Such a ‘Bler: Pizza with the Playwright – Alumni Phillip Dawkins

Failure: A Love Story was a play written by Loyola University Chicago’s alumni, Philip Dawkins. This theatre season, Failure was produced by Loyola on the main stage in the Newhart family theatre. For me personally, it was a very meaningful event because I was seeing a graduate’s work after their graduation AT THE PLACE THEY GRADUATED FROM – MY UNIVERSITY – how surreal.  

In addition, it was even more special because our Dramaturgy Working Group had some time to chat with the playwright and educator himself about his show and adventures in the world of theatre thus far. I was quite nervous leading up to it but it was nice to see that well, he’s just like anyone of us: hungry for art and hungry take on the world one laugh at a time. 

He shared some things that really helped me, especially during this stressful sophomore and internship hunting period in my life: 

About making a living as an artist: You’re never going to make a living doing theatre, two of you will, maybe (he stressed this). But you need to go into it with that mindset and find a side job. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, you decide how far you want to take theatre in your life. You need to do whatever you need to do to keep your goals alive. 

About playwriting, writings block, artistic anxiousness: Just write, write it all, and then work from there.  

About getting out there and getting somewhere, anywhere: (this one surprised me, but really really helped!!) offer your contributions to theatres that are doing readings, even if you’re not an actor. Get yourself out there, introduce yourself, and then introduce yourself as the artist you are. There’s no harm in being known by another face. 

I then watched Failure that night, and well, I was even more amazed. But more on that in a separate emotional post. 

 

HEY, I ALSO MAKE VIDEOS! 

HERE’S THE SUCH A ‘BLER PLAYLIST: