Deborah Brevoort, Playwright of "The Women of Lockerbie"

Listening to the playwright of "The Women of Lockerbie" talk in Script Analysis class today, here are some things I learned and some quotes I took away that I never want to forget:

• Lockerbie was the first terrorist attack on American interests - a defining moment in American history
• The terrorist bomb was implanted in a Toshiba radio
• There were 38 women of Lockerbie
• The laundry project of washing the clothes took about 9 months to a year to complete
• She first heard about/started thinking about the laundry project in 1998, ten years after the incident

Regarding the laundry project: "I couldn't believe I had never heard about this, that I thought was one of the most breathtaking gestures I had ever heard of."

"I wrote the play because I was so moved by the story."

Regarding: "why I write, how I write" -

"It's an exploration of something I don't know, something I don't understand."

"I don't begin with any kind of agenda at all."

"When I go to the theatre, I like to encounter a story and figure out my own meaning to take away from it, so that's the way I write."

"I don't write what I know; it would be boring for me to do that."

"I wanted to find out how you go through something like this and not be broken."

"If writers don't surprise themselves, they can't expect to surprise anyone else."

On Greek tragedy -

"I was seized by the idea of writing this story as a Greek tragedy."

"I had a hunch that the Lockerbie story was well-suited to this form."

• It took her 4 years and 25 drafts to write "The Women of Lockerbie."

Greek style:

1) Episode

2) Dialogue

3) Ode

"Stories like this are hard for an audience. Greek tragedy gives us a format for us to get through them."

• An episode contains the uncomfortable material - the stuff it's hard to get through.
• The dialogue is like a cooling device - the chorus reflects on the hard stuff.
• The ode is a song - a release. It cleanses the heart.

"Greek theatre was designed to tell the horrible stories."

"One of the struggles I kept running into was sinking back into naturalism or realism. When I did that, it began to become melodrama."

Question: "Most Greek tragedies are real downers, but your play leaves the audience with hope. Was that something you made a conscious decision to do?"

Her response: "Really I just followed the characters and the form. In real life, the people had found a way to come out of the darkness. That's how the story went. But I'm going to disagree with you about Greek tragedy. I think tragedy is the most hopeful form of theatre. A comedy only stops before the tragedy begins. But there's always something gained at the end of a tragedy. The price is always horrific, but something is always gained."

"I didn't write 'The Women of Lockerbie' with an agenda. Some people think I wrote the play as a political critique of the State Department. Some people think I wrote it as a Christian text. There are Christian values and ideologies, no doubt. But I'm more interested in writing characters into circumstances and writing them truthfully."

On why she likes to visit college campuses producing her play: "You're showing me things about my work that I didn't know before. This work is bigger than just me."

On writing characters in plays: "I think that if you're not inhabiting your characters, you're judging them."

Question: "Do you have a favorite character that you wrote? Like how you know you're not supposed to have favorite kids but everybody kind of does?"

Her response: "No, I really don't have a favorite. I'm fond of them all. They're all a part of me."

Question: "How did you make this play relevant to audiences?"

Her response: "I had the hardest time getting this play produced. People thought I was being morbid. And then September 11th happened. And suddenly, people understood. People in other countries understand the character of Maddie. The rest of the world has been ravaged by war. We've largely been spared. But suddenly people started to understand."

"The theatre's not about being historically accurate; it's about telling the truth."

"I didn't want the responsibility of journalism put on the play. I wanted to tell the story."

(RACHEL CORRIE!!!)

And finally -

Question: "What is your favorite play?"

Her response: "Oh there are so many. My three: 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' 'A Raisin in the Sun,' and 'Butterfly.'"