A look at playwright Ian August whose play "X-ray Vision at the Motel 9" is being featured in our upcoming fundraiser. X-Ray is being directed by Marielle Duke and features Alex Engquist and Eric Bland.
And now, lets get to know Ian...
1)Within your play, there’s a big theme of being replaced; what it means to be replaced and how we can be. Was this something you thought about at the inception of the project?
I think the idea of "replacement" is inherent in any piece about siblings or sibling rivalry. I know even with siblings of different gender that there is a certain amount of one-upsmanship that goes on between the two. Hank, the older of the two brothers in the play, and the character with autism, understands that idea with a genuine clarity that even Joe, the younger sibling, does not.
2) In the original version of the script, one of your characters was mentally disabled after an accident, how do you feel that the switch from a new disorder to life-long disorder (Autism), affects your characters and their relationship?
One of the things I love about this piece is that Joe, the younger brother, has a seemingly endless patience when it comes to Hank, the character with the disorder. I think changing Hank's affliction to a life-long disorder like autism creates a deeper history between them--a history that speaks of their relationship for years before the story takes place.
3) What made you decide to apply for this festival? Do you have any personal connections to Autism that you would feel comfortable sharing?
A younger cousin of mine suffers from a similar disorder to autism; his condition greatly affects his memory and his social skills. But he is one of the most hard working and persistant young men I know. He is now, at age 21, attending college and living on his own. It's pretty awesome.
4) What was the moment that made you decide to be a playwright?
Oh--that's a tough one. I was a professional actor for several years, toured the country and did some regional productions--but I was becoming dissatisfied with much of the work I was doing. The parts, the scripts, the experiences weren't as gratifying or as fulfilling as they had once been. So eventually, I just stopped complaining and started writing. And thankfully, people have been responding very well to my work. I feel extremely lucky.
5) 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 probably be something by John Guare or Peter Schaffer--I love the storytelling devices Shaffer uses in plays like Amadeus or Equus--but Guare is a master of merging form and content. That's not to say that either of the them are the authors of my favorite play--that's reserved for Stoppard's espionage / physics play Hapgood--but if I were stuck on a desert island, I could read House of Blue Leaves or Amadeus forever.
6) Whats up next for you? Any news or projects you want to share with the blog universe?
I just had a production of a new play called Donna Orbits the Moon premiere in Salt Lake City, but I'm eager to have it produced here on the East Coast. I'll also be workshopping a play with the Passage Theater in Trenton, NJ next year--It's a Irish ghost story that takes place in Northern Ireland in the early 80's--called For Mother's Song. And I'm writing a novel tentatively titled "And With Gills." It's a contemporary fairy tale about the residents of a fictional town in Ohio who are all searching for happiness, and turn to the guidance of an enormous, repulsive, one-eyed talking pike. It should be fairly bizarre.
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