Voices of BTM XX: Melinda Lopez
Tell us a little bit about your play.
My short play is a sneak peek into the world of egg donation and the market that has sprung up around it. Two women, a donor and her ‘agent’ spar over fees, contract issues, future liability and SAT scores—while coming to an agreement for a high-income client. It’s drawn—of course from the science and business of fertility—but it’s wry, a little extreme, and also draws on my experience as an artist, selling my ‘product’ and negotiating with my agent. Is it about the money? Or creating life?
What interests you about the ten-minute format?
What doesn’t? It’s fast, it leans towards the comic, it’s all crisis and climax and then it’s over! Shorter than jumping out of an airplane.
What’s next for you as a playwright (or actor, producer, etc.)?
I wrote What the Market Will Bear years ago—this is one of the revivals in this year’s Marathon. But interestingly enough, I am working on an adaptation of Lorca’s Yerma, which is all about a woman who longs for a baby and will do almost anything to have one. The themes around women’s fertility, and the all-or-nothing struggle that many friends have endured on their quest to start a family—these themes seem to still be really important to me. Yerma opens at the Huntington, May 2019.
It’s hard to believe we’re celebrating BTM XX. Do you have a favorite BTM memory?
I love the Wimberly—but I still miss using the BPT space with the two small theatres and running the gauntlet from one space to the other—we all got to see our plays twice. It only doubled the madness. I guess that made it an ultra-marathon.
Don’t miss What the Market Will Bear—and 49 other amazing ten-minute plays—in Boston Theater Marathon XX on May 6! Tickets