After a dry spell, a new play about love, scarce resources
Seven years after the local success of "A Girl's War," playwright Joyce Van Dyke has emerged with her new drama "The Oil Thief," exploring the geological rift between lovers amid an unexpected crisis, now in previews at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre. She recently spoke about her work.
Q. What is "The Oil Thief" about?
A. It's about a love triangle with a woman at the center of it who is a petroleum geologist. [It's in] this world of scarce resources . . . and oil is certainly a part of that. Amy, the geologist, is accustomed to thinking in terms of geological time. She has a very acute sense of the passage of time, the waning of time in her own life, so it's partly about scarce resources in terms of time, too, mortality and aging. The play is about all three characters going through a transformation, but Amy most prominently. I think of her struggle in terms of trying to break through an internal glass ceiling.
Q. What helped inspire it?
A. I have had a romantic feeling about geology since I was in college and took a geology class. I went on a field trip with a group of geologists to the Grand Canyon for a week and walked down from the ridge to the bottom, spent a week and went back up. And that felt like some kind of incredible rite of passage. It was astounding to me.
Q. How is it working with Melinda Lopez and Will Lyman in the lead roles?
A. I have done it before so I knew it would be great. They were in the production of "A Girl's War" at Boston Playwrights' Theatre in 2001. They are wonderful actors to work with; they are very smart and pay a lot of attention to how the language and action move from second to second, moment to moment. . . . It feels like I have collaborators working with me on the play, and it's wonderful.
Q. What has life been like for you after the local success of "A Girl's War"?
A. It went from Boston Playwrights' Theatre to New Rep pretty quickly, and then there was actually a big silence after that. Things got very quiet. I started sending it out everywhere, but I got nice rejection letters: "We love your play but.. . ." It took me a long time to realize that just because it had done well here didn't mean big things were going to go on happening. I was so involved in that play, it was hard to switch gears for a while. I just sort of came back and worked in seclusion for a while.
Q. Was it disappointing being on the cusp of something great without a big follow-up for all these years?
A. It's like you're catching a wave - and oops, it didn't arrive. There was a disappointment to that. All of a sudden now, within the last few months, I've had a flurry of interest in "A Girl's War," which is so weird because for years I hadn't heard anything. There is supposed to be a production in San Francisco in the spring, and I am talking to people at a couple of other places. Who knows? There may be more to come.
Q. Whatever became of the screenplay you were planning to write?
A. I did write a screenplay; I was working with a local producer. It's an Armenian story. It's not going anywhere. But for me it was interesting writing a screenplay, which I had never done before, and to learn about those conventions. I started developing another play about Armenian genocide. That's just kind of waiting to go after "The Oil Thief." Right now we are just calling it the "Armenian Project."
Q. How important is Rick Lombardo, the departing producing artistic director of New Repertory Theatre, to you?
A. Rick was a great presence here and I am very sad he's leaving. It's not just because he's helped me, but I think he's helped to create a whole wave of interest and commitment to new work, doing world premieres and supporting local writers. Rick was a great director for me. It was a happy experience.
"The Oil Thief" runs through Nov. 23. Tickets and information: 866-811-4111; www.bu.edu/bpt
Megan Tench can be reached at mtench@globe.com. 