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Friday, November 04, 2022
Playwright Martyna Majok on finding hope in impossible situations
DC Theater Arts: When asked who she is and what she does, Martyna Majok will often just say that she’s a playwright. However, when considering what playwriting means to her, Majok gives a different answer.
4 comments:
Carly Tamborello
said...
I love what this playwright said about “what the play knows in 2014,” and how she came back to her play after not reading it for a long time and was expecting to feel detached, but actually found it had new life breathed into it. I definitely agree that writing and artistic work evolves over time and will be associated with different meanings depending on when it is viewed. That’s because art is so subjective and interpretive, and people will have different things on their minds in different eras. It’s inspiring to see how this process is even true for the creator of the art, the playwright herself; Majok had a new perspective on her play after the pandemic, and was able to experience the magic of that new interpretation. I think that’s true for lots of playwrights; even Shakespeare probably didn’t intentionally include every nuance that we are now able to observe in his work. He was so brilliant and connected to it that it just happened.
I think it is really amazing when artists are able to get into a position where they can tell their own story through popular mediums that actually get attention. For example, amazing artists can work their entire lives to get their work to get noticed, but it isn’t that often that happens to an underprivileged artists because they just don’t have the facilities or opportunities to do so like more privileged artists do. For her, especially being an immigrant being able to show off that story as well as have disabled characters in those shows is a huge step. I really am liking the direction that theater is moving towards in the way that stories of all kinds are starting to be told because more and more people are beginning to appreciate them. Like in my anti-racist theater class, we talk a lot about getting more indigenous, black, disabled, queer, latine, and more underrepresented artists to the top simply because the quality of their work deserves it. The only thing holding them back is the societal barriers.
Simply from her responses, one can tell that Martyna Majok is a writer. Her words are well-chosen, intentional, unique, compelling. I love that her works follow untraditional narrative structures. I often feel like there is a freedom in telling a story through different forms of writing. I suppose the most common example of that is mixing song with scene in a musical. But Majok goes beyond that and creatives complexity within scene structure. I also appreciated her point about informing audiences about a particular group’s experience without pandering too much, so members of that affinity group can appreciate them too. This proves her commitment to have works that relate to a broad range of individuals, which she does mention that she loves hearing as a response. Her family immigrated from Poland in recent decades and my family immigrated to South America from Poland in the earlier 20th century so I’m wondering how much these stories differ, and what connections the immigrants in my family would make of this.
I'm not at all familiar with this playwright but I'm very thankful for this article because I find the prospect of her work exciting! I'm always on the hunt for plays that highlight the experiences of people we don't typically see on stage. We also live in a world where the disabled are seen as an inconvenience -- as easy to discard as the elderly. It's just so import to have this representation on stage, and to be performed by artists who actually represent the characters they portray. As much as I am in agreement that an actor can play nearly any character, because that's what acting is, I also don't think they should. If we want to be more inclusive in our storytelling, then we should also be inclusive in who tells those stories. A disability shouldn't be an exercise in performance for an abled person.
I also just liked the sentiment the playwright gave about writing and creativity. That it takes time and it's alright if it comes in bursts, and that it's possible to work on multiple things at once by letting them each have the time they need. Lin Manuel Miranda also spoke about a similar writing process. I think, while deadlines are necessary, they also stifle creativity. Maybe we should do less to allow for more time to do more.
4 comments:
I love what this playwright said about “what the play knows in 2014,” and how she came back to her play after not reading it for a long time and was expecting to feel detached, but actually found it had new life breathed into it. I definitely agree that writing and artistic work evolves over time and will be associated with different meanings depending on when it is viewed. That’s because art is so subjective and interpretive, and people will have different things on their minds in different eras. It’s inspiring to see how this process is even true for the creator of the art, the playwright herself; Majok had a new perspective on her play after the pandemic, and was able to experience the magic of that new interpretation. I think that’s true for lots of playwrights; even Shakespeare probably didn’t intentionally include every nuance that we are now able to observe in his work. He was so brilliant and connected to it that it just happened.
I think it is really amazing when artists are able to get into a position where they can tell their own story through popular mediums that actually get attention. For example, amazing artists can work their entire lives to get their work to get noticed, but it isn’t that often that happens to an underprivileged artists because they just don’t have the facilities or opportunities to do so like more privileged artists do. For her, especially being an immigrant being able to show off that story as well as have disabled characters in those shows is a huge step. I really am liking the direction that theater is moving towards in the way that stories of all kinds are starting to be told because more and more people are beginning to appreciate them. Like in my anti-racist theater class, we talk a lot about getting more indigenous, black, disabled, queer, latine, and more underrepresented artists to the top simply because the quality of their work deserves it. The only thing holding them back is the societal barriers.
Simply from her responses, one can tell that Martyna Majok is a writer. Her words are well-chosen, intentional, unique, compelling. I love that her works follow untraditional narrative structures. I often feel like there is a freedom in telling a story through different forms of writing. I suppose the most common example of that is mixing song with scene in a musical. But Majok goes beyond that and creatives complexity within scene structure. I also appreciated her point about informing audiences about a particular group’s experience without pandering too much, so members of that affinity group can appreciate them too. This proves her commitment to have works that relate to a broad range of individuals, which she does mention that she loves hearing as a response. Her family immigrated from Poland in recent decades and my family immigrated to South America from Poland in the earlier 20th century so I’m wondering how much these stories differ, and what connections the immigrants in my family would make of this.
I'm not at all familiar with this playwright but I'm very thankful for this article because I find the prospect of her work exciting! I'm always on the hunt for plays that highlight the experiences of people we don't typically see on stage. We also live in a world where the disabled are seen as an inconvenience -- as easy to discard as the elderly. It's just so import to have this representation on stage, and to be performed by artists who actually represent the characters they portray. As much as I am in agreement that an actor can play nearly any character, because that's what acting is, I also don't think they should. If we want to be more inclusive in our storytelling, then we should also be inclusive in who tells those stories. A disability shouldn't be an exercise in performance for an abled person.
I also just liked the sentiment the playwright gave about writing and creativity. That it takes time and it's alright if it comes in bursts, and that it's possible to work on multiple things at once by letting them each have the time they need. Lin Manuel Miranda also spoke about a similar writing process. I think, while deadlines are necessary, they also stifle creativity. Maybe we should do less to allow for more time to do more.
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