At the PWC this week: Andrew Rosendorf

This week at the Playwrights’ Center, Jerome Fellow Andrew Rosendorf is workshopping his new play Cottontail with director Hayley Finn, dramaturg Carlyn Aquiline, and actors Nathan Barlow, Traci Allen Shannon, Aimee K. Bryant, ShaVunda Horsley, Lamar Jefferson, and Terry Hempleman. Learn a bit about Andrew in this mini-interview.

When you learned you would spend the year at the Playwrights’ Center as a Jerome Fellow, what were you most looking forward to?

The unbelievable opportunity to have the Playwrights’ Center become my home. To be surrounded by the artists here (who—shhh—many I’m in awe of). Just being in the building and immersed in the PWC community inspires and challenges me.

What kind of stories have you been interested in writing recently?

I am driven to tell stories that will make people feel, to question, to churn them up, to reevaluate their perspectives—whether that is telling stories of underrepresented communities or shining new lights on something we experience everyday.

What are your influences besides theater?

Those around me.

What playwriting advice do you have for others?

Show up. Write even if you don’t know what you’re writing. Write even if your last two, three, four plays were terrible. Write even if you feel like it will never get produced. You’ll be amazed at what happens when you show up.

Who or what inspires you?

Stories that allow me to forget I’m watching a story. That make me feel. Plays that embrace theatricality and throw producibility out the window. And lastly…my colleagues.

Tell us about Cottontail.

It’s set in 1986 Belle Glade, Florida. This is one of the poorest places in the country that is in the same county as West Palm Beach—one of the riches places in the country. In the 1980s it was declared the AIDS Capital of the World. This play is completely different than anything I’ve written before and it terrifies me.

What is your writing process like?

I often spend years thinking about a play until it can’t stay in my head any longer and decrees that I need to research. Eventually, when I feel I’m an expert on everything I need to know, I start writing and let myself be free and see where the characters take me.