Merri Biechler and Laura Jacqmin, two of four female master of fine arts playwrights at Ohio University, will be graduating in June to join a difficult and predominantly male profession.
The Post's Gina Beach sat down with Biechler and Jacqmin to talk about what it's like to be a woman writer and the upcoming performances of their work.
The Post: You two are helping to produce your own work before you graduate at the end of the year. How did you choose these pieces as your ultimate project?
Merri Biechler:This is our huzzah: I specifically wrote (Real Girls Can't Win!) for the actresses at OU. I thought to leave here and not write a play for young women would be a waste.
Laura Jacqmin: There was a staged reading (of Happyslap, which opens tomorrow) at last year's (Seabury Quinn Jr.) Playwright Festival. The story has changed a little bit since I first wrote it. A lot of it is getting the story in line with where it needs to be.
Post: What does it take to support yourself solely on writing?
Biechler: It's not possible to support yourself on writing. You teach, wait tables, whatever you can do to get by. There are only half a dozen playwrights in the world that can support themselves solely on their work.
Post: What's the best thing about being around so many other playwrights?
Jacqmin: I am fairly confident that I would not still be a playwright if I hadn't come here. We have such high standards for each other that I can tell Merri I've got this idea and she'll ask me, 'But how's that going to work onstage?' or 'What's the onstage manifestation of that?'
Post: What is the future of playwriting in terms of gender equality?
Jacqmin: The statistic that's often thrown around is that only 20 percent of people in theater 'that's directors, designers, actors ' are women. Kind of astounding. But what we have that survives is (William) Shakespeare, (Arthur) Miller, (Anton) Chekhov. For a lot of men, that is going to be universal for all time. The trick is finding out what is resonant and universal for women.
Post: What is resonant for women?
Biechler: The War in Iraq is resonate for everybody but, in particular, for women.
Jacqmin: The level of silence (on women in the war), which is not something you think about there, about women's roles in the war as wives, soldiers.
Post: Any advice for aspiring writers?
Jacqmin: The whole thing about growing up is the idea of gaining an inner life ' the realization is that there is something beyond you that is equally reflected back at you ' so you have something to pull from. I took a class about identifying human bones ' not that I did that well in it ' but someday I'll probably write a play about bones.
Biechler: Just start. Just write. Because if it stays in your head, it does nobody any good.
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Gina Beach
