Triple Shot Productions' Interview with Playwright Carter Lewis

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI - Triple Shot Productions (TSP) caught up with Carter W. Lewis in his office at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The One-Eyed Man is King had an extremely successful opening in 1998 and was later published as one of the top ten plays of that year. Triple Shot Productions is producing the play, opening May 8th, 2009 and running through May 30th, at the Phoenix Theater.

The One-Eyed Man is King had its world premiere at the Rochester, New York-based Geva Theatre Center in 1998 when Carter was Literary Manager and Playwright-in-Residence. Geva also premiered Women Who Steal, produced Golf with Alan Shepard, and will host Carter’s highly regarded, Evie’s Waltz in April. The One-Eyed Man is King enjoyed rave reviews upon its premiere and was included in the year’s compilation of top plays published by Smith and Krauss as "New Playwrights - Best Plays of 1998"

The One-Eyed Man is King also marked a departure in theme for Carter. After this premier, his plays became darker after the country experienced a dramatic rise in school shootings. In contrasting The One-Eyed Man is King with Evie’s Waltz, the viewer will see a drastic change in the type of main character, from “Trapped, Isolated Woman” to “Kids who Kill”.

But, first, let’s start with Carter’s approach to play writing:

TSP: What is your goal as a playwright?

Carter W. Lewis (CWL): I write to sort things out on paper for myself, to get a better understanding of things going on around me. Most of the writing I do is usually something that I’m trying to sort through and figure out. I just use paper to do it.

TSP: You said once that you write about what you don’t know or what you want to know. How, then, do you choose subjects for your plays?

CWL: Usually, it is as much of them choosing me; it’s something that’s on my mind; something that’s pissing me off; something that confusing me. I rarely start a play knowing exactly what I’m writing about, or what I’m writing for. Normally I just start freeform on a blank page with characters in a room. If something develops, then I let it develop.

TSP: So, is it fair to say that you start with an idea, a character?

CWL: I just put two or three people in a room, or a location, and start them talking. If you do that, then it’s sort of like setting up dolls at a tea party and, because you created them, they start talking about things that are important to you. Eventually whatever pissing you off comes out of this discussion. I shape it from there.

TSP: Is this how you came up with the concept for The One-Eyed Man is King? You started with an idea for a character that is a blind thief and developed the play from there.

CWL: It was a convergence of a few things. I read two stories, The English Patient and In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje and I became very intrigued by his writing. It happened that there was a thief character in [The English Patient]. I had that in the back of my head and then stumbled upon H.G. Wells’ The Country of the Blind. I also had a deadline looming as I remember. I started tooling around on paper and began writing the first scene where the blind thief is in the living room. I do recall that the original focus was on the thief. The setting was a middle class house and the characters there were of a healthy household. But, I very much wanted to write about people who are accepting of aberrant circumstances. I think people are extremely adaptable to horrific circumstances. This is the environment in which Lise finds herself. I thought that would be much more interesting to write about.

TSP: You once described the theme of the play as the “inversion of normalcy”. Are you referring to the environment you created for Lise when you say this?

CWL: Yes, it is. When you see an aberrant circumstance that a family is living in, you can’t conclude that the family said, “hey, let’s go live this way.” I think it creeps there in incremental steps. You barely realize that you are move from a normal to abnormal, aberrant environment. And, when you drop in on a family in such a situation, you think, “oh God, what a terrible way to live.” But, I think you are acquiescing towards it over a long period of time; you are more accepting of [the situation]. As you go there, you begin to think of it as normal. I wanted to create an environment in which people are stuck in horrific spaces and then have the blind thief disrupt it.

TSP: The idea of assisted suicide is suggested in the play, but it’s a very subtle theme. Was it an idea that you planned to inject into the play?

CWL: Not consciously. It goes along with the whole idea of writing about what’s on your mind at the time. Assisted suicide is something I have thought a great deal about and those feelings were there at the time. I actually forgot that until you mentioned it.

TSP: The One-Eyed man is King seems tame in comparison to some of your other plays? For example, your play, Evie’s Waltz, has been described as “a stunning punch to the gut” and “a dangerous dance.” The One-Eyed man is King doesn’t seem to deliver the same level of drama.

CWL: You’re right; it’s much more lyrical. But, it’s a very different play from a very different writing time – I think I wrote it in ‘96, ‘97, ‘98. This was before you started hearing about school shootings which led to Evie’s Waltz. So the plays come from wherever you are in your life. These are signposts of your life.

TSP: Why did you include a telling of H.G. Wells’ The Country of the Blind in the play? And, how does including it help the play?

CWL: It wasn’t in there originally, because I started with two characters. The first scene of the play is with just Lise and Bendalli. I eventually got to a monologue in which Bendalli explains how his father tells him the story of The Country of the Blind. That brought the father into the play. I used the story to frame the play through discussion between Ludviccio and Bendalli. There are parallels – obviously blindness; Bendalli is blind man who sees. I think The Country of the Blind is a glorious flipping of the disabled issue. The villagers prefer to operate without sight. A father telling this story for his son who is blind is creating great hope for the boy. It makes it possible for the boy to seek out that which is almost impossible for a blind person to do. And what is more impossible than for a blind person to steal from homes.

TSP: How did you develop the character Lise?

CWL: She’s probably the character that best represents my situation biographically. I have divorced parents. I have a sister who is no longer with us. She was a drinker and buried herself in her own household. My mother was very literate and did drink some. And, I’m interested in the Isolated Woman in a Household character. I tried to make Lise sort of an elegant drinker, who’s wise, witty, philosophical, but trapped. I’d written before about women trapped in the life of the 50’s, and not being able to exercise the more complex side of their personalities. I also wanted Lise’s situation to be less than common. You sign on to marriage for hopeful reasons. But differences, whether it’s age, attraction, what have you, drive you apart. In this case, it’s health.

TSP: Why did you choose to give the blind thief and his father an Italian heritage?

CWL: No clue. It might come from Michael Ondaatje. I do like the idea of an older Italian man who likes stories. I have a couple Italian-American friends of mine who are great storytellers. They are always very theatrical when they tell their stories.

TSP: How would you describe The One-Eyed Man is King?

CWL: It’s a theatrical piece. The Country of the Blind is very theatrical; so, tried to create a story that is equally so. It’s also similar [to The Country of the Blind] in that it could be told years after it takes place. I also tried to create an environment that is very elegant and then have it disappear in a moment. It’s a visual climax that occurs after the emotional climax.

TSP: Tell us what you’re working on now?

CWL: Evie’s Waltz starts rehearsal next week at Geva Theatre in Rochester, New York. So, I’ll be going up there for that. I’m also writing a play called The Storytelling Ability of a Boy. It will premiere in March of 2010 at Florida Stage. I tried to write a play about corporate ethics, but turned into a rant. I was too angry.

TSP: Carter, Thank you for your time. We definitely appreciate it and will let you know how we do.

CWL: Thank you and good luck.

About Carter Lewis

Carter W. Lewis is currently serving as Playwright-in-Residence/Lecturer at Washington University where he teaches Introduction to Playwriting, Advanced Playwriting and Dramaturgy. He is the winner of several national playwriting awards including: The Julie Harris - Playwriting Award, The State Theatre - Best New American Play, The Cincinnati Playhouse Rosenthal New Play Prize (’96 & 2001), New Dramatist Arnold Weissberger Playwriting Award, Playwright’s Center Jerome Residency, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation Award, (’03) and he is a two time nominee for the American Theatre Critics Award. His full biography can be found at http://artsci.wustl.edu/~pad/faculty/lewis.html