BPT Alum, former Huntington Fellow, and award-winning playwright, Joyce Van Dyke, continues to develop her epic play, Deported / a dream play. Don't miss the free reading tomorrow featured in the Boston Theatre Marathon's Warm-Up Laps.
Anna Pattison: In an interview with artsake in 2009, you discussed how Deported / a dream play
emerged from family history, improvisational workshops with actors, and collaboration with Judy Braha as director. I'm curious if you've continued to develop new plays using this more collaborative process, or does each of your plays call for its own artistic process? And if so, what other processes have you found beneficial in bringing a new play to life?
Joyce Van Dyke: The process of making this play was completely novel for me. I'd always been a very private writer. But this time I began working with a director (Judy Braha) and a company of actors with the idea of creating a play about Armenian genocide stories. When we all started meeting together there was nothing written down, nothing even conceived in terms of story, characters or style. The hope or dream or gamble was that the play would grow -- somehow! -- out of this collaboration, out of improvising, playing, talking and learning about the genocide. I had no way of knowing what might come of it or if it would develop into a play at all. When I look back now it feels scary but at the time it was exciting and gratifying to work that way. I think I embarked on this process in order to be able to write this particular play. I could count on being sustained by the company, and not have to be alone in my room with this subject.
