We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bernadette Armstrong. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bernadette below.

Hi Bernadette, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I love working in film and theater. When I was getting my BA in film and theater I would walk the grounds and look at all the other students and wonder…. how can they not be studying anything else but FILM!!! I am at my happiest when I am working on a project, either writing and directing plays, working on sets, and or writing – anything.. My biggest flaw as a creative person is having no idea how to fundraise for myself. The only time in my life that I didn’t have a regular, full time job was when I was putting plays up in my backyard when I was 8 years old during summer vacation.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When I had my son in my early 20’s,I had to work to take care of the two of us, but I kept my creative side alive by continuing to write, I have a nice little stacks of scripts, poems and short stories that kept my hopes alive of some day making things happen. And now, well ever since 1990 when I started having readings of my scripts, I have been making things happen. Short films in school, films going to festival and plays going up on stages in LA since 2001, my creative side has kept me going while my income has paved the way. Open-Door Playhouse came about in September 2020 when COVED-19 caused me to cancel my play that was schedule to go up in September 2020. And 3 yrs later I am still at it.

Besides raising my son, Open-Door Playhouse has been my biggest achievement so far. I have always been a cheerleader for anyone who is succeeding in what they love. Artist, writers and anyone who’s able to do what they love on a daily basis. When I started Open-Door Playhouse I was only thinking of me and getting my play, Custody, out into the world. I got the idea for the Podcast by using plays from the 1940’s & 1950″ for a play I wrote about Joan Crawford. I realized that I was not the only artist that was shutdown… all of us were. After being turned away from other Theater Podcasts because I don’t have an agent, I thought about my own podcast. So, after gaining encouragement from actors I worked with put together this idea, produced Custody, and the opened up to script submissions. Scripts came flooding into my email. Actors contacted me, and then directors, and by the end of 2020 there were 16 new plays from writers all over the country on the Open-Door Playhouse Podcast. In February 2021 I was approved as a 501c3 nonprofit. September 3rd, 2023 we will broadcast our 100th play. And to be clear, everyone is paid for our zoom rehearsal time and live recording time.

One of the best moves I made while creating the podcast, was reaching out to PEN AMERICA Prison Writing Program. I made contact with Robbie who handles their contact and he sent me the 2020 winning plays. All 3 are up on the podcast and more and more women and men living on the “inside” of both federal and state housing have plays up on the podcast. One of them, “What’s Prison Like?” earned Open-Door Playhouse a Webby Award Nomination for the Crime & Justice category, the only podcast run by a woman. In our first year Custody won a Communication Award for Content. “Accepting Adina”, about living with a partner with Dementia, is being used by instructors of nursing students. In the spring of 2021 we joined up with a Theater Podcast in the UK and I produced The Canterfield Ghost casting from the UK and the US – so much fun. All things that I never would have imagined when this all began.

All proving to me that my idea was a good one. But, I must say one of the dearest things to my heart is all the love, friendships and respect I feel from and for my casts, writers and directors. It is so rare that any of them turn me down when I reach out to them to share their talent. I never could have made this happen without them. I love them all.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist….

Knowing that I am good at what I do.. I say that because writers, actors, directors, sound engineers, lighting engineers, PR and my assistant – all enjoy working with me. I truly can’t ask for anything more.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Well I have a few…but I think one of the most challenging times for me was in the 1st 6 months of 1983 which started out with my father died suddenly on New Years Eve of a heart attack on a dance floor and I was trying to finish my 2nd year of Jr. College and trying to get /stay sober, became homeless and my son was put into foster care.

I finished that semester living in a Ford Pinto with my cat when a wonderful man offered me a very small trailer to live in to get off the streets, and I was accepted into a state university to finish my BA in Psychology and after a court battle that lasted 2 years, was financially able to get my son back. After working my way through my first BA, I found the courage to bail myself out the that BA and applied to film school. I have never looked back. As I mentioned before, I couldn’t believe anyone would go to school for anything BUT film studies.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.opendoorplayhouse.org
• Instagram: opendoorplayhouse75
• Linkedin: Bernadette Armstrong
• Twitter: @DoorPlayhouse

Image Credits
All mine from Open-Door Playhouse