Voices of BTM XIV: Grant MacDermott

Grant MacDermott

I still sort of can’t believe something I wrote is going to be produced. I also can’t believe I was asked to write about my own writing. The fact that anyone wants to hear what I have to say is incredible; whether it be fiction and spoken by others on stage, or in a blog and read at someone’s convenience. As someone who has always been an actor, the idea of using my own words can be incredibly foreign. And to be honest, scary. So forgive if I stumble. I can blame the playwright if I sound funny on stage when I’m in an acting role. But now, I’m the playwright. Wow.

Why am I here? The Boston Theater Marathon. Let me say this: I love the BTM. I love that it is an even playing ground. The biggest actors in Boston share the stage with someone who has perhaps never done a play in their lives. The biggest theater companies with giant budgets strip down to bare bones, and the smallest companies get to inhabit a beautiful technically advanced space that they otherwise never would be able to perform in. A first time playwright like me gets to have my words on a stage that has housed great writer’s words. We are all nothing because we are all everything. That is pretty cool. And it is so fleeting that everyone treats that day with utmost respect. It feels like a theater high holy day. For me anyway. But I’m a theater geek.

Never did I think something from my brain and heart would have the vitality nor potency to be on stage at the BTM. But so it does. At least once. And that is a wonderful feeling. Everyone gets their “once” at the BTM.

I have been so moved by many of the plays I have seen and artists I have worked with throughout my three professional years here in Boston. And at the end of the day, that’s why I write. I write what moves. Funny? It moves. Dramatic? It moves. Poignant? It moves. I’m interested in all those moments that are kinetic. Even in stillness. Even in silence. Ironic for a playwright, I know, to enjoy silence on stage. I rarely have something to say, but I do have things to show. So I write.  

-- Grant MacDermott

We hope you’ll join us on Sunday, May 20 for Boston Theater Marathon XIV (and for the Warm-Up Laps on May 19!). Click here for tickets and complete event details. See you there!