Women Playwrights Series (WPS) Program Director Catherine Rust had the opportunity to talk with Playwright Judy Sheehan about this project and her work as a writer.

Question: Judy, your family is from Pennsylvania, if I remember correctly. Can you tell us something about your early life that may have led to your career as a writer and your great comic sensibilities?

Judy: I am the 10th of 12 children. Yes -- very Irish and very Catholic. When you Have so many older siblings, who are all quite witty, articulate and well-read, you have to compete to get a word in edgewise at the dinner table.

Humor was the coin of the realm at our house, and I think it still is. It was like growing up in Sid Caesar's writers' room. It warped my perspective permanently -- but in a good way.

Question: In Alice In Ireland, Alice takes a journey of discovery to the country of her heritage (I think). What was your inspiraion for this play?

Judy: I took a similar journey -- not identical, but similar. Like Alice, I travelled to Ireland and found it to be a sort of wonderland. The rules of logic did not always apply (I'll tell you the story of trying to dial information in Ireland). As I relaxed into the Irishness around me, I found that it changed me for good. I came home and made changes in my life that kept me from going down a wrong road.

For the record, the character of Bridie is nothing like my real mother. Bridie is a hard drinker, married many times and quite a scandalous, outrageous woman. My mother was married to one man for over 50 years, raised her children, never swore or drank and never even read the tabloids. But my mother was so much larger than life (can you imagine having twelve kids?) I decided that Alice should have a larger than life Mom, too. A TV sit-com Mom. Bridie.

Question: You were in the original cast of Tony N Tina's Wedding. Can you tell us anything about that experience and how it perhaps led to what you are doing in theatre today?

Judy: Tony N Tina really breaks down the barriers between the audience and the performers, and that element slips into "Alice" and everything that I write. They become the 'swans' for Alice and become her confidante. Later, they take a lesson in Irish Fairies. Tony N Tina taught me to engage the audience, include them, and ever treat them as if they were just eavesdropping on a story. They are part of the play.

Tony N Tina was a real gift for me. I got to be part of something very successful, fun and unique. It was also a very hard experience and it taught me something clear and tangible: I didn't want to be an actor anymore. After that show, which also helped me to get a couple of commercials, I was able to say goodbye to acting and move on to writing, which was my first love.

Question: Alice in Ireland was a featured play in the Centenary Stage Company's Women Playwright Project in the past. What I have discovered, from reading many, many scripts written by women for the stage, is that certain images and themes occur again and again in the writing, many of which seem unique to the underserved voice of the woman writer. I have noticed themes of women who are independent, problem solving and autonomous. Duality, images of magic, fancy and a rather "other-worldly" sensibility informs the dialectic of women in the texts. By that I mean that they almost always seem to have extrasensory connections and experiences. Do you have any feelings about these types of themes and images and their relationship to writing, to women communicating ideas about their position in the world, in life?

Judy: I always start by creating a story. In fact, the first draft of any play, for me, is a long short story. I never consciously choose themes while I am creating the story, I just want a story that sounds interesting. Afterwards, the images and themes emerge independently, and I try to mine them as best I can. But images of independence, magic, pregnancy, you name it -- are already present without my planning to work on them. In "Alice," the magic is all inside of her. It could all be explained away as dreams, neuroses or hallucinations, if necessary. But the best magic that happens is Alice's healing, which is very real.

We Irish (and Irish-Americans) are very good at nursing a grudge. We can stay at war for centuries. Alice could have gone her whole life as one of the walking wounded, full of resentment. But she comes to Ireland, and she is changed forever. That kind of magic is actually quite accessible to all of us (no plane tickets required).

In "What to do About Nothing" I explored the strict gender roles that were assigned to men and women in the 1950s. All women were supposed to become Donna Reed, and all men were supposed to become the Man in the Grey Flannel Suit. The two characters who are 'misfits' in that world eventually find each other. The roles are too constricting for both women *and* men. She confesses that she can't cook, but he smiles and says, "I can." They will build their own happiness together, but will have to make it up as they go.

As for the independence theme, I have to admit that I don't love the idea that we preach to women and girls about how their lives should be. It goes against nature to say that we should all be the same and live the same way. Nature wants variety. In a way, this makes "Alice" an unusual story. It has romance and independence, all at the same time.

Question: Can you tell us something about what you are focusing on currently in your writing?

Judy: I've just finished the third play in a trilogy of children's musicals. I plan to do some marketing for these plays, as I feel very passionately about quality work for young audiences. After that, I will be collaborating on a musical for grown-ups entitled "Bridesmaid Revisited." Writing is a sort of compulsion that keeps happening.

Question: You have several written works (Aphrodite's Dungeon and A Carol Christmas) which make a wonderfully satirical statement about our contemporary society and culture. I loved your play A Carol Christmas, in which the main character struggles with feelings of inferiority and failure at her inability to live up to the Martha Stewart standard. Can you talk a little about this project and how if fits into what you try to achieve with your craft?

Judy: A Carole Christmas was all about perfection, and how it is used as a weapon against women. It's awful to need perfection -- a kind of sisyphus punishment. In that play, Carole (the Martha character) was like a virus that had infected her fans, her employees and her family with the desperate need to be perfect. In the end Carole, realized that she had abandoned her own daughter because mothering is the one thing that can never be done to perfection. Too many variables.

I guess my plays have an almost therapeutic theme to them. Alice and Carole both need to stop and breathe. Relax and let go. There's a great line in "Jungle Book" where Balloo says, "Relax. Fall apart in my backyard." I love that.

Question: You are now a busy, working parent to a beautiful 3-year old, Annie. How has this changed your life and your writing, your career choices?

Judy: Yes, Annie is 3 and quite, quite beautiful. If anything, she has amplified my choices as a writer. I see all the joy and potential in this girl and I don't want anything to squash that. The things that I write are, I hope, encouraging and hopeful. There is always a positive statement and positive ending, even if some of the characters are heartsick for a time.

Okay, so it's going to be a few years before Annie's old enough for a play like this, but all parents have to think long term and short term at the same time. Meanwhile, she dances around the house singing songs from my children's musicals. By the way, Annie calls this "Alice in Neverland." Maybe that'll be a sequel? !