Iowa Bulletin by Playwrights Horizons

SHARP THEATER BULLETIN

IOWA

Written by

JENNY SCHWARTZ

Music & Lyrics by

TODD ALMOND

Oratorio Lyrics by

JENNY SCHWARTZ Directed by

KEN RUS SCHMOLL

IN THIS ISSUE PAGE 3

PAGE 8

PAGE 6

IN CONVERSATION

BACKSTORY: A MUSICAL SPECIES

SEE WHERE YOU FIT

Todd Almond and Jenny Schwartz interview each other about relating to characters, their process of writing, and getting to Iowa.

Kent Nicholson on the power of music and its importance in creating the world of Iowa.

Find out how you can help Playwrights Horizons continue to develop and produce new American work.

FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

DEAR FRIENDS, Heaven and earth do not touch one another But oh look at the clouds Look at the highest clouds – From Iowa by Jenny Schwartz and Todd Almond

The formal zaniness of Iowa, from its footloose characterizations, to the playful quicksilver of its language and its loosey-goosey narrative, bears a passing resemblance to work sometimes described as “Theater of the Absurd.” Yet, while it is true that Iowa certainly runs giddily away from the clanking chains of realism, it takes no measure of the meaninglessness of reality. It takes delight in its over-the-top characters and finds them as fascinating as they are confounding. These include Sandy, a motor-mouthed, scattered single mom who has found a fiancé on Facebook, a singing pony, a made-over Nancy Drew who comes in four different races, and a janitor named Jesus; but at its root, Iowa is a sweet coming-of-age story of Becca, a teenage girl trying to survive high school and a spectacularly daffy mother. The world of Iowa is so outlandish that I sometimes think about Becca as a kind of latter day Alice, albeit a 14-year-old as opposed to Carroll’s seven-and-a-half-year-old. Both Becca and Alice are curious, sensible, and resilient, but the propulsive drive of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is essentially escapist. As the Cheshire Cat pronounces, “Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.” In Iowa, the relationship of the imagination to reality feels more sympathetic, as suggested in the quote about heaven, earth and clouds cited above from its finale. The characters in Iowa know they are earthbound. And they mostly know they can’t find heaven there, even if they do want to jump the bones of Jesus the janitor or buy a burka online at Amazon.com. But the dichotomy of heaven and earth, imagination and reality runs all the way through it. Becca self-identifies as a poet, but she’s in love with her math teacher. Many of the characters seek rapture in sex, but then experience it as just a bodily function. And when Sandy and Becca move to Iowa, Sandy is put off by the smell of manure on her new husband’s farm, yet at the same time, Becca comes to see Iowa as a wondrous place, with a landscape that stretches to infinity, to Mars, and with a big sky filled with fabulous clouds. Clouds, as we know, are made from the moisture of the earth, but they live in heaven, direct imaginative evocations of our earthly verticality. The beautiful secret of Iowa lies in the sublime harmonic convergence of its two collaborators. Jenny’s wild and giddy dramaturgy skates virtuosically over its ever-submerged yearning, but its poignant subtext is perfectly incarnated by Todd’s sublimely hieratic melodicism. Todd is one of the great rising stars of the world of musical theater-making (it seems almost criminally reductive to say “of the musical theater”). And their collaboration is magical. I am not spoiling anything to promise you that you will find yourself almost wholly unprepared that a play as delightfully subversive—both nuanced and larger-than-life—will leave you so gloriously moved and emotionally satisfied.

TIM SANFORD

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR The Sharp Theater Bulletin is generously funded, in part, by the

LIMAN FOUNDATION

Photo by Christine Gatti

IN CONVERSATION Jenny Schwartz: Which character in Iowa do you relate to most? Todd Almond: Hmm... JS: If it’s too hard of a question you can say pass. TA: Well, I don’t relate to the cheerleader. JS: Why not? TA: Because the cheerleader has such a strong sense of self-awareness, and I obviously struggle in that department. JS: Really? I think you’re very self-aware. TA: Trust me, I’m not. JS: But if you weren’t self aware, you wouldn’t know it, right? You wouldn’t be aware that you weren’t self-aware. TA: And there’s the rub! JS: Ha! That’s what we should call our next play. There’s the Rub. TA: Can it be about a massage parlour? JS: Deal. TA: Which character in Iowa do you relate to the most? JS: Hmm. Well, I don’t relate to the pony. TA: I relate to the pony. JS: He's such a player, the pony. TA: You're not a player? JS: Oh, pass. TA: Were you a cheerleader? JS: No! But thanks for asking! TA: I always liked cheerleaders. My older brothers were athletes. Growing up, we would always have a van full of cheerleaders.

WITH TODD ALMOND AND JENNY SCHWARTZ JS: Magic... TA: We didn’t know where it was going. JS: We discovered a lot on its feet. We always knew that we were headed to Iowa though. TA: We just didn’t know how we would get there. JS: And we knew that Becca would prevail. But yes, there was certainly a lot of unknowns. And trust. TA: We had to be comfortable with the unknown and let things reveal themselves. I’ve never had a process like that. Have you? JS: Kind of. I’ve kind of never had a process not like that. I started writing plays when I was in school for directing. I would create all of my plays during rehearsal processes. I didn’t actually, physically write in the room, but I would bring in new drafts to each rehearsal, and then I would go home, and I would rework and expand the material, and the actors would perform the pieces at the end of each week. It was all very immediate. Even then, I was treating language as something alive in the room, as something to be spoken and heard, rather than looked at on a page. My process today is still pretty much the same. I have to see and hear it as I’m making it. I’m completely dependent on rehearsals and workshops to get the work done. Not very practical, but I’m trying to embrace it. TA: Do you think that people change? JS: ... I do... Do you? TA: ... I do... I’ve seen people change. Maybe not at their core. But yes. I’m not the same person I was when I was a teenager. JS: Oh god. I hope I’m not. I was a miserable teenager.

JS: That’s the worst!

TA: I like the cheerleader’s confidence...

TA: I don’t want to be that person!

TA: The song came first. And then the scene. That was a big part of our process. We would influence each other and the destiny of the piece. The piece kept surprising us.

JS: Put it this way: I was a total theater geek, minus the theater. TA: Were you at all like Becca? JS: Not really. Becca is much more gutsy than I was. And also, she’s a poet. She has so much passion for her poetry. I didn’t discover that I was a writer until long after high school. TA: In grad school? JS: Right. But even then I was writing only short adaptations of classic plays. I didn’t write an actual, original, non-adaptation until a while later. So I was pretty lost in high school. TA: I bet the pony liked high school. JS: Oh definitely. The pony loved it. TA: I’m glad you discovered you were a writer. The theater is a place that we go to be plucked. And you’re a good plucker. JS: Aw, thanks. TA: But do you think that people essentially change? Our characters? JS: I don’t know about character... Ken [Rus Schmoll, Director] always says that character is situation. TA: Maybe our moods change. And our tastes and our style. JS: I’m much more ornery. I’m sure about that. And I have far less patience. I used to be patient. Can you imagine? Now I’m all about instant gratification. I’m a product of the internet. (continued on next page)

TA: I was a Goody Twoshoes. I had one friend Shannan, and we were really into Speech. But then you see someone from high school, and they say you haven’t changed a bit. It’s very disheartening.

JS: Not us. We would never have a van full of cheerleaders...

JS: Which came first? Do you remember? The cheerleader scene or the cheerleader song?

I think I was pretty typical for someone who goes into theater. What about you?

JS: Did you do plays when you were in high school? TA: I did. A lot. I was a total theater geek. Photo by Zack DeZon

TA: Iowa is about a woman who wants to change her life. Sandy doesn’t know where she’s going, and she doesn’t care. She wants to start fresh. Jump off a cliff. Cut her losses. It’s an act of desperation. She wants to save herself. JS: I can relate to Sandy.

TA: What’s your personal relationship with Iowa?

TA: Oh!

JS: You know, in a way, I feel like I am Iowa. I can’t remember life before Iowa.

JS: Have you ever been there?

TA: I mean Iowa, the state! Not Iowa, the play. JS: Oh! Oh!

TA: Me too. I can relate to Sandy the most. JS: Me too. Sandy’s very frazzled...

TA: Is that where you spent your summers? Is that where your grandmother lives?

TA: Sandy is someone who is honestly making her way through the world, and she doesn’t have a good sense of the people around her.

JS: Nope. I’ve never been there. I have associations. What’s your personal relationship to Iowa?

JS: I can relate to her inability to cope with so much information. And to her effort to stay afloat. She also shares my unhealthy relationship with the internet. But she talks more than I do. And she’s cruel.

TA: Hmm... You know, I always secretly say that Iowa is my favorite child. JS: I mean Iowa, the state, not the play!

TA: I don’t know... I can’t remember... Maybe... I grew up in Nebraska, but on the other side, close to Wyoming. Iowa, for me, is a word. Like “ohm.” There’s a mystical quality. To the word. To the place. Not the actual state. But the state of being. Like Xanadu. Iowa is a kind place. A safe place. A kind of heaven. Heaven in the actual religious sense. You go there, and you’re forgiven. You’re accepted. You’re loved. You no longer have to worry. I’m moved by what happens to Sandy. I’m relieved that she has the discovery that she has. But I don’t think she deserves it. I don’t think she deserves happiness. In the same way that, I guess, I don’t deserve happiness. None of us do. Because we’re all so ornery.

EXCITING NEWS FROM FROM THE ARTISTIC DEPARTMENT Adam Greenfield is no stranger to our audiences – you’ll recognize him from our symposium events, artist interviews, and his regular “American Voice” piece in each bulletin. Now, after more than eight years at Playwrights Horizons, we’re excited to announce that he’s been promoted to Associate Artistic Director. “Since joining Playwrights Horizons in 2007, Adam has opened doors to a wealth of new writers,” says Artistic Director Tim Sanford. “Under his leadership, the literary department has expanded and tailored its development efforts in ways that are so rarely seen by the public, but which are always attentive to the particular needs of individual writers. His engagement with new work is fervent, discerning and positive, and writers adore him because of his palpable love for his work and his fierce advocacy of their efforts. By promoting him to Associate Artistic Director, we acknowledge his extraordinary contributions to our organization and open the door for him to make an even greater impact in the future. He is a consummate artist and an extraordinary colleague, and I look forward to working with him more closely than ever before.”

word, and I feel incredibly lucky to have found a home at Playwrights Horizons to do so, in the company of so many wonderful, indelible artists and audience members, and such lovely colleagues.” We’re also thrilled to share that Sarah Lunnie has been promoted to the position of Literary Manager.

Adam adds, “I’m deeply moved by the invitation to extend my relationship with a company and Artistic Director who I consider unparalleled in their life-long commitment to writers and their work. We’re in the middle of a great era in American playwriting. I’m grateful for the chance to spread the

IN THE DIRECTOR'S CHAIR KEN RUS SCHMOLL (Director)

is a two-time Obie Award-winning director, primarily of new plays, whose previous work with Jenny Schwartz includes directing her play Cause for Alarm in Fringe NYC. Other credits include The Invisible Hand (NYTW), The GrownUp, Death Tax (Humana Festival); Grounded (Page 73); Not What Happened (BAM Next Wave); Red Dog Howls (New York Theatre Workshop); Luther, Telethon, Amazons and Their

Photo by Zack DeZon

Men, Demon Baby (Clubbed Thumb); The Peripherals (The Talking Band); A Map of Virtue, Mark Smith, Aphrodisiac, The Internationalist (13P); Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England (Two River Theater); FUREE in Pins and Needles, Telephone (Foundry Theatre); Middletown, The Internationalist (Vineyard); What Once We Felt (LCT3); October/November (EST Marathon); Hello Failure (PS 122); Millicent Scowlworthy, Honor and the River (SPF); and Aphrodisiac (Long Wharf ). He staged the world premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s cantata It Happens Like This (Tanglewood) and the American premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s opera Proserpina (Spoleto Festival USA). He is an affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb, a Sundance Theatre Institute alum, and co-chair of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS JENNY SCHWARTZ's (Playwright) plays include God’s Ear, Somewhere Fun,

and Cause for Alarm. Somewhere Fun premiered last season at the Vineyard Theatre. God’s Ear was produced in New York by New Georges and the Vineyard Theatre, and nationally and internationally from Lisbon, Portugal to Boise, Idaho to Sydney, Australia. With Todd Almond, Jenny was the 2012 recipient of the Frederick Loewe Award for Musical Theatre for the development of their musical play Iowa. Iowa has been developed at Playwrights Horizons, Sundance/MASS MoCA, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New Dramatists, and The Flea Theatre. Other awards and honors include the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Benjamin H. Danks Award in Drama, a Kesselring honor, two grants from Lincoln Center’s Lecomte Du Nuoy Foundation, and Soho Rep’s Dorothy Streslin Playwriting Fellowship. God's Ear and Somewhere Fun were both finalists for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Jenny co-chairs the Soho Rep Writer/ Director Lab. She received an MFA in Theatre Directing from Columbia University, is a graduate of Juilliard’s playwriting program, and is a member of New Dramatists.

TODD ALMOND (Music & Lyrics) is a composer, lyricist, and playwright. He most recently wrote the music for and performed in Kansas City Choir Boy, a theatricalized concept album, and last season at Playwrights Horizons, wrote the music for and performed in Sarah Ruhl’s Stage Kiss. He has also collaborated with director Lear deBessonet on an adaptation of The Tempest at the Delacorte Theatre for the Public Theater’s Public Works program; Todd wrote music and lyrics, and played Ariel in this production, which featured a cast of 200 people, and received rave reviews. Todd’s musicals include the book of Girlfriend (using new arrangements of Matthew Sweet’s eponymous cult album), which premiered at Berkeley Rep and subsequently at Actors Theatre of Louisville; a musical version of Sarah Ruhl’s Melancholy Play with 13P; music and lyrics for We Have Always Lived In The Castle (adapted from the Shirley Jackson novel) with Adam Bock at Yale Repertory Theatre; On the Levee with Marcus Gardley and Lear deBessonet at LCT3; and his own musical adaptation of The Odyssey at the Old Globe under Lear deBessonet’s direction. He was the music director/arranger for Laura Benanti’s acclaimed solo show at 54 Below (NYC) and for Sherie Rene Scott’s lauded Piece of Meat also at 54 Below, and at the Hippodrome (London).

AN EXCERPT FROM GOD'S EAR, BY JENNY SCHWARTZ Jenny Schwartz’s 2007 play God’s Ear floored audiences nationally and internationally, establishing her place among the most innovative and virtuosic writers in the contemporary landscape. The story of how the death of a son shatters a marriage, this haunting, funny play manages to turn language into a spectacle, a reward unto itself, while also accessing the sharp yearning in the hearts of a family coping with loss. In this scene, Ted is on an extended business tripaway from his wife, Mel. MEL: How was your flight? TED: What do you care? MEL: Come back. TED: And then what? MEL: And then you'll say, "Why? Why are you always so mean?'' TED: You used to be so sweet. You used to say "Gesundheit" to the dog. MEL: And then we'll kiss. And then I'll scratch your back. Higher. A little higher. There. Right there. And then you'll hold me. And protect me. And I'll forgive you. And you'll understand me. And I'll never stop loving you. And you won't ever think of leaving me. And I'll laugh at all your jokes. And you'll never disappoint me. And you'll swoop down and save the day. And I'll bend over backwards and light up the room.

And we'll thank God. And God will bless America. And with God as our witness, we'll never be starving again. And the fog will lift. And we'll see eye to eye. And the cows will come home. And we'll dance cheek to cheek. And we'll face the music. And smell the coffee. And know where to turn. And which end is up. And the dogs will stop biting. And the bees will stop stinging. And this too shall pass. And all good things. And we'll make love. The old-fashioned way. Blindfolded. With one hand tied behind our back. And hell will be freezing. And pigs will be flying. And Rome will be built. And water will be wine. And truth will be told. And needs will be met. And boys will be boys. And enough will be enough. And we'll cross that bridge. And bridge that gap.

And bear that cross. And cross that t. And part that sea. And act that part. And turn that leaf. And turn that cheek. And speak our minds. And mind our manners. And clear our heads. And right our wrongs. And count our blessings. And count our chickens. And pick our battles. And eat our words. And take it slow. And make it last. And have it made. And make it fast. And take it back. And see it through. And see the light. And raise the roof. And make the most. And make the best. And work it out. And mend the fence. And wait it out. And play it down. And live it up. And paint the town.

And take care. And eat right. And sleep well. And stay calm. And have fun. And have faith. And face facts. And move on. And own up. And come clean. And start fresh. And take charge. And stand tall. And save face. And steer clear. And live large. And then we'll kick up our heels. And have it both ways. And take a deep breath. And take it like men. And sit back. Relax. And ride off into the horseshit. For richer, for poorer. In sickness and in health. And the fat lady will sing. With bells on.

PERFORMANCE CALENDAR SUN

MON

IOWA

TUES

WED

THURS

FRI MARCH 20

7:30 PM

22 29 5 12 19 26 3 10

2:00 PM 7:00 PM 2:00 PM < 7:00 PM 2:00 PM 7:00 PM 2:00 PM 7:00 PM 2:00 PM 7:00 PM 2:00 PM 7:00 PM 2:00 PM 7:00 PM

7:30 PM

APRIL 1

7:30 PM

7:30 PM <

22 29 6

7:30 PM

3 10 17

30&UNDER EVENT

23 30 7

7:30 PM

7:30 PM <

7:30 PM

11 18 25

MAY 1

7:30 PM

2:00 PM 7:00 PM

WHERE DO YOU FIT INTO OUR #PHAMILY OF DONORS?

SAT

POST-PERFORMANCE DISCUSSIONS

7:30 PM

PPDs with the creative team have been scheduled for the following dates:

2:00 PM 7:30 PM

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25 SUNDAY, MARCH 29

2:00 PM 7:30 PM 2:00 PM 7:30 PM 2:00 PM 7:30 PM 2:00 PM 7:30 PM 2:00 PM 7:30 PM 2:00 PM 7:30 PM

following the matinee

FRIDAY, APRIL 3 We hope you can take part in this important aspect of our play development process.

Indicates post-performance discussion

We recomend Iowa for audiences aged 12+.

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BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW FOR

IOWA Music & Lyrics by

Written by

JENNY SCHWARTZ

TODD ALMOND

Oratorio Lyrics by

Directed by

JENNY SCHWARTZ

KEN RUS SCHMOLL

MARCH 20–MAY 10, 2015

Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theater This is the fifth of six productions in the 2014/15 Season.

#IowaPH

THE AMERICAN VOICE BACKSTORY A MUSICAL SPECIES In his seminal 2007 book Musicophilia, neurologist Oliver Sacks describes humans’ relationship with music in very powerful terms. “Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion,” he writes. “It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does–humans are a musical species.” Sacks goes on to explain that as much as humans communicate through language, they communicate through music. Certainly this will come as no surprise to Jenny Schwartz and Todd Almond, whose piece Iowa embodies this idea both literally and figuratively. It’s not a new notion to compare Schwartz’s work to a piece of music. In her preface to Schwartz’s play God's Ear, Nina Steiger of the Soho Theatre in London writes that “Jenny Schwartz uses language like a composer might, blending a simple melody with harmonics.” Steiger goes on to explain that harmonics are the frequencies that enable us to tell one instrument from another when playing in unison—just as the textures and rhythms of Schwartz’s language create shades of characterization that define her patently idiosyncratic dramatic worlds. “Hopefully,” Schwartz explains in a note to future producers of God's Ear, “the audience will acquire meaning from the accumulation of the language. So, for the most part and unless otherwise noted, actors should speak fast and think on the line.”

In composer Todd Almond, Schwartz gains a powerful ally. As her language accrues power and layers of significance over the course of Iowa, Almond’s music allows the audience to stop and take in that meaning. Unlike more traditional musicals, where a character might stop and sing through their emotions, or where a song might move a character to action, in Iowa, Almond’s songs rely heavily on music’s power to create emotional resonance through melody and harmonic arrangement. Lyrics play an important part in these pieces as well, of course, but not necessarily in any literal sense. The total effect is to provide a kind of emotional parallel to Schwartz’s tilted narrative, both commenting on and explicating the emotional landscape of the play. In this way, through rhythm, pitch, timbre, and texture, Schwartz and Almond weave spoken language and music into a complete fabric. The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer considered music to be the most pure of art forms for its ability to inspire pure contemplation rather than being beholden to symbology. “Music expresses the quintessence of life and of events,” he wrote, “never these themselves.” An expression of life’s quintessence, in all its beauty and ache, is what Schwartz and Almond strive for in this daffy, rhapsodic musical play.

KENT NICHOLSON DIRECTOR OF MUSICAL THEATER

Special thanks to the

HAROLD AND MIMI STEINBERG CHARITABLE TRUST NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS and the

for their leadership support of Playwrights Horizons' 2014/2015 season productions.

Leadership support for the New Works Lab is generously provided by the Time Warner Foundation.