An Interview With
Joshua Conkel

MilkMilkLemonade

 

You've listed playwright Craig Lucas as an important mentor/influence; and in my review of MILKMILKLEMONADE, I compared your work to early Edward Albee. Who are the playwrights whose work you most admire and who most influenced the way you are writing your plays (and why)?

I owe a tremendous debt to Craig Lucas for being an early supporter of my work, especially since I was a 20-year-old nobody riddled with insecurity and too shy to even speak in certain company. I'd like to think I learned the importance of having guts from Craig, who is braver than almost anybody I know. American theater is ruthlessly classist and elitist and, as a playwright who doesn't come from privilege, guts and tenacity are the only tools I have at my disposal. I think there's a tradition of gutsy gays in American theater and I'd like to follow in that tradition if I can. 

In addition to Craig, who is a mentor to me, I adore Charles Ludlam, Nicky Silver, Charles Busch and Christopher Durang, as I consider myself a satirist before anything. I'm also heavily influenced by filmmakers John Waters and Todd Solondz, punk rock, occultism, and bad television. I don't know how people can live without obsession, let alone artists. Lately I'm obsessed with the 1970's sitcom/soap opera hybrid, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, which influenced my latest play, The Sluts of Sutton Drive.

You've dedicated the play to your husband-to-be Keith. Are you guys actually planning to marry (and if so, where)? Is gay marriage rights an issue you'd ever put into one of your plays?

We are. We are getting married in Connecticut next year. We've been together my entire adult life and we're kind of waiting for New York to allow gay marriage. When the Senate showed their extreme cowardice this year it put a bug in my bonnet and I knew I couldn't wait any more. I proposed on Christmas morning. I bought a simple ring and wrapped it as a present, making sure it was the last to be opened. When he opened it, I proposed. We both cried and hugged and ended up slow dancing by the record player. The song was "Caught Up in a Dream" by The Zombies. It was beautiful, like a scene from a  play.

I have written about gay marriage. I Wanna Destroy You, though still unproduced, is a play about an impoverished gay couple in Brooklyn that want to get married. It's also an exploration of the ways in which gay men are reduced to novelties by a certain class of straight women and how much gay men feed into that marginalization themselves.

How did you get involved in theatre? You mentioned that you were an actor in community theatre when you were a boy; how did you get started in that?

I was a singer. I actually had a really beautiful, powerful voice when I was a little boy and through being in different choirs I found my way into musical theater, which I loved even more than just singing. Then I started smoking when I was thirteen or so and that was the end of that. This period was followed by a prolonged period of punk rock, drug use and general juvenile delinquency. Eventually I cleaned myself up and got really into high school drama. It was all over from there.

You say that you began writing when you realized appropriate roles weren't really available for you to play. Now that you're writing, are you still acting? Have you written any roles that you are eager to play yourself?

My earlier statement isn't exactly true. I've always written. For a while when I was little I wanted to be the next Stephen King. I just didn't always write plays. While I was studying acting at Cornish I had an epiphany of sorts. Plays were boring. They were fun to be in, but not fun to watch. Granted, this was according to my own admittedly bizarre personal aesthetic, but I realized that the kind of plays I wanted to see didn't exist. I realized I needed to write them.

I do still act. I'm currently playing a lobster woman from outer space in The Management's production of Joe Tracz's Song For a Future Generation. I have no lines. It's an amazing role for me, because I just get to wear a crazy costume and pose a lot. That's all I really want to do anyway. I'm always floored by actors who only want to play pretty people. What a bore! I exclusively want to play drug addicts and villains and hunchbacks and other freaks. That's where the fun is. 

Anyway, I'm currently developing a web series with playwright/actress Nikole Beckwith. It's called Hooray! with Chris and Kris and it's a savagely dark comedy about two friends with substance abuse and relationship problems navigating their way through the economic meltdown. She and I will star in it. I'm also developing a late night soap opera and I kind of want to snag the lead for myself. The main character is Misty Nagel, and she's inspired half by my mother and half by Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

Tell us a bit about The Management. How did you get involved with them, and how did you become artistic director? Is it particularly important for you to have a relationship with a company in this way?

I was cast as Myrna in The Management's production of Naomi Iizuka's Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls. (If you haven't guessed, I end up in drag a lot.) From there I was asked to direct their next project, Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner. When the Artistic Director, Courtney Sale, moved to Washington D.C. I was the natural choice to take her place. Mostly because I was the only director in the company. 

The Management is interested in stylish and theatrical new plays and, as a matter of personal taste, I especially like it when they're really bold or cheeky. It's my home as an artist. I find it frustrating that playwrights wait for established companies and institutions to put up their work. I want to say, "Do it yourself! You could wait a lifetime on those dusty old mausoleums to warm up to you!"

What's ahead? You've tantalized us in you bio with a little about several forthcoming projects--what can you tell us about and what is happening next (and, if you know, where and when)?

I mentioned the web series and soap opera already, but I also hope to produce one of my plays in the Fall if possible. The other big thing is expanding The Management. One of the great things about The Management is that it allows all of its artists to pursue their interests both inside and outside of the company. That said, due to weddings and grad schools and Los Angeles, the Management consists entirely of director Meg Sturiano and myself. We're trying to figure out how to invite more members, so you can look for a push for that sometime in the near future.

Interview with Joshua Conkel was conducted by Martin Denton March 2010

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