We recently connected with Germaine Shames and have shared our conversation below.
Germaine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
When, more than eight years ago, I decided to cross over from writing novels and screenplays to try my hand at writing for the live stage, I joined a playwrights’ group that met regularly to read and critique one another’s in-progress scripts. Because I was a newbie, and my colleagues far more experienced, I listened deeply to their feedback. It took me a few meetings to notice how much of that feedback focused on what my colleagues perceived as rule-breaking, hard to produce, or simply wrong.
Slow to trust my intuition, I reached out to a Literary Manager at the most respected theater in our state and invited her to attend a meeting that featured my first suite of short plays. With equal parts excitement and terror, I watched her take copious notes throughout the reading. When the feedback session began, she said nothing, only took additional notes. Once my colleagues had spewed their usual “thou shalt nots”, she suggested that we meet privately to discuss my plays.
That one-on-one meeting changed my life.
In contrast to my colleagues’ Greek chorus of criticism, this sharp young Literary Manager homed in on my work’s strengths and asked to read more of my scripts. She volunteered hours of her time to discuss my early plays with me, and many more hours to direct one of them. In the process, she opened my eyes to theatre’s infinite possibility and the rewards of risk-taking.
Happily, all of those early works that she so generously helped to shape went on to win competitions. I left the playwrights’ group, broadened my network, and have never looked back—all thanks to the kindness of one savvy professional who believed in me while I found my voice and learned to believe in myself.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
A decade-long career as a journalist launched me on my path toward the performing arts. After covering the first Palestinian Uprising for two winters as a correspondent and witnessing firsthand the gamut of senseless tragedies behind the headlines, I realized that hard news could never convey an iota of the deeper story I was gleaning. I turned to fiction writing and won my State’s Literary Fellowship in Fiction. I learned that I can find light in the most horrific situations and leave readers (and now an audience) with hope.
Nothing stirs me as deeply as the current of shared excitement that runs through a live audience when a play or musical or opera is working its magic. Feminism and anti-racism inform all that I create. Having earned a Masters degree in Intercultural Studies, I write from a global perspective with the conscious aim of fostering intercultural, interracial, and cross-gender understanding and healing. I care deeply about climate change and the extinction of species and have addressed these issues across multiple art forms.
Over the past half dozen years, I have celebrated premieres in such cities as New York, London, Paris and Chicago. Artistic Director Claire Beckman has written of me, “”Germaine advocates for social justice with refreshing maturity, structural elegance, and gut punching dichotomies.” I aspire to live up to her praise. It’s all about love.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
In all my years as a creative, I have never experienced a “thriving creative ecosystem.” Most artists (and arts administrators) labor within a system of perpetual scarcity.
If you appreciate the arts and want to make a difference, contribute to your creative friends’ crowdfunding campaigns, attend your local nonprofit theatre’s annual gala, join the board of an indie opera or dance company, volunteer business services, attend performances and recommend them to your friends…. Now, more than ever, the survival of the performing arts depends, not just on wealthy donors, but on ordinary people who care enough take an active interest.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
In a word, connection. Those moments when an audience gasps, laughs, sheds tears… and the playwright silently rejoices, knowing that the long hours of writing and mulling and rewriting have all been worth it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://germainewrites.wix.com/buzz
- Instagram: @germaineshames
- Facebook: @germaine.shames
- Linkedin: @germaine-shames
- Twitter: @germainewrites
- Youtube: @germainewrites
- Other: New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/2551/germaine-shames