We’re catching up with Max Berry, former WtW member (and competition winner)! Since his time at WtW, he’s graduated from college and written lots of plays, including a recently produced Zoom-play. Learn about how he balances commitments, stays inspired, and his upcoming webseries!
Describe your work in 10 words or less!
Beauty in the in-between.
How do you balance creative work with other commitments?
The honest answer is it’s hard. It’s taken a lot of trial and error to figure out when and how I work best creatively. I’ve been blessed with having a job that allows me to set my schedule and so when I figure out when works best for me to write, I try to not schedule anything during that time. It doesn’t always work and sometimes I overload myself. But I’ve started to settle into a routine recently that makes it very easy to write.
I also don’t worry about HOW I do things creatively day to day. I only wrote a sentence? Cool. I love that sentence. I listened to music and brainstormed? Cool. That’s great too. I’m not going to write every day because some days I just don’t feel like it and that’s ok. There are different ways to fulfill yourself creatively, and I try to work at least one in every day, even if it’s just singing in the shower. It all fits in the toolbox.
What does rest mean to you? How do you replenish your creativity?
I think rest is removing yourself from the obligation to create or be present in an idea space that you don’t have any energy for at the moment. It’s definitely something I have to keep working on but it’s SO important. Walking and listening to music is a HUGE source of rest for me. I live in New York City within ten minutes of Central Park, so I’ll often walk for an hour or two just listening to music and watching people around me.
It takes time to write and produce a play. How involved are you in the production? How do you focus on producing a play while also thinking about projects for the future?
Most of my plays that I’ve produced I’ve been heavily involved in, working with the director to develop it. I don’t insert myself into the rehearsal process, but I’m involved in picking a director, casting the play, and providing any assistance they might need. Most recently I was commissioned to write an interactive Zoom play for a new theatre company. and I actually had very little involvement in that process once the script was done. I popped in to a couple of rehearsals to watch but I didn’t cast it or help produce it in any way. The people involved in that show did an incredible job putting it together.
In terms of how I focus on the current production and future productions, the first performance of a play is a lot of experimenting. I try not to change too many lines during the rehearsal process but some will change, and the director or actors will add some brilliant insights that might make it into a future draft. So, during a run, I’m primarily worried about the production that is happening now, but I have a list of notes in the back of my mind for future productions.
What’s something that’s consistent in all your creative work? Is there a motif, trope, or theme that keeps showing up?
Recently the biggest recurring motifs in my work have been the color orange (dusk, sunsets, melting, oranges, fall, etc) and coffee (black coffee, awakening, warmth). These all just seem to hold a lot of warmth and are often about in-between moments or getting from one place to another and I love that.
I also write a lot of plays in a small-town setting. I grew up in a small town in Ohio and so I kind of created my own fictional town (Ringing Bells, Ohio), where many of my plays take place.
Do you have any words of advice for other young writers looking to embark on lives of creativity?
Just be kind to yourself. Everyone says that the best way to get better as a writer is to write. That’s true, but if you’re like me, a lot of the time you just can’t bring yourself to sit down and do it. Thus, a huge part of writing is finding your process. I write best in the morning, but when I was in high school, I was in class at that time so I’d have to write in the afternoon or evening, and my brain just wasn’t in a creative place then. It wasn’t until I went to college and figured out how I work best that I saw what the problem was and was able to thrive as a writer because of it. Learning your process is just as important as learning your craft. Give that the weight and importance it deserves. Just sitting down and deciding to write something is already incredibly brave. Know that you’re already doing something exceptional, and do it in the way that only you can.
What are you working on now?
I am currently in post-production for a comedy webseries I co-wrote called Hey, Professor! that premiers on Youtube this May.