May 23 2013

Writers Group Spotlight: Elizabeth Heffron

Elizabeth Heffron Photo by: Chad Runyon

The core philosophy of Seattle Rep’s Writers Group is to create a forum for playwrights to challenge, encourage, and motivate each other through an extended conversation about their work. In preparation for the 2^nd Annual Writers Group Showcase, we asked our current roster of playwrights to interview each other about the (often solitary) practice of writing.

This is one in a series of eight.  Keri Healey interviews Elizabeth Heffron.

KH: I’d like to start off by asking about Portugal, the play we’ll be hearing at the Showcase. I know it’s about the aftermath of an industrial accident. What else can you tell us about it?

EH: The accident takes place at the Tank Farms, at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation over in eastern Washington—the largest radioactive waste site in the Western Hemisphere. It’s about a pair of tank farm workers, a young couple, and what happens when one of them gets “dosed” by radioactive waste. How the company responds. How their family and co-workers respond—and ultimately how this accident changes both of them.

KH: What drew you, personally, to this story?

EH: I have been fascinated by Hanford ever since I moved up here. I used to fish over at the Potholes Reservoir, which is near Moses Lake, north of the reservation, and there were always a lot of Hanford workers there on their time off. Then, more recently, I’ve been doing volunteer work with a group called Hanford Challenge, which represents a number of whistleblowers. The problems over there are so overwhelming and seemingly intractable, and yet people keep doing what they can to try and clean the place up, even in the face of massive technical problems and corporate corruption. I am drawn to this combination of both despair and hope.

KH: At the upcoming reading, what will we be hearing?

EH: This will hopefully be a full first-draft of the play.

KH: Give me the career pitch: what is the “Elizabeth Heffron play”? What characterizes your “brand”?

EH: I hate that word, “brand.”

KH: Sorry, but I’m shallow.

EH: Hmmm…I think my goal is often to try to find a human way into a larger political/social situation. I think that’s what I’m often attempting.

KH: You teach playwriting. What are the most common “problems” you see in work by young or inexperienced playwrights?

EH: Well, there’s always the challenge of exposition; having a character simply inform us about a whole bunch of stuff, rather than allowing the audience to discover the information as the character does. Also, these days it feels like it’s getting harder for writers to sustain a situation for any significant length of time (as opposed to a series of very short scenes). Sometimes a story wants to be told in a series of very short scenes, but sometimes it feels like the writer is just getting to the juicy stuff, the HARD stuff, right when they jump ship. I’m constantly fighting this myself. 

KH: What do you feel your role as a writing teacher is?

EH: I suppose I tend to see myself as a fellow traveler, on a journey of discovery. Each student’s play is different, and it’s not mine, and so I feel like I’m in the canoe with them, but they’ve got the oar. And I can maybe give them some encouragement and guidance, possibly some semi-sage words of advice, but they’re paddling the boat and reaching their own unique destination.

KH: And what have you learned about your own writing though teaching others?

EH: I’ve learned so much from my students! I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is to always to go back and try to be a beginner, and look at things from new angles and with fresh eyes. 

By richie.carpenter • Featured, Uncategorized • 0 • Tags: Elizabeth Heffron, new play program, Writers Group, Writers Group Showcase