At the PWC this week: Lee Blessing

Core Writer Lee Blessing is workshopping his new play Minneapolis/St. Paul at the Playwrights' Center this week with director Peter Moore and actors Nathan Keepers, Tracey Maloney, Kris Nelson, Nathan Barlow, and Lillie Horton. Join us for a free public reading Friday, May 20, at 1:30 p.m. A mini-interview with Lee:

How do you know which ideas are winners?

An idea that's a "winner" for me might not be one for any other writer--and vice versa, of course. In general I'm attracted to issues that make audiences nervous, things they're not sure how they feel about. Or things to which they have reflex reactions, short-circuiting the thought process. The point of a serious play is to make the audience see itself, not the show. I look for topics that allow me to accomplish that.

What does your writing space look like?

It's a converted former open porch in our fifth-floor apartment. Glass windows replaced its plein air status, but that makes it an all-weather space here in L.A. I have a semicircular table (oaken surface, open steel undercarriage, properly termed a "hunt table") which every writer seems to love on first sight. I've never seen another one. The Hollywood sign is visible from my desk--a constant reminder to sell out before it's too late.