An Interview with Mallory Swisher, Illegitimate Child of Tim Burton and J.K. Rowling
The setting is one of those coffeeshops covered in rotating local artwork, the majority of which features abstract faces—you know, the kind where the lips and eyebrows are reversed and there’s an errant thought bubble with a picture of a rhino in it. That sort of thing. There are mismatched armchairs strewn about the room in cozy clusters. Just in earshot is a group of high schoolers debating over whether the color green emanates “envy” or “hunger.” Playwright Mallory Swisher and I slurp down some iced coffee in mason jars (you guessed correctly) and discuss her script, The Wood.
KB:
OK, Mallory, so you wrote The Wood. Um. Uh.
MS:
*Unintelligible/Laughter*
KB:
Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll edit this later. So, let’s start with—how long have you been writing?
MS:
In general? Um, I used to write a lot when I was a kid, probably when I was…maybe eleven, I started writing. Maybe a bit earlier. I’d just write all the time; I’d write stories, crappy poems—ah, there was a brief period where I wrote really bad songs.
KB:
Yes.
MS:
Really bad. And I was working on this novel with my friends for a while, and my own thing… But I quit writing sometime in high school. I just stopped, and I didn’t touch it until I took a creative writing course in college. Then I started writing a little bit more. And now, I guess, hey, I’m a writer. *laughter*
KB:
In general, how do you feel about this whole experience? Like, how did it feel for you to write a full-length play? Have you written one before?
MS:
No, this is the first finished product that is longer than a poem or a very bad short story. *laughs* So it’s been really challenging, but it’s been really rewarding because I’ve had talented people pushing me, working with me, and critiquing my work and giving it back to me, and people making it better by bringing it to life, adding music and stuff—so I’m just very excited—
KB:
That is really cool.
MS:
Yeah, it’s just a really cool feeling and it’s kind of overwhelming in a good way.
KB:
What was a little bit of the process? What did you do to make sure it was ready for the reading?
MS:
Well, we did several readings—group readings. And I had sent it to a few Impostors beforehand… It was the product of a writing prompt that we got at our very first meeting ever. Stefan gave us a writing prompt, and it presented a sort of funnel for this idea in my head that I kept trying to put down and it wasn't working. And so the prompt helped me form it into this, and after I had the first thirty pages down I sent it to a couple of people. They gave me feedback on those thirty-something pages, and it was, I don’t know, a year later that I had a full draft. And since then I’ve written two more and had more readings and I sent it to people again—and I just keep getting feedback and hopefully it keeps improving. I think it has improved significantly from the first time we read it.
KB:
Yeah, I was going to ask you how—because I remember you telling me how this prompt kind of… prompted, if you will,—
MS:
HA.
KB:
—this idea…well, mostly like these images you were working with, and then you began kind of putting them together.
MS:
Yeah. I think mostly in pictures because I think that’s how my brain’s wired. So I had these images already for the paper animals [that appear in the play] which the girl pulls out of her suitcase. It didn’t really start that way, though, I just had images of the animals themselves, and I kept trying to force them into a story that was completely different [than this one]…
KB:
It’s weird how that happens.
MS:
Yes, it was just not working. *laughs* And for whatever reason the prompt we had…I don’t think it was even, “Write a story about this,” it was just “Include these items,” or “…these themes,” or…something like that—I have it somewhere. But it just—having to include certain images forced me to write in a certain way, but it didn’t feel forced when I was doing it. It felt like something was guiding my idea that was lost in space, that I kept trying to pin down, and…the prompt just really helped it.
KB:
So you had this image of this girl with the paper animals, and these other ideas from the prompt solidified a storyline for you.
MS:
Yeah.
KB:
That’s cool. Is there anything else that you feel like influenced your story? Like, what about—I feel like I see a lot of Mallory in it when I read it. What kind of things make up the foundation of your writing style?
MS:
Definitely fairytales. I’ve always been drawn to stuff like that, even before I was a reader. I would just be drawn to movies like that, that were either based on fairytales or really fantastical. And strange…mostly not just necessarily happy fairytales…*laughs* Like my mother will tell you that I was into darker stuff. So that has definitely influenced me… But I like stories that end—even if they are really dark—they end in some sort of sense of hope. Or there’s a line of hope throughout the story that doesn’t get crushed by all the dark stuff happening. So fairytales, definitely…really any type of story like that. Tim Burton is probably where the dark stuff stems from.
KB:
Yes!
MS:
I really loved Nightmare Before Christmas as a kid. But I was terrified of it, but weirdly drawn to it, so I would watch it even though it scared the crap out of me.
KB:
I feel like that’s kind of the appeal behind your story for me, too, because it’s so creepy and it gets under your skin. But you feel immediately attached to the characters, in a weird way. What are you most excited for—or, what do you hope people will take away from the show?
MS:
Just that line of hope that I was talking about. I think it’s a good feeling to have with you… that stories live in you and that they shape you. It’s very important to me, and that’s what I hope comes across in this story. Stories matter and you need them, and we need to share them even when it’s hard or a bad situation…we need to share our stories.
KB:
How do you feel this story represents The Impostors?
MS:
I think it fits the Mission in a lot of ways—creating theatre at the crossroads of the known in the unknown, finding the child within everybody…I think those aspects really fit our Mission. And it is, in a sense, a fairytale, so it feels familiar in that way. Well, I hope it will feel familiar in that way. *laughs* But things happen that don’t follow the rules of other fairytales—so that’s the crossroads of known and unknown. And just the adult characters that are very childlike at times, but dealing with emotions that I feel everybody deals with.
KB:
What was your favorite part about writing this?
MS:
Just the things that the Impostors have said about it so far…I’ve gotten really valuable feedback that has helped change and shape the play. And also, it’s just helped me as a writer to think in new and creative ways. Having people who I really like, who are intelligent and talented, influence my work with suggestions or even just questions…it was great.
KB:
I want to ask a fun question…who’s your dream person to hear voice a character that you’ve written?
MS:
Ugh…I don’t know…
KB:
The sky’s the limit.
MS:
I would love to have an over-voice that acts as a narrator—and it’s J.K. Rowling.
KB:
Yes!
MS:
She doesn’t even have to be onstage! But just like…
KB:
Just there.
MS:
Just Jo. Just reading.
KB:
Did you just say, “Just Jo?”
MS:
Yes.
KB:
First-name basis.
MS:
Yes. I just love hearing her read. That would be awesome. I mean, she’s not an actor, but.
KB:
She doesn’t need to be.
MS:
She has shaped me. That’s creepy. But she has.
KB:
She is your Jesus.
MS:
Yeah, this would never happen, but if it ever did, I would probably just…pee everywhere and die.
KB:
I’m sure she’s seen worse.
MS:
Probably.
