NEW YORK—In an interview with the New York Times timed to coincide with the running, through March 8, of his latest play, Intimacy, at The New Group in Midtown Manhattan, playwright Thomas Bradshaw, who also teaches the craft at Northwestern University, talks about his reputation for writing plays that address, as the Times' Tim Murphy put it, "outrageous behavior—including child rape, racially charged sex and modern-day slavery—in casual, conversational ways." As Murphy also notes, his work can be so polarizing, in fact, that one Chicago critic "went so far as to warn Bradshaw to get out of town."
His new play, which Murphy adds is "no less button-pushing," concerns "three families in a contemporary, racially mixed suburb who come clean on their love of porn and sexual fantasies. (Leave the kids at home.)"
Not surprisingly, then, most of Murphy's questions have to do with the way in which porn is such an intricate and intimate part of the character's lives in Intimacy, but also the fact that, as Murphy puts it, "the people in your play come out the better for embracing porn."
On the point that porn actually improves his characters, Bradshaw demurred, countering, "I wouldn’t quite say that. But finger-wagging shuts people off. I decided to present people who are gaining fulfillment from porn. I hope it’ll force people to have a more intense interrogation about the subject. Obviously the play goes into the realm of the absurd. It’s like porn-fulfillment on crack or speed."
That said, Bradshaw is determined not to judge his characters' predilections, no matter where they lead. "I have this thing about not preaching to the audience or judging characters and their actions. Maybe another playwright would say, 'Look at how porn is ruining all of us.' I have no idea whether porn is good or bad."
What his experience as a teacher has taught him, however, is that porn has become an undeniable factor in modern culture. "Porn has become such a big thing in our society," he told Murphy. "Tens of billions of dollars yearly are spent on it, which shows that everybody’s watching it and it’s a major part of people’s lives. But it’s not really talked about. We might joke about it a little. Before I went to Northwestern, I was teaching at Brooklyn College and my students started telling me about these sites where people make their own porn videos and upload them. And a professor friend told me about a girl in his class who was a budding porn star. Everyone knew about it and it was totally accepted. I even read about a young porn star whose parents would critique her work for her."
Interestingly, though only 33 years of age, Bradshaw still feels as if, as far as porn goes, he grew up in another generation. "There was no Internet porn when I was young. We’d spend our time searching for our dads’ copies of Playboy or Penthouse. And they were almost G-rated by today’s standards. When I see the world my kids are going to grow up in, I kind of feel today’s porn is setting up inaccurate expectations of what another human being is like. I’m happy I grew up in a simpler time. I do find certain pounding porn close-ups to be unsexy and clinical."
The New Group is located at 410 West 42nd Street, New York NY 10036. For more information about Intimacy, or to purchase tickets, go here.
Image: The cast of Intimacy.
