A Challenge in London

A few years ago, while I was briefly in London, I met my friend David Owen-Bell for lunch. I first met David, who was a Senior Lecturer of Theatre Arts at Middlesex University of London, when he was serving as a Guest Director at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, in the early nineties and my roommate, the actor Jonathan Brent, was playing the lead in Shakespeare's Pericles.

Over lunch, I told David about a play I had just written about three brothers. He then challenged me to write a play with several female characters. When I got back to the  United States, I answered the challenge, and I wrote a play about two sisters and their sanctimonious mother, though it never left the drawer. 

David understood that I needed to expand my range, and I am happy that he gave me that challenge. When I think about it, he was the first person who tried to get me to write strong female characters. Today, many of my stories include female protagonists, and I feel that some of the strongest stories in Waylon County have female protagonists. For that, I now realize, I owe a word of thanks to David Owen-Bell for providing that challenge. The next time we meet, lunch is definitely on me.