How did you come up with the idea for Marvelous Shrine?
Marvelous Shrine came out of another play I started in 2003. It was a response to the U.S. declaring war on Iraq. My wife and I went to the rally on February 15, here in the city, to join in to express our outrage. During one of the call and responses, I realized a wave of sound around the world wasn’t going to prevent the war. The march was about self-expression, exercising freedom of speech. I have a stepbrother who was a Marine. My father’s a very patriotic man who was in the military most of his career. He loves to use the word hero. I posed the question; If David died, would the hero’s medals, the letter from the President, the flags and ribbons fill the space left by a dead son? It was a futile exchange. So I wrote a play. Can one play stop a war? I believe it can.
Marvelous Shrine debuted at the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival. How was your Fringe experience?
We hadn’t done Fringe since 2000 and the entire experience this time was so much smoother and better organized than in those early days. The Present Company has improved the Festival in so many ways, including the venues. I’m grateful for the space we had at the New School. Our venue director, Tyson Murphy, was terrific. He was organized, quick thinking and infused with good humor. Any glitches, and there were a few, were resolved amazingly well. We considered this production a workshop and the Fringe is the ideal place to work on a play. We had good audiences and it was a great opportunity for me to get feedback and improve the play. It doesn’t get better than that.
Your wife, Pamela Butler, directed Marvelous Shrine. What's it like for the two of you to work together, and how does it influence your home/personal life together?
Pamela likes the directorial aspects of a play and I think she has an amazing visual sense. We do the auditions together and between us we usually cast pretty well. She has worked professionally as an editor so I genuinely value her dramaturgical help. Her comments are direct and to the point, not always the easiest thing to swallow, but it works. We both feel a play is just that, and we try to create a working environment that’s serious, but fun. She really doesn’t like chaos or stress so we work to keep it at a minimum. We usually have a pretty good time. As far as its effect on our personal life, we’re best friends and I think we complement one another. We have our moments when the sparks fly, but mostly we like working together. The productions just sort of integrate themselves into daily life.
You never received any formal writing training, but have cited artists as wide-ranging as Aristotle and The Beatles as important theatre-related mentors for you. How so?
No, I don’t have degrees in playwriting or theater. Among lots of things I’ve read, I was impressed with Aristotle’s Poetics. It seems to me to have a near perfect blueprint for building a good play. Very basic criteria for creating a worthy drama. It seems so simple; protagonist, antagonist, conflict, resolution. So simple, so difficult! Playwriting, ultimately, is an idea and then craft, craft, craft.
I also happen to love The Beatles. John Lennon was a surrogate mentor of mine. Me and millions of others. Their music is nuanced with details. I could give you dozens of examples, but that’s for another time. Their music, lyrics, the craftsmanship of the song writing, often comes to mind when I’m writing, when I’m thinking about writing, or staging, so one way or another, they’re an influence.
What first led you to writing?
I came to New York in 1984 to be an actor. I was at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, but I soon discovered I had more fun writing. I was turned on to Charles Bukowski and immediately became a poet. I did some readings, went to happenings, got some poems published and enjoyed it, but it was too isolating. Then there’s rock and roll. A tough game to grow old in. I wrote a couple of short pieces, not really plays, more like long scenes. They were produced and suddenly I was wearing a new hat, and I liked it. I found a way to incorporate all three passions. I started seriously writing plays a decade ago and I haven’t stopped writing and producing since then.
I understand you once co-wrote a screenplay about John Lennon with independent film actor Kevin Corrigan. How did you two hook up in the first place?
We were at Strasberg together. Kevin shares my passion for the Beatles and especially Lennon. I saw Kevin in the school lobby one day. He was reading a Beatles biography. We immediately started talking about The Beatles. I asked to look at his book, and when he handed it to me, I promptly tossed it in the garbage. I told him he had to kill his idols, or something like that. We’ve been like brothers ever since.
The screenplay came about because Kevin knew a guy named Fred Seaman, who had been Lennon’s last personal assistant. He had written a memoir that he and Kevin talked about making into a film. I felt very fortunate to meet somebody who had been so close to Lennon. We probably worked on that project two-plus years and Kevin and I soaked up the stories. Maybe one day we’ll do something with it.
You also played guitar and bass, and sang in a rock band?! Tell us a little more about that!
Diz Dam was the band’s name. Our drummer, Angelo, got it from The Golden Girls: “Diz dam TV ain’t working!” The band was three friends from Strasberg: Angelo Alvanos, drums; Kevin on the guitar, mostly; and me on bass and singing vocals. We played around the city for a few years, recorded some songs and we even got a little radio play. We played CBGB’s. Standing on that stage, surrounded by all that graffiti, knowing who had been there, it was an honor to paint another layer of sound on those hallowed walls. In the middle of one number the drum kit fell apart. Angelo was able to keep the beat on just the high hat. He reassembled the kit with one hand while we covered him. The gallery next door, CBs 313, was a theatre and I had a show there too. So I actually gigged CBs as a playwright and a musician. I’m very proud of that. It was very sad when they were forced to close their doors.
One of your plays, A.B.C., was banned from the curriculum of an upstate branch of SUNY. Dare I ask what happened there?
The play, A.B.C., has three female characters stuck together in a room for an extreme and radical act of anti-consumer, anti-American civil disobedience — assassinating Santa in the Macy’s Day Parade. The girls discuss lesbianism, war, killing, drugs, alcohol and they imbibe in drugs and alcohol during the play. I insult, mock and vilify many patriotic and American icons. The play is several years old. What didn’t seem particularly offensive in any serious way ten years ago is suddenly deadly serious today. One of the teachers was using the play for a scene class and became interested in seeing it published. We were working on the publication when the school deans became aware of the play. They not only put a halt to our project but they effectively banned the play from the school, forever. The head of the drama department and I had already signed a contract, but I told him being banned was a pretty good consolation prize.
You're a member of The Present Company's Pool. What exactly is the Pool, and how did you become a member?
The Pool is a gathering of writers, actors and directors who meet on a regular basis to develop new plays. Elena K Holy, Artistic Director of The Present Company wanted to create a place to nurture people’s creativity. It’s a safe place to fail. It’s been a huge help to me, I’m very grateful to be a part of it.
What's up next for you?
I’m at the beginning of a new play that I’m bringing to the Pool, and I’m preparing to do an invited reading of another play, Venus and Mona, in early January. I’m very excited about this play. I wanted to write about forgiveness. Who forgives, who is forgiven. The characters are identical twins, one a famous movie star, one still at home taking care of trailer-park Mom. On the eve of Mom’s death, the movie star comes home, and the girls proceed to vent on each other. I want it to have a graphic novel feel. I’m the literary director at Nicu’s Spoon Theater so I’m busy reading plays for the spring reading series. And I have a revival going up. The EAT Fest is producing Islands of Repair, a play I wrote in 1998, in spring of 2008.
Interview with Leslie Bramm was conducted by Michael Criscuolo January 2008.