A Conversation With Madeline Easley
What year(s) were you at the New Harmony Project?
2024 and 2025!
Can you talk about a favorite memory or two? If you were asked to describe NHP to someone, how would you do it?
Some of my favorite memories are getting a brilliant tarot reading from playwright Monet Hurst-Mendoza at the Black Lodge about my upcoming production, long brooding walks along the Wabash river, and writing at the roofless church (with a lot of bug spray). I’d describe NHP as playwright summer camp: where you’ll meet all your besties, cause a little mayhem, and come home with some great pages.
Where do you find inspiration for your writing? What other writers (in any genre) do you find inspiring?
Well, I’m a huge nerd, and nothing gets me more excited to write than experiencing a great piece of art from any genre: plays, music, tv, books, video games, etc. My inspirations are my steadfast obsessions: the band Rainbow Kitten Surprise. The singer Bartees Strange. The Alien Franchise. Rez Dogs. The writing of Truman Capote. Sarah Kane. Wolf Play. Is God Is. Rheology. I could go on and on.
What's your creative process/ritual?
Mmmm I’d say I walk around with an idea for a while (long brooding walks with music blasting in my head phones are where I digest them). I keep a word processor open whenever I’m writing as a sort of parking lot for the random ideas that hit me when, and I record everything related to the project in one document. Then, when I’m ready, I read over all my ideas. Then I set it aside and start to write. I like to hand write early scenes with my favorite thick little uniball pens in these giant Italian leather notebooks I scour Manhattan for when I’m home. I find this keeps me from manhandling ideas too much. Then I type up a first draft. Then I revise it a hundred of times. Or more if that’s what’s needed. I keep a list of revisions I know I’m going to need to make like experimenting with structure, distinguishing character voices, peeling back exposition, messy-ing things up a little. I’m constantly learning how to be a playwright.
What advice would you give to aspiring creatives?
Revise and take feedback. Rinse and repeat.
Do you have a dream project that you're dying to work on?
Ugh. I have an epic Game of Thrones style Native Nations idea I’ve been brooding about for awhile. It would be a huge undertaking. Tons of research. Tons of travel. Tons of inter-Tribal politics. And drama. Lots of bloody drama.
Can you tell us a little bit about Feast for the Dead?
Feast for the Dead is my Native zombie epic which will premiere at Soho Rep next year! It’s about cycles of life and death, traditional manifestations grief, and imagining a speculative Indigenous future with great music. Growing up, I was unhealthily obsessed with The Walking Dead, but teenage Maddie was always deeply disturbed by the fact that there were seemingly no Native people surviving in this apocalyptic world, which was wild because I knew our people had already expertly survived an apocalypse. The play begins in our current timeline, a few years ago when the courts struck down ICWA (the Indian Child Welfare Act) which protects Native children from being adopted outside of their Tribes. The play then imagines a future where this unconstitutional ruling held, and chaos unfolds with ancient monsters learning how to live in the future.