Finding Inspiration with Playwright Stacy D. Flood

Lots of big ideas and only ten minutes on the clock: an author's worst nightmare. Or could it be something more? With their new 10-minute play festival, Inspired By… Mirror Stage sets up this thought-provoking challenge that bends and twists the limits of storytelling, allowing for playwrights, directors, and actors to shine. Inspired By… showcases six new plays that reflect the world we live in today, and the challenges we face in the Seattle community.

I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the Inspired By… playwrights, Stacy D. Flood, to find out why this is a festival truly like no other – and why, perhaps, limitations are a way to break through barriers. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jwan Magsoosi: Please introduce yourself by sharing your name, pronouns, and a bit about your theater background.

Stacy D. Flood: My name is Stacy D. Flood. My pronouns are he/him, and I've always been interested in theater. I’ve been a playwright for almost a decade now. It's been a fantastic experience. I love how theater engages people and keeps them interested in what's going to happen. Not just to the characters, but also how it affects them (the viewers) moving forward. I've always been a fan of Mirror Stage. I had a chance to work with them previously, and I'm really inspired by and interested in what this festival can bring.

Magsoosi: So what is Inspired By…, and how is it different from other productions?

Flood: It’s 6 short plays, each about 10 min long. All about different topics and ways to engage the community. I mean, [there are] so many different ideas. There are 6 playwrights, and we are all working together to build out a greater vision.

Magsoosi: Interesting! Can you tell us more about the process?

Flood: You have about a couple of weeks to create the plays. About a week to refine them, a few days to rehearse them with the actors, and then the productions go up. We have an immediacy of what's happening in the community. We are trying to make sure viewers have something to think about when they leave the theater.

Magsoosi: That sounds really unique, because usually theater is much longer. What do you hope to convey to the audience in this short play? And how can you only do that with 10 minutes on the clock?

Flood: I think that that's part of the challenge, but also what's really exciting. I’m a fan of 10-minute plays, but they often don't get produced. Just having this opportunity builds a really concise form of story that can direct and guide people to take action afterwards. I see value in longer plays, but this festival has different topics introduced in a small period of time and really focuses on community, society, and actions.

Magsoosi: Wow! That's amazing to hear. You touched on this a bit before but, to you, what makes for a good play? With these production limitations, were there any difficulties? How did you overcome them?

Flood: What I loved about it were the difficulties. You want to make sure that each actor can bring their full talents to their roles, and that the play feels cohesive. You have the challenge of making sure the play is entertaining and not didactic. We want to make sure it's not just learning about a topic or getting preached to, but rather having them (the viewers) engaged.

Magsoosi: Usually when we see plays, we see the actors, and we don't think about what goes on behind that. So hearing the process is really insightful, and I'm sure the people reading this will also agree.

Flood: Theater is all about collaboration. It really takes engagement from everyone on set, from the directors, to the actors, and playwrights. You might have an amazing script but the execution doesn't pull through. So when it all comes together, that's when it's unforgettable. That's when I come away from the theater thinking about it again, and again. Not just that evening, but weeks afterwards.

Magsoosi: My next question is, as an artist, where do you draw your inspiration from? And how does this translate into your work?

Flood: Everywhere. I always tell people to never limit themselves. Draw inspiration from any experience you’ve had. At some point, it's going to become yours. That small little snippet of conversation that you're not fully a part of, a song you might be familiar with, something you're thinking about as you drive home from work. All of that can come together to be an inspiration. Oftentimes it's not exactly what you're looking for. I think it can be detrimental when you limit yourself to say, I only want to be inspired by this type of work or this type of writing, or this type of experience. You may find your best inspiration just by walking through a grocery store, right? You may find your best inspiration by being outside and looking at trees and flowers. However you find it, make sure that you understand why it's valuable.

Magsoosi: Thank you. As an aspiring writer, this was great to hear. Sometimes as an artist, you don't know what direction to take,so hearing you, taking inspiration from everywhere, is just really inspirational in itself. My next question is, can you tell us how the motto “Mirror Stage Gets People Talking” is carried through Inspired By...?

Flood: Yeah! So I think that it is engaging theater that makes you have action, right? It's not simply about a simple, small night of entertainment, but it's about really engaging you in a way which makes you make you do something different. And what's great about Inspired By… is that there's six different topics. So one topic you may not be as inspired by, but there's gonna be another one right? And it's really driven from a lot of the podcast that Mirror Stage did. So you may not be as inspired by my topic, which is Black & Tan Hall, [...] but at the same time you may be even more inspired by things about, Washington Women's Foundation. [...] So there's gonna be something, something for everyone to at least take something away from it, that they may find a further interest in, and Mirror Stage has been fantastic of having not so much the direct call to action, but the call to interest. The call for someone to really say, “You know what? Let me think about this topic a little bit further,” because of it. And that's always just been inspiring to me.

Magsoosi: My next question. And the last question, wow! We've flown by these so fast.

Flood (Laughs): Exactly.

Magsoosi: Is there anything else you would like to share about your work? And Inspired By…?

Flood: The community. Mirror Stage has always been about fostering a great community and getting people to think. Whether it's people who are directly involved with the Mirror Stage or at the periphery or outside of it. It's always been about getting people to think about what is possible, and what needs to change.

Check out the Inspired By... performances this week! You can see the festival on stage June 22 and 23. More info available here. Hope to see you there!

Lead photo credit: Photo courtesy of Stacy D. Flood.

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This article was written by a TeenTix Newsroom writer on special assignment through the TeenTix Press Corps.