Amy Crossman
writer and performer "The Great Divide"
In your own words, describe your current production and how you identify with the piece? What is your favorite moment?
The Great Divide is about a journey through love, grief, and growing up. I've experienced all those things (and am continuing to do so!), so it's not super hard to relate to for me. It's hard to pin down one specific moment as my favorite, but I'll say that I really enjoy the moments of surprise and connection with the audience. And also it's fun to sloppily make out with someone who is not there.
Where do you go to find inspiration?
The older I get, the more the answer is nature. There are certainly artists - theatre and otherwise - that have influenced me, but if I'm really needing a big hit of inspiration, then I need to go someplace where I can get some serious perspective. Sometimes I need to go someplace real grand - Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, Big Sur, The Cliffs of Moher in Ireland all spring to mind - but it can be accomplished on a smaller scale, too. I'm a fan of the NYBG and Riverside Park along the Hudson River. It's all right-sizing, if I can let it in, and that's frequently what I need to be inspired.
In addition to this piece, what else are you working on?
I'm working on a play about female friendship, the pandemic, gentrification, and whiteness in New York City. Or, at least that's what I think it's about. The plays usually tell me, and not the other way around. And I'm working on just being a kinder, gentler, more compassionate and hopefully funnier person. That's real important, too.
At what age did you start your craft? What inspired you to do so? How do you continue to exercise and grow it?
Well, to my knowledge, my first credit was as Obed's Lamb in THE GRUMPY SHEPHERD at my church's Christmas pageant when I was probably five or six, although I suppose I might have been something like a sleeping angel in another Christmas pageant or something prior to that - you'd have to ask my parents. I always loved pretending and performing, and I'm sure there's something contradictory about my desire to share as well as be seen if you dig deep enough down in my psychology. I started writing plays more recently though, back in 2019 because I wasn't happy with the roles I was going in for or being cast in, and I wanted to see messier, more complicated and ultimately more human female characters on stage. Community and accountability are the name of the game for me across both disciplines, so you'll frequently find me in class, trying my best to not talk and to listen. I think that's how I grow best as an artist, and it's really fucking hard. Listening.
Have you always been a fan of theater? What was your first show? What is your favorite show?
Oh yes. This is one of the great luxuries of growing up in New York City - we went to theatre constantly (or perhaps it was maybe just two or three times a year when my grandma was in town, but it felt like all the time to a little me). My first show was BEAUTY AND THE BEAST on Broadway, and by the end of Act I I knew I wanted to be a dancing spoon forever. It's impossible to pick a favorite show, but I do think HAMLET is pretty great in terms of deeply human experiences. OUR TOWN, too. Some of my favorite playwrights include Tony Kushner, Bess Wohl, Duncan MacMillan. The best things I've seen in the last few years would be FAIRVEW by Jackie Sibblies Drury, THE FERRYMAN by Jez Butterworth, and actually - Alex Edelman's JUST FOR US rocked my world about a month ago.
Who is the audience for this show, and what would you like them to get out of it?
I think this play is for people who are tired of pretending that grief is just one thing, or that love is just one thing, or that there's a right way to grieve or love or live. I think it's for people who are hungry to see fuller experiences of those things on stage. I think it's for people who want to see something messy, not something super polished. I think it's for people who like plays that ask more questions than answer them. I hope folks leave asking questions, and I hope that it can provide some healing and comfort, and I really hope people laugh. That's probably the most important part of the healing and comfort part. Laughter.
What do you find challenging about this show? How do you like pushing yourself?
So currently, as I'm answering this, we're a week into rehearsals and there is SO MUCH going on in my brain and in my body as an actor and as a writer. I'm having to parse out if it's an actor or a playwright question or thought that I'm having, and I'm FOR SURE having to let go of my need to know or get it right. I can tell you that it's going to be physically and emotionally taxing (in, I hope, the best way) once we're up and running, and I'm looking forward to the challenge of that. I'm really excited that I'm getting to bring two of these identities of mine - playwright and actor - into conversation with one another. They've been quite separate for a while, and for ages I thought I might have to pick. I'm grateful, with this play, I don't!
What is your favorite moment or line from the play?
I'll keep the specifics of the text to myself, but there's a moment where I redefine a term that I think gets used in an unhelpful and harmful way in our world today. I think that's the heart of the play.
Who are your collaborators? What do you like about working with them?
There's so many at this point, with all our designers and our stage manager and everyone!! But the two that spring to mind in terms of the most immediate process are my dramaturg Phoebe Brooks and my director, Scott Ebersold. Phoebe and I have known each other for ages - way back to our intern days at the Atlantic Theater Company when we were still in college, and she's been with me on this journey for over three years now. Her insight and frankly, the accountability she provides me with deadlines is really one of if not the main reason this play exists at all. Scott directed me in COMEDY OF ERRORS with Boomerang in 2021, and I loved working with him: we speak the same language as actor and director. I'm learning and am really thrilled that's true as playwright and director too. He intuitively understands the play and is able to make choices for this world that help the text come to life. There are also lots and lots of other people who are not part of this production but who have contributed greatly to the piece. I think it's important to mention that plays - even and especially solo plays - are not created alone.
Tell us more about yourself...where can we find you online?
I'm a lifelong New Yorker (proudly born and raised, and I mean IN THE CITY, baby, no shade to the suburbs... I mean... a little shade to them because they're the suburbs. They have trees), actor, playwright, teaching artist and clown. I am allergic to basically all trees, and many animals, though I'm in some form of denial about being allergic to dogs because I do love them. I love Diet Coke, Harry Potter and therapy (again, see the whole lifelong New Yorker thing). You can try to find me on social media but you'd have to look hard because I'm not on anything except sometimes Twitter when I'm looking for tips for how to get Taylor Swift tickets. Although you could just cut to the chase and visit my website at www.amycrossman.com
