Good morning, everyone!
Each month, we like to ask our speakers some questions so that we can learn more about all the cool things they do and be inspired by their deep talent. Please enjoy our Q&A with this month’s speaker, Margaret Edwartowski. In our opinion, she hits the nail on the head about the voice of Detroit: “midwest manners but also don’t suffer fools.” And join us tomorrow for lecture day at 8:30 at Planet Ant. See you then!
Why Detroit? What keeps you inspired here? I started out at Wayne State where I got my theatre degree. I fell in love with and moved to Detroit during this time. This was a very different city then, it was the mid 90’s. Shortly after graduation I was cast at The Second City Detroit and spent years writing satirical material about the city.
Something pretty amazing was going on in that time for creatives. Many of us had grown up hearing Detroit mocked in movies and on TV for years. But we all knew there was something wonderful, gritty, and above all REAL about this place. It bonded us. Those bonds still last.
For a long time I was inspired here by the endless opportunities to trailblaze new projects and organizations. I spent much of the early 2000’s exploring all the possibilities available to me. I’m also very inspired by the Detroit voice and point of view. We have midwest manners but also don’t suffer fools or fakes lightly. Nowadays, I’m inspired by this new generation of creatives coming up. I was pretty stodgy and closed off to passing the torch, but I’ve come to realize there’s a lot of innovation and great ideas coming from the next generation that are worth giving a chance.
What is your favorite project you’ve ever worked on? What would be your dream project? This is a really tough question. My time at The Second City Detroit (1996-1999) was my true creative birth. Everything I did at Planet Ant Theatre was like a self-directed training for creating programs and finding my voice as a writer. I’ve had a million amazing experiences with the YMCA, sharing my creativity and giving opportunities to other creatives to serve underserved youth. But I guess my favorite project (at least right now) would be the musical I wrote, Call Me Cass about the life story of Cass Elliot. I don’t get to sing enough, so performing that music and standing in her shoes is a pretty amazing feeling.
My dream is less about a project than an overall career dream. I’d like to work toward supporting myself solely as a writer. I always joke that I want my job to be to go to the mailbox for checks everyday. I’d love to have a dedicated writing space and be able to spend many hours at it. Right now I pretty much get an hour or so after my kid goes to bed at night. It’s never enough.
What do you do when you feel creatively stuck? As a writer, I usually shift gears from writing to reading. I either find a book to read for enjoyment or start reading what I’m working on from the beginning. Reading other people’s work is often very inspiring, whether you think what they are doing is great or awful. Either way can spark creativity.
As a performer, it’s a similar approach. I force myself to go see performances. (I’m terrible about making time for that.) It brings out a competitive streak I have buried deep inside. Sometimes as an improviser, if my sets have been stale or underwhelming, I try to focus on improving one skill the next time I play. For example, I’ll try to focus on more physicality or giving more scenic gifts to my partners, etc. Fix one thing rather than the whole.
Who is another creative person / organization in Detroit that we need to know about? Some dear friends of mine are starting a nonprofit called MiResonance. It’s all about supporting musicians with accessible mental health services as well as providing space to play and create. Their website is miresonance.org and they explain it better than I do.
Favorite animated gif? I’ll be honest. I literally posted my first gif comment in a thread a couple of weeks ago. I’m cool in some way, but when it comes to gifs I’m an major old lady.
