Playwright Archives - James Hutchison

Interview with Derek Webb – Playwright

Posted on September 26, 2021October 15, 2024 by James Hutchison

Shaun Chambers and Matthew Parker in *The Invisible Man* by H.G. Wells adapted for the stage by Derek Webb, at The Jack Studio Theatre, London.

“The Invisible Man is a gem… this wonderful story is chock-full of fifteen characters – excluding the titular Invisible Man – all brilliantly realized by a super-creative and multi-talented company of three actors undoubtedly putting the force into tour de force! This is a master class in extended acting and characterization… a smart, tirelessly inventive telling of this enduring tale.” ★★★★★ The Review Chap

That’s just one of several four and five-star reviews for playwright Derek Webb’s adaptation of The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells which had a highly successful run in London at the Jack Studio Theatre a few months before COVID shut things down. In addition to being a prolific and successful playwright, Derek is also the founder of the Pint-sized Plays Festival which presents plays in Pubs during the Tenby Arts Festival and culminates in a script slam presentation on stage at Theatr Gwaun in Fishguard, Wales.

Now almost two years after The Invisible Man last appeared – or didn’t appear on stage – theatres are starting to cautiously welcome patrons back to live performances. I contacted Derek at the end of August to chat with him about his writing and this year’s Pint-sized Plays Festival which features favourite plays from previous years including my own ten-minute comedy Never Give Up.

JAMES HUTCHISON

I read that since 2001 you’ve lived in North Pembrokeshire, and I’m wondering what’s the community like – the people – the culture – what is it about the area that made you want to make this home?

DEREK WEBB

Well, we lived in Surrey near London, and we had been down to Pembrokeshire many times on holiday. I was working as a freelance copywriter with some companies down in Swansea and Cardiff, and I used to come down to South Wales quite often, and property prices down here were about a tenth of what they were in London, of course, and we found a house and fell in love with it, and we decided to move down.

We’re in North Pembrokeshire which is predominantly Welsh-speaking. It’s the language of the home. But we found it absolutely charming. And they were just lovely people and very welcoming and not standoffish at all. We just loved the people and love the place.

JAMES

You’re a playwright and author and a poet and so when you go to the theatre what are your hopes when you’re sitting there and the lights are going down and the curtain is about to rise.

DEREK

There are plays which you can watch and it’s like you’re looking through a window at it, and there are other plays where you’re actually there. You’re actually taken away. And those stories are the ones that stick in my memory. And it’s such a wonderful thing because it’s live. Because it changes night by night, and because it can be totally immersive and involving. Unlike cinema or television, there’s no actual barrier at all. It’s live. It’s life.

JAMES

Is there a play or two that you can share with us that sticks in your memory?

DEREK

Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia is just wonderful. I think it’s probably my favourite play actually. There’s layer upon layer upon layer of things happening. It’s in two different time frames, but things coalesce at the end. It’s quite magical.

And another play that sticks in my memory is David Mamet’s Oleanna which is actually running in London at the moment. I remember seeing it a good few years ago now with Lia Williams and David Suchet. And it’s very, very relevant now because of the #MeToo movement. It’s that sort of thing. The university professor and the student, and turning tables and not knowing, as an audience, which one to back. It’s wonderfully involving. Those are the two that sort of strike me immediately.

JAMES

How did the idea for the Pint-sized Plays Festival come to you?

DEREK

Tenby is a small seaside town in Pembrokeshire. And each year they have an arts festival which is fairly low-key. There are two or three proper venues, and they have talks and music and a few other things. It’s not a big festival. It’s just a week.

I’d been involved with theatre companies writing and acting and directing, and I felt that the theatre world still seemed to be very elitist. And the inspiration for the idea was to try and create something that took theatre literally to the people.

I was talking with a committee member of the Tenby Arts Festival, Chris Sierwald, and the idea was about doing plays in actual pubs and not pub theatres. That was the important distinction. Not in a pub theatre. So, not in a dedicated space, but actually doing it in the pub itself – in the bar area. And we thought we’d just try it. So we started a competition and had a hundred and fifty-odd entries or whatever, which was quite good from a standing start, I thought. And we ended up with six winners and four runners up. The idea was that we’d run the six winners in pubs in Tenby over two nights, and then all ten plays would go up to a theatre in North Fishguard where we’d have a script slam, where the audience gets to vote for their favourite play and favourite script.

Chris, my contact at the Tenby Arts Festival, who was well known in the town, stood up and said, “Ladies and gentlemen we’re going to do these plays here in the pub.” And then, with a lot of trepidation, I stood up and said, “And the first play we’re doing is – and announced the play.” And what was amazing was that this pub that was really busy with a lot of people talking went quiet and they listened to the play. I have to admit I was surprised at how well it went down – and relieved! These weren’t theatre audiences, you know. These were pub people. Out for a drink.

JAMES

So, what type of play works really well in a pub?

DEREK

Mainly comedies but we had a play called, Sorry, which was basically two monologues to the audience really. There’s a woman talking about how this kid had broken into her home and he’d stolen, and then there was a monologue from the kid, and at the end of the play there’s a scene where the two meet for a sort of reconciliation because he’d been arrested, and it turns out that he’s actually her son. It worked really well. I was worried about putting that one up because most of the things have been comedies, but it worked, and subsequently we’ve done a few dramas and, by and large, they have worked as well. The audience has been appreciative. Which is extraordinary because if you asked a lot of these people, “When did you last go to the theatre?” They’d say, “I’ve never been to a theatre.” And yet they were there obviously understanding and enjoying the play.

JAMES

How has COVID impacted things?

DEREK

In 2020 COVID hit here in March by which time the competition was underway. So, the Tenby Arts Festival decided to cancel. They weren’t going to run anything. So, we ended up videoing all the plays and all ten winners went up on YouTube.

This year we didn’t have a competition, and we’re actually in rehearsals at the moment because we’re going to run the Pick of Pint-sized Plays – which isn’t the best of – it just happens to be plays that the actors and directors have done in the past and said they’d like to do again.

Interestingly, one of the plays we’re running is called Pub Play. And it’s written by a guy called Doc Watson. And it was a runner-up in the very first year. It didn’t run in the pubs, but it ran in the script slam, and it won the script slam.

And two or three days ago on a Facebook post Doc was talking about his playwriting, and he mentioned Pint-sized Plays and said that he’d been working in theatre as a stage manager for years and years and years but had never actually written a play other than a few odd sketches. And this play, called Pub Play, which he wrote for Pint-sized Plays was his first play, and subsequently he’s gone on to write other things.

And that’s a great thing about Pint-sized. It has actually introduced a lot of people into writing and writers into writing 10-minute plays, and many have gone on to write other stuff which is really terrific. We’re proud of that.

And then hopefully next year we’ll do another competition and get back to where we were. That’s the basic plan.

Jackie Williams and Nick Wears in *Mrs Thrale Lays on Tea* by Rob Taylor in the 2018 Pint-sized Plays Script Slam at Theatr Gwaun in Fishguard, Wales.

JAMES

You’ve been writing for many years. And you write plays and novels and poetry and screenplays and I’m wondering when you look at your body of work now do you notice in your own writing any reoccurring themes or topics that you like to explore?

DEREK

A lot of my stuff is comedy. I’ve done some biographical plays and that interests me in terms of taking somebody’s life and actually trying to distill it into a ninety-minute piece of theatre.

JAMES

One of your plays is Call Me Dusty which is about Dusty Springfield. Tell me how that play came about and how that project developed.

DEREK

We decided to set up a small theatre company called Ignition in 2012, and it just so happened that 2013 was going to be the 50th anniversary of Dusty Springfield’s first solo single – I Only Want to Be With You. So, I started researching and went through eleven or twelve biographies, and I listened to more and more of her music, and I really got into it.

She was absolutely extraordinary because she was this very self-conscious very young sort of convent schoolgirl who wanted to sing and to be a great star, and she was also a lesbian, and she was trying to balance these two things in the ‘60s and the ‘50s.

Now, what I didn’t want to do was a musical. I wanted to do a drama. So, all the music in the play is Dusty Springfield herself singing. And the actress playing Dusty Springfield doesn’t actually sing. There’s one time where she’s doing her first appearance on Top of the Pops, which was her first solo single. And at the time on the television show they mimed. They didn’t have live acts. So, for us to have her miming I Only Want to Be With You was exactly what happened on Top of the Pops.

Jessica Sandry as Dusty Springfield in the Ignition Theatre production of *Call Me Dusty* by Derek Webb

JAMES

Not too long ago you did an adaptation of The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.

DEREK

With The Invisible Man, I wrote it so that three actors could play all the parts like in The 39 Steps – so each actor plays five characters. And it was terrific fun because the audience can see what’s happening. They’re in on the jokes. There’s a point when the police catch the Invisible Man and they manage to slap these handcuffs on the Invisible Man’s wrist. But, beside the chain holding the handcuffs together, there was a piece of stiff wire, so they stood out from the policemen’s wrist and look like they’re attached to the Invisible Man, and the policeman gets pulled across stage. And that worked really well. The actor playing the policeman was actually a magician. He added lots of little magical things into the script. We toured it around Wales to about ten venues and then Jack Studio, which is a Pub Theatre in London, took it up and ran it for about three weeks just prior to COVID hitting.

I also adapted The Lady Vanishes from the book that the Hitchcock film was based on – which has proved very successful and it’s being produced by Bacchus Theatre of Canada in October as an online production. I’m looking forward to hearing that.

JAMES

I read that the first stage play you did was Dog Eat Dog which is a play about an advertising executive who moves in with a group of homeless people. That was in 1998. How did that play evolve? And what was it like going to opening night and seeing your first production on stage?

DEREK

Scary, because you’re thinking, “Oh my god.” And exhilarating, of course, at the same time.

As a kid I wrote a lot of poetry, and I think I might have written a play, and I started a novel during my first marriage, and then I went into advertising and ended up as a creative director, which was great, but what that did is take all the creative energy away. So, I mean, I was writing all day – and by the time I got home I was absolutely knackered.

When I got to my second marriage is when I started writing plays again. My wife, Briony, said, “You really should try writing again.” And so, I started writing some radio plays. And I wrote Dog Eat Dog for an amateur company in London. South London Theatre. They’re a big company, and they have a lot of directors and very good actors and do a lot of good stuff, and a friend, Marcelle Clow, was directing and – I think she probably said, “Could you write something?” And I wrote Dog Eat Dog and that was the first stage play as such. And it went down well, and that was the start!

JAMES

So, you write both drama and comedy, and I’m wondering if the process differs depending on whether or not you’re in the world of comedy or the world of drama?

DEREK

I structure everything to start with, so I know where I’m going. I know people when writing novels go, “I’ll just go where the novel takes me.” Well yeah, but I actually want to know where I’m going. And that discipline is certainly the same for both drama and comedy.

The Agatha Crusty series, which is probably the most successful series I’ve done, started because a local drama company had done a couple of my one-acts and liked them and the director said, “Could you write a murder mystery for me to direct?”

And I sat down with Briony to try and come up with some ideas, and this goes back to Pint-sized Plays in a funny way as well, because they were an amateur company – and their audience is not a theatre-going audience. What they do is watch television or film. That’s their point of reference. Not the theatre.

So, in trying to write something we went through loads of television-type ideas – reality TV – quiz shows – whatever. And then we got onto detectives and Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot and suddenly the name Agatha Crusty popped into my brain – out of nowhere and – that’s it – Agatha Crusty!

At the time I was working on a committee to save a local theatre here in Pembrokeshire which the council wanted to close. I was on the committee, and we thankfully managed to save the theatre. But being on that committee totally did my head in – and the first – Agatha Crusty is called Agatha Crusty and the Village Hall Murders and what happens is the Village Hall Committee gets murdered one by one by one. Which was my way of exacting vengeance on them you see.

Is this a clue? Steve Martin, Heather Harris, and Mike Rutter in the 3A, Milton Keynes production of Derek Webb’s *Agatha Crusty and the Village Hall Murders*

Now writing subsequent Agatha Crustys you have to structure it well because you need to know who did the murder and how they did it and then work backwards. Apparently, sometimes Agatha Christie herself used to write a novel and she’d get to the end of the book and she would change the murderer and then have to go back through the book and put in clues to make that character the murderer. So, whilst Agatha Crusty and The Village Hall Murders might be a comedy and Call Me Dusty might be a drama the process is actually very very similar in both regards.

Sometimes though serendipity takes over halfway through something, and an idea gets introduced, and that coincides with something else, and that links to something else, and the brain suddenly has all these things there and bing! Literally, out of the blue, the thing can go off on a different course. And it can just coalesce in a wonderful way and sometimes when that happens you get to the point where you can’t type fast enough.

There’s a series I do called Roy Brown, and I’ve written about six Roy Brown comedies now, and there’s Roy and his friends and when I’m writing it they really are talking to me. It’s absolutely wonderful. I just write down what they say.

And in the first one I wrote Roy Brown has this idea that the bluestones, which are the small stones in the middle of Stonehenge which are from Wales, should be returned to Wales like the Elgin Marbles should be returned to Greece. I wrote that back around 2000 and to get some publicity I sent some letters into the local papers purportedly coming from Roy Brown saying, “Stonehenge back to Wales.”

Then a friend in Cardiff rang me and said, “Have you seen the Western Mail today?” The Western Mail is sort of the national newspaper of Wales. I said, “No.” And there on the front page, it said “Pembrokeshire Group Wants Stonehenge Stones Back.” And they’d been to a woman from English Heritage (the organization which runs Stonehenge) who nearly fainted when they told her this idea. They had also contacted a couple of politicians who were appalled at the idea and even ran a leader in the paper decrying Roy Brown. But the thing was, they hadn’t checked the source at all. They’d just worked off this letter: the letter I wrote for Roy Brown.

And I had to confess to the Pembrokeshire reporter, and I said – “It’s not true.” And she said, “I thought that. I told them they should check the story, but they didn’t.” Two days later they had to print a retraction which was “Pembrokeshire Playwright Confesses.” But then because of all the publicity we got a big audience.

Going Viral before Social Media with *Roy Brown: Reclaiming Stonehenge*

JAMES

So, Derek, we were talking about Dusty Springfield, and she’s been gone a long time, but in a sense, I suppose, we’re talking about legacy. She has this work and a legacy. Do you ever think about your own legacy and what you’d like for your own writing?

DEREK

What are you going to leave? I mean there are certainly things I want to write before I go. A couple of things I want to sort of explore. At the moment I’m writing a play about Richard Trevithick. He invented the steam engine – the railways. Not James Watt. Not the Stevensons. Trevithick had the very first working steam locomotive in Wales, in fact. And he was a fascinating character. Trevithick had loads of ideas, but he was absolutely useless at money, and he never got the fortune he thought he deserved. For some reason he never quite made it, and I’m trying to understand him.

That’s what it’s about – it’s exploring things – exploring people and motivations. And perhaps it’s trying to understand yourself, isn’t it? Maybe – you know – you’re writing things not just to explain things to other people but trying to explain things to yourself about yourself. I mean it’s the actor’s thing about when you’re playing a character – you don’t actually play the character you look for the character in yourself and express that because you actually bring the character out of you because it’s all in there somehow.

To find out more about playwright Derek Webb and his plays such as The Invisible Man, his series of comic Agatha Crusty Mysteries, or Roy Brown Comedies, among many others check out his website by following the link: Derek Webb Playwright.

This interview was conducted on August 21st 2021, and has been edited for length and clarity.

Because of COVID the Pint-sized Plays Festival ran a special show in 2021 featuring an evening of outstanding plays from past festivals.

A Night to Remember by Andrew Turner
Carol: Jackie Williams
Nigel: Gary Crane
Marc: Roger Leese
Directed by Cynthia Jennings
Winner in 2016

Two Woofs for Yes by Neil Walden
Brenda: Allison Butler
Ted: Steve Butler
Directed by Sarah Sherriff
Runner Up in 2016

Bottle for a Special Occasion by Bill Kovacsik
Martin: Bern Smith
Judith: Jean Smith
Runner Up in 2018

The Next Ivan Shiransky by Jim Geoghan
Ida: Carol Macintosh
Carl: Nick Wears
Directed by Carol Macintosh
Winner in 2020

Pub Play by Doc Watson
Man: Roger Leese
Woman: Jackie Williams
Extra: Steve Butler
Directed by Derek Webb
Runner Up in 2008

The Emperor’s New Clothes by Derek Webb
Dave: Nick Wears
Brian: Adam Edgerley
Pub Landlady: Sarah Sherriff
Directed by Sarah Sherriff
Runner Up in 2015

Never Give Up by James Hutchison
Todd: Gary Crane
Nigel: Ben Gabel
Directed by Cynthia Jennings
Winner in 2017

Vent by Gavin Harrison
Lisa: Andrea Thomas
Derek: Nick Wears
Kelvin: Steve Butler
Directed by Carol Macintosh
Winner in 2014

Attack of the Killer Banana Spider by John Moorhouse
Josh: Tom Wears
Sol: JakeWears
Directed by Bobbie Sheldrake
Winner in 2015

A Little Scotchie by John Spooner
Stephen: Bern Smith
Rachel: Anna Munro
Directed by Sarah Sherriff
Runner Up in 2020

Mrs. Thrale Lays on Tea! By Rob Taylor
Mrs. Thrale: Jackie Williams
Dr. Johnson: Nick Wears
Polly: Melissa Pettitt
Directed by Derek Webb
Winner in 2018

NOTE: ‘Winner’ or ‘Runner Up’ refers to the writing competition, not necessarily the Script Slam

Interview Tracy Carroll & Katherine Koller

Posted on December 6, 2020July 2, 2022 by James Hutchison

I love that quote from Ezra Pound that artists are the antenna of the nation. I love that because it’s as if artists are sort of tuned into the zeitgeist of what is important to people right now or what they’re talking about. But I don’t know if a play can ever change anything. I think it can ask questions. Generate discussion from viewers, but I don’t know if it’s actually where the change happens. I think change happens in people’s hearts, really.

Katherine Koller
Playwright – Novelist – Screenwriter

You know there’s research that’s been done with audiences that shows their heartbeats and breathing actually get into a rhythm while they’re watching the same play. There’s something really intimate and connecting about that. It’s amazing. Plus, theatre does hit at the heartstrings. Hits at the emotions. Hits at the brain waves. It does all those things and helps us think about issues and relationships – things that maybe we don’t often think about.

Tracy Carroll
Director – Dramaturg – Producer

For six years, playwrights, actors, and audiences have been gathering at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Edmonton for a monthly play-reading series called Script Salon. While the in-person gatherings have stopped, due to COVID-19, Script Salon ended 2020 with an online reading of my romantic comedy Under the Mistletoe.

Under the Mistletoe is about Harvey Swanson and Nancy Potter, two old friends, who find themselves trying to navigate the tricky road of love, sex, and desire while spending a romantic night in the Candy Cane Suite at the Prairie Dog Inn Regina during the holiday season. The play will be performed by Ian Leung and Melissa Thingelstad and is being directed by Tracy Carroll.

I connected with Katherine Koller and Tracy Carroll, the producers of Script Salon, over ZOOM a couple of weeks ago to talk with them about theatre, the origins of Script Salon, and their plans for 2021.

JAMES

I’m wondering, as artists, and as playwrights, and as theatre people, do you think people, as human beings, are ruled more by mind or emotion?

KATHERINE

I think it’s always going to be emotion. And I think that’s the brilliance of theatre because it hits us in the gut before it gets us in the head.

TRACY

I think it may depend on the person. Some people are led more by the heart, and some are led more by the head. It depends, I would think.

JAMES

You mentioned theatre, but how do you think stories, in general, appeal to the mind, to the intellect, of people.

KATHERINE

I think one of the big reasons we are story people is that we are curious to know how someone else has solved the problem that we may not yet have met. So, I think we’re constantly gathering evidence, both emotional and intellectual knowledge, to help us navigate a world in which there’s no guidebook.

JAMES

How much do you consider theatre, a collaborative art? And how much do you see theatre as an expression of an individual vision?

TRACY

It’s wholly collaborative. A hundred percent. Even though it can be an isolating kind of craft with the playwright often writing by themselves eventually the play will be read by someone else. Will be heard by someone else. The characters will come alive with actors. A director gets involved. The designers get involved. The dramaturg. Everybody. It’s always fully collaborative to me.

JAMES

It’s collaborative but then I also wonder about when you want to look at a block of work – a volume of work – a playwright’s ten or fifteen or twenty plays that they write in a lifetime, and I know there’s collaboration, but is there an individual vision in there as well that reveals itself over the course of the playwright, or actor, or director’s lifetime?

KATHERINE

I think, you know, when you put on a play, it’s actually layers of individual visions. I think the playwright has a vision at the beginning which gets elaborated on and challenged and sometimes, you know, surprisingly so, but that’s the nature of what it is. It’s collaborative. The designer has her vision. The lighting person has their vision, and so it’s like these layers of individual visions that go into making the whole, I think.

JAMES

And it’s not unusual for the playwright after seeing a production to rewrite the play and incorporate a lot of those ideas and visions into the rewrites and development of the play, I suppose, is it?

TRACY

That’s right. You’re really not doing it on your own, but when you’re talking about the canon of someone’s work, I think it really depends on the playwright. Some playwrights will write different things with different themes, and others will really hone in on specifics. I’ve worked with one writer quite a bit who pretty much one hundred percent has written about environmental issues in different ways. Other people will write about more personal things. About LGBTQ issues, or family issues, or other important issues in the world.

I had Beth Graham in last week as a guest in the young playwriting company at the Citadel Theatre and we were talking about her different ideas for her plays, because they seem quite varied. And she was asked, “Where do you get your ideas?” And she said, “I don’t know. Sometimes it’s from a headline. Sometimes it’s an image. Sometimes it’s a character. And then it sort of grows into something else. So, the plays are vastly different because they’re coming from different places.”

JAMES

Yes, mentioning Beth and her sensitivity to different inspirations makes me want to ask a question that often gets asked – do you think the theatre is more a reflection of society, or more a catalyst for change? Is it looking back, or is it looking forward?

KATHERINE

I think, it’s always a reflection of what’s going on, which could be a call to action or a desire for change. I love that quote from Ezra Pound that artists are the antenna of the nation. I love that because it’s as if artists are sort of tuned into the zeitgeist of what is important to people right now or what they’re talking about. But I don’t know if a play can ever change anything. I think it can ask questions. Generate discussion from viewers, but I don’t know if it’s actually where the change happens. I think change happens in people’s hearts, really.

TRACY

I agree. I think that’s why plays are so important. They’re a reflection – a little photo of the time – that we’re in, right? And I think that’s important. To reflect. Not just in plays but in art in general. Looking at what’s happening right now helps the future. Knowing the feelings and knowing the struggles helps us think about repeating those things or not repeating those things in the future.

So, for example, I’ll go into a different genre here. Theatre for young audiences is very much about teaching about a specific subject. So, if you’re teaching about bullying hopefully the play will change the future so that these kids, especially the bystanders, will know what to do when they encounter bullying in the future.

And otherwise, there’s a lot of discussion. Some of the best plays I think are when you go to the bar after – which we can’t do right now – but when you go to the bar after and you can really talk about the play and pull it apart and it really makes you think and talk and maybe it makes an individual make a change. You never know.

JAMES

I’m wondering, you mentioned zeitgeist. Because you are involved deeply with Alberta playwrights and the work that’s being done here is there an Alberta voice? Are there any unifying themes? Is there a unique Alberta voice out there that we can identify or not?

TRACY

For some playwrights their setting will be somewhere in Alberta, which of course affects the play. Theme wise – I don’t know. Have you noticed that Katherine?

KATHERINE

That’s a really tricky question. I mean there’s no limit to the kind of voices we hear in Alberta. I don’t think we have corralled ourselves into one category, or theme. I think in Alberta we’ve got so many different voices going on here…

TRACY

…a lot of diverse voices…

KATHERINE

…no one is like the other. That’s what I would say. No one sounds like the other person.

JAMES

I want to move on to Script Salon which is a series of readings that you have been doing up in Edmonton since 2014. I’m just wondering what was the genesis of Script Salon and how has it evolved over the last six years?

KATHERINE

Well, there were four of us in the room and we were all Playwrights Guild of Canada members, and we were trying to come up with a way to showcase work in Edmonton. And we wanted to access the membership of the PGC, and we wanted to elicit assistance from the Alberta Playwrights Network, and we happened to have access to this space at Holy Trinity Anglican Church. And then, you know, we thought, “Well we’ve got all these amazing actors in town who would jump at the chance to do a cold reading.” So, we put all those elements together and then later we expanded out a little bit to be more Alberta based. And then once we started, we realized we had something because people kept coming.

TRACY

And one of the amazing things is that about fifty percent, I think, have gone on to production.

KATHERINE

I think it’s up to like fifty-eight percent. It’s quite high. We started to get artistic directors coming to shows and then we started to get artistic directors coming in the room to rehearse the reading for the shows that they would then go on to direct. And so, we think it’s pretty awesome that theatre companies and playwrights are seeing us as a tryout for a production. It was really fun to see that we were part of that ecosystem of Edmonton theatre. But not all of these were produced in Edmonton. Some of them have gone and been produced in lots of other places.

JAMES

Well let’s talk a little bit about COVID-19 and 2020 here. You had to shift. I know you haven’t had your monthly readings. So, how has COVID-19 impacted Script Salon and then looking at 2021 – what is the plan?

TRACY

Well, one thing is the space, right. We always gathered at the church in this space and we haven’t been able to do that. So, it’s been sort of a challenge to try to figure out what to do. So, we took a pause. We had a little message back in April for our sixth birthday on our Facebook page, and other than that, we’ve been fairly silent except in September we had six writers read from their works. And we did that online. And it was wonderful. And now we’re going to do your Christmas piece which I think is a nice way to wrap up 2020 with some fun for our audience.

KATHERINE

One other thing I wanted to mention, James, about the success of Script Salon is the audience. We spent six years developing a really unique community. We open our doors about forty-five minutes before the show and it’s a racket in there. People are talking to each other and reconnecting. And you know, part of the fun is that they get to see each other again, and they get their drink and chat, and that’s something I don’t always see in the theatre. In the theatre I see this kind of anticipatory, you know, sort of hush, but not at Script Salon. I’ve had people in the audience come to me and say, “I so love this. I’m a theatre goer anyway, but when I come to Script Salon I feel like I’m part of the theatre. I feel like I’m contributing because I can hear the playwright talkback afterward, and I can ask a question, and I can go up to the playwright and give my compliments directly in person.” And those are things you can’t actually do very easily at a production. So, the audience part is essential to the way we do things and that’s why we were kind of at a loss when we couldn’t meet with our audience directly.

But then, when we did the readings in September. You know, we were very surprised at the loyalty of the audience coming in, and the feedback that we got afterward, and people were so happy that we were still alive. I don’t know how much we can speak about 2021 and what we’re going to do. We have one plan for January. Maybe Tracy you want to talk about that.

TRACY

In January of 2021, we’re going to do readings, just like we did in September, except we’re going to have all Albertan BIPOC writers, so they’ll read from their works. And then, in March, we will do readings from the Alberta Playwriting Competition. And in April, for our 7th anniversary, we’re going to do more readings from playwrights. And then we’re going to see what happens with COVID and if we can get back into our space.

JAMES

We were talking about collaborative versus individual vision, and then we touched on audience, and I guess your final collaborator in the creative process is the audience. And so, I’m wondering about your own thoughts about theatre as a social gathering as a community event. Why are you attracted to this community experience and the creation of theatre?

TRACY

Well, let’s see James, I started dancing when I was four, and I think I was Chicken Little when I was about six or seven.

JAMES

So, it’s been a lifelong passion.

TRACY

Indeed. Yeah, boy, it really feels when I think about theatre and the gathering tradition…ritual…I really…I really miss that. That’s for sure. And having that liveness in front of you – there’s just nothing like it, and it’s not the same on-screen. Although I’m really enjoying some things on screen. But that interaction with audiences is everything, whether it’s watching the play, or being in the lobby and talking about things beforehand or afterwards.

You know there’s research that’s been done with audiences that shows their heartbeats and breathing actually get into a rhythm while they’re watching the same play. There’s something really intimate and connecting about that. It’s amazing. Plus, theater does hit at the heartstrings. Hits at the emotions. Hits at the brain waves. It does all those things and helps us think about issues and relationships – things that maybe we don’t often think about.

Theatre really is about bringing community together, so it’s really challenging right now with COVID and I am hoping that all our theatres in Edmonton and Calgary can hang on and get through so we can do theatre in the future. We’ll get over it eventually. You know, the world has been through plagues before, and theatres have come back, so theatre is going to come back. There’s, I think, no doubt about that, but it’s shifting things. It’s making things different. I think that all this online stuff is really interesting because there’s a different kind of access for a lot of people, which is really fascinating to me. So, it might be an interesting way to keep new audiences coming by having some of this online interaction, you know, along with the live part.

KATHERINE

I do agree with Tracy that we’ve had to find other ways to access our need for theatre, and for myself, what’s happened is that audio drama has filled that niche probably more than zoom theatre or film, because I’m partially creating the show as I’m listening to it in my own head.

TRACY

And I think a lot of theatres, and a lot of theatre-makers are doing just unbelievably creative things whether it’s something live like a cabaret type of thing or something on screen or workshops or whatever people are offering, I think it’s amazing. And boy, the access has been incredible for artists to be able to…

KATHERINE

…to work with anybody…

TRACY

…right to work with anybody across the country. It’s just incredible. So, I hope that the creativity and collaboration just keep happening. And on top of COVID the other layer is a bigger awareness of Black Lives Matter and of BIPOC artists, being involved. That’s a whole other layer that’s going to shift our rehearsal halls, our readings, and our productions. We have to be more aware of everybody in the room and my hope is that we have a more inclusive working space for everyone.

Download – Interview with Tracy Carroll & Katherine Koller – Tuned into the Zeitgeist
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Under the Mistletoe
CAST
Ian Leung as Harvey Swanson
Melissa Thingelstad as Nancy Potter

Ian Leung is pleased to be reading at Script Salon again. His recent theatre credits include Pastor John in The Blue Hour (SkirtsAfire Festival), Daedalus in Slight of Mind (Theatre Yes), King Berenger in Exit the King (Studio Theatre), Wormold in Our Man in Havana (Bright Young Things), Professor Ogawa in Pugwash (Ship’s Company Theatre) and Trigorin in Stupid F**king Bird (Edmonton Actors Theatre).

Melissa Thingelstad received her BFA in Acting from the University of Alberta and has worked as a professional actor in Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton) for fifteen years. She is an Associate Producer for theatre no. 6, an Artistic Associate with Theatre Yes and was cocurator on the National Elevator Project. Her acting portfolio includes stage work, film work, and voice over. She has had the great privilege of working in Edmonton, Banff, Winnipeg, Washington, DC, London, England, and Halifax and is the recipient of three Elizabeth Sterling Haynes awards for acting. Theatre credits include: Slight of Mind, Viscosity, and The List (Theatre Yes), Stupid F@#king Bird and Fatboy (Edmonton Actors Theatre), An Accident (Northern Light Theatre), Kill Me Now (Workshop West Playwright’s Theatre), and Proud and The Fever (theatre no.6). Melissa has also collaborated on new works for a number of multidisciplinary festivals in the city including: Visualeyze Festival, Storefront Cinema Nights, The Expanse Movement Festival, and The Kaleido Festival.

Tracy Carroll has worked as a director, dramaturg, teacher and producer for over 20 years including 6 years as the Artistic Associate- North for Alberta Playwrights’ Network and Artistic Associate at the Citadel Theatre where she co-created and directed KidsPlay @ the Citadel.

She is the Coordinator of Peep Show!, a tease of new plays, which started during the inaugural SkirtsAfire Festival in 2013, co-producer of Script Salon, a monthly play-reading series featuring Alberta plays and playwrights and co-producer of EDMONten- A Showcase of Ten-Minute Plays.

Tracy was dramaturg on The Mommy Monologues, written by 10 women and produced at SkirtsAfire 2017. She also directed and dramaturged The Book of Ashes by Emil Sher for the Northern Alberta Children’s Festival, Last Chance Leduc by Katherine Koller and The Invention of Romance and Matara by Conni Massing at Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre.

Tracy is facilitator of the Young Playwriting Company at the Citadel Theatre, teaches for the Writes of Passage program in schools, and has been offering online playwriting classes through her company Write-A-Play. She also teaches Drama in the Classroom to teachers and will be offering workshops at several Alberta Teachers’ Conventions in 2021.

Katherine Koller writes for stage, screen and page. Her first plays were for CBC radio. Her Alberta LandWorks Trilogy is Coal Valley: The Making of a Miner, The Seed Savers and Alberta Playwriting Competition winner, Last Chance Leduc.

Her opera, The Handless Maiden, received a recital reading in Vancouver and Hope Soup, for radio, was recorded at the 2019 Edmonton Fringe and available at https://playwrightsguild.ca/edmonton-script-salon-podcasts/.

Her web series, about Edmonton youth changing their world, is at sustainablemeyeg.ca. Art Lessons, her novel, was a finalist for the Edmonton Book Prize and the Alberta Readers’ Choice Award. Winner of a High Plains Book Award and the Exporting Alberta Award, Winning Chance is her recent collection of short stories.

Christopher Scott and JC Charlton: Come Home

Posted on April 29, 2019July 15, 2023 by James Hutchison

“Everything I do is to survive. What’s going on out there, and what’s going on in here. You think I’m not counting down the days? I can feel my mind unravelling at the seams. Waking up in the night, cold sweats, my heart pounding so hard I think my ribs are gunna’ crack. I can’t tell what’s fucken’ real anymore there’s this banging and drilling on the walls like someone’s hammering away – is it real? I don’t know.”

CONNER from the Play Come Home by JC Charlton

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Living in Australia and working on the oil rigs far from home Connor Evans a young Calgary man finds himself falling deeper and deeper into a life of drug abuse and criminal activity. Come Home is a raw and honest play about addiction, the importance of friendship, and second chances.

Christopher Scott working the Rigs in Australia

The play is based on the real-life experience of Christopher Scott who along with his friend JC Charlton presented the play at the 2017 Calgary One Act Play Festival and the 2017 Alberta Provincial One Act Play Festival where it won several awards including Best Overall Performance and Best Original Script.

Now two years later the play has been workshopped and expanded and is being presented by Urban Stories Theatre from May 1st to 11th in the Motel Theatre at the Arts Commons. Tickets are $20.00 for adults and $15.00 for students, seniors, and artists and are available online at www.urbanstoriestheatre.org

Sally Cacic and JC Charlton in the Urban Stories Theatre Production of Come Home by JC Charlton. Directed by Nova Lea Thorne.

I sat down with JC and Chris, while they were in rehearsals, to talk with them about how the play came about and what message they want audiences to remember.

Christopher Scott musical artist and sound designer.

JAMES HUTCHISON

Come Home is inspired by your real-life experience of becoming involved in the drug trafficking world in Australia when you were there and eventually being given a second chance. Why did you want to tell your story?

CHRIS SCOTT

For the longest time, it was like a dark spot on the soul. I still held it deeply internally and it just started to eat away at me. I didn’t talk about it to anyone but when this opportunity arose to tell this story as part of the Calgary Regional One Act Play Festival I thought what better way to make something creative and positive come out of something dark and negative.

JAMES

How much of the play is based on real life and how much is poetic license?

JC CHARLTON

We’re saying it’s inspired by a true story. We’re not saying it is a true story. For example, we combined two different people from Chris’s life into one character that became our antagonist. The events we show were events that happened to Chris but at different times and with different people and we just lumped them together so we changed the timeline, so we could tell a story that had a solid beginning, middle and end.

JAMES

I know it’s a personal story but was there some sort of moral message you wanted to convey in the telling of the story?

CHRIS

Yes, you always have to stay positive because there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel it’s just sometimes you have to tough it out to get there. Looking back one thing kind of led to another and I’m surprised by how deep and dark it went. You just have to hold onto your friendships and stay away from nefarious people.

JC Charlton actor and theatre creation artist.

You often watch a movie about drug addiction or drug trafficking or crime and it’s going to have a depressing ending. It’s solely a cautionary tale where you see the characters suffer and lose it all, and in this story – yes there’s suffering – yes there’s loss – but in the end – it’s the belief in this person by his friends and family that pulls him out of it, and I think that’s what separates our story from other stories.

CHRIS

The bonds that we have for each other can save us.

JAMES

The play has a whole soundscape that accompanies it. What was the process like for creating the music and sound for the production?

CHRIS

It was a lot of trial and error. We’d try to capture the feeling of what section we were working on and then we would tweak the soundscape and the music to try and enhance that feeling or that mood.

There’s one section where the main character is having a panic attack envisioning all the terrible things that are going to happen to him, and the only thing that pulls him out of it is his girlfriend and, we’ve got this lovely piano melody that comes in there that’s very separate from anything else we’ve heard in the play up until that point. And then that melody keeps coming through the remaining pieces until we lead to the climax of the play.

JAMES

So, how different is the production that you’re presenting at the Motel compared to the one you did a couple of years ago at the One Act Festival?

The script was in its infancy at the one-act festival. Since then we got in touch with Helen Young from Urban Stories, and I was blown away the first time I talked with Helen, because we wanted to get it into their play festival, and she told me couldn’t because the play was more than twenty minutes, but straight off the bat she said, “From the sounds of it we might want to do this for a mainstage show.” So, we sent her the script and went for a coffee with her, and the next thing we knew it was all in the works. We had them producing it. We’re going to be at Motel. We had a dramaturg come in, and we were fortunate enough to be given enough time to work on the script and develop it further.

Christopher Scott and JC Charlton (foreground) in the Urban Stories Theatre production of Come Home by JC Charlton. Directed by Nova Lea Thorne.

We workshopped the script with Caroline Russell-King, who is a very talented dramaturg, and we completely changed the vehicle for the narrative. Before it was in the form of somebody telling their story to a friend, and now it’s all happening in the moment. And we’ve changed what the play is really about. Before it was focused on a single friendship and this friendship progressed the narrative, but now we’re focusing more on the individuals that Chris knew in Australia. The ones that kept him going when he was completely isolated. We get to know more about them and that changes the outcome of the play so now we have a new emotional climax – which I’m not going to spoil – but the main difference is that we’re including so many more characters and people responsible for bringing Chris home.

Sally Cacic, JC Carlton and Justin Many Fingers in rehearsal for the Urban Stories Theatre production of Come Home

JAMES

So, why should people come see it?

It’s a unique show that combines theatre, electronic music, text and it’s inspired by a true story that happened to a local Calgarian here. Helen’s given us a lot of freedom to develop the play and to assemble a pretty talented production team. Our director is Nova Lea Thorne, and our lighting designer is Neil Fleming. Alexandria Inkster is designing the set, and Justin Many Fingers has come in and been a guest choreographer for us on a couple of occasions.

CHRIS

It’s an excellent tool for healing and also a way for us to express and showcase ourselves theatrically and artistically.

When we did the show two years ago we were lucky enough to have a police officer come and see it, and what he said to me after the show was, “You know in my job it’s real easy to get jaded doing what I do, but after seeing this I’m going to remember that the next time I’m arresting a crack head or a drug dealer is that everyone has a story.” And I was surprised by how many people came up to me after the show with tears in their eyes and said that they had a family member that’s gone through the exact same thing. And that’s really what we’re trying to accomplish here. We’re trying to give an entertaining performance, but we’re also trying to do something that’s going to change the way people see people who are going through a hard time.

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Urban Stories Theatre presents Coming Home by CJ Charlton May 1st to 11 in the Motel Theatre at the Arts Commons. Tickets are $20.00 for adults and $15.00 for students, seniors, and artists and are available online at www.urbanstoriestheatre.org

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Come Home
By JC Charlton

CAST
JC Charlton
Christopher Scott
Sally Cacic

Directed by Nova Lea Thorne
Set Designer by Alexandria Inkster
Sound Design by Christopher Scott
Lighting Design by Neil Fleming
Guest Choreographer – Justin Many Fingers

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JC Charlton

JC is an actor and theatre creation artist based in Calgary, Alberta. JC is a University of Lethbridge alumni with degrees in education and fine arts. He has dedicated his career to acting and the development of new Canadian works. He has trained in advanced direction under his mentor Gail Hanrahan. Selected theatre credits include; (Kaahsinnoniks, dir. Justin Many Fingers), (Moon, Moon, No Moon, dir. Blake Brooker), (Come Home, dir. JC Charlton), (Okotoks, dir. Justin Many Fingers), (The Bear, dir. JC Charlton), (509, dir. Justin Many Fingers). 2016 Calgary + Provincial One Act Best Male Actor.

Christopher Scott

Christopher is a musical artist based in Calgary, Alberta. With a passion for melodic and bass heavy electronica he aims to create unique soundscapes and exciting experiences in a combination of theatre and sound design. He is a part of the new electronic duo, Mannequin. Chris has worked in a variety of fields from the drilling rigs in Canada and Australia to landscaping and construction here in Calgary, he has completed his training and holds certificates in the Fundamentals of Firefighting and Hazardous materials/ WMD incidents.

Sally Cacic

Sally Cacic is a West Australian actor. She is a graduate of Company of Rogues Actors’ Studio Master Class Program and StageMilk Drama School, and an ongoing member of StageMilk Drama Club in Sydney, Australia. She apprenticed in the Meisner Technique under her mentor Stacie Harrison, which she applies across her work in both theatre and film & television. Select theatre credits include Laughter (Urban Stories Theatre), How To Almost Be An Adult (Urban Stories Theatre), Late Night At The Plaza (Late Night Productions), and Australian productions A Chorus Line (The Old Mill Theatre), and Beauty & The Beast (The Ballet Company). Select film credits including Bright Hill Road (Nevermine Films), The Little Things (Shotlist Films), Joy To The World (SAIT Film Productions) 2017 AMPIA Rosie Award Finalist, and The Hundy (SAIT Film Productions) 2017 AMPIA Rosie Award Winner.

Nova Lea Thorne

Nova Lea is excited to be working on her first show with Urban Stories Theatre. She is grateful for the opportunity to direct this exceptional piece created by JC Charlton. Although much of her career, of late, has been in the area of stage management, she began her career as a performer, with Theatre New Brunswick, and has been involved in performance training and directing artist in residence programs, in Alberta, since the late 1990’s. She has instructed young performers with Quest Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Triangle Theatre School, as well as Theatre Works School of the Arts, a musical theatre school that she co-owned for twelve years. Nova Lea is the proud recipient of the Duval Lang Theatre for Young Audiences Award, a Betty Mitchell Juried Award.

Alexandria Inkster

Alexandria is a Calgary-based artist comes to performance through visual arts. She obtained her BFA in Sculpture in 2014 from the Alberta College of Art + Design (now the Alberta University of the Arts), and her MFA in 2016 from the University of Calgary. In her creative|research practice, Alexandria investigates the activation of agency and collective mobilization by enacting experiences of ambivalence, intimacy, freedom, and magical ideation. These investigations most often take the form of live performance and/or sculptural installation, where somehow her body always seems to become enmeshed in the work. Come Home is Alexandria’s first stint as a “set designer,” and she is absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to work with its amazing cast and crew.

Neil Fleming

Neil is delighted to be part of the Come Home artistic team helping Chris and Jeff bring this story to life. Primarily a playwright, Neil sometimes likes to stretch his theatrical design muscles. Some past design credits include: Okotoks (Niitsitapi Dance, MT7), Gruesome Playground Injuries (Ground Zero, Hit & Myth), A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream (CYPT), The Vajayjay Monologues (Urban Curves), Shopaholic Husband Hunt (Lunchbox Theatre), Almost Perfect Thing, Kitchen Witches, In A World Created By A Drunken God, The Attic, the Pearls, & Three Fine Girls (New West Theatre), And So It Goes, Goodness, Bone Cage, Arm’s Length Embrace (Downstage).

URBAN STORIES THEATRE

Urban Stories Theatre supports local playwrights writing about social justice and humanity issues by nurturing their ideas from first draft to finished production. The company is made up of a core group of local artists who will oversee all productions and workshops. Budding actors, directors, stage managers and designers will be encouraged to share their ideas by becoming part of the team on a show by show basis.

Vision: To give local artists a voice in creating theatre that tells stories about real life.

Interview with playwright, screenwriter, blogger, and novelist: Maryanne Pope

Posted on January 14, 2019September 8, 2023 by James Hutchison

Photograph of Author Maryanne Pope
Playwright, Screenwriter, Blogger, and Novelist — Maryanne Pope – Playwright, Screenwriter, Blogger & Novelist

Maryanne Pope is a playwright, screenwriter, blogger and novelist. She is the author of A Widow’s Awakening and the founder of Pink Gazelle Productions where she blogs and works to create literary, theatrical, and cinematic works that challenge, enrich and inspire both artist and audience.

“It’s about the power of dreams. And I’m a huge person on believing in dreams. I mean that’s what I live for is to achieve my dream. I just think dreams are hugely important and I just – I don’t know – I just decided a long time ago – for many reasons – the big one being John’s death – that I don’t want to die having lived an unfulfilled life.”

Maryanne is also the Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund a charity committed to raising public awareness about why and how to ensure workplaces are safe for everyone, including emergency responders. The charity was started after the death of Maryanne’s husband, John Petropoulos, who was a member of the Calgary Police Service. John died in the line of duty on September 29, 2000 while investigating a break and enter complaint when he stepped through a false ceiling, because there was no safety railing to warn him of the danger, and he fell nine feet into the lunchroom below and succumbed to brain injuries.

I sat down with Maryanne to discuss the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund and her life as a writer.

JAMES HUTCHISON

You’ve wanted to be a writer for a long time?

MARYANNE POPE

Oh yeah, I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was seven. I think that was probably when I first thought of it. But I never really got the concept that you actually have to sit down and write. It was always something in the distance that I wanted to do.

JAMES

As far as your writing career goes your husband’s death seems to be a marker. There was a life before that and a life after that.

MARYANNE

After I graduated from the University of Calgary when I was twenty-five and up until John’s death when I was thirty-two I wanted to try and write a novel. I had no interest in playwriting or screenwriting or anything like that. So, I started to work on a novel but I didn’t really know what I was doing and I was just creating a female protagonist who’s unhappy with her life and wanted to change the world and become a writer. And I wasn’t unhappy with my life, but I was unhappy with the fact that I wasn’t finding the time to write because by this time John and I were married. We’d bought a house. The financial pressure was on. The family pressure was on – are you going to have kids? You’ve got the mortgage now. John’s working full time. I was working full time, and so I was writing less and less and I was very anxious.

MARYANNE

I knew I was on the right path with the right guy, but I wasn’t doing the work that I knew I had to do, and I was stressed right up until the point before the night John died when we had this big discussion and I said to him, “I am so scared that I am going to wake up twenty years from now and still not have become a writer.” And we had just had a big fight. We’d come back from a holiday and we had a big fight and we didn’t speak to each other for two days and he turned to me and he said, “Maryanne you know that is exactly what is going to happen in twenty years. You are not going to become a writer until you make your writing a priority – until you believe in yourself you will not become a writer.” And he died that night. He went to work and died at 4:00 o’clock the next morning.

And within two weeks after his death I sat down at my computer and I started to write what would become in eight years A Widow’s Awakening and of course because he died in the line of duty that meant that I was financially okay. My house was paid off. I got his income for twenty-one years and then I switch over to his pension, so I got exactly what Virginia Woolf had said – in a room of one’s own women need a secure – or any writer really – needs a secure income and a place of their own to be able to truly write. So, I got what I wanted, but I lost that which I loved the most.

JAMES

The interesting thing to me is how much of your writing has been focused on that tragedy and dealing with it. You have your novel A Widow’s Awakening and you have a one-act play called The Widows.

MARYANNE

Yes, it touches on that.

JAMES

And then you also have Saviour which is a full-length play.

MARYANNE

And that is hugely about John’s death, but it’s also about what I imagine his perspective to be on his death. And so he’s in the process of dying – that’s very much an imagined perspective on that but then I’m in the play as well.

JAMES

Can you encapsulate Saviour, so people understand what it’s about?

MARYANNE

Saviour explores the concept of whether or not another person can save a person or whether the true meaning of a saviour is to help a person save themselves – to empower someone. So, this play looks at the example between John and me because his death gave me the financial freedom to pursue my dream. I just don’t get him and he doesn’t get to pursue his dream so it’s a real double-edged sword. And then it also goes into the bigger concept of a saviour from our Christian paradigm and whether or not we are, in some level of our consciousness in the West, expecting a saviour to come back and fix our problems.

JAMES

Death is, of course, a big part of all our lives and I’m wondering in what ways you think our desire to write and tell stories is an attempt for us to navigate our feelings about death and our own mortality?

MARYANNE

Oh, I think it has everything to do with it because I have found that writing about death and loss and grief – my experience with it – helps me sort out and make sense of what happened. Helps me express my feelings and helps me move forward emotionally and psychologically whether it’s a blog or a story. And then to polish it a little bit and share it with other people is a gift and based on the feedback I get people do resonate with it because you’re right – death is a part of all our lives – we’re all going to go through that you know – losing people we love – or pets we love – or whatever. And when I write about death I like to be super honest about the good, the bad, and the ugly of what I was really thinking and experiencing.

JAMES

In a sense, John’s death fuels or has fueled a large part of your writing how do you feel about that?

MARYANNE

My mom was a psychiatric nurse at one point and she was very concerned about me working on A Widow’s Awakening for so long. And I think there is validity in that because if you constantly write about a tragedy it’s very difficult to move on because you sort of stay stuck in the past.

However, from a creative perspective, it’s an incredible story. And I know from the feedback I get from the book plus when I go out and deliver presentations that it’s a very powerful story and it’s very emotionally impactful. There are many many life lessons in there so I can pull different things for different projects whether it’s presentations, whether it’s a blog, whether it’s a book, whether it’s a screenplay, whether it’s a play. It was horrific to experience John’s death, but in a way the universe not only delivered me the financial means to become a writer the universe delivered me one hell of a story to tell.

JAMES

One of the things you established after John’s death was the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund which is an organization that strives to eliminate preventable workplace fatalities and injuries to first responders by educating the public about its role in helping to keep these workers safe on the job. What initiatives are you the proudest of and have been the most successful in your promotion of that safety message?

MARYANNE

We’ve done eight public service announcements and one ten-minute safety video. The picnic PSA, for example, is about traffic safety and reminds drivers to slow down when they see emergency vehicles – police, firefighters, paramedics, and the tow truck drivers along the side of the road. Then there’s the three put yourself in our boots videos. One tells the story of a police officer in exactly the same situation that John died under, and then there’s one where firefighters get trapped in a burning building because someone left clutter at the emergency exit and they couldn’t get out, and then in the emergency services one the paramedics are impacted because of a distracted driver.

Often, we get the most powerful feedback from people after they’ve seen one of our safety presentations. As part of our safety presentation, we physically go into a business or a school and we’ll talk about John’s death, show our public service announcements and the safety video. And when I’m the one doing the presentation and they hear the story they see it in my face because I’m this widow and then they see the videos and you see the light turn on. And I’ve heard from people in person after the presentation and in lots of e-mails and the number one comment is, “I never thought about safety in our workplace from the perspective of a first responder going in who wouldn’t be familiar with our building. Your story and your public service announcements and your video helped me change my perspective.” And that’s our goal. And I see that shift when I’m the one doing the presentation.

JAMES

Speaking of a shift, back in 2017 you decided to sell your house – put all your belongings into storage – and hit the road with your golden retriever Sadie. Your journey began on January 12, 2018. You left Victoria and headed down into the states for three months of travel and writing staying for short periods in various places and working on different projects and maybe living a bit of a Bohemian life.

MARYANNE

Very Bohemian.

JAMES

What motivated you to take that trip, and what did you learn about yourself as a writer?

MARYANNE

That trip was something I had been wanting to do for a long time. I just needed to have the financial freedom of the house behind me and my stuff in storage so I’m not trying to run a household, and the motivation was just to travel and be on the road, and to write, and to eat road trip food. That’s what motivated me. What I learned though – and this is what I’m still baffled about – is that I love that Bohemian lifestyle! I love life on the road!

Like right now I’m staying in one place for three months and I get a lot of work done, but I’m already getting antsy. And I never, never, would have guessed that about myself even though I’ve been a traveller all my life. And I to love travel but I am also a huge homebody but what I’ve discovered about myself is that home for me doesn’t necessarily have to entail being surrounded by my own things in my own home. Home for me is being with my laptop, my writing, my vehicle, my dog and so wherever I am becomes home. I would have never imagined that about myself. I always thought I’d feel like I was on the road but now I find home is wherever I am. It’s a shift in my thinking.

JAMES

So, now you’re able to write anywhere?

MARYANNE

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely anywhere. And my office is all over the place. And I’ve no problem with the discipline. What I have a problem with is the opposite. Turning it off and taking those breaks and saying, “No, it’s Sunday I’m not going to write today.” But I’ve learned that the breaks even if it’s only one or two days a week that I take off – those payoff in spades when I’m back working because that break away makes my writing that much stronger whereas when I work right through, even if it’s only a few extra hours a day, then I burn out.

JAMES

What were some of the best places you went to on your trip for your writing?

MARYANNE

Sedona is magic. Sedona is one of the best places on the earth that I’ve found to write. So, I’ve gone there twice now. Once on my trip and then I went back at the end of September. I went for a week and did some intensive writing. There’s something there, right? There’s the energy and the vortexes and all that sort of stuff. I tap into it. It’s amazing and I’d just go write in the mornings, and then I’d go for a hike in the afternoon, and then I’d just listen to music in the evening. It’s incredible. I got most of a script written there so that was really good. I would go, for sure, to Sedona again.

MARYANNE

Another place that was extremely magical was Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon. And these are all interior like Utah and Arizona which is shocking because I’m a total beach person – a total water person. I live to be by the ocean. And I absolutely loved the Oregon and California coast but these other places were new and just incredible. Yeah, that trip was just life-changing. I had a sense of freedom on that trip that I don’t remember ever experiencing in my life. I loved it. I loved every moment. And Sadie and I had a ball and I got lots of writing done and I just loved it. I loved the whole scene.

JAMES

You also do a lot of blogging so I’m kind of wondering how did the blogging evolve?

MARYANNE

I started blogging in 2010 when I sold my home in Calgary, and I was leaving to go and live on Vancouver Island, and I was working with a marketing person who had suggested writing blogs, and I thought, “Oh God I don’t have time to write blogs on top of everything else, I’m stressed. I’m getting out of this house.” Well, wouldn’t you know it my doggie Sable goes blind. So, here I am in this huge house and normally I’d be out visiting a thousand people because I was leaving Calgary, but I couldn’t because my dog was blind and I live in a house full of stairs. So, I physically had to be with her so I’m in this house that’s all packed up and I took her advice and I started to write a blog about this experience of what it’s like to pack up a house with a blind dog starting on a new journey with so much sadness knowing that this dog isn’t going to be around for very long. And then when I got to Vancouver Island I kept blogging regularly, and I liked the feeling of satisfaction you get from completing a short piece after working on longer pieces that are taking so long to finish like my screenplay, God’s Country, which is about Nell Shipman the silent screen star.

JAMES

I’ve noticed on your blogs that you’ve posted a couple of quotes from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

MARYANNE

Yes. Yes. Yes.

JAMES

Is that a favourite book?

MARYANNE

Oh, yeah. I’ve read it so many times now.

JAMES

What does it provide you with?

MARYANNE

Oh, it provides me with the reminder that – it’s the quote – that the universe conspires to help us achieve our dreams. The universe is there. It’s got our back. It will do everything it can to help us along and what seems like a setback is not a setback. It is just an opportunity for us to learn the lessons so that we can move forward in our dream. It’s about the power of dreams. And I’m a huge person on believing in dreams. I mean that’s what I live for is to achieve my dream. I just think dreams are hugely important and I just – I don’t know – I just decided a long time ago – for many reasons – the big one being John’s death – that I don’t want to die having lived an unfulfilled life.

JAMES

So, you were on the road when you celebrated your 50th birthday on February 23rd 2018 with friends in Oceanside California. How did you feel about reaching that landmark and did you gain any new insights about yourself or life now that you’ve lived half a century?

MARYANNE

Well, I was just so flipping excited and I still am. I feel way better than I ever thought I would at fifty. At twenty I thought fifty was old, and I had better have achieved everything I wanted to achieve by then because I’d pretty much have just rolled over and died by then. And now that I’m at fifty I feel great. The only thing is I have lots of energy during the day and during my creative time and stuff but I’m pretty much useless after seven pm. And it used to be a joke and funny and now it is what it is and because of the writing and intellectual work that I do all day I need a lot of sleep, and I just shut down at seven o’clock at night and then I just get up early and go for it. You know the bodies not the same. There are wrinkles and stuff but that stuff doesn’t bother me. I just think it’s like Coco Channel said, “You get the face after fifty that you’ve lived.” It shows. And Gloria Steinem said, “After fifty all the bullshit is gone.” And that I’m noticing. Oh my God, my tolerance for people that are pissing me off – that are toxic – that are bringing me down – that are bugging me – whatever – I don’t have the time for it. I don’t have time for all the extra shit that I don’t want to do anymore. And it has just become so much easier to just say no to that.

JAMES

Well, lets talk a little bit about your screenplay God’s Country which as you mentioned is about Nell Shipman the Canadian born silent film actress, screenwriter and director. You’ve been working on that project for a long time so I’m just curious where you’re at with that.

MARYANNE

Ah, yes well that went through a big rewrite in the summer and then I sent it to the director and the producer here in Calgary that I want to work with. And I had a big meeting with the director and he still isn’t happy enough to take it on but we brainstormed ways that I might change it so that he will because I really want to work with these guys they’re so good.

But I had changed the story to be a biopic. So it was cradle to grave and his suggestion was we just need to give it a bit more oomph a bit more magic and you know it’s so funny because this book I’m reading about marketing and stuff which is all about story and about clarifying the message is exactly what this director told me is the flaw in God’s Country at present. Now we have Nell being born – now she’s on vaudeville – now she’s getting married – all this sort of stuff that tells a beautiful story about someone’s life but what is the meat and potatoes of this story.

Canadian actress, author, screenwriter, producer, director, and animal trainer: Nell Shipman

JAMES

Are you talking about her inner motivation?

MARYANNE

Yeah, what does she want? And you know I know her so well now because I’ve lived with this character for fifteen years – I know her family so well now because I’ve become very close with her family – her descendants. And it feels like I’m battling with her instead of working with her. I’m telling the story that she wants me to tell because I’ve read this autobiography and I’ve seen her movies and I want to be true to her but I also want to tell a contemporary story.

I’m just frustrated with myself as a writer because for some odd reason I haven’t always been able to grasp the basics of what a good story is. I’m more of a writer who just wants to tell what I want to tell, and I really don’t care what the textbooks have said about you have to have your inciting incident – you have to have your characters wants – you have to have to have stakes. I know all that but I don’t think I’ve really internalized it and I’m frustrated with myself because those scripts are not getting made.

So now I’m being forced to become a better writer and a better storyteller and that’s not easy, right James? It’s not. It’s growing. It’s exhausting. It’s hard work. I’m tired of being rejected but this is the path I chose and most of the time I love it.

JAMES

So, as you mentioned before, your husband John said to you the night before he died, “Maryanne you know that’s exactly what’s going to happen in twenty years. You are not going to become a writer until you make writing a priority until you believe in yourself you will not become a writer.” So now almost twenty years after his death what do you think John would say to you about what you’re doing and what you’ve accomplished with your writing?

MARYANNE

I think he’d be super proud of what I’ve accomplished and where I’m at, but I think he’d be kind of puzzled, as I am puzzled, as to why some projects are taking so long to complete even though I’m doing my job, and I’m showing up every day and doing the work, and I’m finishing a project and then it goes out into the world and then the world sends it back, and I think he’d be interested – I think we’d be having some good conversations about that.

JAMES

So, then looking ahead what is your vision of life as a writer?

MARYANNE

I would say the life of a writer is learning to embrace the process and learn to love the process of writing. Like the day in and day outness of it. So, for me being able to get up in the morning and be super excited where I’m at – no matter where I’m at in the cycle of a project – no matter if it’s going well or not going well. If it’s not going well to embrace the challenge and if it’s going well to go, “Yes, I’m almost done and it’s going to be great.”

Interviews have been edited for length and clarity. This particular post is a combination of two interviews with Maryanne Pope. One conducted on April 8, 2016, and one conducted on December 8, 2018.
DOWNLOAD – James Hutchison Interviews Maryanne Pope

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