This spring season will be an exciting one of writing, workshopping and collaboration for alums of the University's Master of Fine Arts program. The program, which began in the 1960s, awards MFA degrees to only about 15 graduate students each year. This small group is dedicated to creative writing. Those students who focus on playwriting have had the opportunity to collaborate with professors and their peers, as well as work with thespians through the Brown University/Trinity Rep Consor-tium.
Program graduates and playwrights Quiara Alegria Hudes MFA '04, Jordan Harrison MFA '03 and Alice Tuan MFA '97 talked with The Herald both about their experiences as Brown graduate students and their current work.
While in Providence
Tuan was studying with Professor of English Paula Vogel in Los Angeles when Vogel told her about Brown's Master of Fine Arts program. During her undergraduate years, Tuan had majored in economics. So when Vogel invited her to pursue her real passion at Brown, she eagerly took the opportunity.
"It was an amazing gift," she said. "It was like a second chance to do something I loved while at a university."
Like Tuan, Harrison had not initially considered a career as a playwright. As an English major at Stanford, he had focused more on performing for the stage.
"I was an all-right actor, but I was terrified of the rehearsal rooms," he said. "(To prepare) I would sort of imagine what would happen every moment on stage." It was this "premeditation, rather than spontaneity" that led to playwriting.
Two years at Brown allowed Harrison to perfect his craft. One of the things he appreciated about the University was the "culture of theater-going at Brown, something that is part of everyday life." This was in sharp contrast to his experience as an undergrad at Stanford where, he said, "I had to whine and plead my three closest friends to see my play."
One of things Hudes enjoyed about Brown was Vogel's teaching style. She described Vogel as a "master teacher" who was "good at helping you strengthen your own skills."
Hudes also appreciated the close-knit community that resulted from the small classes of four or five writers that Brown offered. "I felt like I was learning so much from my classmates and their different backgrounds and perspectives."
Chasing the Muse
Hudes was also attracted to Brown because it allowed for interdisciplinary work. As someone who had studied music extensively, it was important for her to be able to approach theater from a musical perspective.
"Because my background is in music and not in theater, I can sit down to write a play without any preconceived notions," Hudes said.
Hudes also said she drew inspiration from her family history, calling it her "number-one element." She said growing up in west Philadelphia in a Puerto Rican family has had a profound impact on her work.
Hudes' heritage influenced the musical she is currently developing at the Manhattan Theater Club. She said she plans to incorporate both salsa and hip-hop music in the project. Hudes has also been commissioned to write a new play for South Coast Repertory in Orange County, Calif.
Tuan, for her part, has also been inspired by her family history. She said some of her first plays were based on the lives of her grandparents. It was during this period that she grappled most with her frustrations as an "Asian-American female in a world with a male sensibility."
She said once that was "out of my system," she was able to move onto a "more experimental realm with hypertext." Tuan said she was fascinated with the "weird democratizing force" of computers and found support at the University to incorporate this into her artistic vision.
At Brown, "you can go to the edges of your mind," she said.
Tuan's work moved in a different direction since then. She has been commissioned to write a play set for production in 2007 for the Louisville, Ky. Humana Festival. She said this project will be "making a spectacle of bachelor parties."
Tuan is also working with a friend to produce an experimental documentary. This project, which is her "first foray into filmmaking," is based on two diaries her friend found in a garbage can in New York's Chinatown.
Harrison provided a different perspective. He said that he never consciously incorporates his own life into his art. "I don't usually realize ... until afterward" how it has been worked in, he said. "Not until a family member sits in the audience and says something."
Harrison said his influence instead lies in writers who have "persistence." He said even though these writers are initially thought of as "outlandish," they manage to create an audience for themselves by producing work that is unique.
Though he completed his MFA in 2003, Harrison is coming back to Providence, and looks forward to it, he said. He will return in May to workshop a piece he is developing at the Perishable Theater called "Amazons and their Men." He described it as "campy-slash-political play" about a filmmaker during wartime. He is also in the process of writing a play called "Act a Lady" for the Brown/Trinity Consortium.
