Talking With... Michael Whistler

Playwright of LITTLE LAMB

Conducted by Rebecca Wright, InterAct's Literary Director & Dramaturg

InterAct: What was the genesis of LITTLE LAMB? What was your starting point?

Michael Whistler: You may not believe this, but I started thinking about the ideas in this play shortly after the election of 2004. As a gay man, raised in a very open, loving supportive -- and very Christian-- family, I was surprised to discover what sway the Fundamentalist and Conservative Christian base had in the re-election of George Bush. In truth, I felt betrayed: the Christian church I had been raised in bore little resemblance to the “Values Voters” who came to the polls in support of issues like the Defense of Marriage Act and claimed it was a Christian imperative to do so. I didn’t start out to write a play about Gay adoption- but I when I heard that Karl Rove had orchestrated a careful campaign to win voters based on these issues by connecting Black churches to the conservative movement by pressing these issues from the pulpit, I saw that the situation of a Gay couple adopting an African-American child could press these issues and allow me to look at them in a dramatic format.

InterAct: Did you engage in any particular kind of research in order to fully and successfully represent a set of characters from such a range of communities?

Michael Whistler: Yes, I did a lot of research to try and understand what each of the characters holds dear. There is a lot of airwave time now dedicated to Christian broadcasting, and much of it is VERY political. I watched how the bible lessons I grew up with were used as metaphors and inspirations for political action. I spent a lot of time reading about the growth the Conservative Christian Movement, as well as its connections to and cultivations of political power in this country. I spoke with members of the clergy about where they saw the Christian Church in our day and age- all of these became the foundations for the motivations of characters in the play.

InterAct: As a playwright, how do you get inside the minds and hearts of people who are from such different backgrounds than you? Was it challenging to write fair and balanced portrayals of characters with whom you might personally disagree?

Michael Whistler: I don’t think I personally disagree with any of the characters—I don’t know how I could write for a character if I did. For me, the important journey was to discover what the definition of “right” and “fair” was for each of the characters, and to allow them to stand their ground for what they believe.

InterAct: As we all know, there are a host of stereotypes out there about black people and gay people, and pretty much all people who can be grouped together and categorized. These stereotypes tend to dominate popular artistic representation, especially of under-represented groups. Did these stereotypes affect your process and/or your thinking about the piece? How do they interplay with the full, rich characters you have created?

Michael Whistler: I am interested in the ways people choose to cope, and the manifestations of that in what we call stereotype. I did a piece called The F*ggot Museum, and it is all about stereotypes. But for me the journey is about who are the men who create the stereotypes? Why? In creating a persona or actions like that …is it a mask? Or an armor? A way of hiding? Or a way of exposing?

I really am not interested in combating stereotypes: to me that seems too didactic a goal for theatre. I think we shut ourselves down to stereotypes. It is polite now to say “Oh, that’s a stereotype: no one acts/thinks like that,” and reject it. I guess I am more interested in investigating the why, rather than rejecting it, and embracing the actions and thoughts, to discover the person inside.

InterAct: How would you describe the challenges involved in writing a play where, in a sense, worlds collide?

Michael Whistler: What other type of play is there to write, if the worlds don’t collide? It’s wonderful that you use that word: Collide. In MASTER HAROLD AND THE THE BOYS by Athol Fugard, there is a character who describes his idea of a perfect world as an image of dancers in a professional ballroom competition: “A world without collisions.” From the moment he says it, we know that it is not possible. That’s what makes drama, the collisions.

InterAct: How does LITTLE LAMB differ from your previous plays? How does it fit into your larger body of work?

Michael Whistler: In everything I write, I try to stay to my own artistic vision: to write stories of the Gay Community with humor, honesty and dignity. My goal is to create serious gay theatre which challenges and entertains all audience members, gay or straight. I have always admired the perseverance and ingenuity of my characters, and find inspiration for that in the Gay Community. I take great joy in presenting those stories as a way of celebrating that strength within my own community and reaching out to a larger audience.

InterAct: LITTLE LAMB received a Development Grant from InterAct’s 20/20 New Play Commission program in 2008, and we have been heavily involved in its development since. Can you talk a little bit about the development process on this play?

Michael Whistler: The 20/20 development grant was an important part of my process in developing LITTLE LAMB, as have the community and staff here at InterAct. The grant itself allowed me to work on the project. I walked into this with a topic I wanted to address and some of the characters, but having the time to really tinker with and develop a fiction upon which I could hang those themes and people came directly from the opportunities offered me by the grant.

The Playwrights’ Forum at InterAct served as a sounding board for the play as it developed, and some important structural changes came out of those discussions, as well as ideas which helped me to focus the action and to clarify the play’s themes.

Lastly- the diner on Chestnut was seminal to working on LITTLE LAMB. The conversations had there with Becky and Seth broke the play open for me, and really forged the play. I don’t think I ever enjoyed this process more than when Seth, Becky and I sat around and tinkered with each line, discussing and focusing the action inside it, and testing the character voices. I love theatre because I love the unpredictable and fully human actions we all take in creating our lives. We have such immense possibility in us for creation and for destruction, for Love and for Fear- I love discovering how those drives affect who we are and what we do: it is why I love to go to theatre, why I love reading theatre, and what I hope to achieve in creating theatre.

InterAct: Has the process of working on this play made you think differently about adoption? About religion? About paint swatches?

Michael Whistler: In short, yes- I had to really look at my own decisions about having children. In some ways, I thought this was a door largely closed to me…I know now that it isn’t. I discovered that there are great resources and strong protections in place for gay couples to adopt a child. I am especially grateful to Abby Ruder, of Adoption Information and Support Services, to really opening my eyes to truths about the adoption process for gay couples in Pennsylvania, and transracial families. I have also been able to meet many gay families I hadn’t before, and a be a part of their joy in having a child. That’s changed me.

Investigating my own relationship to Christ and to god was central to developing this play, and it has changed through getting to know the character in LITTLE LAMB. I don’t think that discussion ever stops for us- how do we talk to our creator? How is he involved in our lives? How do we listen to him? This play has opened some issues I swept aside in my life after some of the feelings I mentioned about the elections of 2004, out of fear and anger. I am feeling it is a new day now- for me as well. And I want to have those discussions with my creator again.

As to paint swatches- I get pangs in my heart every time I pass the paint counter at Lowe’s. It is about color and possibility, isn’t it? I mean, and I am not trying to be funny here, but for me that’s why Martha and all the “nesting” movements of the last 15 years mean so much to us: we can build something beautiful, we can create beauty in our lives. All it takes is patience and a can of “Marigold Sunset”. There’s a big metaphor in that for me. So, yeah—I always take a few paint swatches. It’s about believing in possibility. I need that. Daily.

InterAct: What’s next for you?

Michael Whistler: I have a project I am working on for Philadelphia Theatre Workshop’s Playshop Festival, Spring 2010. What I have drafted out is VERY different, and that will make a nice break.

InterAct: Thanks, Michael.

THE 2008/2009 SEASON

Introduction

The War Party

The Rant

Jihad Jones...

Little Lamb

Purchasing Tickets

About The Play

Running Time

The Playwright

Playwright Interview

The Director

The Cast & Crew

Talk-Backs

Calendar

Writing Aloud

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