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Dorothy Allison was teaching a writing workshop and she had the class write down a sentence saying the last thing about themselves they would ever want anyone to know. When they were finished she said, “Look at the sentence. That’s the first line of your new novel.” That’s what I try to do when I write – find the thing that I wouldn’t want anyone to know about me and expose it. The trick is to let it be there but keep it from taking over. You do this by allowing it to be as multifaceted as it truly is. Expressing the range of the circumstance is a sure-fire way to keep you away from indulgence and catapult you into something new. I’m not suggesting you have to store up deep dark dirty secrets to be an artist, but I do believe everyone has something they don’t want people to know about them. It might be something as simple as that your arm fat jiggles. Well, wag it, girl, and let it take you through it. The other great thing about being a theatre artist is that after you’ve exposed all the horror in your life and the show is over, you can always say you made it up.
-- Taylor Mac
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