You all know my rule.

When three different people tell me to see a show, I stop whatever I’m doing and get a ticket.

Well, about sixteen people told me to see Small Mouth Sounds.  So I did.  And I loved it.  And now I’ve told at least sixteen people to see it myself (not even counting the thousands of you who will read this).

SMS was written by Bess Wohl, whose name I’ve been hearing bandied a lot about in the last couple of years for her work with the Civilians on Pretty Filthy to her Drama Desk Award and her film and tv work and more.  She’s been talked about as one of the next great voices of the American Theater.

That’s why I wanted to talk to her.

See, I’ve been fortunate to chat with a lot of people on this podcast who have already been classified as great voices of the American theater.  But just like I talked to Pasek and Paul about what it’s like being on your way up in the musical theater world, I wanted to talk to a “discovered” playwright and her experiences.

And Bess did not disappoint.

Listen to Bess and I talk about her coming of age as a playwright and . .

• Why she gave up a successful acting career to pursue writing, and how her acting skills help her be a better writer.
• How she manages rewriting under the pressure of previews.
• What she thinks about one of her shows getting on Broadway . . . and whether or not she thinks about that when she writes.
• Her process of writing and how her schedule might help yours.
• What her mentors told her when she was getting started, and what she now tells new writers.

I know two things for sure.  You’ll enjoy listening to Bess.  And this will not be the last time you hear from her, for sure.

Enjoy!

Click here to listen.

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