The handwriting was on the proscenium in 1965, when I appeared in a Shaker Heights High School production of Kiss Me, Kate. Hoping to play Bianca, I was cast instead as one of the servants whose sole line was “Here, sir!” I quickly realized my future did not hold any lead roles, but I had fallen hopelessly in love with theatre.
Flash forward two decades, when I was working as a general assignment reporter covering the local theatre scene. Thanks to Gerald Freedman, Artistic Director of the Great Lakes Theatre Festival, I was able not only to see all the company’s work, but also to sit in on rehearsals and speak with the principals. Imagine watching Hal Holbrook rehearse Death of a Salesman with Elizabeth Franz. Or interviewing Arthur Miller for 45 glorious minutes. Or witnessing the legendary direction of George Abbott, when he restaged his 1926 hit Broadway in Cleveland, as part of his 100th birthday celebration.
The final inspiration came in 1994, during a late-night phone conversation. While my friend was describing her search for a sperm donor, I found myself imagining day-glow gonads parading across a black-lit stage. The next day, I requested a leave of absence from the paper to write a play about single parenting that (mercifully) remains in a drawer. Two years (and a better script) later, I was admitted to the Playwrights’ Unit at the Cleveland Play House, where I’ve developed my work ever since, in the world’s greatest Master Class.
Evidently, I had accumulated plenty of stories during my first decade of journalism. These became considerably more interesting when I was able to fictionalize them and send my censor packing. My experiences with Holocaust survivors found their way into The Interview. Members of the Greatest Generation inspired V-E Day. Colleagues and local politicians inspired my newsroom comedy, The Good Times. I wrote often about real people, including native Clevelander David Berger, the lone American casualty on the 1972 Israeli Olympic team (A Form of Hope). My current project, U.S. v. Howard Mechanic, follows the journey of a high school classmate who became America’s last political prisoner from the Vietnam War era. Even stories that weren’t born in Cleveland were transplanted here to put them in a familiar context. Never did use the gonads.
Along the way, I have continued my journalism career, now almost exclusively about theatre. For eight years, I was theatre writer for Northern Ohio Live magazine, until it met the fate of a lot of print publications last spring.
I am particularly fortunate to live in Northeast Ohio, where the Cleveland Play House, Cleveland Public Theatre, Dobama Theatre, Karamu, and others have distinguished themselves as incubators for new works. The Cleveland Theatre Collective has a monthly Dark Room series, so named “to see what develops.” In Cuyahoga County, playwrights are currently eligible for a handful of $20,000 grants, thanks to a special arts tax on cigarette sales. Any way you look at it, we’re smokin’.
But we’re calling our newly designated region “Ohio” for good reason. The Ohio Arts Council has been unwavering in its support for individual artists, with $5,000 grants that I’ve been privileged to win three times. Ohio University and the Northeast Ohio Universities Consortium boast fine M.F.A. programs for playwrights. Columbus has the newly renovated Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute that collects, among other things, the work of playwrights, both well- and lesser-known. Dayton offers the annual FutureFest, a playwrights’ fantasy camp/showcase for six lucky artists selected as finalists. I’m sure the list goes on.
As the new regional rep of the Dramatists Guild, I am delighted to give national attention to the gifted writers who live and work all over Ohio and to the organizations that bring that work to the stage. Anticipate lively profiles in these reports, as well as news of exciting programs and services for what I hope will be increasing numbers of DG members.
I’m still available for walk-ons. My ten-year-old headshot is available at www.fayesplays.com.
Ohio
The handwriting was on the proscenium in 1965, when I appeared in a Shaker Heights High School production of Kiss Me, Kate. Hoping to play Bianca, I was cast instead as one of the servants whose sole line was “Here, sir!” I quickly realized my future did not hold any lead roles, but I had fallen hopelessly in love with theatre.
Flash forward two decades, when I was working as a general assignment reporter covering the local theatre scene. Thanks to Gerald Freedman, Artistic Director of the Great Lakes Theatre Festival, I was able not only to see all the company’s work, but also to sit in on rehearsals and speak with the principals. Imagine watching Hal Holbrook rehearse Death of a Salesman with Elizabeth Franz. Or interviewing Arthur Miller for 45 glorious minutes. Or witnessing the legendary direction of George Abbott, when he restaged his 1926 hit Broadway in Cleveland, as part of his 100th birthday celebration.
The final inspiration came in 1994, during a late-night phone conversation. While my friend was describing her search for a sperm donor, I found myself imagining day-glow gonads parading across a black-lit stage. The next day, I requested a leave of absence from the paper to write a play about single parenting that (mercifully) remains in a drawer. Two years (and a better script) later, I was admitted to the Playwrights’ Unit at the Cleveland Play House, where I’ve developed my work ever since, in the world’s greatest Master Class.
Evidently, I had accumulated plenty of stories during my first decade of journalism. These became considerably more interesting when I was able to fictionalize them and send my censor packing. My experiences with Holocaust survivors found their way into The Interview. Members of the Greatest Generation inspired V-E Day. Colleagues and local politicians inspired my newsroom comedy, The Good Times. I wrote often about real people, including native Clevelander David Berger, the lone American casualty on the 1972 Israeli Olympic team (A Form of Hope). My current project, U.S. v. Howard Mechanic, follows the journey of a high school classmate who became America’s last political prisoner from the Vietnam War era. Even stories that weren’t born in Cleveland were transplanted here to put them in a familiar context. Never did use the gonads.
Along the way, I have continued my journalism career, now almost exclusively about theatre. For eight years, I was theatre writer for Northern Ohio Live magazine, until it met the fate of a lot of print publications last spring.
I am particularly fortunate to live in Northeast Ohio, where the Cleveland Play House, Cleveland Public Theatre, Dobama Theatre, Karamu, and others have distinguished themselves as incubators for new works. The Cleveland Theatre Collective has a monthly Dark Room series, so named “to see what develops.” In Cuyahoga County, playwrights are currently eligible for a handful of $20,000 grants, thanks to a special arts tax on cigarette sales. Any way you look at it, we’re smokin’.
But we’re calling our newly designated region “Ohio” for good reason. The Ohio Arts Council has been unwavering in its support for individual artists, with $5,000 grants that I’ve been privileged to win three times. Ohio University and the Northeast Ohio Universities Consortium boast fine M.F.A. programs for playwrights. Columbus has the newly renovated Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute that collects, among other things, the work of playwrights, both well- and lesser-known. Dayton offers the annual FutureFest, a playwrights’ fantasy camp/showcase for six lucky artists selected as finalists. I’m sure the list goes on.
As the new regional rep of the Dramatists Guild, I am delighted to give national attention to the gifted writers who live and work all over Ohio and to the organizations that bring that work to the stage. Anticipate lively profiles in these reports, as well as news of exciting programs and services for what I hope will be increasing numbers of DG members.
I’m still available for walk-ons. My ten-year-old headshot is available at www.fayesplays.com.
Faye Sholiton
fsholiton@dramatistsguild.com