BWW:UK Interviews: Playwright Prince Gomolvilas

Prince Gomolvilas is a Thai American playwright. He has written many plays which have been produced around the world and won several distinctive awards. His stage adaptation of Mysterious Skin based on the novel by Scott Heim has played to great acclaim and now the controversial drama is set to open in Manchester UK this May at the Three Minute Theatre, Manchester produced by Vertigo Theatre Productions and directed by award-nominated Craig Hepworth and Adele Stanhope.

Now co-director Hepworth interviews the playwright about the play, his other work and his favourite shows.

Hi Prince, can you tell us when you knew you wanted to be a playwright and what was the first theatre piece you ever wrote?

I didn't grow up going to the theatre, and I didn't even take drama in high school, so I didn't really "discover" playwriting until college. My early plays were just bad imitations of David Mamet. It wasn't until graduate school that I started connecting with my voice and began thinking about a life in the theatre.

Your background seems to be mostly comedy; what draws you to comedy writing?

I write a lot about social issues - in play form and otherwise - and I feel that comedy is the best way to communicate challenging or heavy subject matter without being didactic. Also, I like the instant gratification/feedback that comes from laughter.

What playwrights to do you look up to?

Annie Baker, Julia Cho, Craig Lucas, David Mamet, Paul Rudnick, Chay Yew. Oh, and Anton Chekhov. Chekhov should be on every playwright's list.

What was the last play you got to see that left a huge impression on you?

It's only every few years that I see something that absolutely blows me away. The last three that did that were August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker, and the recent revival of West Side Story, which incorporated a lot of the original choreography, book, and lyrics.

Jukebox Stories has enjoyed critical success and you have a new one opening, tell us about the premise

Jukebox Stories is a two-man show that stars me and a musician namEd Brandon Patton. We tell stories and sing songs that are chosen at random by audience members, who also have an opportunity to win prizes because we integrate some kind of game into each show. Jukebox Stories: The Secrets of Forking, which will premiere at a literally underground theater in Berkeley, California, will have tarot cards and fortunetelling thrown into the mix.

You are working on a feature film called 'Straight Face', what can you tell us about that?

I'm working with director PJ Raval, whose feature documentary, Before You Know It, is making a big splash on the festival circuit. Our project is a narrative film based on a rather provocative magazine article that I can't really talk about yet, alas.

As a writer mainly known for comedy what drew you to adapting Mysterious Skin to the stage?

The novel is my favourite novel of all time. It affected me deeply, and I read it around the time that New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco was asking me to pitch them ideas, as I had just closed a show with them.

How did you find adapting the piece for the stage?

It was great having a kind of template to work from, instead of having to start from scratch. My biggest concern was writing something that wouldn't disappoint Scott Heim, the novelist, particularly since I had to make a lot of changes to accommodate the stage and my vision of the story in a new form. Fortunately, he loves the play, and we've become friends.

Mysterious Skin has enjoyed some great critical acclaim; do you think the show will ever get a commercial run, say Off-Broadway?

I don't know. A rather edgy New York theatre some years ago told me it was much too graphic for them. And I don't think they were referring to the violence in the play, but, rather, some of the frank monologues.

What advice do you have for the cast and me and Adele as the directors of Mysterious Skin?

While there are many scenes of rapid-fire dialogue, don't be afraid to let the play "breathe." That is, look for opportunities to find comfort (and discomfort) in the quieter moments, in the silences, particularly in Act Two. Navigating fast pace and slow pace and figuring what each section needs will be one of the biggest challenges, but hopefully I've communicated a great deal of that on the page.

Mysterious Skin opens May 21st - 25th at the Three Minute Theatre, Manchester. It stars Richard Allen, David Lock, Ciara Tansey, Steph Reynolds, James Devlin and Katie Burgess.

To book tickets visit Quaytickets.com or click the ticket link of the Vertigo website www.vertigotheatreproductions.co.uk

Visit Prince's website at www.princegomolvilas.com

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