Spotlight on ... Emily Feldman'09

Author: Melissa Marshall

Crafted in Dublin and performed in the Champlain Valley, "Tiny Geniuses" by joint English/Theatre major Emily Feldman '09 takes audiences to the elementary school classroom. Feldman spoke to The Middlebury Campus about the inspiration behind the humorous work.

The Middlebury Campus: Of all the creative mediums, why playwriting? What drew you to the drama side?

Emily Feldman: Theatre is an electric medium of art, and that is what drew me to it. There's an immediacy inherent in having bodies on stage that audience members are forced to engage with, and that doesn't translate to television or film where you can separate yourself a little bit from the piece you are experiencing. I've been involved in theatre from a couple of different angles, but playwriting has been one of the most rewarding. It is exciting to see an idea move from a computer screen into the mouths of actors, and the process of creating a piece together and learning what works and what doesn't in a workshop process is the ultimate collaborative experience.

TC: So, 'Tiny Geniuses.' Was there a specific moment that was the basis for the play, or was this an idea that you have been tweaking for a long time?

EF: As for 'Tiny Geniuses,' a beloved teacher at the school where I grew up was forced out of her career by parents who felt that their money gave them power to force change, and I got mad. Sitting at my kitchen table last summer, holding a letter from my high school principal asking alums and community members to support the school in fair and equitable decision making processes in the best interest of its students was a surreal experience. I felt like I had been lifted from the moral universe and thrown into a dystopia I could hardly have invented. When I looked up from the page, however, my dog was staring at me through the window from the same suburban backyard I have called home for the past seven years. The realization that my values seemed to be at odds with my community's drove me to my computer, and I began work on 'Tiny Geniuses.'

TC: In an environment as academic as Middlebury, students are used to a certain amount of stress and intellectual rivalry. Why did you decide to move the competition to a younger grade level? How do you find your play translates to college-age audiences?

EF: I wanted to set 'Tiny Geniuses' in an elementary school because it is a play about what happens when dueling visions of moral order collide, and what this means for kids who are brought into our existing realities with only what we teach them as ammunition. The relationships we have with children who only know what we teach them says a lot about who we are as a society and what we value. Kids are also really funny.

TC: We're all aware of the stage mom, helicopter parent phenomenon. Did you have a specific cultural commentary in mind when writing 'Tiny Geniuses?'

EF: I wasn't really thinking about cultural commentary as much as I was focused on having fun while I've been working on 'Tiny Geniuses.' I've been really lucky to have been able to develop it here at Middlebury with some incredibly talented actors and professors who have helped me hone the humor and laughed at some of my sillier jokes. The social critique part of things came later, but the fun and the storytelling was my main concern. While studying in Dublin, Ireland last spring, I circulated my script to a new group of peers and faculty members, who encouraged me to strip away some of the theatrical devices I had been exploring, and to pare my play down to its most basic constituents. 'The simpler, the better' became the mantra of the semester, and the revision strengthened my understanding of the project.

TC: Sorry to drop the 'f-bomb,' but any future plans for playwriting? Do you think you would ever consider transferring over to screenwriting?

EF: Ah the future - I'm not sure what I'll be doing next year, but I just found out last week that I've won a season-long 'Core Apprenticeship' at The Playwright's Center in Minnesota, so sometime this spring they will be flying me out there for a 10-hour professional workshop. I'm very excited about it, beyond that my plans are up in the air. I hope to keep writing, collaborating, and having fun.