BWW Interviews: Playwright Bella Poynton

PLAYWRIGHT BELLA POYNTON

Bella Poynton is a playwright and Buffalo native, currently working as a teaching artist throughout the Buffalo and Central NY regions. Her plays have been developed at the Great Plains Theater Conference, Otherworld Theater, The Science Fiction Theater Company, Panndora Productions, and The Barrow Group. She recently won the 8th Annual Festival of New Plays at Panndora Productions, and is a finalist in the 2015 Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival.

In addition to this, she is also currently endeavoring to start her own theater company, The Navigators, who produce exclusively science fiction inspired theater.

They are having their first performance event, two evenings of sci-fi readings on July 10th and 11th in NYC.

Recently I spoke to her on her Art and her future:

MCL: When did you first feel the urge to be in theater?

BP: I started out wanting to be an actress. This actually goes further back than I can remember. I don't ever recall a time when I didn't want to be involved with theater or performing. The impulse shifted to playwriting when I was a teenager, and became frustrated with the stories around me. I used to always think, "I could write something better than that!" So one day I sat down and started writing.

MCL: What was your first play about? Ever produced?

BP: I wrote my first play at about 13. It was about a nightclub in prohibition Chicago (I was super fascinated with that time period.) The church group I was involved with actually produced it, too! I went back and looked at the script few years ago, and there were actually some really interesting concepts at work. I was proud of myself.

As far as productions, my first produced play was called A House Full of Dust, which is published with Heartland Plays, about a pair of ghosts that haunt an old country home at the turn of the 20th century in Kansas. The play got a few productions at smaller companies, which was nice. Everyone loves a ghost play!

MCL: What is there about writing plays that you enjoy?

BP: I like that you can inhabit all of the characters you create. That was one thing about acting that never fulfilled me- I wanted to experience all aspects of the story, not just one! The only way to do that was to write it myself.

MCL: Now tell us the downside of being a playwright.

BP: Rejection is hard, and most of the time, it's the only thing you hear. You have to be confident enough in your own work to move through the rejection without being too disappointed. You have to read the rejection letters (or don't read them) still knowing you have something amazing to offer, even if that particular company or festival was looking for something else.

MCL: Any playwrights you've been highly influenced by?

BP: There are too many to name, but the ones that come to mind are: Naomi Wallace, George Bernard Shaw, Caryl Chruchill, Katori Hall, Sarah Ruhl, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Doug Wright, Tennessee Williams, and Mac Rogers. I should also mention a few of my sci-fi literature influences as well: Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Robert Sheckley, and Philip K. Dick.

MCL: Do you write prose as well? Working on a book?

BP: I don't write prose nearly as well as I write dialogue, but I actually am working on a book. It's a sci-fi young adult series about a female mathematician. I don't know if I'll ever finish it, but' it's a great hobby.

MCL: What are three pointers you can give to any new playwright?

BP:

1) Keep writing. Don't stop. Don't let a particular play or idea hold you up. Don't work on a single play for 4 years. Just keep moving forward no matter what.

2) Submit to everything, even if you think it's out of your reach. You never know. I've gotten a lot of things I never thought I'd get... but I never would have if I didn't apply!

3) Don't ever take feedback unless it rings true to you. If someone gives you notes on a play, don't feel like you have to incorporate those notes to make everyone happy. Trying to re-write a play using feedback you don't agree with will never make your play better.

MCL: Tell us about some of your plays?

BP: My play Speed of Light is a science fiction piece about a young woman who discovers light speed travel, and the difficulties and injustices she encounters as the inventor of such technology. My play The Aurora Project tells the story of a sentient android who waits over 20 million years in an attempt to cure his lover of a deadly disease, and Medusa Undone is a retelling of the Medusa origin story, starting with her time as a humble priestess at Athena's temple, and following her spiral into darkness after being raped by Poseidon.

MCL: Have they been produced locally? Where else?

BP: My play The Aurora Project was done in Chicago and Boston, and Medusa Undone was produced in Long Beach, just outside of LA. Right now I have a ten minute play going up in New York City at the Sam French OOB Festival, and I was just in Omaha, Nebraska for a reading of my play Speed of Light at the Great Plains Theater Conference.

MCL: Time to promote yourself. Do you have any projects coming up?

BP: Yes, a bunch!

Firstly, my Theater Company, The Navigators, will be presenting their first theater event in July at the Players Theater in New York. The Navigators produce science fiction, speculative fiction, and fantasy inspired theater. Please check out The Navigators at www.navigatorstheater.com.My short play The Offer will be part of the 40th Annual Sam French Off-Off Broadway Festival this year. I'm very excited about this. I've heard it's a wonderful festival and a great opportunity for emerging writers.This fall, my play The Girl in the Washroom will be a part of the Pittsburgh New Play Festival, and my play Speed of Light will premiere at Road Less Traveled Productions.

MCL: What are your future theater aspirations?

BP: I want to be a professional playwright, living and writing in New York. But no one makes any money writing plays, do they? I would also love to try writing for TV at some point. That would be an awesome adventure!

To learn more about Bella Poynton:

www.bellapoynton.com

www.navigatorstheater.com

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