An Interview With
Kelly McAllister
Burning the Old Man

First of all, congratulations on being published in the Plays and Playwrights anthology for a second time. How does it feel?

It feels fantastic. It was a thrill the first time, and it’s a thrill the second. At the same time, there is a sense of un-reality to it, like this isn’t really happening. I don’t think much in this life ever feels they way we think it would. But it’s really exciting to be in such a great anthology that has so many great up-and-coming playwrights.

Where did the initial idea for your play, Burning the Old Man, come from?

I read an article the summer of 2003 about the Burning Man festival out in Nevada, and how the main attraction is a giant wooden man that is burnt at the end of the festival—people who go to the festival are encouraged to bring something representative of the past year that they want to move on from, something they want to be done with, or have closure with—and put it on the effigy, so that it burns up and is gone. At the time I was reading the article, I was dealing with my father’s death, and I thought about how I needed to move on from that—and somewhere in my mind, those two things – the Burning Man festival, and my father’s death—met. At about the same time, Tim Errickson, the artistic director of Boomerang Theatre Company, asked me to write something for their First Flight reading series—I told him I had an idea about two brothers taking their father’s ashes to Burning Man. Tim liked the idea, and I wrote the first version in about a month. It just sort of all came together really quickly.

Your plays seem to be endowed with this fervent sense of urgency. Do they all initially come out of such a place, or is that just something that happens within the course of writing and revising?

I’m not sure. Usually, I’ll get an idea for a basic story, write a first draft, and then fine tune it with re-write after re-write. I do think that a good play should be urgent—something that grabs people’s attention and demands that they listen. I just like to write stories that interest me, and then I squeeze them so that they move along at a nice pace.

Burning the Old Man was recently given the very first award for Best Full Length Play at the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. How was that experience?

The ceremony was very nerve wracking. I had invited the love of my life—Lisa Margaret Holub—whom I had just met, to come with me to the awards. When we got to the ceremony, they sat us in the balcony, and I thought, “Shit—they only sit people who don’t win in the balcony—now I’ll look like a moron for inviting Lisa.” Even though I was sure I wouldn’t win, I was incredibly nervous. When Martin read my name as the winner, I thought I’d explode. I kissed Lisa, ran down to the stage, and I don’t really remember what I said. It was a good night, that’s for sure. And winning the award means I get to be in the anthology, and also gives me more credibility to prospective producers, which is great.

As a writer, who do you draw inspiration from?

Lisa Margaret Holub, light of my life, soul of my soul, my true love. She makes me tingle, sing, and skip. I like to rub her feet, and to make her laugh, and to kiss her all over. I also like Chekov, Socrates, Emily Dickinson, and many others—Stoppard, Shakespeare, O’Neill, Williams, Churchill—the list is endless.

I know you and your siblings started a theatre company together, hope theatre. What's up next for you guys?

We plan on silently staying crazy for the rest of our lives- it is a long term plan that has been in effect since we were children. Actually, I’m not sure what’s next—I am pushing for a revival of either Last Call or Muse of Fire—but being in Denver makes it difficult for me to get my way. We might enter something in the Fringe—we’ve been in it every summer since 2002 – but it’s all up in the air right now.

Speaking of Denver, you recently moved there from New York. What prompted the move? And how's it going so far?

I moved to Denver to be with my love – I would have moved anywhere to be with her—it wasn’t so much a question of geography as it was of proximity to her. Love prompted the move, bubba. Pure, sweet love. I met the woman I am supposed to be with—the soul I have known since the dawn of time—the yin to my yang and vice versa. It has been the smartest move I have ever made—I am happier than I have ever been. Not that love is easy—no, it’s constant work and growth—but the end result is something amazing.

What are you currently working on?

Lisa, my collaborator, and I are working on Fenway: Last of the Bohemians, which just had a reading in NYC. It’s an adaptation of Uncle Vanya set in 1986 on a faded commune. Lisa is helping me make it the most brilliant script known to mankind. And womankind, for that matter. It’s our script now—Lisa is not only the love of all my lives, she is a fantastic writer, and makes our scripts a million times better.

Interview with Kelly McAllister was conducted by Michael Criscuolo January 2006.

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