I Can Write a River: An Interview with Jo Carson
LB: Can art really change a community?
JC: A community has to be pretty desperate to try art. It is usually an economic desperation, but sometimes it is a sort of sickness of soul and the desperation is just as urgent. These projects will not turn economics around, but they may give people a reason to try to stay in a place instead of looking for a way to leave it. In other words, they may change how people feel about a community or a place, and that can change the economics and restore soul at the same time. They do that by being inclusive instead of exclusive, but giving everybody’s experience equal weight, by letting people develop the courage to do it and the skills necessary to stand in front of strangers and tell a story, and by having some relationship with the stories that are told, especially when audiences find value in them.
LB: What are you most excited about in your work right now?
JC: With this work, I love that I get to see the affect it has in people’s lives. How many artists can say that? “Cross Tides” was my 20th of these things, I’m booked for my 21st and 22nd, with the 23rd coming up. And I’m the only playwright I know of really writing for large casts. 60-100 is the norm. I can write a river and have enough people to make it work.
(here)
