California Jack Cassidy with his wife, Janice Steinberg, author of The Tin Horse
With his newly staged play, Border Grill, California Jack Cassidy invites us into a not-so-distant future, set at the San Ysidro border crossing, where border guard Nina Hawke interrogates three people crossing into the U.S. We quickly learn that Nina’s sunny disposition, easy-going banter, and comfortable office decor, complete with a big cuddly stuffed dog, thinly disguise scary government surveillance tactics.
This has been an exciting month for California Jack Cassidy. The following interview took place in San Diego, where Border Grill, Cassidy’s first play, was staged for Scripps Ranch Theatre’s OUT on a LIMB productions.
A second play, The Hit, is soon to be staged in Bellingham, Washington.
Q. What is Border Grill about?
It’s a comedy about government surveillance. The central character is a Border Patrol inspector, a few years in the future, who uses a terrorism database in her day to day job.
Q. How does it feel to have your very first play produced?
It’s a huge thrill! Seeing my words take life is like nothing else I’ve experienced. I was very lucky with my director, Don Loper, and with the cast. They were able to grasp the character motivations and embody them so well, that it didn’t even feel like what I wrote any more. It just seemed like four entertaining people doing what they would naturally do! I should add that I got several great suggestions (and a few I ignored) during the rehearsal process — mostly from Don, and some from the actors.
Q. Can you talk a little about your experiences writing and rewriting BG?
I did a lot of rewriting on this play. I only had a month to produce the first draft, and I’m not a very fast writer, so the first version was pretty raw. I had the benefit of advice from many people — I solicited opinions from friends, both writers and non-writers. I got a lot of feedback.
One message came back very strongly. Multiple people said, “The main problem with this play is that the main character doesn’t have a character arc. She has to be a different person at the end of the play than she was at the beginning.”
But I decided that wasn’t the main problem. The main problem was that the play was pedantic and boring. I used way too much of my research, and I was trying to convince people, rather than just getting them to think about the topic. I used three fabulous suggestions, two of them from non-writers, to fix that problem.
In my opinion, the main character still doesn’t have a traditional character arc. If she had the same three “guests” the next day, she’d still treat them exactly the same way.
Q. What were the three suggestions?
Well, one was that Nina (my main character) could have a previous relationship with the Professor character. I made her a former student of his. One was that Nina’s relationship with her boss, who never appears in the play, was very important. And the third was a great idea for the play’s ending. Those three things really turned the play around!
Q. What are your habits, as a writer?
My best time to write is in the morning, first thing. I go as long as I can, until I run out of gas, several hours if I’m lucky. In the afternoon, I work on things that aren’t pure invention. In recent months, that has been a mathematical monograph about bluffing in the early rounds of poker. I’m hoping to get that published in the American Mathematical Monthly some day.
Q. Did you find that you identified with any of your characters?
Pretty much all of my characters are me, under different circumstances. But for Border Grill, I really identified with the main character, Nina, who is a bit of a villain. She does all these nasty things in the name of national security, but she’s actually trying as hard as she can to do what’s right. I could see myself doing that. It’s expanded my thinking about the intelligence industry. I don’t approve, but I empathize.
Q. What do you aspire to, in your work?
The thing I like best about any work of art, as an audience, is when it makes the world seem like a bigger place. That’s the best way I can describe the feeling I get when I experience a wonderful dance, or song, or TV show. Now the things that I personally think about, or obsess about, are not all that interesting on their own. But if I can package them in a way that engages people and takes them somewhere they would not have found on their own, then I think I’ve really done something.
Q. What kind of milkshakes do you like?
Chocolate. When I was a kid, we used to make our own milkshakes with ice cream, milk, and chocolate sauce. I once bet a milkshake with my brother that Sonny Liston, the overwhelming favorite according to the conventional wisdom, would beat Cassius Clay (later Muhammed Ali). I couldn’t believe it when I lost. But I learned two good lessons concerning the “conventional wisdom.” One: it’s often wrong, and two: even when it’s right, it’s still the least interesting outcome.
Q. What’s next for you?
I’m trying to write a full length play, but it’s giving me a lot of trouble.
Q. What’s it about?
That’s the main problem. I haven’t quite figured that out. But I do have some characters I like. You asked me what’s next. I should mention that at the end of this week I’m going up to Bellingham, Washington, where my second play is going to be staged. It’s called “The Hit,” and it’s a ten-minute play about the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED’s) by professional athletes. This has been an exciting month for me!
Q. Thank you, Jack. You have anything else you want to say?
Yes I do. I’d like to point out that I only write plays. I don’t write for the web. But I find your book, The Web Writer’s Toolkit, to be a useful creativity tool for any kind of writing. It helps me stimulate my imagination. Thank you, Lynda.
More Interviews
- Interview with novelist Janice Steinberg
- Interview with memoirist Stephen Gallup
- Interview with painter Brad Maxey
- Advice from interviews with famous authors