Interview: Playwright Mike Lew Proudly Presents His TEENAGE DICK

Playwright Mike Lew's TEENAGE DICK will stream exclusively beginning February 3, 2022, at pasadenaplayhouse.org. Mike's modernized take on Shakespeare's RICHARD III, produced in association with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Huntington Theatre Company, was shot multi-camera during TEENAGE DICK's in-person run at Wooly Mammoth last fall. I got the chance to query Mike on his TEENAGE DICK, close collaborations and his sound advice for newbie writers.

Thank you for taking the time for this interview, Mike!

After a number of workshops, the first production of TEENAGE DICK was produced at Ma-Yi at The Public Theater in June of 2018. Have you tweaked your script at all for this streamed version filmed during your current Woolly Mammoth run last fall?

Yes! Whenever I get a chance to get in the room with collaborators, I love making the script bespoke to them and asking the question of "Why now?" So there's minor changes throughout to bring the story up to date according to the sensibilities of this team.

When does your script become set in stone? After the first run-through? Post-opening night?

When they rip it away from me. I really see every production as a communion between me and the artists, artists and audience. They tell me what's resonating and I respond in kind; every communion is different. So, from production to production (if I'm lucky enough to have multiple productions, as has been the case with this script), it's really a living document. I keep working 'til the theater tells me, "Hey, stop!"

What is your three-line pitch for TEENAGE DICK?

TEENAGE DICK is RICHARD III set in high school - a dark comedy that looks at disability politics today through the lens of the most famous disabled character of all time.

I did the pitch in one instead of three - it's an L.A. production. Gotta step up my pitch game!

What was your initial inspiration for TEENAGE DICK?

Actor and disability advocate Gregg Mozgala and I had been having a long-term conversation about representation and access in the theater - and some of the parallel experiences we've had trying to open the theater up for our respective communities. He commissioned the piece - both the idea of setting Richard in high school as well as the title - and I took it from there. This was really a marriage of my Shakespeare nerditry and theatrical style with his lived experience and our shared politics.

Your title is certainly an intriguing one. How did you come up with TEENAGE DICK?

That's all Gregg! And in fact, after he commissioned the piece, and I hadn't written squat for a YEAR the thing that actually got me motivated to get writing was the idea he might retract the commission and give it to someone else. I couldn't stand the idea of someone else grabbing that title.

When Shakespeare was first introduced to me in high school, his use of iambic pentameter and middle English went right over my head. I thought his stories were so unhip. It wasn't until years later before I realized how rich and involving Shakespeare's tales really are. What was your first reaction to Shakespeare? Did you 'get' Shakespeare right away?

I went to amazing public schools in San Diego that gave me exposure to Shakespeare early on. I really credit my high school English teacher Mr. Burnett with stripping away the mythos and intimidation of Shakespeare and making the plays feel present and accessible. In college I majored in English and worked through most of the Shakespearean canon which was too much. And then by the time I got into playwriting professionally I grew to resent Shakespeare because he gets so many productions! So, I've really gone back and forth with him.

You've worked with director Moritz von Stuelpnagel seven times since 2013. Do you two share similar visions of life? Compatible visions of your work?

I consider Moritz a lifelong collaborator and friend. We continue to challenge each other and push each other to do our best work. I don't ever take the relationship for granted because careers grow at different rates and people grow in different directions and artists get inspired by different impulses - and yet despite all that, we've kept working together over the past 15+ years because we're driven by similar humanistic and comedic sensibilities coupled with a relentless work ethic (mostly his).

Your honors and awards include Lark Venturous and NYFA fellowships; and the Kleban, PEN Emerging Playwright, Lanford Wilson, Helen Merrill, Heideman, and Kendeda awards; with residencies at Ma-Yi, New Dramatist, La Jolla Playhouse, Goodspeed. Any particular one accolade hold more significance than the others?

You know the one that's been most life-changing is one that's just coming to an end. I'm on a shared six-year Mellon Foundation/Howlround National Playwright Residency at Ma-Yi Theater with my wife Rehana Lew Mirza. It's been so overwhelming for the Mellon Foundation to say, "Your job is being a playwright," and the fact that it's at Ma-Yi Theater - where Rehana and I first met - has allowed us to continue a discourse around our responsibilities as Asian-American artists that permeates our marriage and our work. We wouldn't have written the plays we did - including TEENAGE DICK - without the Mellon residency aaaaand we might not have had our kids.

What writers did you look up to in your early writing career?

So many! Starting out as a playwright I'd DEVOUR writers' body of work to dissect their voice and figure out my own. Some of my earliest inspirations were Steve Belber, Julia Cho, David Lindsay-Abaire, Julia Jordan, Sarah Ruhl, Anne Washburn - and then my peer writers in Youngblood and Ma-Yi Writers' Lab who absolutely shaped my voice by us mutually egging each other on.

What's the one lesson a mentor or teacher taught you that you always try to apply to your work today?

It's actually not from a mentor but from a peer. When Rehana and I were thinking of getting married, I was really ambitious career-wise and wanted to become more established as a playwright before settling down. But Rehana countered that if we kept waiting for our art life to catch up to our life-life, we'd never get married at all. Theater is such a long haul and not very remunerative; you have to keep feeding your personal life all the while or you'll burn out.

What tips would you give to a newbie writer starting out? Classes? Grants? Read?

Read and go see as many contemporary plays as you can. In interviews for theater jobs people will invariably ask "Who are your favorite playwrights?" or "What are your favorite plays?" This is a way of sniffing you out to see if you share the same reference points and inspiration as artists. So, if you're trying to get into a new play space and you go, "I like Ibsen and Shakespeare;" you're gonna look like you're 300 years old.

Any subjects percolating in your writer's brain for future scripts?

My writing trails my life experience by about 3-5 years, so I'm still processing fatherhood, COVID, anti-Asian hate crimes. I know it's all going to manifest in my next plays somehow, I'm just not sure how yet. I take a long, long time to commit to a script. I want to think of a big idea that's complex enough it's worth dedicating 5+ years of my life toward.

What's in the near future for Mike Lew?

I'm just now starting rehearsals for the world premiere of my musical BHANGIN' IT at La Jolla Playhouse, which I co-wrote with Rehana Lew Mirza and composer/lyricist Sam Willmott. (www.lajollaplayhouse.org/show/bhangin-it) Like TEENAGE DICK this was a long-term labor of love. Having two plays going up at once in Southern California - where I'm originally from - is an absolute whirlwind.

Thank you again, Mike! I look forward to checking out your TEENAGE DICK.

For viewing tickets to stream TEENAGE DICK through February 27, 2022; log onto pasadenaplayhouse.org

Also available, two special live "Watch Parties," which include pre-show talks and post-show live chats with the artists. "Opening Night Watch Party" on February 3rd will be hosted by Sandra Tsing Loh. "Cast Watch Party" on February 10th will include the entire TEENAGE DICK cast.

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