About the Play:
A darkly sardonic comedy about an Everywriter overcoming the seemingly external obstacles of writer’s block.
About the Author:
Joshua J. Cole grew up on the stage but recently gave up acting for seats in the house. His most recent playwriting project was a reimagining of the War on Terror titled Meanwhile, in Baghdad… (New York International Fringe Festival). Aside from theatre, other writings include exercises in political speech and pre-apocalyptic fiction. He is also a co-creator of Coleavens Industries, which specializes in events, happenings, and theatrics. He holds a degree in Theatre from the Pennsylvania State University.
The pen is mighter (than the word) will be produced by:
Joshua’s Forty Days to Forty Plays Interview:
OOB Festival (OOB): Tell us a little about your playwriting career. When did you start writing plays? What are some of your proudest accomplishments as a playwright?
Joshua J. Cole (JJC): I’ve been involved in theatre all my life – quite literally, some of my first memories are of being onstage – and I majored in it. I’ve also been writing all my life. It started out with poetry and short fiction as a kid and has since run the gamut; I’ve at least tried out just about every kind of writing you can think of – I’ve even written fantasy speeches for Barack Obama, the speeches I think he should be delivering.
One might assume that, given the lifetime involvement in theatre coupled with the lifetime involvement in writing, playwriting would be a natural fit, but I never really put my hand to it until fairly recently. Admittedly, I still don’t feel that I’ve done enough of it to be comfortable with calling myself a ‘playwright.’ I almost feel a fraud for even being here in the first place.
OOB: Talk about your entry to this year’s festival. How did you come to write this play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? What do you hope festival audience will take from your play?
JJC: The most distilled explanation of my piece is to say that it’s about writer’s block. Obviously, there’s a bit more to it than that, but that’s the crux of it. And the play isn’t only about writer’s block; it was borne of writer’s block. I’d been struggling to rewrite another play and nothing related to that script was flowing. Someone had turned off the tap, and the few words that did drip out felt contrived. And my brain kept vacillating between utter blankness and utterly irrelevant bullshit. So, just as an exercise to try to find a way around the block, I started writing down all of those distracting little conversations going on in my head, and the pen is mightier is what came about.
OOB: I won’t reveal any spoilers, but your play’s ending is a bit of a surprise—for most of the work, the piece is fairly light, and then there is a very dark twist at the end (come to the Festival to find out more!). That said, what are you hoping that audiences take away from your play? Is there a particular message or feeling that you’d like Festival audiences to experience?
JC: Sure, the ending seems quite dark, but it’s all about perspective really. Most of my writing is based firmly in the concept of perspective. From one character’s perspective, sure, absolutely dark ending. The ultimate darkness. But, through the eyes of the other character, the situation ends in a very positive light, actually. I suppose it all depends on which parts of ourselves we’re willing to sacrifice in the name of progress.
OOB: What is the history of your festival entry? Do you plan to hone and further develop the play in upcoming rehearsals? Has it already been produced?
JJC: A small staged reading is the only exposure this piece has had prior to this festival. I walked away from that first experience with a lot of revisions, and I’m sure the same will happen with this go-round. My rewriting never stops, really. I find myself editing and rewriting short fictions and other things I wrote years ago; even the writings I’ve never shown to anyone and never plan to show to anyone whose name isn’t Joshua Cole. It’s frustrating, but my writing never really has a terminus, because I’m never totally satisfied with what I put down. Nothing ever seems to be finished.
A reporter once asked Jackson Pollock how he knew when he was finished with a painting. Pollock answered with the question, “How do you know when you’re finished making love?” I guess it’s sort of like that for me, except that I’m never finished. With writing, that is; not love-making. I can finish making love. Okay, that came out wrong. And my backspace button is broken. Fuck.
OOB: Tell us a little about your producer? How did you come to form your relationship together? If you are self-producing, please talk a little about that process—have you ever mounted your own work before?
JJC: The piece will be produced by Coleavens Industries, a sort of multi-purpose production company formed by a longtime friend, Nick Leavens, and myself. Coleavens has put together a number of events and happenings in the past, though this is only its second theatrical undertaking; the first being another play of mine in the NY International Fringe Fest.
When it comes to theatre, I don’t consider myself much of a producer; ideally I’d just write the words, fold the pages into paper airplanes and toss them off, hoping they’d somehow land in the right hands. Unfortunately, I’m also as overly protective of my work as a mother hen on meth, so I have problems with being hands-off. But Nick is great at what he does. Whereas I often display the networking skills of a feral child, he’s a very social animal. Which might be why we make a good team.
OOB: Coleavens Industries sounds like an incredibly interesting production company—you guys are responsible for production as various as parties to, well, theatre. Can you talk a little about how your capacities as a producer in other fields has helped you in terms of approaching theatrical works? What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learn during a production? What have been some of your biggest successes?
JC: Between the two of us, Nick should really be considered the ‘producer.’ I really had no experience in that field until our little company came about.
Biggest lessons? No one in particular, aside from the big picture that producing is an incredible amount of work and coordination, and since I’m not the world’s biggest people-person, I can definitely falter.
Biggest success thus far would have to be the aforementioned production of Meanwhile, in Baghdad… at the Fringe. Not because it was the most well done play, but because we actually made it happen given the multitude of problems that we faced. Just about everything that could have gone wrong with a production did indeed go wrong with that one.
OOB: Looking back over your personal history in the theatre, what emerges as your favorite memory? Is there a particular story you’d like to share?
JC: I’ve had a very love/hate relationship with theatre, so no supreme example immediately springs to mind.
I suppose I would point to a production of Closer, which turned out to be my final bit of stage acting, mostly because of how much I loved the character I was playing and because the part came to me in a seemingly providential way.
See Josh’s and Director Sharon Lennon’s Samuel French OOB Festival video interview:
Joshua J. Cole and Sharon Lennon discuss their OOB Festival entry THE PEN IS MIGHTIER (THAN THE WORD).
