One of the things I love most about Jen Huszcza is her ability to write so succinctly, and so vibrantly. Every year Jen sends me a trio of plays written on the festival’s theme, and every year they are uniquely powerful. Jen’s worlds feel like they’re birthed at an intersection where Sam Shephard collided with a dystopian Sarah Ruhl.
When I floated our new initiative to Jen, she wrote back “I have an image. I’m working on the words to go with it.” I knew whatever she sent would be compelling, and I wasn’t disappointed. Once again, she’s delivered an almost out-of-body story in such a way as to leave my heart pounding with the story’s implications. I invite you to experience her words below.
Jen on On a Wire in the Air:
“I was originally going to call it Social Media, but that title sounded too obvious and pretentious. Then one night, I saw an interview with Glen Hansard on the television, and he talked about his mother singing Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire” to him as a boy. That’s one of my favorite songs too. Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in an old midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free. I thought of Glen Hansard accepting the Oscar for Once and saying Make art, make art, make art. And I thought of a wire, not a wire in a wall, a wire in the air.”
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