INTERVIEW: Ryan Stevens (Brickgirl)

An Interview with Ryan Stevens, Playwright.

Theatre Night Out: Why theatre? Why not just go and create a Youtube video and call it a day?

Ryan Stevens: I prefer theatre to any other art form because theatre is immediate. You get the people in the room to figure out how to do the show, then you get the rest of the people (the audience) in the room to witness what you’ve rehearsed and be in the same room, breathing the same air, as the performers. I also love the collaborative element of theatre – writing itself is a very solitary and isolated endeavor, but it helps when you’re writing with the intention of it to be staged by real people in a real room with a real audience.

I do think that we lose a little something when anything mediates our connection to the things in front of us – the distance of the movie screen/TV screen/phone screen gives us the ability to “check out” and disengage from what we’re seeing. When we stay in the room though, and when the theatre takes advantage of that atmospheric element, we can make something really magical.

Also, I want to note that even though writing can be solitary and can even feel like drudgery, I do love putting in the effort and I love the energy it takes to make something good. If I used any shortcuts, like, say, any AI programs, I wouldn’t be able to call myself an artist, I’d be nothing but a plagiarizer and a parasite. So I’m happy to write, and write specifically for theatre.

TNO: What's your favorite pre-show restaurant?

RS: I love a good hot dog and I really love Gray’s Papaya. The recession special, two hot dogs and a drink for $7.50 is unthinkably good value for a Manhattan meal, and the meal isn’t so heavy that you feel too sleepy for a full show.

TNO: What's your favorite spot to grab a post-show drink?

RS: I haven’t been in NYC very long (just moved here last September) so I haven’t sampled too many great bars but I really like Hudson Bar and Books - it’s got a great Old Fashioned on the menu and the quintessential sense of “cool” that makes it feel like the bar where bohemians would hang out in an idealized movie version of the city.

Check out Brickgirl at Brooklyn Art Haus (24 Marcy Ave.) from 5/7-5/17!