Interview: Rebecca Wittenburg

Today we’re joined by Rebecca Wittenburg. Rebecca is a wonderful playwright who writes a lot of scripts for local community theaters. She’s currently working on a project that might be a book or a webseries. When she’s not writing plays, Rebecca also writes fanfiction. It’s very obvious that she’s an incredibly passionate writer, as you’ll soon read. My thanks to her for taking the time to participate in this interview.

WORK

Please, tell us about your art.

I am a semi-professional script writer – which basically means that I write plays for theatre communities, but I don’t make enough money to live off it.

My co-writer and I have just finished writing our fourth play together, and we’re working on our next project, which will either become a book or a web-series (depends on whether we can get someone to invest in a web-series).

I’m also currently working on a novel based on the legend of King Arthur, except everyone is explicitly queer.

What inspires you?

Honestly everything can inspire me, but often it’s things like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones – I am very into the whole medieval thing. Most of my work is either original fantasy work or based on the Icelandic sagas about Viking heroes, so I do draw a lot of inspiration from that as well.

I’m also very interested in depicting sibling relationships, as I’m very close with my two brothers, and I like exploring the relationship between parents and their children when they disagree violently on something, or something tears them apart.

The latest play I’ve written is a fictional re-telling of the story of Harold Bluetooth and Sven Forkbeard (two of Denmark’s first kings, who were father and son), and the civil war they fought against each other because Harold became a Christian while Sven still believed in the Norse gods. What was important in that story, was to keep the focus on Sven and Harold, and make it very clear that neither of them is ‘the bad guy’ – they’re both humans in a very brutal, violent time, and they’re both absolutely sure that they’re right, and above all, they’re family and they love each other.

So, to sum it up, I draw inspiration from ancient legends and myths, from pop culture today, and from my own relationships with the people around me.

What got you interested in your field?  Have you always wanted to be an artist?

I grew up in a theatre-family and was six years old the first time I had a speaking role in a play. I’ve dreamt about writing plays since I was about seven years old, and my dad wrote his first play.

So basically, my dad got me into theatre and writing, and it turned out I was good at it.

I always knew I didn’t want to have a ‘traditional 9-to-5’ job, and I’ve always had a ton of stories in my head that I needed to tell. So I don’t think I ever had any other choice, to be honest.

Do you have any kind of special or unique signature, symbol, or feature you include in your work that you’d be willing to reveal?

I always include at least one, obscure quote from some of Tolkien’s work; the play I wrote last year had a character quoting Gimli from Peter Jackson’s film version (“I have the eyes of a hawk and the ears of a fox.”), and there’s always at least one queer character, even if it’s not explicitly stated in the text.

What advice would you give young aspiring artists?

Keep working. Draw and re-draw. Write and re-write. Sing and re-sing. Ok, the last one didn’t make sense, but I hope you know what I mean.

Keep working, keep fighting, keep telling your stories. They’re important.

“The Quest for the Holy Grail”

ASEXUALITY

Where on the spectrum do you identify?

Biromantic grey-asexual.

Have you encountered any kind of ace prejudice or ignorance in your field?  If so, how do you handle it?

The closest to discrimination I’ve faced in my field is probably when I had people tell me that to keep their theatre ‘family-friendly’ I wasn’t allowed to write about explicitly queer characters, which I did anyway, because fuck that honestly.

That’s about the extent of it, thankfully, but that will probably change in the future.

What’s the most common misconception about asexuality that you’ve encountered?

That it means I can’t ever fall in love. Which is complete bullshit, obviously.

What advice would you give to any asexual individuals out there who might be struggling with their orientation?

To not listen to what anyone else has to say about it. I know that’s hard and all – I still struggle with it every day. But trust me, your opinion of yourself is the only one that really matters, and when you realise that (proper realise it, I mean, not just nod along to my opinion), that’s when you’ll be able to accept yourself, and live your best life.

Finally, where can people find out more about your work?

I, unfortunately, don’t have a website yet, but you can check out the pictures and resumes of my last three plays at vikingespil.dk (the website is in Danish, but there should be an English version as well). My fanfiction can be found on archiveofourown.org (at ingoldamn).

And you are very welcome to contact me directly on Tumblr (at ingoldamn) or to shoot me an e-mail (becsen95@gmail.com).

Thank you, Rebecca, for participating in this interview and this project. It’s very much appreciated.

Interview: hicough

Today we’re joined by hicough. hicough is a phenomenally versatile artist who has done a bit of everything. Her main passion is performance art and she loves to act on stage. Aside from that, she does a little bit of drawing and is interested in film. She has a marvelous passion as you’ll soon read. My thanks to her for taking the time to participate in this interview.

Ezio

WORK

Please, tell us about your art.

I do a lot of different art! As of right now I’m focusing more on the performing arts. I’ve been in seven stage productions (currently in my eighth) and I’ve filmed/edited 2 student films. One of these shows I’ve even performed at the largest international arts festival in the world – the Edinburgh Fringe Festival! I’ll sometimes doodle and I was into it for a while and I even cosplayed as well (spent a month creating an Ezio costume out of old bedsheets), but performing arts is my true passion! I’ve played the piano ever since I was 7 (AKA quite a while) and I was a part of my high school’s marching band and played in the pit! Did I mention I was also in ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) which is America’s international choir and claimed my middle school’s 1^st place orchestra trophy at Disneyland for Music In the Parks twice?

Even though I’ve always been on stage I’ve recently gotten *mawkishly* attached to the camera and I’ve learned to enjoy being behind the scenes (what can I say? I love being in charge!). I hope to study script writing and directing in London in the future and bring more asexual representation to the big and small screen! I’m actually working on a TV show right now with an ace protagonist!

What inspires you?

Other artists. Granted, I will often get jealous by their abilities but I’ve been overcoming that and using their art to fuel my own passion. Sometimes circumstances I find myself in will also bring inspiration to me – heck, I was inspired to write my first novel when I was 10 by staring at a tree for long enough!

What got you interested in your field?  Have you always wanted to be an artist?

I grew up in a very arts oriented family, so I was always submerged in this area. However, it wasn’t until I saw the film War Horse that I realized how amazing film was. I don’t know how, but it somehow made me realize different directors had a style and there were themes – colors, sounds, and camera angles really impacted the way the audience saw a movie. But my turning point for choosing future education was my high school drama teacher. When I performed at the Fringe we spent a few days in London – then, out of the blue, she tells me “You just fit here!” That’s when I officially decided I wanted to study art abroad.

Do you have any kind of special or unique signature, symbol, or feature you include in your work that you’d be willing to reveal?

I don’t really. I’d like to have one though!

What advice would you give young aspiring artists?

Just keep trying, don’t give up on what you want, set goals, and explore opportunities!! If you asked eleven-year-old me what she wanted to be when she grew up she would tell you “A famous actress, of course! Or…maybe a famous author…” At that age I would never have thought of becoming a film director. Heck, if you had told high school freshman me that she would be performing in the high school band in two years she would have scoffed! And while I had to give up doing a high school show to go to marching band competitions, it opened up so many doors for me – brought new friendships, and expanded my future!

Aro and Ace

ASEXUALITY

Where on the spectrum do you identify?

Heteroromantic asexual. I might be demisexual but I’ve never been in a relationship, so it’s not like I’d know 😛

Have you encountered any kind of ace prejudice or ignorance in your field?  If so, how do you handle it?

I have encountered a lot of ignorance. I only came out just this year and I haven’t told everyone, but a lot of people were confused by what that meant – which was totally fine, I didn’t even know what it was until about a year before I started identifying myself as ace. I’d just ask what they didn’t understand and try to explain it to the best of my ability. There have been times when I couldn’t quite answer their question and that’s okay! I’d just be honest and point them in right direction to find answers.

What’s the most common misconception about asexuality that you’ve encountered?

“It’s just a phase.” “You’ll find someone eventually.” OH MY GOSH this is so annoying. I’m pretty sure everyone who falls on the ace spectrum has encountered this and it can be so very irritating. Especially if it comes from your parents, which was my case. However, I don’t let it get me down or make me question myself – I try to explain what I can and let these kinds of people believe what they want to – it’s not my fault they choose to be ignorant. However, I am still kind and open to these people. And while I don’t openly discuss my sexuality, whenever they say something incorrect about asexuality I will simply politely correct them – hopefully these small influences over time can make a difference.

What advice would you give to any asexual individuals out there who might be struggling with their orientation?

It’s okay if you aren’t sure yet. Heck, there are days when I still question myself. Things can change and often do. As soon as I learned the term “asexual” I began to question my “heterosexual” orientation and I’m glad a did. Like I said earlier, I don’t know if I’m demi or not because I haven’t been in a relationship – you’ll always be learning new things about yourself as time goes on. Reach out and learn more about what’s out there; you may find something you think fits you better or you may further solidify yourself in your orientation – not to mention you learn more about the LGBTQ+ community. It’s a win-win!

Finally, where can people find out more about your work?

I have too many accounts for too many things, so I’ll stick with my main ones, haha. My Tumblr is aglon-author, my YouTube is also AglonAuthor, my Wattpad is JustAnAuthor-Captain, and I’ve got a Kahoot! if any ya’ll are interested in that – my username for that is hicough.

Thank you, hicough, for participating in this interview and this project. It’s very much appreciated.