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Meet Mary Anneeta Mann Author & Playwright Of ThuGun & Natasha a Drama With Rap
http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher/articles/5928/1/Meet-Mary-Anneeta-Mann-Author-amp-Playwright-Of-ThuGun-amp-Natasha-a-Drama-With-Rap/Page1.html
Norm Goldman


Reviewer & Author Interviewer, Norm Goldman. Norm is the Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com.

He has been reviewing books for the past twenty years after retiring from the legal profession.

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By Norm Goldman
Published on April 10, 2013
 




Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com Interviews Mary Anneeta Mann Author & Playwright of Thugun & Natasha A Drama With Rap



Playwright: Mary Anneeta Mann

ISBN: 1-4107-5028-0 (ebook)

ISBN: 1-4107-5027 (Paperback)


Bookpleasures.com is honored to-day to have as our guest Mary Anneeta Mann author and playwright of ThuGun & Natasha a Drama With Rap. Mary holds a Ph.D in Communication and Drama from USC.

Good day Mary and thanks for participating in our interview.

Norm:

What draws you to the theater, how did you become a playwright and what was your training?

Mary:

I was paraphrasing and loving Shakespeare’s poetry in grade school and noticed that the speeches belonged to plays. Our first year class in High School performed ‘Henry V’ and I loved it. I studied speech for six years in my teens. I got a degree in English from Sydney University, an M.A. in Theatre from the University of California in Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Communications and Drama from the University of Southern California.

Norm:

Are you conscious of any particular influences on your writing?

Mary:

I was given a King James version of the Bible when I was seven and I read it for the poetry. (The translators were contemporaries of Shakespeare though I did not know it then). I got my own copy of Shakespeare when I was thirteen and the study of his tragedies led me to Aristotle. I pursued Aristotle to find out how to write a classical tragedy and later to reach his Science of Being Altogether. The reason why I pursued writing was because I believed ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’. I was raised to believe that WW1 was the war to end all wars and WW2, declared when I was eight years old, determined my destiny first to try to find out ‘why war’ and then later to try to find out how to end it.

Norm:

What makes dramatic literature come alive in a classroom? How can teachers foster a love of dramatic literature with their students?

Mary:

It has to reach the core of a person’s being and in great literature activate their conscience, the subject matter recognizable as relevant to their everyday lives. The love is lured by the language, pleasurable to listen to, fun to speak. With these elements in the literature, the teacher’s enthusiasm will enthrall the students.

Norm:

Do you feel optimistic or pessimistic about the theater industry as it stands today?

Mary:

The classrooms need more poetry in grade school to foster the love of the language and its rhythms which calm the soul and encourage self expression. Small theatres are alive and well spiritually but not economically. The arts need to be recognized as intrinsic components of all education from grade school through the highest levels of scientific and economic professions. I am optimistic that this is achievable.

Norm:

What's the most difficult thing for you about being a writer and playwright?

Mary:

Some writers are motivated by an inner conviction that they have something to offer the world that the world needs to hear to make it a better place. Their books and plays have to find a way to be viewed and experienced in order to startle people into deep thought about the possibility of a solution to an all encompassing anguish such as war and economic desperation. So the most difficult thing is to break through a gate keeper’s sound barrier and get the attention of those who recognize and understand the anguish, have the collective ability to ease it - such as representatives of the populace under stress – and have the courage to act upon the guidance of their collective conscience and vision of a more humane world.

Norm:

What purpose do you believe ThuGun & Natasha a Drama With Rap serves and what matters to you about the story?

Mary:

A play like this enlightens people by presenting a different understanding from the stereotypical one and encourages people to think about their lives and actions. In ThuGun and Natasha the shooter was a woman. Her action violated the age old and natural understanding that women are the protectors of life not the destroyers of it. I had to show that. What matters to me is that I could express through art the philosophical truth that the role of human beings is to love, nurture, help and support each other and not give in to the pettiness of trying to hurt each other because it grows out of control and results ultimately in war. (I am not sure I thought about all of this when I was writing it. I was just driven to do it).

Norm:

What would you say is the best reason to recommend someone to read and/or attend a performance of the play?

Mary:

The best reason is to recognize and enjoy an experience that resonates at a very deep level and reinforces one’s natural instinct of reverence for life while also stimulating thought that may, with further encouragement and hope, propel people to act in harmony with the truth it exposes.

Norm:

How did you decide you were ready to write the play?

Mary:

The shock of the woman’s action which violated my philosophy of life impelled me to do extensive research on the incident, the cultural environment, the city itself. The gun had to be treated as its own character and when I decided to, as it were, become the gun, I knew I was ready. (I had used personification in other plays, as Maria and the Comet and characters as Liberty and Eternal Justice in the play Anzac.)

Norm:

Why did you employ rap music in the play?

Mary:

The play was written for the youth of Los Angeles as well as my own peace of mind in knowing that I had done something about what I considered and consider a great problem in this country. I found out the city was full of guns. They were being used by disillusioned young people whose voice was rap.

The rhythm of rap is a natural rhythm when the stresses are shaped by the music. If I could reach them in their own comfort zone, as well as the younger children before they reached the streets, I might be able to help them. Tours of the play actually proved this to be true.

Norm:

Where can our readers find out more about you and ThuGun & Natasha A Drama With Rap?

Mary;

My own WEBSITE. The book is also available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble as well as other outlets around the globe.

Norm:

As this interview draws to a close what one question would you have liked me to ask you? Please share your answer.

Mary:

I think you have done a great job in asking more questions than I could have thought of myself and I thank you for it.

Norm:

Thanks Once Again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.

Follow Here To Purchase ThuGun and Natasha: A Drama With Rap

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