These women of the arts hail from different disciplines, but they all have an indomitable spirit and a luminescent spark that makes them amazing human beings who are out there every day, doing amazing work.

Today we continue our series with Carol Carpenter. What can I say about Carol Carpenter?  On the surface she and I couldn’t be more different and yet somehow when we met we clicked immediately.  Carol has a wry smile and a glint in her eye;  her writing is sharp, smart, some times biting, some times touching but always truthful.  It’s that truth that has made her the recipeint of numerous awards.

Carol is also a loyal colleague; despite the fact that she was ON HER WAY TO PARIS when I sent out a call to participate in this series she promised she’d do what she could, and (true to her word) she sent me her thoughts from her lovely vacation spot.  If that’s not the real deal, I don’t know what is. In her own words:

I’ve always had a hard time discussing issues through the lens of my gender, because it has so rarely defined the way I look at the world. I think this reality comes from many different sources: from having parents who assumed I could do anything I wanted, to having been a competitive childhood athlete who saw aggression as compatible with being female, to being raised in an area of the country where bragging is an art form (the Texas border) and approaching life from a place where victimization is considered weak.

I carry all of these cultural influences and assumptions with me as I navigate the world, and yet I know that my gender brings differences in opportunities that I am probably too solipsistic to see. It’s strange: on a macro level, I do see the world in terms of power dynamics and how they play out in the world. My politics are aligned with this awareness, and I constantly see gender dynamics play out in how horrifically gay men are treated, and in how sexualized women are. But on a micro, personal level, I feel like these dynamics don’t apply to me. They do, of course; I’m intellectually aware enough to know that. But I don’t feel them.

I feel as though I am an equal in the boxing ring of life, and if a guy takes a punch at me, I’m going to punch back.

Carol Carpenter

~~~

DANG Carol!  I sure as heck do NOT want to ever be next to the guy who takes that first swing at you – just in case he ducks and I get the punch instead.  Yeah – that would wipe me out completely.

Here’s a little more information on Carol Carpenter:

• Sweet, Sweet Spirit June 25 at the Robert Moss Theater
• Village Fall 2012 at American Southwest Theater
• Good Lonely People info at  www.carolcarpenterwrites.com

Related Posts:

• Celebrating Life, Love, And Connections – Congratulating Carol Carpenter
• Planet Connections Q&A: Good Lonely People
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Franca Vercelloni
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Emily Owens
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Kathleen Warnock

Carol Carpenter

The Happiest Medium was honored to be a Media Partner of the 2010 Planet Connections Festivities. Not only did we, as a team, get to interview some of the most talented writers and directors than any festival (or festivity for that matter) has to offer, but we made some lasting connections.  One of them is Carol Carpenter – writer of the play Good Lonely People which was also directed by our wonderful staff contributor, Diánna Martin.  Carol was not only nominated for her work but also won!  We were thrilled to be able to celebrate this night with her – and I’m honored that she took some time to sit down and tell us what this time in her life has been like.  Surprisingly, it’s been an unexpected path . . .

Carol – Congratulations on winning your award for Outstanding Playwriting for a New Script at the Planet Connections Award Ceremony! I wasn’t able to review Good Lonely People for this site since the director (the fabulous Diánna Martin) is a contributor for us. But just between you and me, I was really moved by your play. At the heart of it, what is Good Lonely People about to you?

It’s about a mother who loves her gay daughter so deeply that she’s willing to take on anything that threatens her child — including her own family. It’s also about the inherent goodness of people and our ability to overcome our own limitations in order to love. It celebrates the tenacity and value of family. And, I think, it’s a fascinating insight into conservative Christian culture and the ability of evangelicals to evolve in ways that us lefty snobs often assume they aren’t capable of. As for the world of Good Lonely People, that was one of my favorite aspects of the play — its strong sense of place. As a gay child of Southern Baptists who were politically left-leaning, I really enjoyed recreating the complex and sometimes contradictory world of old Southern Democrats confronting Proposition 8 on the night of the Obama election.

You’ve mentioned that Good Lonely People is very autobiographical – talk a little bit about the process of weeding through your life and picking the moments that you think will play well on stage.

I was raised in a tiny conservative town on the Texas-New Mexico border. So when I came out of the closet, as you can imagine, it was terrifying for me. But somehow, my parents handled it with incredible grace and love. Not that it was easy, but they wanted to understand and to support me in whatever ways that they could. My mother got her hands on every relevant book that she could and became the PFLAG librarian at the local chapter. My aunt and uncle, however, just couldn’t understand how this could possibly be ok. And this conflict became an unspoken issue underlying everything between our families for years. I always felt a certain amount of guilt for this, which is crazy I know, but I did. And I also felt anger toward my aunt and uncle. Good Lonely People was me working through all of that — figuring out how to transcend guilt and anger and find a place of insight that would lead to forgiveness and even a certain respect for who they are and what they believe. So the climax of the play, when the mother faces off with the aunt and uncle, that’s me looking my worst nightmare in the eye. Isn’t that always what makes the best dramatic moment onstage — your worst nightmare?

It’s interesting to chart the evolution of how I got to the place where I could write this play. A few years ago, my aunt had a heart attack and then last year my father’s cancer became serious. I suddenly realized that they wouldn’t be here forever. And so I reached out to my cousin and said, “I’d really like to stop in and see your mom and dad when I drive through the area, but I’m always with my partner and I don’t want to make them uncomfortable. But they’re not going to be here forever and I’d really like to see them. Could you ask them if it would be ok for me to stop in, even if I have Nora with me?” It was the first time that this issue had ever been directly addressed like this. And the way in which I addressed it — with respect for their values — I think, opened the door to healing for everyone. It opened their hearts in ways that had been closed before because it left politics at the door. The success of that moment started me on a journey in which I realized that, on the one hand, while my fifteen years of in-your-face gay politics had certainly accomplished important things, I had also alienated people in my life who mattered – people who had raised me and sacrificed for me. That simple gesture of respect — which was so hard to get to — eventually grew into this play. I’m hoping Good Lonely People softens the audience around the complexities of gay and religious issues. What happens when we assume everyone is doing their very best with the cards they’ve been given?

A few weeks ago, my father passed away and it was just incredible to watch the community embrace my partner Nora out of respect for my Dad, who was a kind, gentle man. Here we were in a Baptist church in a tiny town on the Texas border. The community members were all seated in the church as our family entered and walked down the aisle. My brother entered with his wife, and then Nora and I followed them in. We were clearly together, as a couple. We sat next to my old aunt and uncle (that the play is based on) at the service. There was a slide show of my Dad’s life, and my and Nora’s pictures were right there on the big screen alongside my brothers’ and their wives. After the service was over, all the little old church ladies that I remember growing up with were coming up to me, clasping my hand, and saying “I want to meet Nora!” I think they were so proud of themselves to have risen to that occasion. And I was so proud to be the daughter of a father who always assumed they could rise to that occasion. That’s the kind of humanity that I wanted to instill in Good Lonely People.

You’d mentioned that MTWorks  Artistic Director and Resident Playwright, David Stallings, and MTWorks Executive Director and Resident Director, Cristina Alicea, did an amazing job of helping you turn Good Lonely People into what we wound up seeing. What was the biggest change that made this play really start to shine for you?

The Proposition 8 tie-in at the end. I missed that connection altogether – this started out as a play about the Obama election and this cast of unlikely characters who throw a party to celebrate his election. Sissy, the gay daughter, was always married in California to her partner, but I just completely missed how important that was to the conflict of the play.  And while the election itself was symbolic and weighty, the final Proposition 8 moment gave the ending a magic touch while deepening Sissy’s journey and rounding out her character in a way that was lacking before. David and Cristina are also ruthless cutters. If the pacing isn’t there, they bring out the red ink, the razor. I love that — at least when the dramaturgs are talented like they are and share my goal of telling a good story that moves and enlightens people. If you’ve seen an MTWorks show, then you know they always feature top-notch scripts. That’s not an accident.

Good Lonely People has a lot of things in it that might be taken different ways, depending on what audience is seeing it. Tell me about a scene that gets a completely different reaction depending on what audience it’s playing to.

I’ve had two different gay women in their early 20s who were really mad at Sissy for not putting up a fight with her aunt and uncle. They really saw her as weak and spineless. But older audience members really love that choice and relate to or appreciate Sissy’s very conscious decision to deflect for what she sees as the greater good of the moment. To some, Sissy is a sellout and to others she is insightful and wise.

(A bit of shameless self promotion -but for a worthy cause! ) I was proud to be wearing a White Knot for Marriage Equality ribbon when I presented an award at Planet Connections. Talk to me about how Good Lonely People works as a play to enlighten people about Proposition 8.

I think it brings the issue home for people in a very soft and intimate way. The audience begins to feel like they’re a part of this family and when they realize at the end that Sissy’s life will be affected by this decision, it’s like “Oh. Wow. That vote had real ramifications for real people.” I think that in the overly politicized atmosphere of Prop 8 it’s easy to think that it was all really just about politics. My partner Nora is what they call a “professional gay”. She spent almost four years at the ACLU fighting for LGBT rights at the state level. And for both of us, it was easy to distance ourselves from the human perspective, because Prop 8 was the latest war to be won. But Good Lonely People cut through all that cultural noise and showed how Prop 8 was about real people, and their families.

Final question – bonus round. You can tell The Happiest Medium readers anything you want. Something about the play, about where you’re going from here, give me a recipe, tell me a joke, recite your favorite lyrics. This is your chance to do what you want. The floor is yours!

I’ll riff off the “where you’re going from here” idea because that’s on my mind a lot right now. The week before my dad passed, a very dear friend died unexpectedly and in a tragic way. She was my first serious girlfriend and the only woman besides Nora that I ever lived with. So I’ve been really trudging through the fog of death – I’ve started calling this the Summer of Sadness — and it’s made me pensive in ways I haven’t been in a long time. Paradoxically, in the midst of this sadness, I got my first New York production and I won the Best Playwriting award at the festival. But all of my losses have extinguished my elation. It’s like death has stripped me of my Big Moment. I’ve wondered why all these things would happen simultaneously, all within a six week period? And the only thing I can come up with is that its provided a stark contrast between what is important and what isn’t at a crucial time in my life. Instead of leveraging my Big Moment professionally, I’m immersed in memory, in the past, and in the people that I love. It’s provided the gift of clarity — a kind of compass that points to True North. So where am I going from here? I’m going toward True North.

_______

Thank you, Carol, for sharing your story with us.  Congratulations on your well deserved win and be safe as you travel toward your North.

For more information about Carol you can check out her new site - which she warns is still under construction but will soon be the place where you can find all things Carol Carpenter related.  I took a sneek peek and it’s great. Enjoy!

Related Posts:

• Planet Connections Q&A: Good Lonely People
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Carol Carpenter
• It’s A Triple Play For Natalie Menna!
• A Brief History Of Thyme (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• THM – Proud Sponsors Of Planet Connections Festivity 2012!

Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is New York City’s premiere eco-friendly theatre festival, connecting artists and audiences with diverse dynamic charitable organizations. The Planet Connections experience entertains, enlightens and informs.

This Summer I was quite fortunate to be able to direct a play for one of my favorite theatre companies, MTWorks, who hired me to direct Carol Carpenter’s Good Lonely People for the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. It was such an honor to work on this important piece for MTWorks, of which I am a company member. I was also delighted to be a part of Planet Connections’ quest to bring awareness to our environment and give back to the community.

Good Lonely People deals with a Democrat family living in a Red State, who get together on the night of the 2009 election, but are torn apart because of strong differences in opinion regarding the gay daughter of one of the couples. To me, these are large aspects of the play; but it’s also very much about family accepting each other and the love needed to get past the anger; and how no matter what someone’s bumper sticker says – at the end of the day their actions are what matter. My hope is that people coming to see it, regardless of their political preference, can walk away with an appreciation of the important message that Carol Carpenter has infused into this piece regarding acceptance and love.

The charity that we are raising money/awareness for with this production is PFLAG – Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians and Gays – and we have been delighted to have representatives come to the production and do a talk back with us afterwards. It’s a charity that is important to themes in the show and also to MTWorks. When I see people wiping tears from their eyes and hear that the play is an incredibly important piece to be seen by families, it makes me smile as I hear my own thoughts echoed.  I’m thrilled that I can be a part of something that moves people in such a way.

The Happiest Medium put the questions that we have asked other shows to playwright Carol Carpenter regarding Good Lonely People. Here is what she had to say:

Here’s Antonio’s question -

If you would have to single out a quality between dialogue, plot or character, which one is the strongest in your play/piece, and why?

Character. These are people with long, interconnected histories — interpersonal, geopolitical, cultural and religious histories — and they have overcome great strife together, always emerging stronger than before. But on this night, they’re presented with the one issue they’ve always avoided, and the one that just might do them in. The play is really about how good people in a decent family in a provincial town with limited experiences and information do their very best to keep loving each other when faced with the issue of a gay family member.

Here’s Karen’s question -

What has been the most surprising or unexpected thing that’s happened during this play? Did that wind up taking the play in a new direction?

An actor had an issue with a scene that I knew wasn’t quite right. He kept saying his dialogue was unmotivated. I, of course, knew exactly why the words were there but he didn’t. Which usually means the writing is lacking. So his insight unlocked the scene for me. The other great surprise has been what an incredible dramaturge Cristina Alicea from MTWorks is. This was a good play and now, thanks to her, it’s a great play.

Here’s Anne’s question -

What do you think is the central theme and reason this play was conceived?

The central theme, for me, is that family is worth the effort. It’s worth overlooking the bad in order to get the good. I conceived of the play when my own mother threw an Obama “party” at our house in our tiny conservative town — I just couldn’t fathom who would come — and I had to surprise her, and support her, by attending (while doing some reconnaissance, of course). That party was the seed of Good Lonely People.

Here’s Stephen’s Question -

Why should the audience (we) go to your play? What will the audience learn about the “human condition” by going to your play?

Because it gives dignity to a culture and a people that we don’t often get to see on an NYC stage (we get to see plenty of them in parodies on Jon Stewart though). I hope everyone walks out thinking, “Weird. They’re just like my family except one of them wears a cowboy hat.”

Here’s Sarah’s Question -

What is your favorite line from the play?

“I used to tell my Pentecostal boss down at the courthouse, ‘I might go to hell for bein’ a Baptist, but I’ll never go to hell for bein’ a Republican!“

Here’s Diánna’s Question -

What about this play do you feel most drawn to personally, and because of that, what message do you hope the audience walks away with?

Sissy’s generosity of spirit and wisdom, which is what I aspire to. Even though the plot of this play is fictional, the conflicts are autobiographical and Sissy is who I’d like to be. The play is the culmination of fifteen years’ worth of processing my own hurt and anger at family members who subtly but clearly expressed their disapproval of my “lifestyle”. But something changed in my 30s, as my aunts and uncles began really aging; I began moving to a place of forgiveness. A place where I could sincerely say “We disagree, and they’re really awesome people” instead of “Those ignorant redneck racist homophobes shouldn’t be allowed to breed.” That kind of rhetoric is so damaging, to both the subject and the messenger. So on a personal level, it’s a very liberating play and I guess I’d want the audience to walk away with the knowledge that forgiveness is liberating.

Related Posts:

• Celebrating Life, Love, And Connections – Congratulating Carol Carpenter
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Carol Carpenter
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Alex Bond
• Ever Seen A “NewBorn” Play? (Part 1)
• It’s A Triple Play For Natalie Menna!