Episode 079 of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick features an interview with speculative playwright Monica Cross.
Monica Cross (also find her on Facebook and Twitter) is a multiple-award winning playwright residing in northwestern Wisconsin. Her one-act play Cyrano on the Moon has been produced at fringe festivals in Tampa and Minneapolis, as well as several virtual productions. Wonder of Our Stage, Monica’s first full-length play, was winner of the 2018 Players New Play Festival in Sarasota, FL, and went on to be included in their Summer Sizzler Series in 2019.
She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. Her plays can be found on the New Play Exchange.
Listen for new insights on the creative writing life and creative process from a perspective not usually heard in the world of independent publishing: the world of theater. Monica and I discuss…
- the niche of speculative theater and how it intersects with “traditional” plays and playwriting.
- how new playwrights’ works are discovered, workshopped, and ultimately produced.
- commonalities between storytelling on the stage and in other media
- building a creative practice with dyslexia and ADHD…
… and a bunch of other stuff! It’s a great exchange. I learned a lot… you will, too!
This episode was recorded on April 11th, 2023. The conversation with Monica Cross was recorded on January 20th, 2023.
Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode
- My day job? I’m a creative services provider helping authors, podcasters and other creators. How can I help you?
- You probably know Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, but you’ve probably never read or seen the play.
- My first novel, Brave Men Run, comes up in our discussion of characters hobbled by their poor self-image.
- The 2014 International Science Fiction Theater Conference.
- Susan Lorie Parks’ Fucking A
- Mister Burnes, A Post-Electric Play by Anne Washurn
- The book people scene from the François Trauffaut adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
- Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.
- Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison (you might also take in the film adaptation, but as we discuss in the episode, it’s not the same experience…)
- She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen.
- The alchemist John Dee.
- The League of Resident Theaters.
- Edgar Allen Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death adapted for the stage by Monica Cross.
- Rejection sensitivity is sometimes part of the ADHD experience.
- What is a dramaturg?
- Cheers to the comic book legend who never forgets my birthday, Danny Fingeroth.
- J. Michael Straczynski (find him on Twitter) is a screenwriter, show runner, novelist, and comic book writer. Chances are you’ve dug, perhaps fanatically, something he’s done.
- The playwright Simon Stephens (find him on Twitter).
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