Alex Rubin is a joy. We first met when she interviewed Alicia Krakauer and I about NEXT in Concert. Since then, I’ve gotten to know the breadth of Alex’s work, and with every word she writes, my admiration grows. I’m so happy to have her partake in the Music Q&A Series, and equally as thrilled to say that she and I will be working together on Women of the Wings: A Celebration of Female Musical Theatre Writers at Feinstein’s/54 Below on August 4th!
MM: When did you first realize you wanted to be musical theatre writer?
AR: I spent four years getting my BFA in directing. A month after I graduated, I decided I wanted to be a writer. Whoops! I realized that I loved to tell stories as a director, and if storytelling was what I wanted to do, I should write the stories!
MM: Of all the roles you’ve written thus far, which ones is closest to your heart?
AR: The lead in my first musical was Kat, a transgender teenager. Kat loves with such courage and is so deserving of love. I want to be like her.
MM: When one walks into your home, what books are permanently on your bookshelf?
AR: Story by Robert McKee to remind me how to write, The Song of the Lioness Quartet to remind me how to feel, and The Illustrated Man to remind me there are no limits.
MM: If you were stranded on a desert island, what television shows and/or movies would you want available to you, (assuming of course you have a television and Internet connection?)
AR: I’m much more of a TV person than a movie person. I love living with characters for years! Favorites: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Office, Misfits, Friends, and who doesn’t love The Simpsons?
MM: What’s the best piece of advice you’d want to offer aspiring musical theatre writers?
AR: Just do the work. If you keep writing and submitting and connecting with the community, things will happen. It just might not happen on your timeline, and that’s okay.
MM: What sound do you love? What sound do you hate?
AR: The first measures of Clair de Lune calm me down instantly no matter how stressed I am. The word “stinky” makes me want to throw chairs.
MM: What literary or musical theatre character is most like your personality? Least like your personality?
AR: Most like my personality: My first thought was Mrs. Astor from Titanic so I’m sticking with it.
Least like my personality: The Cat in the Hat. I’m not a cat and hats look bad on me.
MM: In today’s economic state, arts education programs are being cut. What reasons would you give to a school board or politician for preserving arts education programming in schools?
AR: Why are we still having this debate? At this point it has been proven both by history and science that when children are exposed to the arts they do better in school and that when a society values the arts, the nation is more successful. To unashamedly pirate a quote from The West Wing, “There is a connection between progress of a society and progress in the arts. The age of Pericles was also the age of Phidias. The age of Lorenzo de Medici was also the age of Leonardo Da Vinci. The age of Elizabeth was the age of Shakespeare.”
MM: Who is/was your greatest teacher? (Can absolutely be more than one)
AR: My middle school drama teacher, Barbara Stubbs, was my greatest teacher and my hero. When I got into the high school musical in seventh grade, she made me her assistant director so I could still be involved in the middle school show. The other kids gave me a hard time about it and when I asked her why she gave me the position she said, “Because I know you could make a career in theatre someday.” She was the first person who believed I could really do this.
Thanks Alex!
Write Teacher(s) Readers – be sure to come down to Feinstein’s/54 Below on August 4th to celebrate Alex and her fellow musical theatre female writers! Tickets and additional information are available here.