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- [00:00]
A
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B
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B
Every play, every musical begins with some writer putting words on a page. Hello and welcome to Stagecraft, the Broadway radio podcast that talks to playwrights and musical book writers about the shows they've created. My name is Jan Simpson. My guest for this episode is Scott Organ, the author of Diversion, a quietly touching medical drama that is currently running at the Barrow Group's studio theater through December 21st. Hello, Scott Orgen. Welcome to Stagecraft.
- [02:00]
A
Thank you so much for having me.
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B
Now, as I think you know, we usually start these conversations with a brief description of what the show is about. Now, I'm sure you don't want to give away too much because there's a mystery involved in your play, but could you give listeners some sense of what Diversion is about?
- [02:23]
A
Sure, yes, I will try. Yes, it takes place in the break room of an ICU unit at a hospital and you have a tight knit group of nurses and at some point There is an investigation that happens in the hospital and within the unit that really upsets their world. And beyond that maybe might reveal a little too much, but the name of the play is Diversion. I don't think it really reveals too much to say that there is a, a drug diversion investigation that occurs and just really kind of upsets their world.
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B
Would you explain just a little bit what a drug diversion is? Some people may not know absolutely.
- [03:07]
A
It was a new term for me that I found in my research. And it simply means that someone is stealing drugs. Could be for any number of reasons. Sometimes it's for their own use. It's usually, you know, opiates.
- [03:21]
B
Where did you get the idea for this play? What's the genesis of.
- [03:27]
A
Was a number of things really that added up. I started from a very general place which was I, I do a lot of work at the Behr Group and it's, I consider it my artistic home. And I was just thinking about the number of extraordinary women actors who are here. And simultaneously I had been thinking I really would like to write a play about nurses. My grandmother was a nurse. My aunts were nurses. My sister in law and her wife are nurses here in New York City. My niece is a nurse. So I'm surrounded by nurses and I knew that I wanted to write something about them, so I started sort of exploring that generally. And then I came across the concept of diversion and that really kind of opened things up for me. I thought, oh, this could be interesting.
- [04:15]
B
Now you mentioned just a second ago in your research. So what kind of research did you do in addition to just being surrounded by nurses in your life?
- [04:28]
A
Right. Well, I'm in just sort of rooms where nurses are talking about work. And I started just sort of hanging out on the nursing subreddit, for example. And frankly, that's where I got my first idea is I came across a story about bringing in an outside person to sort of get to the bottom of a drug investigation. And I thought that's a good way into having the world unsettled. And once I knew that I had my setting and once I knew who my characters were, then I basically used people in my life. They're all on speed dial. I'm constantly texting the nurses in my family with little questions saying like, would they have this in the break room? And, and it's funny, I'm. I'm actually constantly learning stuff. My, my sister in law and her wife, who I mentioned earlier, who are nurses here in the city, they came to an early show and, and they Said, oh, you. You'd never microwave popcorn in a hospital. Like, they don't do it. Their fire risk is too high. And I was like, well, there you go. That. That's an example of something very specific that I would not have known. We didn't change it, though, because we like it. But I just love that little attention to detail, which was very important to me and Seth Barish, the director.
- [05:46]
B
The nurses in this unit are very different kinds of people. And I'm curious about two things. One, how you settled on the characters, and two, your cast is very diverse. Was that intentional as you were building the characters?
- [06:08]
A
I think it was certainly. In terms of the diversity, that was certainly part of the conversation. Seth and I both were very interested on many levels in properly representing this world, whether it's who these people are, whether it's, you know, what the room looks like. We want it to feel as grounded and real as possible in terms of the unique characters. They came to me as I was plotting out the play, and I thought a terrific way in would be to have a newcomer who maybe people didn't really believe in and to also have the more seasoned folks who had been around and seen a lot, and then some people kind of in the middle, all of whom have kind of different ways of being a nurse. Right. None may be necessarily better than the other, but. But unique to themselves. So that was the goal, to kind of represent it and make it feel as if, oh, these are real people. That's what we were aiming for in.
- [07:07]
B
Both this play and another play of yours. 17 minutes. You are dealing with people that during the pandemic, we called people who provided essential services.
- [07:24]
A
Yes, yes.
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B
And we don't see a lot of these kinds of folks on stages. And so I'm curious, what interests you about them?
- [07:35]
A
Well, I. You know, I guess first and foremost is any opportunity to sort of honor the folks who've done so much for us. You know, I'm happy to be involved in that. You know, I was able to experience through stories with my in laws in particular, the extent to which the horrors, basically, that they had to go through and they had to show up to work every day and do it and then go home and strip down in the garage and shower and go inside and then continue to raise their two young children. So I thought that, yes, it's important to sort of see these folks portrayed on stage because of how important they are and really in just society in general. So that was. That's my approach to that. I'm. I'm Interested and thankful for these folks. And it's not. It's not just, hey, these folks are heroes, right? It's. They are human and they are flawed, just like all of us. And that's. That's what I was interested in exploring.
- [08:41]
B
Another thing I noticed in both of these plays, and I want to make it clear, Diversion is not a Covid play. It's not set in that period. But in both of these plays, you seem to be interested more in the aftermath of events, the fallout from events. And I'm wondering what your thinking is in terms of that.
- [09:10]
A
I can't remember who said this, but someone was sort of comparing film and theater and they said, well, film is about action and theater quite often is about the consequences of action. And I thought that was a really lovely way of looking at things. And I think what intrigues me, certainly intrigued me with 17 minutes is we have these things that happen and they make the news and everybody talks about them and it becomes a big part of our culture and then it kind of goes away.
- [09:38]
B
17 minutes, I think we should say, is about the aftermath of a school shooting.
- [09:45]
A
Yes, that's correct. Thank you for that context. Exactly. So I was interested in, you know, what happens when the news vans drive away or, you know, I think of all of these, you know, wonderful healthcare providers and all that they sort of went through and then time passes and, you know, there might be residual things there. So for me, I think that's an interesting way into stories, which is the consequences, the residual effects of things I find more interesting and I find that they get a little less treatment just sort of out there culturally.
- [10:21]
B
Is it difficult in the casting? You have a very strong cast.
- [10:29]
A
Thank you. Yeah, I adore this cast and I particularly adore the fact that they are a true ensemble. And I just think that that is rare to get a group of people who are all so loose and brave and. And willing to be honest every night. And. And I, you know, I have a terrific resource here, which is the Bear group and Seth Barish, the director, and Lee Brock, the co artistic director here. You know, they. There's a real culture of real spontaneous behavior in acting. And you know, we joked about it after we had auditions, like, we have a very deep bench here, just a wonderful actors. So. So that part was not hard. I mean, it was hard in the sense that like, oh, gosh, there's a lot of good people here, but. But yeah, they're such a lovely ensemble.
- [11:20]
B
Would you talk just a second about the Barrow Group itself? It's Not a company per se, but would you talk a little bit about your home?
- [11:31]
A
Sure, yes. So I've been active here. I'm literally in the space as I'm talking to you. But they have sound booths. So I, Seth and the company actually found the company via my wife and I teach here as well. So it's both a school and a school that also puts up theater. While Seth Barish and Lee Brock are the co artistic directors. They serve. I don't know the numbers, but they serve a lot of students here. We have these beautiful studios here and I teach playwriting here and I teach acting and there's just some extraordinary teachers here. So it's an interesting mix of school and theater. And in fact, two members of the cast actually came through. I believe it was the one year professional program, which is lovely.
- [12:22]
B
You yourself are an actor. Obviously you're teaching acting there at Barrow Group. How does that affect your writing?
- [12:32]
A
Oh, gosh, I love that question. I think what I try to do when I write, I try to write things that will be fun for actors to do and real. And so I think it probably affects me that way. I think when I'm writing, there's a part of me that's like, oh, gosh, it'd be fun to play this part or play this part too. So I think it informs me that way.
- [12:56]
B
Was it difficult getting into the heads of primarily women? There is one male nurse, but you know.
- [13:07]
A
I don't. It wasn't for me and hopefully I did it justice. You know, I have a lot of women in my life and of course all of the nurses that I mentioned that I have sort of accessed for research have been helpful in that regard. And you know, in the end, I think we're talking about, you know, just sort of simple human needs and issues and hopefully that that's coming across.
- [13:34]
B
What's interesting also is that, and you referenced this earlier is although you obviously respect these people, they're very nuanced and very complicated people.
- [13:48]
A
Yes. Yeah, I certainly, I didn't. You know, I.
- [13:53]
Feel like to do these folks justice is to show them as humans and in all of their flaws and beautiful strengths. And of course, you know, you need flaws for drama to happen, so that had to be in place. But yeah, you know, I'm always interested in looking at, you know, I like people and ultimately I want the pieces that I write to be positive, even though I tend to write about subject matter that, you know, sometimes it's tough. But I ultimately want to be positive and optimistic and part of that, I think, is being honest with my portrayal of people and how complicated they are. Yeah, that interests me.
- [14:39]
B
Well, I think it's really interesting that you've put on stage these people that we don't often see and that you've done it at your home, which is a smaller theater company in the city. And I want to thank you for doing both, for spotlighting these kinds of characters and for also reminding us that there's a lot of great theater happening all over this city.
- [15:13]
A
Oh, well, thank you. Thank you very much for your kind words. I appreciate that.
- [15:20]
B
And thank you for listening. I hope you'll come back next time. And if you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please send them to me@janbrudleradio.com.