Artistic Statement

Artistic Statement

The quirks of contemporary culture have always fascinated me. But rather than make my observations the fodder for standup, a pithy tweet or a sociological dissertation, I choose to transform my insights into theatre. I believe that the perplexities and paradoxes of life are most captivating and thought provoking when animated on the stage. And so, with a few outstanding actors, some simple second-hand props and beat up set pieces, I have spent more than a decade writing scripts, directing, and performing my perspective on the world around me.
For example, I am intrigued by our worship of reality TV stars. With two roller blading actors and another actor on a bench, I created my award-winning 10-minute play, And Through Kim We Are Saved—with apologies to Kim Kardashian who inspired it. The occasionally antagonistic relationship between homegrown Southerners and Northern transplants in my native Southeastern US was explored onstage with two actors (playing tennis players) and a tennis net in my one act, The Great Divide. And the American phenomenon of purchasing cars based on our aspirational self-identities was examined with four folding chairs and four actors including one who portrayed a variety of vehicles. That was my play Car Talk which has been performed in 10 states and three continents.
Aside from a pointed interest in our current culture, there is another common element in my work--comedy. I love to laugh, and I love to make other people laugh. But rather than go for cheap jokes, I strive to create plays that comedically amplify the absurdity in the world as I see it. And if there is truth in my perspective, the audience responds with laughter. "The bigger the laughs, the bigger the truth" is my mantra. But I am not content to just settle for laughs. I want to make people think. The audience likes to see people portrayed onstage whom they recognize in real life. But I believe it is also important to illuminate the inherent biases in those characters with whom they identify. For example, in my comedic one act, Hellbound for Carolina Heaven about a mom obsessed with getting her high school daughter into UNC-Chapel Hill, I subtly exposed the white privilege that the mom unknowingly wielded. In my most recent full-length play, Thanksgiving: 2016, I sought to reveal the hypocrisies of all four of the characters-- the liberal attorney father, the unapologetically capitalist wife, the politically apathetic son and the son's Trump-supporting girlfriend. In this play, audience reactions after the play are as important as their reactions during the play. The laughs not only derive from the familiar family dynamics, but the uncomfortable truths exposed in these characters who are blind to their own biases.
My characters are not the kind of people you want as friends. They are greedy, delusional, vain and desperate. But they are only slightly exaggerated versions of the people I encounter in my everyday existence. For example, in my new climate crisis comedy that I am currently revising as an MFA candidate, Lawn and Order, I am writing about the absurdity of America's obsession with their lawns and the environmental apathy of our suburbs. The protagonist, Frank, believes that having a perfect, weed-free lawn proves his worth as a solid neighbor and overall upstanding American citizen. I find that absurd. But I am grateful. Because the self-righteous, outrageously unaware people like Frank may annoy me in real life but inspire me in my imaginary life as a playwright who is always looking to illuminate the craziness of contemporary society.