Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Meet Leah Nanako Winkler

Questions by illustrious new member Mary Hamilton! To learn more about Leah and her writing, you can visit her website or everywheretheatre.org.

What was the first thing you remember getting in trouble for as a kid?

When I was about five, I hid from my mom while she was using the bathroom at a Daiei in Kamakura (which is a sort of like a Japanese Target). I remember getting really happy seeing her look for me and then getting really sad when I lost track of her. I started roaming around for what seemed like hours until a woman grabbed me by the hand and took me to my mom who was super angry and frightened. I still remember the horrible look on her face.
What is the worst job you've ever had or done?

I can't go into the worst job due to legal reasons but the second worst job I've ever had or done is the time I worked as an auto-show model for a well known car company. I traveled to different cities every month with a team of girls and literally stood next to cars for six hours at a time. Sometimes I had to stand on a rotating platform and talk about the said cars, which was really embarrassing and especially awful because I am terrified of cars and driving. Most of my coworkers were ex-beauty queens (literally- I worked with a former Miss Teen USA) which I was first excited about, but the atmosphere ended up being stereotypically catty, despite some truly nice people I met. Although there were a lot of glamorous aspects like staying in nice hotels and free make-up, I thought it was a pretty degrading job, which is saying a lot considering all the awful places I've worked at. Also, I was fired.
What is your biggest pet peeve in a roommate?

Passive aggressive notes.


If you had to describe your writing to my grandma in three sentences or less, what would you say?

Dear Mary's Grandma,
I write from my heart and try to stay as true as possible. That’s all I can say.
Who is the most famous person you have ever met?
Once I was working background as a fake prostitute on the movie "Fighting" for a week starring Oscar nominee Terrance Howard.  Oscar nominee Terrance Howard would always hit on all the fake prostitute girls in between bouts of crying and looking really high. One night, he came up to me and asked me what my nationality was. I replied, "half-Japanese, how about you?" and he said "I'm Terry" and then told me that I would have to give him my phone number if he rolled snake eyes over the poker table. He then magically rolled a snake eyes over the poker table . I gave him my number. He then called me while I was on the shuttle back to Chinatown and asked me to come over for sex. When I said "I'm not like that", he said "hey I was just playin' girl" and told me to call him when I got home. I did. He didn't pick up. We never spoke again. I hope he reads this because he made me feel kind of special.
What would you be if you couldn't be a writer?
I have no idea.
Any plugs?

Yes a few!
This Saturday 11/5 at 9 pm @ Cake Shop, my short play "I Don’t Want To Read Your Blog" ( written originally for A4T ) will be a part of Slow Animal + Heaven's Gate + Perfect Teeth + 3 Short Plays. Some text I wrote will also be a part of Forth, A Live Rock N Roll Radio Documentary Theater Experiment arranged by Tommy Smith at Magic FutureBox from Nov 9-12 ( tickets) Also, my theater company, Everywhere Theatre Group, has a show called FLYING SNAKES IN 3D! (Text by leah winkler and teddy nicholas until teddy nicholas left the proeject and then leah took it over and then they got into a fight about credit) at the Ars Nova Ant Fest on November 16th at 8 pm ( one night only). It's a play about a theater company that tries to make an impossible play to stage about mutant flying snakes engineered by two scientists and the heroes that fight them to save the world. Not only is it going to be hilarious, it will touch on several uncomfortable topics about the state of next generation theater in America such as class division and it's relationship with cinema. Check out the trailer here.



Lastly, if you are in Florida, a play of mine called Death For Sydney Black, will be produced by Thinking Cap Theater at the Empire Stage in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida from Nov 10-26. Purchase tickets online at http://thinkingcaptheatre.com Cash only at door.

1 comment:

joshcon80 said...

Southern Florida, Death for Sydney Black is so good.

Gah! I wish it were playing in NYC. I hate other plays. Other plays are the worst.

(My captcha for this is "amazings")