Learn more about our fabulous playwrights, and then join us at the Prescott Center for the Arts in Prescott, AZ this Thurs, Sat and Sunday (Aug 6, 8, 9) for the OUTSIDE THE LINES Festival! Tickets Available HERE
Mercedes Segesvary submitted a beautiful play to this year’s festival – one that made us lean forward, nod our heads, and cheer with anticipation to see it! The play is called IF I WERE A MAN, and the visual imagery along with it’s powerful text has us seriously looking forward to our August production where Cason Murphy will direct Judy Stahl and Kevin Goss in this amazing piece!
LBDI: Why did you decide to submit your work to this year’s ONSTAGE Project?
MERCEDES: I’d heard from another playwright how much she liked this festival which is always a good sign. I also liked the idea of being able to read some of the other fantastic plays that were submitted.
LBDI: Describe your writing space…
MERCEDES: Every morning I get out of bed and slide down a fire pole to the basement of a grand castle where I put on my overalls and flip flops. Then I take an elevator up to the 381st floor where two unicorns greet me with coffee, a vanilla cream danish and a cigarette. I take all three with me inside to my office. My office is surrounded by glass with views of Niagara Falls, Amsterdam, Lake Balaton, Jupiter and the 42nd Street Subway stop, you know… the one near the Port Authority. There is a dance floor for my daily choreography breaks, a swing set with swings made for adult hips, a bucket filled with used umbrellas just in case it rains and a Cubano Food Truck owned by Maria Julia Rodriguez the 3rd. Every day is “Two for One Cervezas” at my office. My desk is purple. I work on a pink Mac Book Pro. At noon I take my cigarette break while playing on the swings. I get a lot of writing done in my office.
LBDI: If you could be any literary character, who would you be?
MERCEDES: Tom Bombadil from Lord of the Rings. He was, sadly, left out of the film version but I think Tolkien created Tom as a symbol of imagination and happiness- two things desperately needed in this world filled with men trying to destroy Rings of Evil in the name of All That Is Good.
LBDI: What was your first play titled/about?
MERCEDES: “Theatre That Moves” now titled, “Tips Appreciated” – My first full-length play that I wrote, produced and performed in the San Francisco Fringe Festival about a tour guide who comically kidnaps her passengers and drunkenly shows them the worst tour of San Francisco ever. It’s now being adapted to film.
LBDI: Which theatricians do you admire and what about them inspires you?
MERCEDES: Honestly I don’t have any one favorite. I admire all the people who’ve chosen the path and the art of theatre. And I am especially inspired by all those who stick with it and never give up on their dream of the stage.
LBDI: Why do you write for theatre? (as opposed to other written mediums…)
MERCEDES: There are so many reasons. So many. Here are my top three. One: I enjoy the art of dialog. Not just the dialog between my characters but the conversation I get to have with my audience through my work. Two: I love the feel of being inside a theatre, big, small, old, new I don’t care, I love the space that exists inside those walls and under those lights. Three: I love that my profession has the word “Play” in it.
LBDI: What message would you put in a fortune cookie?
MERCEDES: Pick a person who is opposite you in every possible way and now imagine being in their shoes for just one day.
LBDI: Morning, Noon, or Night?
MERCEDES: Morning for long walks in the quiet, noon for naps, night for people watching.
More about Mercedes Segesvary:
Mercedes Segesvary is a first generation Hungarian American playwright, filmmaker and fine art illustrator whose work often reflects the diversity of culture, gender and generations. Her play; Man Legs Runs Free was part of the 2014 East Side Stories Festival at the Metropolitan Playhouse, NYC. In May 2013, her one-act play; Alive and Well received a three-week production at the Metropolitan Playhouse, NYC. By Spring 2014 Alive and Well was adapted into a short film, now in festival circuit. Her short play; Room For Rent won her a 2012 PlayGround San Francisco Emerging Playwright Award. In 2008 Mercedes brought to life a comedic retelling of a San Francisco Tour Guide’s life and received a Best of Fringe Award for her critically acclaimed performance. Mercedes is always in the process of creating and sharing. To view some of her work please visit: www.hugithegreat.com
