open.
CA: Students do make me feel hopeful in this dark time. There are some incredible kids coming up. They are not threatened in the way people our age were at 18. I think it is important for them to see us being open and cool about (our sexuality.)
JDJ: What really drives you to write? Besides the money. (Both laugh loudly)
CA: I think I come from a long line of storytellers and I love to have people listen to my stories.
JDJ: One of the reasons I write, ultimately, is that I love working with the actors.
CA: I think it is a real choice to be that kind of a collaborative artist. I think we both prefer playing with people than sitting in our dark cubicles writing deep prose. But it's scary to hand your material over to actors and a director. It feels like jumping off a cliff and you hope you fly!
JDJ: That's exactly what it feels like. It's scary. And it's exciting!
Victory Gardens' production of Unspoken Prayers by Claudia Allen runs through May 4. Followed by Joel Drake Johnson's dramatic comedy The End of the Tour May 23-July 6. Both shows play at Victory Gardens Theatre 2257 N. Lincoln Avenue. For tickets call the box office at 773-871-3000 or visit www.ticketweb.com .
Opening April 28 is Claudia Allen's comedy Dutch Love playing at Bailiwick Theatre 1229 W. Belmont through June 1. For tickets and information call 773-883-1090 or visit www.bailiwick.org .
