Bekah Brunstetter is playwright of Oohrah!, currently running as part of Steppenwolf’s Garage Rep.
Characters and how they’re not robots, but people
Today on playwriting, and how it’s the strangest and most incredible thing: as playwrights, we give birth to other human beings. At first we don’t really know who they are; we feed them, we argue with them, we leave passive aggressive notes for them, we question their life choices, we hug them. Eventually, they start to think and act on their own. We realize that the character is not a robot for our poetry or agenda, but an actual human being. By this point, the play’s usually all the way through previews when you are finally like, aha. This is why I love it when a play gets a second chance (thanks, LiveWire! Why thanks, Steppenwolf!) – it affords me to opportunity to give my character-babies a second go at really being the people that they are. I was able to work back through Oohrah! with a fresh perspective, and a fresh set of dramaturgical eyes, and make sure that the characters – specifically sisters Abby and Sarah – were always being true to themselves, and not just being yanked around by my evil playwright puppet strings. (For more info on actual Robots, and how they will soon be taking over the world, and my crush on Ray Kurzweil, please visit www.bekahbrunstetter.com)
Posted by Christopher Shea