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At 33, Nicky Silver has been writing plays for the past 10 years, and supporting himself as a playwright and director for about the past two. Like the Duncan family in Pterodactyls, he grew up in Philadelphia with his parents and sister. (A few specific character traits aside, he swears the play isn't autobiographical.) With titles like My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine, Free Will & Wanton Lust and Fat Men in Skirts, his plays include such plot twists as incest, cannibalism, murder and suicide, and, like their author, ricochet between outlandish comedy and unflinching honesty with seemingly inexhaustible energy.
WHO PLAYS?
Well, I like them. I do. I think theatrically. I really think in terms of a group of people in front of another group of people telling a story.
DO YOU REMEMBER SEEING PLAYS AS A CHILD?
When I was a kid my father used to bring me to New York to see plays for my birthday, and I guess I was about 11 when I saw Equus. I remember that very clearly because there I was, 11 years old, sitting with my father watching naked Peter Firth masturbate on Nugget. I enjoyed it a lot--I picked the plays--but I think my father was a little chagrined.
YOUR PLAYS OFTEN JUXTAPOSE THE OUTRAGEOUSLY FUNNY WITH THE BRUTALLY HONEST. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY WITH THAT JUXTAPOSITION?
Well, see, this is a serious question, so I have to think, so there'll be blank space. Leave blank space: "Mr. Silver thinks for a long time."
First of all, I believe theatre is about communication. And in order to communicate effectively, the person to whom you are attempting to communicate has to be open. Humor has a lot do to with creating that openness.
And second, I think the world is a mix of the grotesque and the absurd. I'm really creating an accurate representation of the world as I see it; I'm just trying to be honest.
ONE MIGHT GLEAN FROM PTERODACTYLS THAT YOU HAVE A PRETTY BLEAK WORLD VIEW.
Actually, I think of Pterodactyls as a cautionary tale rather than a bleak epitaph. I do think it makes us look at mistakes we've made as a culture--mistakes that we make all the time in...