@dramatistsguild @joshbhartwell

One of the reasons I decided to write this particular article is to celebrate the success of my dear friend and gifted Denver writer, John Moore. Also, this being the “Age” issue of The Dramatist, I figured it would be relevant since Moore started writing plays relatively late in his career/life. Moore was the theatre critic at The Denver Post for twelve years and is now expanding his writing horizons. I asked him a few questions about his play Waiting For Obama and the journey to the New York Fringe. Maybe, as an added bonus, his recent accomplishments will inspire other writers from all the DG regions. 

“I consider myself a lifelong journalist who has dabbled in many creative-writing forms throughout my adult life,“ he said. "I have a very thick stack of never-seen short plays, poems, songs, short stories and film treatments I pray remain unknown to the world, even though they have served a very important, clandestine purpose in my interior life … I do consider myself a new playwright because I have never before attempted to have one of my plays professionally produced. But this was not my first completed play.”

Waiting for Obama tells the twisted story of a Colorado Springs family, anticipating the arrival of the president—who will certainly come to take away all of their firearms any minute now. The play reports on recent shootings in America, and actually does a wonderful job of presenting both sides of the gun control argument. 

Moore finished his working draft just in time for the January 30 Fringe deadline, then didn’t do any editing until he found out the play had been accepted at the end of April. Denver audiences were then lucky enough to sit in and watch two weekends of rehearsals before the cast and play traveled to New York. 

“When I heard Waiting for Obama had been accepted, I went from being tickled to terrified in about 60 seconds flat because I quickly started to realize what staging that the play from scratch was going to entail. But after having written thousands of articles and reviews (mostly) championing the local and national theatre communities, I admit it swelled my soul to have the opportunity to be considered, for a brief time, a full-fledged member of the creative community, as opposed to a sniper.”

Waiting for Obama was well received by audiences and six out of the seven reviewers. But more important to Moore was the chance to present seven of Denver’s most talented actors to the New York crowds. Based on this new success, what advice would Moore give to other writers who are starting some of their first plays later in life, or who have written their first couple plays and haven’t yet shared them with anyone? 

“I am a cauldron of contradiction here. I think it’s true that in many fields, true geniuses often do their best work before the age of 30. But the literary world is filled with examples of writers who didn’t get serious about it until later in life… Many journalists (critics and reporters) have been successful transitioning to playwriting later in life, once they stopped working 60-hour newspaper weeks. Issue-oriented plays that are based largely on interviews and journalistic research also have their own niche in the theatre. My advice is, yes, absolutely, share your work with someone you trust. But trust your own instincts to know when your time to share arrives. Be reasonably sure your script is in decent, working shape. It doesn’t have to be finished, but the promise of your idea has to be there, because you only get one chance to give someone a first impression of your writing …Take the leap. The only sure way to guarantee that you will never become a produced playwright is if you never give anyone a chance to see it.”

Wise guidance for any writer. To read up on Moore or see some samples of his writing, visit www.moorejohn.com. 

jhartwell@dramatistsguild.com