Talk to Me

One of the things I am really loving about writing my nuns on mars play is how much the premise of it makes people want to talk. I’ve never had this before. With my other plays conversations have gone something like:
Person: What’s your play about?
Me: Bosnia.
Person: Oh. Dark. (Walks away)
Or
Person: What’s your play about?
Me: it’s a political thriller about a presidential candidate who’s accused of rape.
Person: Neat. (Walks away)
But now the conversations go:
Person: What’s your play about?
Me: Nuns on Mars.
Person: Oh my god that’s awesome. Did you know [insert factoid about mars]? Have you read [insert sci fi book]? My [insert relative] was a nun! But then she quit and married a monk!
I don’t mean for the above to appear mean. I really love that people seem to attach to the premise on an intellectual level. I’ve always been pretty upfront about my scifi nerdom so I find it interesting (vindicating) that everyone, even people who seem normal, has a sci fi book that I just must read. I also love that other people like Mars just as much as I do.
And as someone who was raised outside of organized religion I’ve always been fascinated by Catholicism and Catholics relationship to their faith. Its this incredible love, hate, fascination, recognizing the weirdness while still totally embracing it that I think is unique in its intensity. And Catholics totally want to talk about it. Which is wonderful for me. So yeah, despite the fact that this play is kicking my ass in a way that no other play has done to me, I am enjoying talking to people about it.