Writer Profile: Nicholas Krohn Pens Uncertainty (Or, Imprecision)

Playwright Nicholas Krohn drew on real and fictional inspiration to pen Uncertainty (Or, Imprecision) and is excited to see this new version come to life in September.   How did you get involved in MCCT? What made

Playwright Nicholas Krohn drew on real and fictional inspiration to pen Uncertainty (Or, Imprecision) and is excited to see this new version come to life in September.
 
How did you get involved in MCCT? What made you audition for this show?
 
I’m the playwright, so I became involved when the director (hi, Emily!) convinced MCCT to produce my play.
 
How long have you been acting/involved in theater?
 
I’ve been doing theater more or less since the eighth grade when my speech and drama teacher (hi, Mrs. Reising!) took a chance on me by letting me into her class.
 
What do you do when you’re not writing?
 
I’m not sure my brain ever stops writing, but I also play guitar, I’m a voracious reader and an extremely amateur magician. With that and my frequent insomnia, I keep pretty busy.
 
What has been an unexpected challenge of this production?
 
When I first wrote this play a few years ago, I deliberately set out to write in such a way as to give it a long shelf life. Comedies, especially ones that revolve around technology, tend to lose their relevance quickly. To stay away from that, I kept things generic, referring to “online” or “internet” dating as opposed to the specific platform people used at the time. It’s been challenging to accept how close I came to utter failure on that goal. I managed it, but only just. I felt so safe at the time.
 
What has been most rewarding?
 
Just having the play be produced is its own reward, and seeing the super talented cast get excited about putting the play before an audience is a great feeling. And knowing that Emily’s tireless enthusiasm for the material made her want to do this, and MCCT’s support have both been very humbling and touching.
 
Why should audiences come to see Uncertainty?
 
Because it’s a good laugh, and hopefully there is food for thought as well.
 
What are your top three dream roles?
 
In ascending order:
  1. Prospero in The Tempest
  2. The manager in The Office (not necessarily Steve Carrell’s part, just any manager)
  3. A tie between old Batman and old Superman in a film adaptation of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. Which I’m also available to write. I work cheap.
What made you write Uncertainty (Or,  Imprecision)?
 
I’m not sure I wanted to write this show before I was already well into the process of writing it. For me, there is a point during writing where there is enough material for me to see something interesting taking shape, and then I know what the end product should feel like. At the time I wrote this, I had no real technique for applying structure to my work. Now I do, but even still, that gets rolled into the process of getting to the point of inspiration, and then that initial planned structure changes slightly.
 
tl/dr: I have no idea. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
 

 

Catch the show at Oddball Fermentables
  • Sunday, September 9 at 2:00pm
  • Monday, September 10 at 7:00pm
  • Tuesday, September 11 at 7:00pm

Leave a Reply