Every year we interview our winning playwrights, and this year is no exception! Join us over the coming weeks as we post more interviews with playwrights, along with information about each play’s director and cast!
It’s always a little weird to include myself in these interviews because I’m essentially interviewing myself, but, well, here we are. My monologue Mommy Knows Best is a wacky, short piece and with the brilliant Mary Timpany attached, I’m all kinds of excited to see it. Anyone who knows Mary knows that an opportunity to hear her give awkward sex advice is something NOT to be missed.
If you could have one super power, what would it be and why?
The ability to pause time – and not because I want to meddle with things better left un-meddled, but because I’m a new-ish mom and dog tired every damn day. Hitting the pause button would give me unfettered access to naps. NAPS, I tell you! Who can I talk to about making this happen?
Describe your writing space…
I have a super awesome red writing desk in our home that cries out for me to sit at it… but it is covered in bills. And hard drives. And things the baby has tried to put in his mouth. So I work on my laptop on the couch or in bed… anywhere I can hide from parenthood for a few minutes.
What is the title of your play?
Mommy Knows Best – it’s a short monologue
How did this year’s ONSTAGE theme inspire you to write/share this play?
The monologue is actually part of an under-construction full-length play called CAGE, which focuses on the constraints and dangers of inhabiting the female form. Although it explores some pretty heavy stuff, the play also employs some dark humor. This monologue is one of those dark but funny bits, and the woman talking is definitely a hot mess.
What play (by another playwright) have you read a gazillion times, and what about that play keeps you coming back to it?
August Osage County, The Pain and the Itch, and Melencholy Play are some of my most well-worn plays. I can re-read them again and again, and every time I notice something new, something I can learn from. Every time I walk away from these plays in awe.
Do you have any upcoming productions elsewhere that our readers should know about?
THE EGG just enjoyed a run at the Prism Fest in NYC, and I have a reading of CRICKET WOMAN MOTHER EARTH coming up in LA next month with The Theatre at Boston Court – I am SO excited!
Please share a brief synopsis for a full-length of yours that our readers should know about!
THE LOW TIDE GANG:
Full Length – 4 M, 1 W… and 1 Chicken
Four odd gentleman, one sandy room, two shovels, a curious board game, and a couple of unexpected guests make this absurdist play quite an unusual ride. THE LOW TIDE GANG is an “examination of masculinity, violence, gender stereotypes and power dynamics—with a hefty dose of fearless good humor.” *Brand New Work* Semi-Finalist: O’Neill Playwright’s Conference, 2016
Tiffany’s Bio:
Tiffany Antone is a playwright, director, and the creative mind behind Little Black Dress INK (LBDI). Tiffany’s plays have been read and/or performed in Los Angeles, New York, D.C., and Minneapolis. Her play Twigs and Bone was a 2014 Great Plains Conference selection and received a developmental workshop production by Acadiana Repertory Theatre in 2015. Tiffany’s play The Low Tide Gang was a 2016 O’Neil semi-finalist and her play Cricket Woman Mother Earth (or) A Nasty Comeuppance, was a 2011 O’Neil finalist. Her plays Ana and the Closet and Twigs and Bone were both Jerome Finalists and O’Neil semi-finalists for 2009 & 2010. Her play The Good Book is available through Samuel French. Tiffany is also a contributing writer for LAFPI.com and Howlround.com. In addition to her work in promoting female playwrights through LBDI, Tiffany has recently launched the Protest Plays Project, which seeks to foster connections between playwrights working in creative resistance and the communities they seek to change.
If you want to learn more about Tiffany, you can do so at www.TiffanyAntone.com or follow her on Twitter @LadyPlaywright
And don’t forget to grab your tickets to the 2017 Female Playwrights ONSTAGE Festival: Hot Mess running July 6-8 at the First Congregational Church in Prescott, AZ.
