As a part of an ongoing Q&A session with the Creative Writing and Literature Department’s Senior Reading class, Jackalope Magazine sat down with screenwriter Mark Feigenbutz. Feigenbutz discussed bad poetry, bears and dead comedians. Jackalope Magazine: How dare you? Mark Feigenbutz: How dare I? How dare I not? JM: How did you get into writing? MF: I started writing poetry when I was, like, 6th grade. I was not 6th grade, I was 13. JM: What genre do you work in and why? MF: Pretty much exclusively comedy at this point. If I don’t have funny elements in something, it just doesn’t ring true. After poetry, I got into stand-up comedy, and started writing bits. When I was in L.A. I had to sell my motorcycle, and I couldn’t do comedy anymore, so I started screenwriting. JM: What three words would you use to describe your writing? MF: My writing in three words? Bear. (laughs) JM: Like B-A-R-E? MF: No, like a grizzly. Bear. Machine. Uhh, squeek. JM: What’s the worst thing you’ve ever written? MF: Probably my early poetry, when I first started writing. I didn’t know anything about poetry, so I thought everything had to rhyme. It was pretty embarassing, very morose and melodramatic. JM: Do you have a piece in mind? MF: (long pause) Yeah. Yes, I do. JM: How do you balance work and family? MF: I try to work as little as possible, and it’s going really good. JM: OK, now it’s time for the dead stand-up edition of Marry, Fuck, Kill. Bill Hicks, George Carlin and Mitch Hedburg. MF: Marry George Carlin, Fuck Bill Hicks and Kill Mitch Hedburg, as difficult as that was. Bill Hicks is fucking Jesus, and I...
Q/A w/ Jacey Ellis
posted by Nick Martinez
As a part of an ongoing Q&A session with the Creative Writing and Literature Department’s Senior Reading Class, Jackalope Magazine sat down with Jacey Ellis. Ellis discussed lying to herself, scrumtrulesence, and played a special British Invasion version of Marry, Shag, Kill.
Q/A w/ Brandon Brown
posted by Nick Martinez
Q/A with Creative Writing and Literature senior Brandon Brown
Matt Bell Visit
posted by Nick Martinez
Writer Matt Bell visits SFUAD’s Creative Writing and Literature Department for its visiting writer series.
Playwriting: Crossing the Border
posted by Nick Martinez
What are the borders in our lives? The physical, psychological borders that strain our society? That is the central question SFUAD’s playwriting class hopes to answer in its spring production of Borders: Crossing the Line. Dale Dunn and Lynn Goodwin are in their second year of teaching playwriting, a class that started as an independent study. But, the duo felt the craft of playwriting deserved a more permanent home in SFUAD’s curriculum. “It’s a wonderful outreach project for the university,” Dunn said. In the class’ first year, Dunn and Goodwin produced Left to Our Own Devices: Staying Connected in the Digital Age. It was performed off campus at Warehouse 21. “When we performed last year a lot of people came up and said ‘well I’ve never seen anything by the university,’” Dunn began. “A lot of people hesitate to come out to the campus, but having the show in downtown Santa Fe opens up access to a lot of different audience members who were thrilled to see the variety of students that we have here, and hear their different opinions of what’s going on.” The production was performed in partnership with students from the New Mexico School for the Arts, a performance high school in Santa Fe. They plan to continue the collaboration this year as well. When asked if some of the dark, adult subject matter was too much for high school students, Goodwin was dismissive. “Oh no,” she said. “Sometimes they’re worse than you guys.” Goodwin and Dunn were well aware of the tumultuous times we are living in, which heavily informed their opinion for this year’s subject: borders. Between foreign soil struggles, like ISIS and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as domestic court cases that highlight our current racial tension, the duo felt that a nuanced look at universal division was needed. “[We want] students to see where they are, and feel like they have a voice in the world, that their voice is heard,” said Goodwin A typical class starts with a discussion on a play students read for homework. The plays vary from classics like A Streetcar Named Desire, to untraditional plays like The Laramie Project and Ajax in Iraq. This transitions into a general discussion of craft, often using other plays as examples. Lastly, a significant portion of class time is spent writing and workshopping pieces. One of Dunn and Goodwin’s favorite aspects is the diversity of voices in the classroom, with majors ranging from Creative Writing to Music, Performing Arts to Film. “We’re always surprised by the shape that it takes, because of everyone’s different point of view,” said Goodwin. Santa Fe will have to wait until early May to see just what those different opinions are....
Jackalope Magazine is the student magazine of Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Building on the interdisciplinary nature of our education, we aim to showcase the talent of our university and character of our city.
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