body is frank about what they’re
shooting for. And playwrights in
the last 20-30 years have been
in the habit of being passive or
deferential, hoping and crossing
their fingers or begging to be
able to participate in their own
artwork. Just getting out of that
mindset is positive.”
Collaboration is vital to the development of new works. Dilorio has had so many of his plays
presented by NJ Rep that he
has complete faith in the work
by SuzAnne Barabas, the Artistic Director of that company. His
latest work, The Jag, is loosely
based on his own relationship
with his father - a situation that
sometimes can make the editing
process a bit awkward.
“SuzAnne is great at editing a
play down and getting it sharper,” explained Dilorio. “I love
details. I think the devil is in
the details and the more details
you can give would be better.
NJ STAGE 2016 - ISSUE 12
But I had to admit there were
some crazy, unwieldly, wandering details and monologues that
weren’t necessary for The Jag.
They were fun for me because
they were nice memories, but
they didn’t reveal enough about
the characters.”
“I trust NJ Rep,” said Dilorio. “I
trust what they do. What happens when you write a story of
your life and somebody says
we’ve got to cut that monologue? You need to be ruthless
when it comes to cutting.”
NJ Rep and Two River are just
two of many professional theatres in New Jersey that present
new works. But these two companies located just a few miles
from each other, deep in the
suburbs, are creating a theatre
row version of their own. And
they are changing the way people not only view theatre along
the Shore, but how they view
theatre in the Garden State. w
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