JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us about the recently launched Unit. Why exactly does it matter to you and why should it matter to us?
DANIEL CARTER: The National Queer and Trans Playwriting Unit is a new initiative that aims to support playwrights creating new queer performance works. The idea was originally conceived by ZeeZee Theatre who brought together companies from across Canada – some with queer specific mandates, some without – with the aim of supporting five playwrights financially and artistically as they develop their work. The unit will conclude with a public reading of their work, and a commitment of further development and/or production of the work by the consortium of companies.
JS: What might others not understand or appreciate in the work you produce or do?
DC: A lot of the work that Buddies produces comes out of our Residency Program, which is focused on deep and long-term development. The projects seen on stage spend anywhere between 3 to 5…sometimes 7 years in development, often moving through several iterations before being publicly presented. What you see on stage is really 10% of the work, whereas the other 90% is the collaborative process of creation and experimentation…and lots of meetings, emails and grant writing.
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?
DC: I love questions. I love bad ideas. I love exquisite pressure. I think these are all quite generative in a (creative) process. And I think I try to bring this to the work I do as a collaborator, producer, and administrator.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
DC: Tough question. My impulse was to say time to be creative. But I think there is a lot of space to be creative in the day-to-day of my role. However, when I recall freelancing and working contract positions – having more of a portfolio career – money and regular income was a consistent challenge. This is one of the reasons why I’m very excited about the Queer and Trans Playwriting Unit – the financial resources it offers to artists, so they can actually afford time and space to focus on creation, is really wonderful, and hopefully provides some sense of security.
JS: Imagine that you are meeting two or three people, living or dead, whom you admire in your form of artistic expression. What would you say to them and what would they say to you?
DC: Stay focused. Hustle. And take time to rest!
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that helped to make you who you are as a creative artist.
DC: I think my time spent at Factory Theatre in one of their new work development programs was very grounding for me as an early-career artist and having just returned to Toronto. Factory was my first “Yes” in Toronto theatre after a long list of “Nos.” (Also any time spent around Nina is time well spent. She’s just incredibly insightful, caring yet no-nonsense, and honestly just cool.)
What’s wonderful about these units are the connections and relationships built with new collaborators and new mentors, and I hope the artists who are invited into the National Queer and Trans Playwrights Unit share a similar experience. I think the networks and communities that can be shared by the ten theatre companies with the incoming artists is really thrilling and hopefully creates relationships that help to support and further the development of these new works.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
DC: It can be pretty consuming. Maybe that’s just me – but I don’t think so. Whether you’re working on a project or within a company, I think that arts work is “sticky” in the sense that it stays with you. After you leave the office, close your computer, leave the rehearsal hall – thoughts, ideas, questions pop up and percolate. I find, for myself, it’s sometimes difficult to ignore those things as they arise or pin them for later for when I’m “back at work.” This was especially true throughout the pandemic when I lived/worked in the same space – that physical line between personal life and work life became a lot more blurry. Looking at the Unit, and the layers of structure and support that are built into its foundation (i.e., dramaturgical sessions, one-on-one mentors, working with the consortium of theatres), I feel as though there is a lot of space to build a working model that allows for the balance between work and life.
JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted yet that you would like to do in the arts? Why the delay so far?
DC: Great question, but honestly after the past two years of constant pivots and adapting, I just want to do a good old fashioned staged reading of something.
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?
DC: I think I’d want to be a bit more bold. I remember sitting in a bit of an info session with someone from Playwrights Guild of Canada, and the person leading it shared something that I echo to anyone who would listen, which is: just apply for that thing; a group of people are going to read your work, read about who you are and what you’re interested in, even if you don’t get that thing (award, residency, acceptance to a program) there is now a group of people who know who you are, who know about your work, and can keep you in mind for future opportunities. And I would definitely echo that sentiment for those thinking about applying to this newly launched Unit.
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s society, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
DC: I think a lot of important conversations are happening around arts policy, equitable work, and working models, and seeing small shifts that have the ability to lead to larger shifts is very exciting. It feels as though there’s an openness to experiment, alongside a fearlessness to inquire and interrogate, which I think is a wonderful pairing for changemaking.
I’ve worked with a lot of early-career artists so far in my work, and seeing how they prioritize health and safety, care, and equitable payment – and really at the end of the day: people – is, I think, a strong indicator of the direction the arts sector is heading. And so, I’m hopeful that a sustainable future (through an environmental lens, financial lens, and human resources lens) is on the horizon.
JS: If you yourself were a critic of the arts discussing your work, be it something specific or in general, what would you say?
DC: I think any company that is queer mandated and strives to serve a community as expansive as our queer communities is a huge undertaking. It needs a one size fits one approach when working with communities. Sometimes we do it successfully, sometimes not. But looking back on this year, seeing our digital/hybrid/in-person programming, how we’ve been centring artists and their process, and making adjustments to our ways of working, is all really wonderful.
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising things about you?
DC: Oh, I’m such a boring person…but I have a black belt in kung fu!