I have known Bren Dubay since 1995, and I have had the great pleasure of directing two of her plays. The first, Irish Mist, was produced at Evmolpiada Theatre in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Bren was invited to be playwright-in-residence and the play enjoyed an extended run at Evmolpiada as well as going on tour in Eastern Europe. Working with her and professional Bulgarian actors allowed me to observe her great ability to adjust her writing to the unique specificity of the theatre and of the Bulgarian theatre scene. To this day I would consider Bren’s ability to deeply understand a character and create a multifaceted and unpredictable presence on stage one of her ultimate strengths as a writer. Her capacity to exist on the edge between realism and magical reality is what drove me to her writing in the first place. As our relationship grew and evolved into a second production, Angleton Grill—this time with professional actors in Houston, Texas—I was fascinated by her ability to transform personal experience into a dramatic situation with more than one possible ending. Working with Bren on a production is always a journey, one full of unpredictable twists and challenges that present a great inspiration for everyone involved, but most of all for the actors who interpret her words. For me, the journey continues.
| Peter Karapetkov
| Theatre Director