Author Profile – Hunt Holman

Welcome to another of our author profile features. Today we’ll hear from Lake Oswego resident and Writers in the Schools playwright Hunt Holman.

What is the most recent book you’ve read?
2666 by Roberto Bolano

What are you currently working on?
I’m working on rewrites of a play called Willow Jade. Willow Jade began life with a reading in Portland Center Stage’s Made in Oregon Series in July 2008. It will be produced by Portland Playhouse in January 2010, as part of the Fertile Ground Festival.

What did you read growing up?
I read mostly fantasy and sci-fi novels. I loved a lot of different books, but my far and away favorite is Lord of the Rings, of course, followed by Dune. I still read Lord of the Rings to my own kids. I’ve read the whole trilogy probably four or five times now. The Ride of the Rohirrim still moves me to tears.

What’s one piece of advice that you always tell your students?
I tell them that if they think the scene they are working on is stupid, they should let one of their characters say, “This is stupid,” and see what happens, because you always want what you are thinking, hearing, experiencing right now in the present, to be what is recorded on the page.

Did you write in high school?
Yes. A friend and I wrote sketch comedy, mostly inspired by or directly ripped off from Monty Python. Our amazing drama teacher actually gave us the keys to the theater, and let us stage the pieces we wrote, for audiences, even. I still marvel at that.

What has been the biggest reward about doing WITS?
The best part for me is always the readings. I love attending the public readings at the end of the residence, and watching students who, at the beginning of the semester, had no idea they could do this, stand up in front of their classmates and families to read their new plays.

OregonLive.com has an older interview with Hunt at http://blog.oregonlive.com/onstage/2008/07/jaw_interview_hunt_holman.html.