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Q&A with Todd Wallinger
Pioneer Drama prides itself on the high quality of our scripts, from editing and proofreading to layout and print. But let’s face it: none of it would happen without playwrights who provide the story and put words on a page, which in turn creates magic on your stage.
That’s why we bring you Playwright Profiles, a Q&A showcasing some of your favorite Pioneer playwrights.
This month, we’re featuring Todd Wallinger, who has been a Pioneer playwright since 2011, including the best-selling The Enchanted Bookshop about classic literature characters who come to life. Since the success of this top-selling show, Todd has had two more plays accepted by Pioneer. A full-length caper comedy featuring a kitty-cat protagonist, The Purrfect Crime came out early this year and is already delighting audiences with its madcap story of fortunes and misfortunes. And Pioneer editors are working as we speak on Babka Without Borders, a tender full-length comedy about overcoming differences and erasing boundaries — all in the name of tasty pastries! How fitting that this bakery-themed play, which will be available late summer, will make a baker’s dozen of published plays for Todd at Pioneer Drama!
Pioneer Drama Project Editor Jeremy Johnson: For starters, let’s talk a bit about how you got here. I know you kind of took the long way around to playwriting, starting first as a young actor and then moving onto director and producer before delving into writing. Do you think there’s something to be said for the “long way around?” Do you think being an actor and director are prerequisites to being a playwright?
Playwright Todd Wallinger: I think those experiences certainly help. You know, if you want to tell stories for a living, it helps to have lived a lot of experiences and met a lot of people, because all of those are things you draw upon when you write your stories.
JJ: I suppose the other benefit is that you get an idea of what goes into a play, understanding it from different theatrical points of view, too?
TW: Oh yes, definitely. Another experience I’ve had that was kind of unique — I was a theatre critic for the Colorado Springs Gazette for a couple of years. It was a really interesting experience. The great thing about being a theatre critic is it gets you into a lot of theatre for free! And I thought I knew a lot about the art form before I started the job, but I learned so much more just sitting in those dark theaters night after night, watching those shows with a critical eye. I really started to think about what makes a production work and what doesn’t.
Now, I still carry some of that into my playwriting, but I don’t think of the critic watching the show. Instead, I think of the parents and friends and audience members out there. I want to think about what makes them laugh, what makes them gasp or smile, because the success of a play is determined by how the audience responds to it. And I always want my audience to take a little part of the play home with them.
JJ: Speaking of audience response, many of your shows have been produced before they’re published. What are the benefits to producing in terms of helping guide playwriting?
TW: Yeah, it’s always better to test out plays with real, live actors before you put your finishing touches on a play. I don’t always have that luxury, but I’ve had really good experiences trying out my plays first with schools. What I found is that sometimes the student actors just bring so much of themselves to the roles and dialogue and really help me spice up a play, make it funnier, and make the characters more unique, more individual.
JJ: Are there challenges to those productions, working with schools or directors?
TW: I find it to be an easy process. I try to stay hands off. Once I’ve written a play, I hand it off to the director and then I let them take control of the production. Often, they’ll want to have a discussion with me to try to understand if it is what I was intending, but I usually give directors free reign because I really believe theatre is the most collaborative of art forms. They’re directing the play, you know? So, I just love the contributions from the actors and directors and everyone else involved. Because that’s really when a play comes alive — when other people take ownership of it and make it their own.
JJ: That must be a neat experience, watching shows or seeing footage of your plays. Are you ever surprised or pleased or otherwise intrigued by an interpretation or particular take on your work?
TW: Yeah, I’ve seen quite a few of my plays live, in person. I’ve also seen several versions of them on YouTube. I just love watching those! And I’m constantly surprised by the creativity of the directors and the actors, especially those who direct the plays. Because, you know, I really want to make sure the big picture works all right, I think the plays should look good, but I have no problem handing it off and watching someone develop their own vision of a play. I’m very rarely disappointed in any of the creative takes people put on my plays. I think they really help open it up and make it come alive.
JJ: Yeah, I suppose there’s no place for control freaks! Now, you’ve got a dozen plays with Pioneer already and another on the way — Babka Without Borders — due out this summer. While the number of published titles certainly denotes considerable success, I think it’s safe to say none have been as successful as The Enchanted Bookshop, which I believe has had more than 165 productions since it came out in Fall 2017. Can you could speak a little to the process and inspiration for that one?
TW: Yeah, that is my favorite play because I think it’s my most personal play. When I was writing it, there had been some other plays that have book characters coming alive, but I just had to write this one because it just had so much personal meaning to me. Growing up, I was just such a big reader, you know? I just loved books, and when I read it all came alive for me. Now that I’m an adult, I see kids nowadays that kind of — well, I just don’t see kids reading so much. And, man, I understand why! With so many other entertainment options out there, I know if I was a kid nowadays...
So, I think it was mainly about losing touch with great books, and I wanted to write something that really shared that love of books with a new generation. I wanted to write something to show how powerful books can be for inspiring our imagination and really helping each of us become more human.
JJ: Speaking of Enchanted Bookshop, I see on your website blog that you’re trying to turn that into a full-length feature film script. I know you’ve been writing screenplays for about a dozen years — about the same amount of time you’ve been playwriting. Can you speak to some differences between the two kinds of writing?
TW: Writing for the screen is a lot different than writing for the stage. The big thing is you really have to open up where you are. In theatre you have to keep the action in one or two or three locations. You have extended scenes. You have long conversations. In film, you have the luxury of different tools to work with. One is visual images, and you have to have lots of scenes in lots of locations. So what that means is when you’re adapting a play for the screen you almost have to start from scratch. You know, you start with the same characters and same premise, but in telling that story you just have to pretty much reimagine how you might tell that story to make it work with the extra tools and resources you have.
JJ: I’ve read through several of your titles just recently, and I was also one of the editors for your most recent release, The Purrfect Crime. Having read a lot of your titles over a few days, I couldn’t help but notice one of your favorite themes: the classic comedy caper. If you’re not a fan of The Pink Panther I’ll eat my shoe. Seriously, though, what movies or plays inspire you — particularly those comedy capers you’re so good at?
TW: Oh yeah, The Pink Panther, definitely. But going back even further to when I was a kid, when I wasn’t reading books or writing, I was watching old movies. So I grew up with old Marx Brothers movies, or Abbott and Costello — they always had a lot of movies where the bad guys were some sort of criminals. So I really picked up on that. Plus, it just makes for a kind of natural conflict and high stakes for the hero. And if you make your criminals kind of dumb like I do, actors can really have a lot of fun with those characters.
JJ: Also, drawing from your plays: I’m a cat person myself and so I couldn’t help but notice a feline theme in some of your recent scripts. There’s the kleptomaniac cat, Bombalurina, in The Enchanted Bookshop. And then, of course there’s Wiggles, kind of a fourth-wall-breaking cat from The Purrfect Crime, who only the audience can hear speak. I guess the question is, are you a cat person, or are they just a convenient comedic trope?
TW: Yeah, I think cats definitely work well comedically, but we don’t have a cat. We actually have a dog because our daughter is living with us right now, and the dog’s totally the center of everything here now. But my wife is allergic to cats, so we can’t actually have one. I guess plays are my outlet for having a cat!
JJ: What else drives or inspires your work? I know you’ve got a family that’s involved in theatre, and I think I saw a few past productions featuring your daughters.
TW: Yes, both of my daughters were in several of my shows! My wife and I ran a children’s theatre company for a couple of years — we pretty much opened it to give our girls a chance to perform. A couple of years is about how long it took us to realize we should not be running a children’s theatre company! I mean, it was a lot of fun and the parents loved the work we were doing with the kids, but it was just so time-consuming. It was never going to pay the bills, so it was always going to be something on top of our regular day-to-day jobs anyway. But it really was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot from writing for children in that experience.
