Each month on The Subtext, Brian speaks with a playwright about life, writing, and whatever itches we are scratching.

This month he talks to Rachel Bonds, whose plays include Jonah, The Lonely Few, Goodnight Nobody, Sundown Yellow Moon, Curve of Departure, At the Old Place, Five Mile Lake, and Swimmers. Subjects they touch on include imposter syndrome, growing up in Tennessee, her parents’ divorce, her father’s knack for storytelling and rare skin disease, and why acting ultimately felt too limiting while playwriting felt “expansive.”

Bonds’s plays have been developed or produced by Roundabout Theatre Company, Ars Nova, MCC, Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theater Company, the McCarter, the Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Studio Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and New York Stage & Film, among others. She is the recent recipient of the 2024 Laurents/Hatcher Prize (for Jonah), as well as the Weissberger Award, the Sky Cooper Prize, and the Heideman Award.

This episode can also be found here.

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