Stephen Belber 02-08-2006
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Issue Date
2006-02-08
Authors
Belber, Stephen
Publisher
SUNY Brockport
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Abstract
Dr. Anne Panning and Dr. Steven Brauer interview Stephen Belber. Stephen Belber was a two-time winner of the Fringe NYC Overall Excellence Award for playwriting. He's most well-known for "The Laramie Project", which later was adapted to film. Belber has written for television series "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Rescue Me". His play "Match" was given a Tony nomination. Panning opens the discussion by asking Belber to describe his experience of creating a play and how he feels about playwriting in comparison to other forms of writing. Belber talks about how he came to playwriting by way of his acting background. Stephen describes how plays and theater in general can creative immediate impact, or lack thereof, and feedback about the work presented. The discussion moves to how "The Laramie Project" was written and how Belber was able to access the people integral to the story and the healthy conflict that arose between the writers of the play during the creation process. The conversation turns to the origin of "Psychotic Busboy Blues" and reflecting on Belber's time on stage in a wig telling this story in a solo performance and what that was like for him. He continues on to talk about the organic performer and audience relationship in performance art and how that influences change in the audience via discussion and creation of new discourse. Journalism has an influence on Belber's writing in that it supports the unpredictability of real people. His fascination with politics and people in difficult situations often drove his writing. The discussion closes with Belber describing where theater stands in American culture at the time of filming.
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