Meet playwright Elaine Romero, whose piece WALK IN TO THE SEA is being featured in our upcoming fundraiser (directed by Jerry Ruiz)
1)It appears that culture and heritage play a really important part in a lot of your plays. How does your own culture influence your writing and characters?
I just write what's in my gut and sometimes the plays dance with, or around, cultural themes. I do enjoy including Latino characters. I see them in my head. It's my community. I noticed early on that if I did not specify Latino characters that Latino characters were not cast when I wrote, "can be played by actors of any race." Just never. I found that discouraging. I realized I had to carve out a place in some of my work. Indeed, the culture influences how I see space and time. There's a sense that there is a very thin veil between this world and the next.
2)You seem to be in a different state each time I speak with you, is there a place that you consider your artistic home? Similarly, do you have a favorite place to write?
I currently live in Chicago, so that is my new artistic home. I have used Arizona as a home base for a long time, and I'll always return there to write. I have a long term relationship with a regional theatre there that has always served as a home for me. Super cozy there. They still love me and I still love them. My reality is that I have multiple artistic homes, companies I return to, again and again, who produce my work. I have homes in Denver, Dallas, Florida, and New York. They are all my homes.
3)Your characters have a way of making us believe and completely buy into their passions and ideas about life. Did a lot of research go into creating these characters for you? Specifically Karl and his theories on Viruses.
I did tons of research. Karl's theory is, actually, the theory of a good friend of mine. Over a ten year period, I was intrigued by how he applied his theory to social issues, politics, and himself. I became interested in the idea of a scientist who applied his theory to his personal life and it failed. I'm interested in our various identities and who we are if they fail us. I'm interested in Karl because he takes comfort in science. He does not know who he is without it. I'm interested in blind passion. I'm interested in obsession. It's something I deeply understand. I understand singular focus and blurring out the rest of the world. WALK INTO THE SEA is a product of that understanding.
4)What made you decide to apply for this festival? Do you have any personal connections to Autism that you would feel comfortable sharing?
I wanted to have WALK INTO THE SEA included in an event that was specifically about Autism. Frankly, I wanted to see the response to my play from those even closer to Autism. My best friend is a special ed teacher. I talked to her a lot while I was writing the play. She specializes in Autism. We talk a lot on the phone. I learned a lot about it from her. Other friends have kids who have Autism. It's been a path of learning. It continues to draw me in. As a writer, I love people. All people. As a writer, I want to understand them. Perhaps, writing a play is an attempt to crack a nut, solve a mystery.
5) What was the moment that made you decide to be a playwright?
I'm pretty certain that it started before I became conscious of it. I used to read plays aloud to myself as a kid. I always loved playing all the parts. As a writer, I found myself wanting to embody each voice in its entirety without interpretation. I found the craft to be pure. When I wrote my first plays, I was uncertain of the form, but I found myself fighting for each play. Really fighting for it in a way that I had not fought for my other writing. I found myself with the will to write and rewrite. The will to hear my work with other artists. I fell for the collaborative aspect of the theatre. I fell for hearing my work aloud in a room and feeling the response. It's been an ongoing journey of falling in love.
6)What is your favorite piece you have written? Or Favorite experience with a piece?
I've had magical experiences with my plays. Literally, ideas that have come out of the ethers. When I wrote BEFORE DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP, I had the experience of having the name of Willa Cather's novel come to mind. It was completely out of the blue. When I read the book, I realized I needed to do a Latina revisionist version of that time period from the point of view of a priest she lambasted in the novel. Within minutes of discovering his true identity, I ended up with an invitation to stay in his home with his descendants. That entire experience was magical for me. In many ways, it's that play I find myself returning to as a favorite. I wanted to capture that moment in time when the U.S. took over northern Mexico, but I wanted to find a personal vehicle to tell it. I found that vehicle in Padre Martinez.
7)If you were trapped on a deserted island with only one play to read, what would it be? Feel free to cast it as well (we can kidnap some actors onto this island)!
It would lend itself to A TEMPEST. I'd cast it with members of my cerebral ensemble because they'd keep me writing.
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