Voice

I saw a reading of a dear friend's play last night. I really enjoyed it -- and appreciated the way it made me reconsider this idea of "a playwright's voice." I've struggled with the voice question -- What is it? Do I have one? Will I ever get anywhere until I develop a discernible one?

But last night, my friend showed us a play that seemed, to me, unlike any play of hers I'd ever read. Structurally, plot-wise -- it was a departure. And yet. It was absolutely still hers. In fact, it was maybe more "her" than anything of hers I've read. Maybe that's a presumptuous statement. But. It may have eased my mind about the voice question. Because, if anything, as she gets further from what I always thought of as "her kind of play," I hear her even more clearly in her own work -- her concerns, her sense of humor, her worldview.

So that was cool.