Interview with Playwright Hilary Bettis

Get to know Playwright Hilary Bettis and her process of developing her play 72 Miles To Go…

Orlando Shakes: What themes or ideas are you focusing on with this play?

Hilary Bettis: I wanted to write a play about a normal, everyday American family coming of age, graduating, falling in love, having babies — all the universal rites of passage most of us experience — but they’re experiencing all of these while being separated by borders. I’m not interested in an “issue” play on immigration, or having an intellectual debate onstage. That’s for the audience to explore after they leave the theater. I simply wanted to show an everyday family that is doing their best to stay connected in impossible circumstances.

Orlando Shakes: What is the biggest challenge about crafting a new play?

Hilary: The biggest challenge for me is always structure. I can get really excited about themes and characters, but figuring out how those pieces fit together, how they connect and propel the story forward, is always the hardest part. The first few plays I wrote were just vomiting out my subconscious, and then going back and trying to find a story in the mess. Now I spend a lot of time outlining and re-outlining before I even start writing. I actually really like outlining. I used to hate it, and now it’s my best friend.

Orlando Shakes: Who or what was your biggest inspiration for becoming a playwright?

Hilary: I think my biggest inspiration for becoming a playwright was really just being a deeply confused teenage girl trying to make sense of the world. I didn’t grow up going to the theatre or anything like that, I just had these big questions about love and survival and intimacy and atonement, so I started writing. And somewhere along the way that writing evolved into scenes, then plays, then more plays…

Orlando Shakes: If you could only describe your play using four words, what would they be?

Hilary: “El amor no tienes fronteras” or “Love has no borders”

Orlando Shakes: What is unique about your writing process? 

Hilary: I don’t know if there’s anything “unique” about my writing process. I used to listen to music to “get into the headspace” of the character, but now that I write for TV, with its constant deadlines, I’ve learned to write just about anywhere — planes, hotels, kitchens, cars, even on my iPhone on the subway. Maybe that’s unique? That I can literally write anywhere. I’m actually writing this as my landlord and plumber saw metal pipes next to me, so…

Orlando Shakes: Aside from this play what is next for you?

This play is getting a workshop at Roundabout next week, then a development production at the Alley in Houston this January. I also have a world premiere of another play, Queen of Basel, happening at the Studio Theatre in DC this March. Both are being directed by the supremely talented José Zayas. And in the TV world, I’m developing a project at FX with Propagate Productions (they did Ugly Betty and Jane the Virgin). I also wanna give a shoutout to Ming Pfeiffer’s Usual Girls at Roundabout and Hansol Jung’s Wild Goose Dreams at The Public. They’re two playwrights everyone should know!

ABOUT HILARY BETTIS
Hilary Bettis is a Brooklyn-based writer. She was born in the South, and grew up all over the US. And she’s been riding horses since she was three. She was nominated for a 2018 Writer’s Guild of America Award for her work on the Emmy-nominated series “The Americans” on FX. She’s an alum of the highly competitive Sundance TV Episodic Lab. Bettis has developed work with Roundabout, Alley All New Festival, Orlando Shakes PlayFest, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, New York Theatre Workshop, SPACE at Ryder Farm, Cape Cod Theatre Project, La Jolla Playhouse, New York Foundation for the Arts, The Lark, NNPN, Sloan/EST Commission, among others. She has developed and sold multiple original TV shows, and is currently developing a project with FX and Propagate. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School, and is represented by CAA and Grandview. www.HilaryBettisWriter.com

Don’t miss Hilary Bettis’ 72 miles to go… at PlayFest presented by Harriett’s Charitable Trust.