Country Teamwork - Stage Directions Magazine

Feature|By Katherine BrodskyDiscipline, Angerand UrgencyJohn Patrick Shanley shares what keeps him writingJohn Patrick Shanley has been whipping up prose sincehe was just 10 years old. When he first wrote a play, however,he realized what he was truly born to do. He’s beenwriting them ever since—and for that he thanks the MarineCorps. It gave him the discipline to wake up at 5 a.m. andwrite for three hours each day before heading to work.“I don’t think I would have had my act THAT together at21-22 if it hadn’t been for the Marines,” he says.Richness in WritingShanley has always had a particularly distinct voice in hiswriting, but it wasn’t until he was about 31 that he beganto write from a particularly personal space. Around the timethat his first marriage had fallen apart, he was falling aparttoo. In fact, his whole life was a disaster. Poverty stricken, acareer that seemed to be going nowhere—no consoling factorin sight. “It was hard, it was just hard,” he recalls, “And thestress of that made me write more candidly.” Shanley beganto write in a way that was more dangerous—more personal.He had also found a “different kind of humility,” moving awayfrom the need to showoff in his writing. “I think that was a bigstep for me,” he says.With that newly found approach, Shanley’s worlds of proseexploded, stretching the medium of expression even further.Many of the situations and characters occupying thoseworlds can be a little twisted, to say the least. Is there a pointwhen one might have gone too far? “Well, I think it is interestingto try and figure out where that point is,” he responds. “Idon’t know, I feel like I am normal, but that most people arenot,” he says with a laugh. “So, I’m willing to say things thatother people aren’t willing to say about how I feel and evenwhat I do.” This might get Shanley in trouble on occasion inreal life, but has won him accolades in the world of theatre.ONLINE BONUSTo read more about JohnPatrick Shanley’s take on educationand how his divorceaffected Savage in Limbo, visitwww.stage-directions.com/shanleyPlaywright John Patrick ShanleyKeeping It SmallAs he turned 40, Shanley decided that he would turn hisgaze outward toward the outside world and write plays thatwere more involved with his society and less involved withwhat his latest girlfriend might have done to him. Taking itfrom a personal level to a larger social level. “And that’s kindof what I’ve done,” he says.This suits Shanley’s preference for working in very smalltheatres. A 50-seat house is his ideal number. With a showthat size, you know from the start that no money is to bemade. “No matter how long you run the show, it will alwayslose money and that’s what is so great about it,” confidesShanley. Losing money is great? Most people would disagree.“Well, it’s one of the reasons that I do theatre. Because itis where the money isn’t. Where the money is—there go toomany people that I don’t want to hang out with.”Shanley isn’t terribly attracted to money. “Certainly if Ididn’t need to make money, I probably would not,” he says.“When money becomes an objective in and of itself for anartist—they’re sort of dead in the water.”When it’s not about money, it becomes about somethingdifferent.“It’s about art. It’s about doing something that interestsyou. It doesn’t have to appeal to 10 million people. It canspeak in a quiet voice and penetrate deeply into corners thataren’t ordinarily explored.”28 March 2011 • www.stage-directions.com