What Do You Do With a B.A. in Theatre? Pt. II: Playwright

I have had the distinct pleasure of getting to know Ira Gamerman over the last year, beginning with an interview I did with him shortly after his award-winning play, Split, opened as a part of last year's Baltimore Playwrights Festival.  It seems appropriate that an interview with a playwright would appear now as the BPF closes its 26th season. As one of three parts, this interview differs somewhat in content than his previous one, because it really focuses on how theatre education can take a passionate artist far.  What always strikes me about Mr. Gamerman is how he is both so professional and so "twenty-something"!  His seriousness and passion about is work is inspiring, and the zest with which he lives his life makes this aging writer envious.  I think this is reflected in his thoughtful responses to my questions.  Enjoy! 

"I have a B.A. in Theatre (class of 2004) with concentration in performance (which, basically, means I studied acting) from Towson University, and though I studied acting in college, playwriting is currently my main area of focus."  Like so many artists, Ira felt innately that theatre was what he was destined to do.  "I was born with some weird sixth sense that I was meant for the stage. It took me until high school to realize that I had never actually done much acting. So, I got very involved in theatre in high school. I loved it and found that I was good at it (just like my crazy sixth sense told me I would). And just went from there. There really wasn't a whole lot of thought and consideration behind the decision. I just knew I wanted to act.  I knew that Towson had a really good reputation for their theatre program (which has only gotten better since I graduated). They offered me a little bit of a scholarship because they saw an audition of mine at a regional high school theatre festival. So, it just made sense. It wound up being a phenomenal decision," he explains.   

So how did the transition from actor to playwright happen?  Intuition, of course!  "Near the end of my junior year at Towson, my sixth sense started to tell me that I was a writer more so than an actor. So, I dabbled a bit with writing near the end of college - nothing too serious. And then the summer that I graduated college, I made myself a promise that I would write my first full-length play and start a band by that August. I'm proud to say I did both.  And so, I [have so far] made all of my crucial life decisions by listening to the weird voices in my head…which probably makes me sound crazy. And maybe I am." 

Having found early success after college might make a young graduate forget where he got his foundation.  Not so with Gamerman, who should be a walking advertisement for his alma mater.  "My training at Towson gave me all of the basics that I needed to start a career in theatre. Though I primarily studied acting, a lot of the same lessons of script analysis, character motivations, actions, and the artistic process apply to playwriting. It also taught me what kind of theatre that I like. The great thing about Towson's program is that each teacher and director has a very different personality, focus, and style of working. And you get to experience all of them and in the process you figure out what works best for you."  Like many adults, in a variety of fields, an appreciation for just how much was learned in college is not lost on the playwright.  "I find myself going back to lessons and things that I learned in college constantly in my current projects. They are so much a part of who I am at this point that it's difficult to articulate them. And every year that I keep going, the lessons make more and more sense. I could fill a book with all of the stuff that I learned from Towson's theatre program!" he enthuses.   

Still, not all of the lessons learned were academic.  "I also learned a lot about who I am as a person. What my habits are. How they affect my work. What to be aware of. A lot of which is too much early-twenties angst to go into here. But it is safe to say that I left Towson University an infinitely healthier, more mature, and more confident person than when I came in. And that alone was worth the price of tuition." 

The admiration between Ira and TU goes both ways.  Jay Herzog, Chairman of the Department of Theatre Arts at the university speaks with pride about his former student.  "Ira Gamerman is a man of words.  Last year, we had the pleasure of performing Split at Towson for a scholarship fundraiser.  Ira has an understanding for his generation.  (I don't always get it, but they do!)  This is evident in his plays and in his lyrics - he has a local band, too!  Ira's secret for success is his ability to switch hit.  He can perform and write and he has encouraged many of our students to look to the playwright as the base of all we do.  We teach that in class, but it really grips a student when a peer does well." 

Mr. Gamerman has gathered an impressive list of work includes "2 full-length plays and a handful of shorter plays I've written since graduating from college. These plays have gone on to win a playwriting grant from the Maryland State Arts Council and have received numerous workshops, productions, and readings both locally and nationally. I have also been a playwright mentor for CENTERSTAGE's 2007 Young Playwrights Festival as well as a judge and reading committee member for the 2007 BPF."   

To help other aspiring playwrights, he "founded a group called The Playwrights Group of Baltimore, which is a group of local playwrights that meet on alternating Tuesday nights to read and critique each other's plays. This group works in close conjunction with the BPF and is currently run by its chair (and local playwright) Rich Espey.  I wanted to create a forum for playwrights to develop their work, meet other playwrights locally, and build upon the seeds previously planted by BPF. It was actually started for totally selfish reasons - I wanted to have a safety net of people to encourage me to continue writing. The nice thing about being in Baltimore vs. a larger city is that all you've got to do to accomplish something like that is to send a few emails to the right people. Baltimore is an amazing city in that regard. I think it is one of the best cities in the world for young artists to develop their craft." 

He recognizes both the need for self-discipline and getting to know other people in the same field.  "Other opportunities have come thanks to friends and connections. I got the gig at CENTERSTAGE thanks to a recommendation from Ian Belknap, my good friend who directed Split last summer. I got the judging gigs at BPF through Rich Espey."   

Overall, though, he feels that a writer's destiny is largely in his own hands.  "Ultimately, you have to be the biggest advocate for your own career. And meeting people is a big part of that. Theatre is a business based on relationships and in many cases people working in the theatre will almost always choose to give an opportunity to someone that they know over someone they don't. So, networking is really important.  But it's not NEARLY as evil as it sounds - it's really just conversing and making friends with people. No one is necessarily going to hand you a job because you had a chat in a bar about how you love David Ives. But, they might remember your name or face. And we all could use more friends." 

"I got Split performed at The Kennedy Center, last year, simply by expressing to Gregg Henry, who I had worked with at KCATCF's summer playwriting intensive in 2005 & 2006, that I had an interest in involving Baltimore Playwrights Festival at Kennedy Center's Page-To-Stage festival. That's all it took to hook up 2 great organizations. The opportunities are there if you want them. And you'll find that most theatre professionals are more than happy to help you out in some way. So ask. The worst thing anyone can say is 'no.'" 

He sums up his career thus far with a grounded, yet philosophical point of view. "Most of these projects came about by a combo of hard work, self-motivation, good connections, and honest-to-goodness luck. Being a playwright can be really hard to do because you have to be disciplined in both the art and craft of writing a play as well as the business of playwriting. To be truly successful, you have to put just as much effort into sending out your plays as you do into writing them." 

Of all the things he has done so far, he looks to that production of Split.  "The entire process of the play/production felt like the culmination of every lesson I've ever learned about theatre - from learning to trust my artistic process to collaborating with actors and a director to making sure that my characters had actions and motivations. And, fortunately, it paid off like gang-busters. But I think it is the greatest opportunity so far because it was such a collaborative and involved process. I was in rehearsals multiple nights a week and doing re-writes the nights that I wasn't there. Ian and I were in constant conversation about how we could make the script or production better. It was a lot of work, but it was so rewarding. It made me feel as if I had truly arrived as an artist." 

Outside of the immediate area, Gamerman credits two programs with helping him grow as a playwright.  "For the past two summers I have had my plays read, work-shopped, and critiqued at The Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska. It's a really amazing conference and it is in one of the most beautiful parts of the world you'll ever see. You get great feedback on your plays from seasoned theatre professionals, make a lot of amazing friends and contacts from all over the country, and take really informative master-classes from theatre professionals. You get to see TONS of plays from professionals and your peers. It's an all-around excellent and inspiring time. Best of all it is dedicated 100% to the betterment of playwrights and the creation of a strong theatre community. It is a truly empowering and wonderful conference." 

"Secondly, this past May, I had a short play of mine read at The Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha, Nebraska. And that was cool because I got to spend a week working with Edward Albee, Arthur Kopit, Emily Mann, Romulus Linney, and Will Eno, among others. And let me tell you, getting the opportunity to listen to these people critique plays and talk about their careers is one of the most inspiring, and downright amazing things that I have ever witnessed as a theatre artist. You will learn more from listening to these people talk for a week than you will damn-near anywhere else." 

That conference led to the chance of a lifetime: "My two good friends and I wound up having a one on one lunch with Edward Albee. All 3 of us babbled like idiots and asked really stupid questions because we were so nervous. But it's pretty rare (if ever) in your life that you'll get to eat lunch with one of the most legendary living playwrights in the history of Contemporary Theatre. I'm still astounded by that." 

Gamerman, though, is realistic.  He has had much success, but also suffered his share of setbacks, including writer's block.  But nothing dampens his enthusiasm for encouraging other young artists, even as he talks about the inevitable rejection.  "You've got to expect it and be prepared for it. But don't let that stop you. You have to be persistent and you have to keep applying to things and trying, because you won't get any of opportunities that you don't [try for].  I wrote one for [a] particular festival called "A Girl with a Black Eye." I submitted it, but it was, sadly, rejected. But I really believed in the piece, so when the contest came around again, I submitted it again. There were no changes to the script, [and yet] it wound up being one of 4 finalists. I couldn't explain why that happened. Simple fact is: Art is really subjective, so you shouldn't take things personally. And you shouldn't stop submitting your work - even to places that have already rejected it before."  

"It's also really important to learn from your rejections, if you can. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and accept the rejection. I submitted my first full-length play to BPF two years ago and it got rejected because it was offensive, required 17 characters, read like a screenplay, and was impossible to stage due to the constant location changes. After that, I thought about how to write economically and explicitly for the stage. I made my next play (Split) as economical as possible (without sacrificing my quirky style) and it went on to a brilliant production at BPF the following year. So maybe your rejection is a result of something that you can fix or need to learn." 

Like any young man finding his way in the world, surprise lessons have been learned as well.  He admits he wasn't ready for the "self-motivation and loneliness. There is no one telling you what "the next step" in your career should be. There is no one even forcing you to continue your career. So you have to keep self-motivated and try to stay positive in the face of a lot of nagging existential questions. And it's kind of a lonely road (especially as a writer). You aren't constantly surrounded by thousands of your peers like you were in your dorm room. You've got to put just as much motivation in your social-life as you do in your work. In school, it's easy to take for granted that you'll always be surrounded by a giant group of friends and know where your career is going at all times. Once you get out, it is very much NOT the case, but you've got to continue to stay positive. The best thing to do is to reach out to people whenever possible, in your work and in your social life. There's no need to suffer in silence." 

So, what does the future hold for this writer - rocker - philosopher?  Graduate school - he's on the waiting list for NYU's Dramatic Writing program at the prestigious Tisch School.  He knows it won't be easy. "I hope to, but who knows?  Keep your fingers crossed! Graduate school is competitive (NYU takes a mere 20 students per year. Julliard takes 2.), not to mention, it is COSTLY." 

Ultimately, he sees a bright future, which he looks at with his usual thoughtfulness and sense of humor.  "I want to write consistently great and original work that pushes the envelope and contains some aspect of a real emotional truth about the human experience that I'm proud of. I'd like great collaborators and friends who create positive work environments. I'd like a long and happy career whatever it is I wind up doing. I don't want to be bored.  I'd love to do some acting again, and teaching might be fun at some point. I'd be really interested in mentoring some younger folks in the realm of playwriting. I'd like to inspire people. I'd like to make a good living off of my art or whatever makes me happy. I don't know. I want to do it all. And I want to be happy and grow and have great relationships with the people around me in the process."   

Nothing more, Ira?  He laughs, "I'd like international fame and notoriety. A Pulitzer Prize. Maybe two. Maybe seven. A Tony. A Best Original Screenplay Oscar. I'd like to be the next Charlie Kaufman. I'd like to be a legend. I'd like to be in theatre history textbooks for centuries to come. But I think I'd get by if that stuff didn't happen. Cool as it may be. But then, we all need something to aspire to." 

Mr. Gamerman has generously provided these links about programs he has been a part of:

• Go to www.garygarrison.com and sign up for The Loop, which is an email newsletter that has submission opportunities and lots of pertinent info for playwrights. I've gotten quite a few productions and readings thanks to opportunities I found on The Loop.
• If you are a playwright, I'd highly suggest sending your work to The Last Frontier Theatre Conference. For more info: http://www.pwscc.edu/conference/layout.shtml.
• The Great Plains Theatre Conference: http://www.mccneb.edu/theatreconference.
• The Kennedy Center Playwrighting intensive: www.kcactf.org 
• While we're on the subject, if anyone has any further questions about any of the stuff that I mention in this interview (or on playwriting in general), I'd be more than willing to help. You can send me an email at: iragamerman1@yahoo.com.

PHOTOS: TOP to BOTTOM: Ira Gamerman; a scene from Split; Edward Albee and Ira Gamerman; celebrating Split with the cast and Tony-winner John Glover (top, second from left).  Courtesy of Ira Gamerman

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