INTERVIEW: Peter Grandbois crafts new play about woman exploring life outside convention

The Woman Who Was Me is a new play from Peter Grandbois, the author of seven books, including The Gravedigger and The Arsenic Lobster: A Hybrid Memoir. The unconventional play, presented by TLAB Shares and Convergences Theatre Collective, features an Act-I performance from Liz Stanton and an Act-II discussion series called Women’s Voices, Women’s Choices. Jeremy Williams directs the evening, which begins Wednesday, May 24 at TheaterLAB NYC on West 36th Street in New York City, and runs through Sunday, June 11.

The narrative in the first act is driven by a mysterious kiss from a stranger. This physical connection sends the main character on a search to see if her life might work outside the conventions of marriage, motherhood, and her sexuality.

For Act II, Stanton will be joined on stage to dig deeper into some of the play’s themes. Throughout the run of the production, the actress will have the chance to dialogue with a host of guests, including academics, activists and artists.

Recently, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Grandbois about the new play. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.

What can audiences expect with The Woman Who Was Me?

I think I can confidently say it will be a theatre experience different from any other. That may be because I come to theatre as a poet and novelist. And the play came to me in the form of a poem. When I heard the first line in my head, “Now, I tell the story of a woman who became…” I could hear echoes of the Greek and Roman epic poems. And that’s how I framed the play. The language is heightened, often lyric. In part because the emotions and conflicts the play deals with are primal, almost archetypal. The play isn’t divided into acts or scenes but breaths. I think the audience will understand what this means, and how different it is, once they see Liz’ performance. She does such a great job shifting the character’s inner emotional space with each breath that it feels like you’re watching many characters.

What inspired you to write this show?

For some reason, I’ve been witness to the mid-life breakdowns of several women. I’ve also experienced my own ‘mid-life’ crisis. But I noticed there’s a fundamental difference between how men and women experience these events and how society responds to them. The violent shattering of identity that seemed so often part and parcel of the feminine experience I’d witnessed made me curious as a writer.

Any writing project for me begins with that question why. In this case, why do some women experience such a volcanic shattering of who they are at a certain age? I’d originally envisioned the story as a novel and spent years thinking about it. It was going to take place in Spain and follow an American woman who leaves everything and decides to become a bullfighter. But then, when I wrote that first line, everything shifted for me, everything changed, and I suddenly saw the entire story, it’s lyric language and structure laid out before me. I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before.

How has it been working with Liz Stanton?

Working with both Liz and Jeremy has been a dream. They bring so much energy and passion to the project, so many new ideas. They found humor in the play where I didn’t know there was any. It turns out the play is quite funny even while remaining an intense experience. They’ve had a clear vision from the outset, which I think has really brought the heightened language of the play to life, made it feel inevitable.

And as mentioned above, Liz has really made the role her own. I remember watching the first performance of the play and thinking, ‘Oh my, I didn’t realize this woman was so on edge. I mean I knew she was on edge, but not how precariously she danced on that edge.’ I think that’s because Liz has found a way to make the character’s conflict deeply visceral. How do you reconcile the love you have for your family when you are no longer the same person, when you can barely remember who that person was? Liz’ performance captures the painful impossibility of that irreconcilable situation even while giving the audience hope that she’ll find a new path through it.

Because Act II includes an open discussion, is each show radically different than the last? 

In a previous performance of the play at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, they tried a shorter version of this talkback after, and it engendered such great discussions. People really wanted to talk about their experiences of the play. That’s where the idea for this longer talkback was born.

The play is rooted in an aspect of female experience that is rarely talked about. In fact, it’s often suppressed. What happens when a woman realizes a part of herself outside of family and marriage? What happens when a woman steps beyond the boundaries of “acceptable” behavior? For men, it’s relatively easy to talk about. In fact, it’s so common it’s cliché to talk about the male mid-life crisis — the red corvette or the young blonde. Because of that difference, we felt it imperative to do these talkbacks. I think they’re going to be exciting, an integral part of the show. My expectation is that not only will each talkback inform the succeeding talkbacks but that they will inform the future performances of the show, as Liz embodies the voices of audience members that share in or even contradict the main character, Lanie’s, story.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

The Woman Who Was Me begins Wednesday, May 24 at TheaterLAB NYC on West 36th Street in New York City,and runs through Sunday, June 11. Click here for more information and tickets.