For an emerging playwright there’s nothing like getting your work published on Indie Theater Now, run by the amazing Martin Denton who single-handedly does so much for the New York Theatre scene – championing plays and playwrights alike.    But how about getting three of your plays published on Indie Theater Now in just one month?

Meet Natalie Menna, an award-winning playwright and actress who is celebrating the fact that three of her plays were just published and are now available for purchase.  All different in scope, length, and subject they still all have Natalie’s signature brand of insight and humor:

Natalie chatted with me about where her comedic voice comes from, how she handles each milestone of success, and puts to rest the question of ever meeting a poor vegan.

Natalie! February was a terrific month for you! You had 3 of your plays published on Indie Theater Now. Amazing! So, first of all, congratulations.
Natalie Menna: Thanks, Karen!

Secondly—what does it feel like to now have your work out there officially? Is there a feeling of “I’ve arrived”?
Natalie: If I ever feel that way, please tie my hands to the bedpost. And not in the good way. Seriously, if I feel that way ever they’ll be no need to write anymore. I write precisely BECAUSE I’ve never thought of myself as arriving, arrived, about to arrive, or on the way to arriving. Departing, maybe, on a sinking ship …

Of course, publication isn’t the only way to ‘arrive’ right? All three of your plays have gotten acclaim by winning awards. What goes through your head when you find out that something you’ve created is not only being celebrated with a nomination, but then championed with an actual award win?
Natalie: I do like awards! Momentarily, I feel like I’m not on that sinking ship. But then I’m right back on it. Hours. Sometime minutes later. And then I keep writing.

In Roberta, I-Pod, and Zen A.M. you’ve shown you have a knack for writing, if not comedy per-se, then extremely comedic characters. When you conceive of a concept for a play do you set out for it to be funny, or is that just a part of your personality that shines through?
Natalie: This is a tough question. Requires me to analyze myself, which I hate. I only like analyzing others. Let’s see — a lot of people say this, and I wholeheartedly agree — “There’s comedy in everything.” EVERYTHING! That’s the way I’ve survived my life so far. The way we all do. I don’t think I consciously set out to write a comedy. I can be writing about a serious topic, for example, my play Committed, which deals with the last two days of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh‘s life before his murder. A regular laugh/riot, no? Believe it or not, audiences for the reading of that play were laughing steadily throughout. Humor is the ultimate coping tool, even under the worst of circumstances.

I’m also of the Larry David school of comedy – that anyone, anything, or any circumstance can be used for comedy. I think sometimes this clashes with the aesthetic of the current climate in theatre today, but I won’t let this affect my work. Comedy is life, and there’s comedy in everyone and everything on the planet.

I’ll be blunt: your main characters are very fun and interesting on the page, but they definitely come with a lot of issues! Frankly, I think if I was friends with Roberta, let’s say, I’d want to pull my hair out. And yet the play is fantastic. What’s the key to making a character likable on the stage even as you know that in person they’d be unlikable?
Natalie: Really? I feel like all of my friends, including myself, have BEEN Roberta (well maybe not to that degree!).  But sure, at one point or another … I think maybe it’s about heightening the reality — I seriously have never gotten this obsession with ‘likable’ characters — sort of like what David Mamet says about the ‘polemic’ play – BORING! (Despite disagreeing with him politically, I LOVE his writing).

I love creating characters who are deeply flawed, bad examples, crazy, self-involved, etc. That’s why it’s theatre! When I am in an audience and a play has a character who ‘represents’ goodness, morality, nobility, etc. I feel so bored I want to slash my wrists. (Okay –that’s a tad dramatic– I just want to go to the restroom and never return.) Bring on the crazy! That’s entertainment. That’s theatre!

And on that note, (and this may seem obvious but you’d be surprised) just because my character is saying something does not mean I agree with it. As an example, in my solo show i-POD, the character at one point says “No coincidence I’ve never met a poor vegan”.  A playwright approached me after the show and informed me that he was offended and knew many poor vegans. But of course! It’s this character’s view!

I think I may have digressed. Back to your question. I think people are responding to the uncensored truth. I try to create characters that are always speaking from their truth. Unpleasant or not. I try to avoid ‘flowery’ dialogue intended to make the character look like ‘a good person’. And I think people crave the truth. The truth of that particular character and their life.

You make a good point, Natalie.  Flawed characters are speaking from a place of their own truth – and letting the audience go along for the ride means bringing them on a specific journey.  Getting inside the head of someone who thinks a particular way is what innovative and audacious theatre is all about!

Now that you’ve got three published works and they can be accessed by other people, what would be your biggest dream for these shows?
Natalie: To have audience members say “That hit me. That made me laugh. That made me think differently“. That’s all. That’s nirvana.

Well, Natalie, based on what I’ve read, you’re well on your way to nirvana already!  Here’s to more truth, more flaws and more productions!

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For information on how to purchase any (or all!) of these plays by Natalie Menna, simply click here for more information.

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NATALIE MENNA is an award-winning playwright and actress living in downtown Brooklyn. A native New Yorker, she recently won Outstanding Overall Production of a Play and Best Actor for her full-length drama Committed at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity 2015. Committed, produced by Ego Actus, received six nominations, including Outstanding Production of a Staged Reading, Outstanding Playwright For A New Play in a Reading, Best Director, Best Actress, and Two Nominations for Best Actor.

She was nominated for Outstanding Writer for her full-length comedy Zen A.M. in Planet Connections Theatre Festivity 2014. Her solo show Roberta! was featured in United Solo Theatre Festival, Theatre Row, in November 2014. Select previous awards include The Nettie Award for Best Solo Show for her play I-pod in the Network One-Act Festival, and Best Actress for I-pod in The Midtown International Theatre Festival. Her play Hiroshi-Me, Me, Me was a finalist in both The Strawberry Festival and The Network One-Act Festival, with two nominations for Best Actress and Winner for Best Supporting Actress.

Her work has been developed with Casey Childs, Andrew Leynse and David Caudle at Primary Stages, and Nicky Silver at The Vineyard Theatre.

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INDIE THEATRE NOW is an engine for discovering new American drama — one that enables teachers, students, actors, directors, producers, and artists of every stripe, as well as those not involved in the theater, to experience the brilliance of contemporary indie theater as close to first-hand as possible.

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Tessa LaNeve

Tessa LaNeve is the Literary Manager and Director of The Primary Stages and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts. She was kind enough to answer some questions in the middle of auditions for their next semester and planning DETENTION, a new performance series she will speak more of.

What is ESPA? When was it formed and with what goal?

The Primary Stages Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) developed organically from a collection of in-house playwriting classes at Primary Stages to a formalized multidisciplinary institution with fully formed departments in acting, writing, and directing. Since its 2007 inception, the school has housed over 1100 students and boasted a faculty of award-winning professional artists. The school has refined actors who have been seen on and off-Broadway, developed writers whose work has won awards and received workshops and productions, and ultimately crafted emerging artists on their road to professional success. With the naming of the school in 2010, ESPA emerged as a leading educational institution, offering an extensive array of opportunities for students to collaborate and showcase themselves on the New York stage.

Are there classes for beginners as well as professional actors?

Indeed. ESPA’s curriculum offers a unique selection of classes designed for actors at any stage in their development – from scene study classes that focus on building an emerging actor’s foundation and confidence to weekend intensives that concentrate on specialty skills like mastering green screen acting or polishing a handful of new monologues. Acting is as much a sport as an art, and so we build our program a lot like a gym – drop in for a semester or for several semesters; take one class or take 10. You tell us what you want to accomplish, and we’ll help you find the right instructor.

This month you begin a series called DETENTION, talk to us about it?

Detention is a monthly performance series allowing students to collaborate and showcase their craft in front of a supportive audience. Each month a professional theater artist on the ESPA faculty will advise the students through specific dramatic structures, themes and communally-created restrictions, challenging participants to produce and perform completely innovative works in a collaborative environment. In cooperation with Jimmy’s No. 43 in the East Village, Detention aims to amplify the creative stakes while preserving ESPA’s constructive arts education. ESPA’s inaugural Detention on February 4^th is led by faculty member and guest director Lisa Rothe. Writing students were asked to submit ten-minute plays that adhered to the following constraints: the inclusion of a dream, an animal, a moment when the characters break into a song or dance number, the color red, and someone named Bob. Of the 26 submissions, five plays were chosen along with five student directors. All 14 actors involved were cast from the pool of Spring students. Each month’s guest director will create new constraints for the writers. We certainly look forward to what our upcoming directors (Michelle Bossy, Carl Forsman, Daniel Talbott, Jackson Gay, and Hal Brooks) have in store!

I’m sold! What are the other benefits of studying at ESPA?

Joining the ESPA family is as much about the structured classroom environment as it is about being a key player in the larger community. On the immediate level, our students benefit from safe, intimate class settings led by working professionals. Class time is only one element in the ESPA education experience, however. Students are frequently invited to performances both on and off-Broadway. They are encouraged to collaborate with one another in weekly Jam Sessions, bi-annual Playwriting Festivals, Detention, and Honor Society – our Sunday night salon for writers to hear their work aloud. ESPA is a place where everyone is on a first name basis, and students are known, celebrated, and supported in each of their projects.

How can The Happiest Medium readers become more involved with ESPA?

ESPA’s Spring semester begins on February 13. Whether new students register for one class or five, they are considered an equal opportunity member of the ESPA family and are enthusiastically encouraged to get involved in the multitude of collaborative opportunities.

Learn more at www.primarystages.org/espa

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