An Artist Who Paints With Words

By: Brandon Hubbard and Mary Ann Watters

There are similarities between the career playwright Brian Meerin has cultivated and the home he’s created in nature outside Spring Lake, Michigan. The endless wooded driveway to his geodesic, dome-style house carves such a narrow path that visitors have only one course to follow. Likewise, Brian’s calling has carved him only one course.

Brian’s Path

Brian is a world renowned playwright. Two of his plays have won the top award in his field, the Distinguished Play Award from the American Alliance of Theater & Education in 1990 and 2002, and
Brian won the Charlotte B. Chorpenning Playwright Award in 1995. What did Brian do to become a great playwright?

Brian earned his B.A. in English with secondary teaching certification from Grand Valley State College's Thomas Jefferson College (TJC) in 1972. (TJC was an experimental "cluster" college in the early years of GVSC.) He began his career teaching English at Marshall High School. Brian moved back to the Grand Valley area when his current wife decided to return so she could continue her education.

Brian supported himself during this time through a series of part-time jobs. He taught for a few years at TJC, and worked one and one-half years at the newly formed psych ward at Butterworth Hospital, where he:

"Kept them from killing themselves, fed them, kept them from going through locked doors, talked with them a great deal, did some counseling with lots of supervision, and I ran a nurses group once a month (facilitated)."

Brian went back to school, too, and earned his Master of Fine Arts from Michigan State University in 1985. So when did Brian realize he was interested in writing?
"I was about 21 or 22 when I decided to try writing."

The first thing he wrote was a children's play commissioned by the Perfect Circle Theater Project working with a CETA grant, 1978.

Currently he does a variety of things to help pay the rent. For four years he directed a players group that toured around the state having to do with water quality issues. He also buys and sells antiques. But Brian is a playwright. Everything else he does is to sustain his drive to write plays.

Genre

There are different genres to select from. Why did Brian choose drama? He said,

"I see the world and people as a playwright sees them - compact, clean, interactive. What interests me as a writer is interaction between people and you get that from the moment a play starts to the moment the play stops."

The publishing of drama differs dramatically from that of poetry and prose. Poets have small magazines in which they can get published, although there isn't much money in it. Publishers of prose put a lot of effort into the advertising of works they adopt. If a work is deemed good and marketable, the publisher works with the author to polish it and advertise it. There is money to be made in publishing prose if an author can find a publisher. Because there is not as much money in the publishing of plays, these publishers don't spend as much money to advertise them.
Brian writes children's, young adult, and adult plays. But his success has come from writing children's and young adult plays.

"I like them because I love the age group. I like the energy and the imagination and the availability of those audiences. I like getting paid for my work - and they pay me. And success breeds success."

Brian’s first role in the theater was the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, and he enjoyed it. And His mentor liked children's theater, encouraging him to write in that area. So Brian took his advice.

Location

Unlike most aspiring playwrights, rather than seek fame on Broadway or in Los Angeles, Brian remained in west Michigan. He lived in San Francisco for a year and for a couple of years he flew to New York once a month. But it just wasn't him.

"I do not like it! It depresses me! I can't write there! I don't care about the city! It ain't no fun for me! It scares me! I don't understand it! … but that's where I should be as a writer. I should be in New York. I should be in Chicago, at least, or LA. But… I miss my family."

And so, despite regional contradictions, Brian has remained in his rural setting to write his art.
One might think Brian is a naturalist because he built his own wood frame geodesic dome way out in the suburbs of Hamilton with a lengthy, wood-lined drive. His friends kid him about living in the boonies of the boonies. But Brian says,

"No, I'm not a naturalist. I don't make a study of it. I just love it. Yesterday I got up and it was just magnificent out here. The snow... it was just a magnificent day. That's why I'm here. It's beautiful every day no matter what's going on here, and I don't feel that way in the city. The city is not beautiful."

Brian’s location influences his writing. According to him,

"I have written more plays set in the forest than any person alive or dead. Ever! Count them up, man. The forest is in so many of my plays."

His family is here and so are his basketball buddies. He could play basketball in the big cities, but not with his friends. And that makes all the difference to Brian.

Writing Habits

Brian’s typical day begins about 9:30 a.m. He writes until 1:30 or 2:00 p.m. and then goes out to lunch to give himself a break from writing. In the evening when he has rehearsals, he does rewrites there and takes notes. After rehearsal he relaxes. The next morning he gets up, works on rewrites from the night before so he has them for the evening's rehearsal, and if he has any time he works on another play. This schedule can get interrupted if he needs to take his turn working at the antique mall.

Writing doesn't always come easy for Brian. He doesn't write everyday, he writes every day he is physically able to.

"Some people get energy from writing - it just drains my energy like a vampire. If I write too much I get sick, physically ill."

He often writes for five or six days at a time, sometimes twice a day.
But, he takes a day to rest when he needs it. There are times when he gets up and he just is not able to get his mind into that creative place he needs to be. Lately, Saturday has become his day off from writing, not because of the conventional weekend, but because of antiques. He regularly attends antique auctions, reselling the treasures he finds for extra income. He uses the time away from writing to re-coupe his mental and physical strength.

Deadlines

Although he has an aggressive writing style, he rarely sets a deadline for himself. Deadlines are usually set by production and publishing requirements.

Brian believes deadlines are great motivators for a writer. In fact, he believes a deadline is one of the strongest inspirations there can be. One big deadline for Brian is December 1st. This is the deadline for entries to the AATE competition each year.

This deadline is very important. Although winning this competition does not guarantee productions of your play, it does provide you with publicity and a high level of respect in the craft. Therefore, you are able to ask for and receive higher commissions and have a better chance at receiving grants

Inspiration

What is Brian’s muse, his deep source of inspiration?

"Naked women. Okay the real answer to that question is everything that I live for, that's important to me."

Brian’s family and his childhood are a big inspiration to him. He grew up in an alcoholic household with five siblings. If you knew Brian and his family when he was growing up, you would be able to identify them in his plays. His first wife and some friends are also scattered throughout his plays.
Brian uses interviews and conversation to learn about the people and things that inspire him.

"People that interest me I interview. I try to get something of their essence, their integrity."

He met a seventeen-year-old dropout in a restaurant in Spring Lake where he would go for lunch. She was a bizarre dresser and had tattoos and piercings when it was first becoming fashionable. He thought she was an interesting person and asked for an interview. Brian thought he might use her as a character in a play. He interviewed her extensively then but lost track of her.
Eight years later he thought of her as a potential center of a play, so he contacted her mother to try and locate her for more interviews. She was living in an abandoned church with her child, whom she had named after a vampire.

"She was still as strange and creative and interesting a woman as I'd ever met."
She consented to more interviews and provided a few photographs of herself. Brian went off to Iowa to do a four-week production. In a cold, brick hotel room enveloped in snowstorms, he put up her pictures and wrote began writing. He named it Sarah, after her. That's one of the ways Brian is inspired. Meeting someone who sparks his interest and being allowed to get to the core of their personality.

"The important journey of people's life...where are they on that journey? How are things going? That to me - seeing the spectrum of experience of those people - that's interesting."

Passion

Brian is passionate about most of the things he does. Maybe that is the temperament of an artist. One of those things is basketball. Brian plays in as many Gus Macker tournaments as he can every year.

Brian began playing basketball in the fourth grade. His love for the game has never waned. Macker tournaments have allowed him and his friends to participate in the game with a passion that is surpassed by few things.

Gus Macker basketball tournaments provide Brian an opportunity to bond with his male friends in a way he finds no where else. It requires giving everything he has, holding nothing back, and fighting as hard as possible, with like minded men, all going for the win. Brian also finds passion in the theater. Working with actors who are dedicated to the craft brings out this kind of passion, but not to the heights that Macker basketball does.

"I'm talking about a quality of passion that is full out shared with someone, and you know they're in there with you. That's what its like to play with men. That's what it's like with sex with a woman who loves me and I love back. It's a full out, totally honest, passionate experience."
As much as Brian loves basketball, he says he has thought of quitting.
"Oh yeah, I have to because I'm way old. And I'm hurt. Constantly! Constantly in pain! Constantly unable to perform! And even when I'm not hurt I don't perform that well. And even though I am giving as much as I can it doesn't look like it anymore."

Advice
When asked to give advice, Brian tries to be as honest as possible. When asked for advice for people wanting to write, he says:

"DON'T DO IT! I'm not joking. Don't do it. Don't get involved except as a hobby. Find another career. It's too difficult."

This sounds like odd advice coming from a professional playwright. But Brian Meerin is as passionate about his advice to fledgling writers as he is about writing, playing basketball, and his wife. To understand his advice, you have to consider the compensation for playwrights and the demand for drama.

The only way to make any big money in drama is to get your play produced in New York, Los Angeles, or maybe Chicago. In order to do that you must first live in the area and second write to a formula.

Living in the big city provides you the opportunity to be involved with the day-to-day operations of a theater. In essence, you are doing your apprenticeship. It is not likely a stranger will walk in and get a play produced over an active member of a company. And it should be that way.
Producers are looking for plays that will insure a dividend. So, instead of looking to "art" they go with what has proven itself a money maker. Thus, the formula is developed. To get produced on Broadway, unless you have a name already, you must conform. If you are an artist, and find yourself avoiding conformity to formulas, you will find writing drama a hard way to earn a living.
In addition, when you divide the number of plays being produced by the number of plays being published, Brian’s warning begins to make sense. But if you must write, he has advice for you, also:

"…if you must do it, develop side by side along the way a skill such as plumbing. I pick on plumbing because a plumber can make a decent living working only half-time, to get maybe some health insurance and make a decent wage - lots more than a waitress or a waiter. And you have your own self-respect. You are working. You are doing something. Plus you are only working half-time and then you can support your habit or your need to create."

There are a couple of ways other than hitting it big on Broadway to make some money in drama. One is to write adaptations. The other is getting your play produced on television.
Adaptations ride on the publicity set up by the publishing houses of prose, which is why you see more adaptations than original plays. However, when you write an adaptation you give up all the royalties. Brian has written adaptations of the following books which were of high interest to him and lots of fun to write:

1. Three Musketeers,
2. Rapunzel,
3. Hansel and Gretel,
4. Treasure Island,
5. The Boy Who Left Home To Find Out About The Shivers

An example of a play that was produced on television is the Odd Couple. It started as a play, was produced as a movie and as a sitcom. The producers of the Odd Couple made tons of money.

Awards

But the hardships connected with being a full-time writer were no match for Brian’s passion for drama. He's done what he's had to at times to pay the rent, but he's remained at all times an artist. And so, as we go about our lives unaware of the struggles to get Brian’s characters onto the stage, his steadfastness, his perseverance, his passion have been rewarded.

In 1995 he won the Charlotte B. Chorpenning Playwright Award from the American Alliance for Theater & Education (AATE). This award was sandwiched in between awards for two of his plays. The Distinguished Play Award (AATE), the top award in his craft, was presented to Aalmauria: the Voyage of the Dragonfly in 1990 and to Ezigbo, the Spirit Child (an adaptation) in 2002.
Brian has also been recognized by Grand Valley State University. In 2003, he became a Distinguished Alumni, an award program begun in 1985 by the Alumni Association to:

"… recognize alumni who have made outstanding contributions to society, and whose accomplishments and careers reflect favorably upon Grand Valley. This prestigious award is presented during each Commencement ceremony to alumni nominees selected by a panel of members of the Alumni Association Board of Directors."