This is the first installment of Meet The Amazing Writers Who Are Featured In Whisper And Shout: A Series of Curious and Unexpected Plays!
We have paired up the writers and had them ask each other the burning questions that you all are dying to know!
This is Nick Robideau- he wrote Robot Heaven
And here’s Ruben Carbajal, who wrote Car and Carriage Collide:
Nick: Who is your theatre and/or writing hero, and why?
Ruben: So many. Albee, Mamet, Cather and Chekhov. Shepard, Vonnegut, Pinter and Henry Miller. But you’ve heard of these people. Here are some you might not be familiar with, but should:
If I had to choose a book that has had more influence on my writing than any other, I’d have to single out Keith Johnstone’s IMPRO.
Rebecca Lee is the kind of writer you read and think, “I’d sure like to meet the brilliant mind that made this.” I’m lucky enough to have met and been taught by that brilliant mind. Check out her gorgeous novel, The City is a Rising Tide.
Okay, you’ve probably heard of Sheila Callaghan. Her writing scares me in the best way.
Anne Washburn and I were in Soho Rep’s Writer/Director Lab (playwrights: apply!) together. Her work was so smart it terrified me into writing better.
Sam Lipsite’s Homeland is probably the funniest thing I’ve ever read.
Madeleine George is that rare mix of kick ass playwright and novelist. Looks is a book for Young Adults that everyone can enjoy.
Some professor probably made you read LeRoi Jones’/Amiri Baraka’s The Dutchman. Bet The Toilet wasn’t on the syllabus. Baraka is a controversial figure that has made assertions that I think are indefensible, but The Toilet is worth the trouble it takes to track down.
Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Key is nearly perfect. His work, written in 1956, feels very contemporary. Someone out there have a grant to give me to translate this for the stage?
Ruben: Tell us about the moment you came up with the idea for Robot Heaven.
Nick: I got the idea for Robot Heaven while running. For some reason I do a lot of my best writerly thinking when I’m running on the treadmill. I think it’s because the physical release of running forces me to focus a little less on the stupid neuroses that often otherwise get in the way. How I manage, then, to not trip and bust my face open while thinking about things like plot and character is a bit of a mystery to me. Anyhow, on this particular day the treadmill music I had going on my iPod managed to burrow around in my head and cause a title to suddenly occur to me. At that stage, the title was “Fembot and Robotboy in Heaven.” Yeah, I know. By the end of my run I had the first couple of pages basically written in my head. Later, I changed the title (because really, despite the fact that it was the jumping off point, that title kind of sucks) and the character names (because they were too close to the original musical inspiration; and if you know the musical inspiration by now you’re probably a hipster or a gay man). So I suppose euro-pop music + cardio = Robot Heaven.
After reading all that, don’t you want to come see their readings with amazing actors and directors?!? THOUGHT SO!
(THIS) Monday March 7th, 8pm, Theater for the New City (155 1st Ave).
RSVP: [email protected], $10 Suggested Donation
