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Amy Levinson: The environment of your play is so specific it is almost its own character. What was the impetus for placing the play here?

Greg Pierce: The location came first. I was in Costa Rica with a friend, working on a different play. I had a lot of free time so I was hiking a lot. I became really interested in Costa Rican animals. I started thinking, “What could happen here?” I thought of a 17-year-old girl who felt totally out of her element. I thought about her walking these trails, worrying about what was happening back home, and keeping an eye out for snakes. The rest of the story emerged from that.

AL: Becky’s dialogue — that of a 17 year old girl, is staggeringly authentic. How did you capture this voice so well?

GP: Thank you. One great thing about living in New York City is that you can hear whatever accents or dialects or speech patterns you want to. After I started writing Slowgirl, I listened for teen-girl rhythms on subways, on the street, in restaurants. Fortunately, some teen girls talk so loudly you can be a half-block away and still hear everything. My cousin Emma was that age while I was writing the play but she was too eloquent to be helpful.

AL: Can you speak to the specific challenges of writing a two-hander.

GP: One challenge in writing a two-hander is that once both characters speak, those are the voices we’ll be hearing all night. So I have to make sure they’re saying interesting things because I can’t rely on the entrance of a new voice to give the play an adrenaline boost. Sometimes while writing Slowgirl I’d have thoughts like, “Can’t I just have a messenger burst in, collapse on the floor, and deliver news about an invasion?” The answer is no. Since I’m stuck with these two, I have to keep figuring out who they are.

AL: (And the question I pose to every playwright I have the pleasure of interviewing) — Can you talk a bit about your process, how you cultivate ideas and get down to the business of writing?

GP: When I’m just starting work on a play, I like to think about the location and the scenario for quite a while. I walk around a lot. Certain interactions between characters start to replay over and over in my head, sometimes in different ways. When that world seems real enough, I write a first draft as quickly as I can. Then I put it aside for a while and work on something else. I try not to plot out too much before writing the first draft so that I’m not forcing characters into certain places by the end of a scene. I try to let them talk, and talk, knowing I’ll end up cutting most of what they say. For me, the most important thing about the early stage of a play is to not talk about it or get any feedback. That way it feels like a world you’re peering into, not a kit that needs assembly.

PErFOrMANCEs MAGAZINE P3

A conversAtion with GreG PierceGreG Pierce’s beAutiful, PoiGnAnt slowGirl hAs been GrAbbinG hold of Audiences in new York And chicAGo. with PleAsure, we welcome the PlaYwriGht And his PlaY to los AnGeles for the west coAst Premiere.

— AmY levinson, Geffen PlaYhouse Artistic AssociAte