We were lucky to catch up with Claire Bernstein recently and have shared our conversation below.

Claire, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I find myself at a very interesting point in my artistic journey where I am finally learning my craft through the lens of my authentic self, and not learning it in a way others expect of me. It’s ironic that it took me going to Graduate School for dramatic writing to find this within myself, but being surrounded by amazing artists has inspired my craft immensely. I genuinely believe you can be an incredible and successful writer having not gone to school for it- but going back to school was the right step for me at this point in my life. I am crafting who I want to be as an artist, and “writing towards the thing that needs me the most” as my professor Luis Alfaro tells us to strive towards. I want to see more stories surrounding femme joy, and them overcoming systemic and personal trauma. I want to see more queer stories that are uplifting and transformative and joyful. I want to see more stories about platonic love and chosen family and show how that is just as important as romantic love. I feel a sense of duty to show these stories. I want to write the truth, my truth- and I am incredibly excited to learn more and more who I am and what I want to say every day.

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

When I look back at how I became an artist, I realize I always wanted to be a storyteller. I grew up with lots of music and books and the ideal to be independent. I got into performance and theater at a young age, as I moved around quite a bit growing up- and this became my constant. I went to Ithaca College and got my BFA in Acting and Creative Writing, and then packed up my life and moved out to Chicago. I fell in love with the city, with the people, and began auditioning. I slowly came to realize that the stories and characters that I was auditioning for were not the ones I wanted to represent, and I felt pigeon holed into the “quirky fat girl side kick” stereotype. Where was the real femme representation? Where were the nuanced stories of heartbreak and isolation and pain that this society puts on women and girls? Where was the non-traditional family representation? And most importantly, where was the joy and perseverance in all these nuanced stories? So I began writing more. and experimenting more, and failing more- and decided I wanted to get better at my craft of writing. So I was thrilled when I got into the USC Dramatic Writing program. I am halfway done with my degree as of now. I hope to bring my skills I learn from the program into the writing industry and be an important and specific representation.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn, and frankly am still unlearning, is that I am not “good” enough or “talented” enough or “right” enough to be a successful writer. I think we become our own worst enemies at an alarming rate as artists because the very act of our existence is to be completely different from the status quo- which can be uncomfortable and weird and scary. I think if we create more conversation around the fact that all artists, regardless of where we are in our career or goals, have overwhelming self doubt a lot of the time- it could be transformative in all of us reaching our goals and not being so competitive with one another. If we can all pull up equal chairs to the table and talk openly about the beauty in our differences, and uplift the community to have conversations to help achieve our goals – I think the artist’s world will be an even better place to inhabit.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

A large thing that I hope to be able to do when I am more seasoned in my craft is to bring back the mentor/mentee relationship. I think that is a lost art, or at least a less common art- a resource I wish I had more. If I had known experienced and thoughtful artists who actively took part in growing my craft, I would have saved myself a lot of heartbreak and frustration. School definitely brought that for me, and still does, but I wish it was more of a community thing. Also, I wish I had treated all artistic opportunities as equally important, because you never know what will launch your passion or career- nothing is too small to be your big start.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @CLAIREBERNSTEIN
• Other: @uscmfaplaywrights (instagram)