INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT NORM FOSTER, CANADA'S MOST PRODUCED PLAYWRIGHT!

 

Norm Foster, Canada's Most Produced Playwright!

Note:  This interview first appeared in Lakewood Theater's Program for their production of Mr. Foster's play, Drinking Alone.

Norm Foster, the author of tonight's entertainment, is the most produced playwright in Canada,

known for delivering the laughs and plenty of heart in his scripts. Lakewood, like Canada, loves Mr.

Foster's works and have produced several of his plays over the years, much to the delight of

audiences like you. He was gracious enough to take some time out of his day to answer some

questions for me about his work, his characters, and the importance of truth in comedy.

BOBBY: While reading reviews of your plays, something critics seem to praise over and over

again is your characters being relatable, like "real people." How important is it for you to keep

characters relatable for the comedic circumstances to work?

NORM: It’s very important for me that my characters are relatable to the audience. I want the

people in the audience to see people they ‘know’ onstage. This heightens the comedy. It’s

funnier when real characters are going through real life situations that could very well happen to

any of us.

BOBBY: While your plays are hilarious, it is also noteworthy how there are tonal shifts to

moments of true poignancy and heart. How do you so skillfully balance comedy and emotion?

Does it all come down to the characters being relatable?

NORM: Balancing the comedy and the emotion is a knack I developed early on in my writing

career. I found that if you have a good mixture of both, it makes the play better. The comedy

makes the emotion run a little deeper, and the poignancy makes the comedy funnier. They

compliment each other. To balance these two, you have to know when to pull back on each

one. If it’s a serious moment, you need to know when the audience needs a break from that

seriousness. That’s when you lighten it up a bit. Going from comedy to a serious moment is a

little more difficult. You have to ease into the seriousness and not make it seem too abrupt a

change. Both elements are made easier if the characters are real people. If they have a truth to

them.

BOBBY: "Drinking Alone" in many ways centers around a dysfunctional family. What do you

think makes family relationships so easy to mine for comedy?

NORM: Families are something we can ALL relate to. That’s what makes them so natural to

write about and why we find them so funny. We have all been through it. Some to a lesser

degree but we all know what’s going on with family dynamics. You can make up the most

bizarre situation, and if a family is involved, we all say “Oh I get it.” When writing a play, if my

idea revolves around a family, like in Drinking Alone, then I know the battle is already half won.

BOBBY: Now that theater is slowly but surely coming alive again, do you think comedy can be

not only a salve for live audiences moving forward, but also a tool to show just how essential

theater can be?

NORM: I think this might be our chance for comedy to finally be taken seriously. And what I

mean by that, is getting the respect that it is due. For some reason people thinks it’s easy to

write a comedy. Really? If you think that, then try writing one. Try and make an audience of 300

or 500 laugh as one. But now, we are all ready to laugh again. We have had enough of hard

times. Comedy to the rescue!!

Comedy to the rescue... I couldn't have said it better myself! For more information about Mr.

Foster and his plays, you can go to his website, www.normfoster.com