About

I am fascinated by and drawn to exploring the contradictions in human nature and the extraordinary difficulties of finding and maintaining relationships.  I have always sought out stories which explore these contradictions and difficulties.  My work has continually examined the difference between the face we create for the outside world and the person we truly are, and how this duality inevitably hinders our relationships.   

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These themes have been consistently explored through a structural motif that has appeared frequently in my work.  My characters hide their true selves behind a public persona.  This could be in the necessary guise of their job (talk radio in Santorello's Pig, politics in Rosie and the Fine Art of Politics, a vaudeville act in Coriander and a Penny's Worth of Lonesome, TV news in When Mara Went Shopping, the movies in The Man Who Took the Umbrella, etc.) or in the self-imposed guise they use to hide their true selves from the community in which they find themselves (high school in The Virgin Knot, an artist’s retreat in Johnny and the Fine Art of Killing, academia in Paulina, Melvina and Lunt, etc.).  As the character carefully constructs his or her public face, each assumes that to be an accurate reflection of who they want to be. The contradiction between a public and private self is revealed to the audience early on.  The suspense builds from this conflict, as the audience wonders how long it will take the character to find or be forced to face his or her own truth, how it will be revealed, and what impact their newfound knowledge will have.  

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The more my characters try to hide, the more they reveal themselves.  With every step toward marriage, Hope (Hope's Dash) reveals how desperately she needs to control everyone and everything around her.  The more infamy she gains for the notorious killings, the more Lizzie Borden (The History of Her Future) tries to hide in plain sight.  The more romantically obsessed that Unity Mitford (Unity in Love) becomes with Adolf Hitler, the more she reveals her deep seated sexual repression.  The more Maria (The Virgin Knot) tries to lose her virginity, the more intensely the community leaders believe that she has been imbued by the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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Irony has always been a part of my world view, but my knowledge of how to manipulate it comes from the three most important aesthetic influences of my work.  I became fascinated with Moliere in graduate school, particularly with his ability to maintain a sense of humanity and dignity, even in his most broadly drawn comic characters and situations.  From Preston Sturges I learned that the more serious the situation, the more likely it is to be revealed through humor.  Most important, though, is the influence of Billy Wilder. From Wilder's work I've learned that our sense of humor is a part of the shell we hide behind, and yet it is the most effective way we have to reveal ourselves.  Of all my work, Paulina, Melvina and Lunt, Hope's Dash, Unity in Love, The Italian Lesson, and The Virgin Knot most reveal Wilder's impact on my storytelling.

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I will not say that the above statement has been a conscious guiding principle throughout my life.  I began writing seriously in college and had always thought of myself as someone who was more interested in a good yarn than an explored theme.  This changed about twenty years ago when I went back and re-read a great deal of my previous writings.  I was surprised to realize that I was constantly returning to the same ideas and metaphors.  I now explore this territory consciously, hopefully with a greater amount of control and a more mature viewpoint.