New York Theatre Review Interview
BROKEN HEART LAND
November, 2014

When did you begin writing? (Not just this play but as an artistic form of expression).

I began writing plays the summer I turned eleven. My early plays were all Westerns that were heavily cribbed from 1950's TV and they all had ropin', ridin' (stick horses), gunfights, saloon brawls, and romance. All the actors were either siblings or cousins and the productions were always held in the barn on a stage of baled hay.

Our audience sat on seats of baled hay as the tale unwound around props of baled hay. Every cousin had a part, but I admit that the youngest ones were cued by dialogue early on to, "Hide behind them rocks!" or "Run!" and did not reappear until the finale when everyone regrouped to sing a song. We were always a hit. It was encouraging.

What made you choose playwriting as your medium?

Coming from a family of storytellers who always set up the situation quickly then go directly to dialogue. It's a natural he said/she said form of storytelling. But, I decided to try playwriting after going to opening night (date-producer) of SOMETHING CLOUDY, SOMETHING CLEAR by Tennessee Williams. He was in the audience that night ; I was breathless with excitement and passionately inspired. I wanted to see if I could do it.

Tell us about the process of writing BROKEN HEART LAND and your inspiration of the play?

The inspiration for BROKEN HEART LAND began as I started researching my Cherokee ancestry in preparation to join the tribe. After nearly a decade of digging, I was saturated with Cherokee history and lore, had applied for tribal membership and begun Cherokee language classes.

My great-Grandmother (Alma) received a Dawes Act allotment in Tulsa, Indian Territory, and loved to tell stories of her Cherokee relations and their life in Territorial days. My cousins and I would beg her to tell us the story of her wedding night. I made Alma thirteen in the play, but she was only twelve when she was married.

The process of this play was simple. I went to bed each night thinking of the story and I woke up every morning knowing what to write. It was almost as if the characters channeled me; I wrote it in four or five weeks in 2011. The ancestors had my back on this one. Alma wanted her story told!

Can you tell us about the way the story is told and also the kind of world you have created for this production through collaboration with designers and your director?

Behind the care and attention paid to every detail of recreating Indian Territory in 1903, bringing the atmosphere and flavor of the times into full 3-D on the living stage, creating a mood this real, stands a production team that calls for thankfulness beyond gratitude.

I knew from the first day we discussed BROKEN HEART LAND that Tony White was the director I wanted. Tony White and Ryan Victor Pierce deserve credit for recruiting the talents, of Rachel Alt, our Production Manager, whose eye never misses a detail; Set Designer, Mitchell Ost and his clever and charming set, Li Murillo who has the cast swooning over her period costumes and hairstyles, Lighting Designer Dov Lebowitz-Nowak whose brilliant design will shine the first time for me at Tech Week, and Brian Gocher our sound designer who is putting together period music featuring songs in both English and Cherokee.

I must also mention Matthew Champagne for his excellent dramaturgy on BROKEN HEART LAND, as well as Bethany Wood, Stage Manager and Lisa LaGrande, Assistant Stage Manager who deserve praise for keeping us all moving along crisply. Many thanks also to Laura Rohrman, a playwright with extraordinary talents.

In the spirit of gadugi (Cherokee for: "Everyone paddles!") every theatre artist brings a special gift to each production and I have absolute confidence that each person working on BROKEN HEART LAND is bringing his or her absolute best.

Favorite productions you have seen on stage? What type of theater inspires you?

For musicals, BOOK OF MORMON, hands down. The audience became incredibly charged from the beginning and remained that way until final curtain. That's the response every playwright dreams to hear!

August Wilson is always inspiring, Horton Foote, Wendy Wasserstein, Lanford Wilson...actually every play I've seen has inspired me in some way. The play that made me take off my novelist hat and try playwriting again was Tracy Letts' AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. I sat in the audience thinking to myself, "This guy is having ALL the fun! I have to write another play." Also, I missed working with people - especially show people.