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HOW THE WORLD BEGAN
Righteousness is a powerful thing. Without righteousness we wouldn't have had the abolition movement, the feminist movement, or the civil rights moment. And righteousness depends upon an element of intolerance. The civil rights movement said: your ignorance and prejudice will be tolerated no longer. The tricky business, however, is checking ourselves so that righteousness doesn't turn into self-righteousness, which is boastful and not conducive to changing people's minds about anything. It is a very delicate line, whatever one's cause, whether it be environmentalism, feminism, the abolition of sexual slavery or the advancement of Christendom. To disagree with your "enemy" and yet see the humanity in them, to allow them to be absolutely wrong and yet still view them as your equal is a Herculean task. I suppose, it wouldn't be too far fetched to say that this task is central to who I am as a writer. I love creating characters with extreme positions and terrific flaws and then finding the humanity within. Frankly, it is much easier to do with imaginary people than real ones. At the end of the day, I'm not sure I'm capable of seeing the humanity in sex traffickers. Having lived in the South, the Midwest and New York City, have your life experiences in these different places influenced HOW THE WORLD BEGAN? Certainly I wouldn't have written this play if I hadn't moved to Western Kansas. While I was peripherally aware of the creationist/evolution debate, it was not front and central until I moved to Hays, where the first year here, I must have attended three different forums on the issue. What struck me about these forums was not the arguments, such as they are, but the characters, on both sides, who so passionately argued their positions. I became fascinated by what's at stake for fundamentalist Christians in denying evolution, when there are plenty of Christian traditions that have no problem reconciling faith and evolution. I was also struck by the inability of the pro-science representatives to really hear and respond to the concerns of the other side in a productive way. I think it's central to productive debate for people to feel heard and respected, and if that doesn't happen, then minds will not change. How the World Began isn't a play of ideas, in the tradition of Inherit the Wind; more than anything it's about human psychology and what drives us to extreme ideological positions in times of duress. As a practicing Episcopalian living the heartland, was it challenging to write a play that explores the more conservative views of other Christian traditions? WP doesn't just support "the play"; they support the whole artist. They have stood beside me through good reviews and bad; half-baked plays and finished ones. If I need to hear a play, they organize a reading. If I need honest and constructive criticism, they provide it. If I need to be picked up off floor of discouragement and dusted off, they do that too. Every playwright should be so lucky to have this kind of relationship with a producing theatre. How relevant is WP for early career women artists in the US and internationally? It is essential. The WP Labs are so unique, because they foster playwrights, directors and producers. They develop work, but they also produce work, and there is nothing that grows a writer like seeing her work produced on a stage in front of live bodies. And finally, as you have lived in both New York and Kansas, what’s one of your favorite day-to-day experiences in both places? In NY, I love heading up to Fort Tryon park with friends, drinking these out-of-the-world mojitos they make at the little restaurant, and chilling out in the Cloisters for a couple of hours with a nice buzz and lots of medieval art. In Kansas, I love taking my kids for a walk around a horse farm near us, where we spend the time naming things: gelding, goose, Elm tree, Mulberry bush, Cottonwood. It's divine in its simplicity. Click here to meet the cast & creative team.
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The characters in HOW THE WORLD BEGAN have strong views and experience difficulty finding middle ground. Why do you think people find it hard to embrace ideals of tolerance and acceptance of beliefs that differ from their own? And what attracts you to writing about the differences that exist between us?
