Mary is divorced, estranged from her family and suffering with cancer. Her son Mike visits her during spring break. She asks him for concrete actions of moral support. Mike’s father and aunt caution him not to get involved. Old wounds re-open, and the bonds of family and love are rigorously tested. William Considine, pens this naturalistic, family drama and peppered it with elements of poetry and surrealism.

Poet & Playwright, William Considine, hands us deep drama from his own dark past. He opened up to Ai on bringing to life … his life. 

Tell us about yourself as an artist? 

I have written plays and poems for much of my life. I’ve also made poetry videos. I’m active in the downtown New York poetry scene. Four of my plays had staged readings at the Public Theater, and I’ve also had readings at St. Clement’s and La Mama, as well as play performances at Theater for the New City, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Limbo Lounge, Ear Inn, ABC No Rio and Dixon Place. In 2017, the Operating System published a volume of my plays, The Furies, which is available on Amazon and from the publisher. The Operating System has also published a chapbook of my poems, Strange Coherence. A CD of my poems with music, An Early Spring, is available on iTunes and from the label, Fast Speaking Music. I’m a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Polaris North theater artists cooperative. I was an attorney for many years, in the public sector, retiring a few years ago. I live with my wife in Brooklyn.

What drew you to write about such a topic? Is it – in any way – autobiographical? 

 I was compelled to write about this subject. Memories and emotions are strongly involved. Yes, it is autobiographical. For a long time, I was reluctant to address this, and to be so revealing, but I had to come back to it.

What do you – the author – experience when writing characters of such deep emotion? 

Frankly, it was often painful, to recall tense moments, to relive them word-by-word, and recreate them honestly. I wrote this play a little at a time, over the course of decades. Each character lived in a rich web of memories and feelings. I was very concerned with being true to the people and e-examining my own assumptions or habits of thought.

What do you hope the audience will take away from this piece?

I hope the audience will take away a sense of the complexity of family relationships, and a feeling that even the most difficult encounters can arise out of love and with understanding, can regenerate love.

What have you done to make it as universal as possible? Or Have you?

I have tried to be true to the particulars, to be factual. I think the universal is found in the particulars. Art that is rooted in the soil can flower for everyone to see.

What’s next for you?

I hope this play will continue to live. I have another full-length play, a verse play, Women’s Mysteries, that I plan to take up, to find staging for it, too. And there is always more to write.

Magnetite LLC presents
Moral Support, A new play by William Considine
Medicine Show Theatre, 549 W. 52nd Street, 3rd floor, New York City
February 21, 22, 23 @ 8:00 p.m. / February 24 @ 4:00 p.m.
February 28, March 1, 2 @ 8:00 p.m. / March 3 @ 4:00 p.m.