How long did it take you to write “Back in the World”?
I started work on it as a non-musical in 2008. I tinkered with it, off and on, for about three years without really getting anywhere (and wrote another play in the meantime that was produced in 2011). About two and a half years ago, Alex and I decided to rescue it by turning it into a musical. We’ve been working on it pretty consistently since then.
Why did you decide to pick the topic of returning home from war?
In a way, I didn’t pick the topic – it picked me. I had written a couple of monologues early on (they later turned into the songs “Worms” and “Best and Brightest”) that were just about individual characters with no connection to each other. Eventually, I realized that both monologues were about soldiers – “Worms” is about soldiers going to war, while “Best and Brightest” is about soldiers coming home. This realization hit right about the time that the Iraq war was winding down and soldiers were coming home to a system that wasn’t prepared to give them the help they needed. The injustice of it was just something that couldn’t be ignored. And then, right when I was thinking I needed to write about a guy struggling to make it after returning from war, Brad Duffy mentioned a story he’d heard on NPR about a vet who had made it through a really rough patch and come out the other side by getting involved in counseling other vets. That story provided the structure for the plot.
Is there any personal significance in the story?
Well, there’s personal significance in everything I write. I think that’s just the way it works. But one of the little burning embers that helped to light a fire under this show was an extended online conversation I had back in 2007 & 2008 with a guy I’ve never met named Mikey. He’s a Vietnam veteran, and the perspective that he shared with me was so compelling and so detailed and so human that I asked him for permission to use some of his words in a play I was writing (it wasn’t a musical back then). He agreed, and now some of his words are in songs like “No Big Thing” and “That Ain’t Me.” Mikey made me realize that returning soldiers don’t need abstract, impersonal hero-worship. They need us to care for them, and we’re not doing a very good job of that.
How did you decide that it should be a musical?
It just wasn’t working as a straight play. I was writing monologues instead of the standard multi-character dialogues – which indicated that maybe these characters were actually singing songs instead of talking. Having worked with Alex a lot in the past, I knew what a brilliant musician he is and what a great mind he has for composition. I asked him if he’d like to collaborate and he said yes. So that was maybe the best question I’ve ever asked anyone in my life.
This is your first musical. What freedoms or constraints did you encounter?
For me as a writer, constraints are freedoms. It’s more exciting to know that what I’m writing needs to fit within certain parameters – length, rhythm, rhyme, etc. Writing songs instead of non-musical scenes means that I have boundaries I need to respect: For every stanza, every line, I need to ask will that work musically? If not, I need to write it another way. Collaborating with Alex also was more freeing than constraining because I knew that the words were my problem and the music was his. Division of labor is a cool thing.
How do you develop characters?
I create them and then just let them be who they are. With this show, once we realized what it was going to be about and that everything would revolve around the central character (Patrick), I made a list of all of the people who would affect Patrick’s ability to live his post-war life (his wife, his mother, street people, a counselor, fellow veterans) as well as the people from his past who continue to affect him in the present (his father, an army recruiter, a comrade-in-arms, an “enemy”). For me, giving them names that make sense is a crucial first step. For example, as soon as I named Patrick’s mother Violet, I already knew a lot about her because in my mind, a woman named Violet who has an adult son named Patrick who’s gone to war – well, she has a whole life to explore, and it’s my job to listen to her and try to present her story with as much emotional truth as I can.
You have been involved with Grays Harbor Community College and the Bishop Theatre for a long time, do you find yourself writing characters with actors in mind? If so, did that happen this time?
I’ve only written characters for specific actors a couple of times because that can be dangerous – what if the actor I have in mind isn’t available? But I did find, while working on Back in the World, that once Alex started composing the music that would lift up my words and make them into art, I began hearing specific voices singing. By the time we finished the complete first draft of the show – just a couple of months ago – I was consistently hearing Jerrod Phelps singing Patrick and Gary Morean singing Frank, for example. So I’m thrilled that they’re playing those roles. I’m thrilled with the entire cast.
Do you have a favorite scene or song?
Such a hard question. I really like what Alex did with the Act I finale, “Just a Job/Just a Kid.” The way he layered the various characters’ melodies is really lovely and, I think, makes my words infinitely better than they are on the page. But as far as “favorites,” for me it’s not about whole scenes or songs but individual moments. My favorite moments aren’t necessarily about my lyrics or even Alex’s melodies but about a particular performer’s ownership of that moment. There’s a kind of magic involved when the counselor, Darla (Megan Kelly) tells Patrick (Jerrod Phelps) “There is no us and them, there’s only me and you” and as she sings it, you can feel that she really means it. She believes it. Megan breaks my heart every time she sings that line. There are many, many such moments in the show.
Will “Mikey” be able to visit the event?
I emailed him to let him know about the show, but I haven’t heard back. I hadn’t been in contact with him in several years, so maybe his email address changed. And of course, since we “met” on the internet, I don’t know his last name (or even if his real first name is Mikey). The internet is an odd place. Mikey really did inspire this show, and I would love nothing more than to get him here to see it – but so far I haven’t had any luck.
If someone wants to be a playwright, what advice would you give them?
Go to the theatre a lot – like, every chance you get. All good writers become good writers through careful observation of what other good writers do. But being a playwright is different from being a novelist or a poet. You can’t just read plays – you have to go to performances because plays are meant to be produced, not read. A good playwright should also be involved in as many aspects of theatre as possible – first and foremost as an audience member, but also as an actor, designer, technician … playing all those roles really helps the playwright to understand what’s possible on stage.
What guidance did you give Alex Eddy, when writing the music?
Alex absolutely doesn’t need any guidance from me when it comes to writing music. He’s brilliant. Our work process is truly collaborative: we mapped out the show in broad outline form and decided on a particular style or feel for each song (a gospel rhythm for “Best and Brightest,” some rap for “No Big Thing,” country-ish for “Five Bucks,” etc.). Then I’d write the lyrics with that style/rhythm in mind and send them to Alex. He’d come back a few days later with a melody that just nailed it. We did this over and over again, with each song. For a while there, it was like Christmas every week because Alex would come over and sit down at my piano and play me a gift.
Were there any unexpected changes or developments that happened while rehearsing and under the direction of Brad Duffy?
Well, the theatre is all about unexpected changes and developments. It’s the most collaborative art form there is – this show wouldn’t exist without a director, performers, the set designer, the lighting designer, the set builders and painters, the costumers, the technicians who make the sets and lights and sound happen, the crew making sure things are where they need to be, the musicians playing in the orchestra pit. Every one of the 40+ people involved in this production brings his or her own talent and skill to the project – which means, yes, the show develops and grows and ultimately becomes better than the sum of its parts. And overseeing all of it, turning the chaos into order, is Brad. He’s an absolutely tireless director who always puts on a hell of a show. When he suggests a change (always suggests, never demands), he’s right pretty much 100% of the time. This is the fourth time he and I have collaborated as director/playwright, and I trust him with my work implicitly. I can count on him to take a good play and make it better.
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