Interview: Playwright Lisa Lewis and SCHOOLED at Soho Playhouse 10/5 to 10/17

After a critically acclaimed, sold-out run at The New York International Fringe Festival and a FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for Playwriting honor, the Soho Playhouse will present Lisa Lewis' play, SCHOOLED. The show is directed by James Kautz (Artistic Director of The Amoralists), as part of the Fringe Encore Series, running from October 5th to the 17th. Broadwayworld.com had the opportunity to interview Lisa Lewis about her career and the show.

SCHOOLED is a fiercely funny and gripping new play about privilege, ambition and the lengths we'll go to succeed. Two university students vie for a competitive grant from their roguish professor in a taut threesome that tests their romantic relationship and their ethics. A biting drama with surprising humor, SCHOOLED is a searing examination of entitlement and envy, the lies we tell ourselves, and the truths we refuse to believe. The play explores sexual politics in the university setting, and the widening chasm between economic class and the opportunities for success.

Lisa Lewis is a New York Times-published essayist and acclaimed storyteller. Her plays have been developed by Naked Angels Tuesdays@9, Davenport Theatricals, The New Ohio Theatre, Core Artist Ensemble, and New Helvetia Theatre's Sacramento New Works Festival, where she was an artist in residence. Her essays and profiles have appeared in ELLE MAGAZINE, Kirkus Reviews, New York Theatre Magazine, and New York Press. A graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Dramatic Writing Program, Lewis spent six years as a story analyst for New Line Cinema, Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal at Tribecca Film and the Weinstein Company.

When did you first realize your talents for writing?

I think in school you learn what you're good at by what the teachers encourage you to do. I desperately wanted to be a great musical theater star, but I got kicked out of choir in 8th grade for having a voice that didn't blend, was politely asked not to perform in the dance recital (I was the girl in the ensemble spinning in the opposite direction of everyone else) and was only given speaking lines in the class musicals. SO... somehow I ended up writing. I was an insatiable reader. I had great English and composition teachers who pushed me to publish and edit the literary journal, and I found that it was the medium through which I could best express the kind of stories I wanted to tell. Ultimately playwriting merged my love of the theater and the written word.

Who have been important mentors for your craft?

The writer Susan Shapiro has been a great mentor in my life, she's an incredible editor and has pushed me to go deeper, let down my guard and to be more raw, dangerous and real. Her writing group, which I've attended for years, and the writers in it, have taught me how to be a better re-writer, critic and a better receiver of criticism, which is so important to this work. I would not be the writer I am without her. Finding a community you trust to tell you the good and bad, and who have your best interest at heart, is incredibly important for writers who spend so much time working alone. Writers need good feedback. I also learn so much seeing other work and by experiencing the work of friends, especially those who do theater differently than I. I don't typically write experimental plays, but I gain a lot from watching friends that do. It reminds me to look for opportunities to push at the boundaries of storytelling in ways that work for me.

Favorite play, plays or movie? I know this is a general one, but people love to know!

SO many! I loved Annie Baker's THE FLICK. I'm currently rocking out to HAMILTON. Christopher Durang's VANYA AND SONIA AND MARSHA AND SPIKE was amazing. I love funny theater that makes you cry, the painfully funny, the happily sad.

What was your inspiration for SCHOOLED?

I am incensed by the growing chasm of opportunities for the rich verses the not rich, and about sexism in its many forms. And because of that I wanted to write a play that questioned my assumptions about these issues, and that looked at the ways in which privilege and power can change hands in subtle ways.

Why do you think SCHOOLED has been so well received?

That is such a wonderful thing! I've been blessed to have amazing collaborators in the director James Kautz and the cast Quentin Mare, Lilli Stein, and Stephen Friedrich and all of our designers. I think SCHOOLED hits a cord with people for whom these experiences feel very real and relevant. These are characters many people know or can relate to even if they don't agree with their choices, and it forces audiences to ask themselves what they would do in the situation. I've had so many women tell me they've experienced what Claire goes through in the show, and a lot of men tell me they relate to Andrew, the professor. Everyone takes a side. The story is also funny, accessible and entertaining - which is part of my goal as writer, to make the political personal, the level where we as individuals can start making change.

Tell us a little about the show's cast and creative team.

This show would not be what it is without our amazing collaborators, from the incredible music by Jeanne Travis, to the work that James Kautz and I did on the script before and during rehearsals, to the wisdom the actors brought to the process of creating these characters as living beings. We really found the show in this process, and it reminds me how truly theater is a collaborative medium. All of our designers like Tyler M. Perry, Evan Roby and Christopher Metzger jumped in with great ideas, and James with a strong vision to guide it all.

What are your plans for the future?

It would be wonderful to see SCHOOLED go on to have a life in New York and regionally. At this point we would be looking for another producing entity to take it on, and I think it has great commercial prospects, so our fingers are crossed.

I'm also working on a new play called FRIENDS, SEX AND REAL ESTATE - which touches on the competition friends experience as they grow up and their life circumstances change. It's a script and story I'm very excited about.

For more information on the play SCHOOLED, you can visit http://SchooledThePlay.com.

For more information on Lisa Lewis, please visit: http://www.lisalewiswriting.com/.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of DARR Publicity

To post a comment, you must register and login.