Elena Hartwell

Author of The Lake House [Cupcake Reading Series, October 2011]

Elena Hartwell’s recent work includes A Strange Disappearance of Bees, which premiered with the Detroit Repertory Theatre after workshops with Centre Stage (SC), Last Frontier Theatre Conference (AK), Oldcastle Theatre Company (VT), and Driftwood Players in Edmonds who also staged the second production. Her adaptation of Ivan Doig’s Prairie Nocturne opens February 10, 2012 with Book-It Rep. A commission by Greenville Technical College, Pictures of Jane, premieres in April 2012. Her script In Our Name is available through NYTE in the anthology Plays and Playwrights 2008. For more information, please visit www.elenahartwell.com and her writer’s blog at www.arcofawriter.com.

—————————————————-

Where did the idea for  The Lake House come from?
I started to think about tolerance, and how easy it is to be tolerant of people just like us and how hard it is to be tolerant of people who are different. From that thought, I began to contemplate the complexity of our reactions to people, and how our first impressions are formed, sometimes unfairly, because of misinterpretations of someone’s actions. Then came the first scene, then came a play I didn’t quite expect.

What is your favorite moment in the play?
I think the giant rubber snake. If that doesn’t pique your interest, I don’t know what will.

Who is your current playwright talent crush?
I have crushes on scripts, not writers, so I struggled with this one… but I can tell you, where fiction is concerned, I have a deep and abiding love for Dennis Lehane.

What advice would you give to aspiring playwrights?
Treat everyone you work with, with respect. Trust your instincts. Write every day.

What kind of theater do you love?
Relevant theater.

What are you currently working on?
The Lake House is a first draft, so I’m working on that. I’m polishing the scripts for Book-It and GTC which both open in the spring. Lastly, I have a new play, Loss: A Play About a Violin, that’s had a few workshops and I’m working on a (hopefully) final draft and sending it out.

Outside of theater, what are you really into right now?
Oil painting.

Do you have a favorite and least favorite word?
Favorite: hard to say, maybe Synchronicity, least favorite, probably War or maybe, no.