Justice Hehir on engineers, mentors, female friendships, dildos, and FREEPLAY

Justice Hehir

On Thursday, January 30, this year’s EST/Sloan First Light Festival will feature the first public reading of FREEPLAY by Justice Hehir, member of Colt Coeur and the 2020 Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers’ Group. FreePlay is the name of a Brooklyn-based, feminist, sex toy startup,  popular for its “’deconstructed take” on the dildo. The company’s owner/managers—engineer Amy and sculptor Sara—have been best friends since college and share office space with their devoted intern and an environmental artist/ulcerative colitis activist. What ensues is a story about art, engineering, the painful intimacy of female friendships, dildos, and the people who make them. Playwright Justice Hehir tells us more:

(Interview by Rich Kelley)

Where did the idea for FREEPLAY come from?

This is literally one of two times in my life where I have a legitimate answer to this question. What luck! I went to the last Kenyon Playwrights Conference before it shut down, and during a writing exercise in one of the workshops I wrote five pages that would eventually be in this play. Those lines, about choosing the colors for a new dildo, are straight from Gambier and the raging waters of the mighty Kokosing. I don’t remember what the exercise was, but it definitely wasn’t supposed to be about sex toys. That just happened because I have deep psychological problems.

What research did you do as part of writing the play?

Picnicking along the Kokosing River, Gambier, Ohio (Photo: Justice Hehir)

I feel like most of my research looked like those memes of Golden Retrievers wearing glasses and bow ties sitting in front of a computer with text saying something like, “What do?” I was coming to this with absolutely zero understanding of math, manufacturing, business, any of it. I read a bunch of articles about sex toy companies, watched a bunch of videos of their manufacturing processes, and accidentally subscribed to Quora trying to learn about sex toy testers. So, the research happened in fits and starts. I’m not a playwright that can do too much heavy research at once because I just get stuck. This is, first and foremost, a character-driven play. I wrote characters I loved so much that I owed it to them to learn about this process. It’s the only way I can do it. If it weren’t for Amy, and me loving Amy so much, this would be a way less well-researched play. All my plays are just love letters to my characters. 

Two of the characters in the play are engineers. Did you use any consultants to help you understand the minds of engineers, or the manufacturing or use of dildos?

Yerp! My husband. Thanks, babe. To be fair, my wonderful husband does not work making dildos (sadly). But he is a mechanical engineer. Unfortunately, you can’t catch Engineering Knowledge through close contact or saliva—so whenever I was reading articles about dildo manufacturing and not getting stuff, I called Elias over and asked him to translate. He helped decipher and explain what I couldn’t get on my own, which was a lot. I also owe a great deal to my dramaturg, Emilie, who not only fact-checked my fanciful butt but provided a LOT of dramaturgical characters things and organized a field trip that ended up being very important to the play.

please, an educated pleasure shop

We went to a sex shop called Please in Brooklyn, where we spent an hour asking the poor unfortunate soul who happened to be working that shift questions about what most people are looking for when shopping for a dildo. (We did ask permission to ask a bunch of questions first, don’t worry! As a fellow hourly worker I would not spring that shit on someone without asking.) We learned so much that night—about which dildos men in heterosexual pairings were most likely to find “threatening”, what dildos cis-women often gravitated toward, and the plethora of dildo options for trans/genderqueer/GNC people offered by the store. Being in the kind of consent-driven, feminist sex shop where I imagine FreePlay’s products being sold, getting to walk around and imagine where their dildos might fit in that ecosystem, was really fascinating.

One of the dynamics in FREEPLAY is its nuanced depiction of the mentor/intern relationship between Amy and Emma. Have you experienced either side of that relationship yourself?

Yes! I’ve been the weird intern, not the unwilling mentor, as I should never be mentoring anyone ever. But we’re in a funny place right now when it comes to #GirlBoss culture, which I would argue is not feminism, it’s just post-feminist white women on Instagram while at work. Just because an office is woman-led does not make it healthy or feminist, unfortunately. That takes effort and intention. At the same time, I feel like we see/read/watch a lot of media where women-owned companies fail because women can’t work together because of sexual competition/jealousy/babies/husband babies/etc. I wanted to take a different look at a women-led workplace, one that was functional and flawed. You know, the way we accept depictions of male-led workplaces to be ALL THE TIME. 

FREEPLAY is set in the office of a small company that makes dildos yet the office dynamics are so relatable they could occur in almost any company (absent the sex jokes). Was one of your goals to normalize the sex toy industry?

It wasn’t when I started writing the play. I didn’t really have an agenda. (Which is funny, because a play about dildos practically screams “I HAVE AN AGENDA.”) But I am not that smart or organized. The realization that that is part of what the play is doing came later. Like when you asked me this question.

In addition to being a playwright, you manage a cat rescue and you are a postpartum doula. Do any of your experiences from these worlds find their way into your plays?

Photo from Just Give Back Animal Rescue Facebook page

Well, like my apartment, there’s always a cat somewhere in a play of mine. It’s not intentional. It just happens. (Again, same as my apartment but my apartment has five and a dog with anger issues.) In this play, my experience as a postpartum doula was closer to the front of my mind. I often joke that being a postpartum doula is being a professional best friend. I form really close, attentive, and intimate bonds with my clients. Trust is paramount. Being a doula makes you super aware of the exact chemistry of trust and amicability. My experience as a doula has certainly served as a meaningful shadow to Amy and Sara’s relationship.

How does being an intersectional feminist inform your playwriting?

It’s just about taking a personal inventory, really paying attention to what I do and don’t know. In either case, I own it. I just try to be really accountable, do my research, ask good questions, and shut up and listen a lot. 

You recently earned an MFA in Playwriting from Hunter College where you studied with Annie Baker and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. What impact has that had on your playwriting?

Annie Baker and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

They changed my whole life. They gave me a shot. I would not have written this play, I would not be in this position, if they hadn’t gone against their better judgement and admitted me into their program. I also have Brighde Mullins to thank, who was a huge part of my education at Hunter, as well as Anne Washburn. In my family, on very important or scary days, my grandpa lights a candle for you on his altar in the garage. (Did I mention I’m Italian?) He lights a saint candle and puts your picture in front of it and prays. There’s a Virgin Mary statue with a rosary wrapped around her at the center of the altar, and pictures of other family members, too. On the day of my Hunter interview, my grandpa lit a St. Jude candle for me. (Saint Jude is the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. It's unclear how intentional this was.) I’m just really glad he lit that candle. I thought about it during my interview, actually. That there was a flame burning right now in my grandpa’s garage just for me. It was a really lovely thing to hold on to. 

What’s next for Justice Hehir?

Night Creatures poster from Jackalope Theater

I have a production of my play, Night Creatures (which takes place in an animal shelter) going up at Jackalope Theater in Chicago in May! It’s my first production. St. Jude is really working overtime.

The 2020  EST/Sloan First Light Festival runs from January 16 through March 12 and features readings and workshop productions of ten new plays. The festival is made possible through the alliance between The Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, now in its twenty-second year.

Michael Walek on research surprises, mythologizing, camping, and HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL & HER MOTHER

Michael Walek

On Tuesday, February 5, as part of the 2019 First Light Festival, the EST/Sloan Project is presenting the first public reading of HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL & HER MOTHER by Michael Walek. The play dramatizes the first months of twenty-six-year-old Jane Goodall’s first expedition to study chimpanzees in Africa. But why did she bring her mother? To learn why, let’s hear from the playwright: 

(Interview by Rich Kelley)

What prompted you to write HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL & HER MOTHER?

When I was growing up, my mom loved Jane Goodall. We had her books in the house, and I thought I knew her story. A few years ago, I learned that when the Tanzanian government allowed Jane Goodall to study chimpanzees, they required she bring a chaperone, so she brought her mother. The idea of a scientist bringing her mother on her first expedition sounded like a play I wanted to write. 

Jane Goodall and her mother Margaret “Vanne” Myfanwe Joseph in camp (Photo: Hugo Van Lawick, National Geographic Society)

What research did you do to write your play?

Tons of research. I read everything I could get my hands on from her journals to her family’s letters. 

Your play creates vignettes that dramatize the first months Jane Goodall spends with her mother leading her first expedition to study chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) in 1960. How did you figure out what they sounded like? Did you work with her field notes?

Luckily, many of Jane and Vanne’s letters from that time were published, so it was easy to get a sense of their writing style, words they liked, nicknames they used. I found them to be utterly charming. 

Is the relationship you dramatize between Jane and her mother your invention or based on something Jane wrote?  They are often quite funny. Is that from your imagination or based on your research?

Before I did my research, I assumed that any child living in a tent with her parent for five months would find it a stressful situation, only to discover that Jane and Vanne adored each other and never really fought. Suddenly, I had to write a play about two funny, kind people who encouraged and supported each other. 

Jane Goodall grooming David Greybeard, the first chimp to lose his fear of her.

It’s always seemed a bit preposterous that the famed anthropologist Louis Leakey would choose a secretary with no academic background or field experience to lead an expedition into the thick mountainous terrain the chimpanzees inhabited. And be able to get funding for her. Why do you think he chose Jane?

Well, she wasn’t his first choice. Jane only found this out years later, but Leakey tried to get another scientist to go into the field, but she declined. I think a lot has been made out that she was “just a secretary.” She went on a human fossil dig with Leakey and worked with him at his museum in Kenya. She was a bit more qualified, but it makes a better story if she’s this random typist. 

Have you ever gone camping for an extended time? Spent any time observing nature? Done field research?

I absolutely hate camping, and the outdoors, which I realize makes it hysterical I wrote this play. 

Young Jane Goodall with Jubilee

Much has been made of how Jubilee, a plush toy chimpanzee Jane was given as a child, may have determined her career. Were you ever given something as a child that shaped your life?

Again, I think this is some hindsight mythologizing. Jane would’ve studied birds if it was the assignment. It just happened to be chimpanzees.  

You’ve been a member of EST’s Youngblood collective. How has that influenced your playwriting?

One of the best things about Youngblood is how radically different everyone’s writing is. I think Youngblood pushed me to write more like myself. I am very lucky to have been part of the collective. 

Have you written other plays about science?

Yes. I wrote numerous plays for the Youngblood Science brunch and they were always rejected. 

When did you first know you were a playwright?

My high school had a play contest my senior year. I wrote a play, and it won. I wasn’t invited to rehearsals, so I just showed up one night and saw my play. There was a twist ending, and the audience gasped. I was completely hooked. 

The 2019 EST/Sloan First Light Festival runs from January 28 through March 1 and features readings and workshop productions of ten new plays. The climax of every EST/Sloan season is the annual Mainstage Production, which this year was the world premiere of BEHIND THE SHEET by Charly Evon Simpson. Directed by Colette Robert, BEHIND THE SHEET confronts the history of a great medical breakthrough by telling the forgotten story of a community of enslaved black women who involuntarily enabled the discovery. Previews began January 9 and the show runs through March 10. Tickets can be purchased here. The First Light Festival is made possible through the alliance between The Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, now in its twentieth year.