Thursday Bookworm
"For me, writing plays is far more an act of the mind than of the emotions. It's a very different kind of impulse than fiction writing."
~ Jim Grimsley ~
1. What would you consider to be the best play ever written, and why?
I've loved Shakespeare's MacBeth ever since I was forced to read it in high school. Once you get past the Elizabethan English, the tale it tells is fascinating and with a few changes could easily take place in our own time period. The fact that it is still being enjoyed hundreds of years after its writing is testament to its greatness.
2. Who would you say is the most prolific American playwright/dramatist of all time? And from any other country?
I must admit that I don't care to read plays. They are meant to be seen performed, not read, unless you are a member of the cast. Since most of of the theatrical productions that I have seen or been involed in the production of have been musicals, I shall answer this question in regards to musical theater.
Where would American musical theater be without the many great works of Rogers and Hammerstein? As for non-Americans, Andrew Lloyd-Weber is quite prolific.
3. Are there any plays or playwrights that you don't particularly care for?
I know that I read Death Of A Salesman for a college literature course. I know that I took a test on it and made a decent grade. I also know that I hated it so much that I completely blocked it from my memory after taking that test! I seriously couldn't tell you a single thing about it, no character's names, no plot line, not even the author, it's all gone! Weird...
4. Have you ever performed in a play? Which one(s), and which role(s) did you play?
What?! Ms. I-love-to-be-the center-of attention performing on stage?! Of course! I played the charwoman (Russian cleaning lady) in a high school production of Anastasia and also had a dual role in a production of Oklahoma!. In the chorus my part was that of a woman, but my single spoken line was in the character of a man. Can I act, or what?
5. Have you ever written, or attempted to write, a play of your own?
I attended a music/drama camp in which our final project was the production of a piece of musical theater which we had written ourselves. We were broken into small groups and each group collaborated to write its own scene in the play.
