This article was originally published in the first issue of VIA Noke Magazine, printed in Roanoke, Virginia in May 2012.

Samantha Macher’s play To the New Girl from the Former Mrs. ___: Sound Advice to My Husband’s New Wife or Mistress is coming to Studio Roanoke this month. We contacted Samantha to get to know her a bit and to find out what inspires her work as a playwright.

VIA: Summarize To the New Girl for someone who knows nothing about it yet.

“To the New Girl” is a ten-woman monologue show in which women in relationships give advice on the proper care and feeding of their former spouse to their mistresses.

VIA: Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? Where did you attend

Summarize To the New Girl for someone who knows nothing about it yet.

“To the New Girl” is a ten-woman monologue show in which women in relationships give advice on the proper care and feeding of their former spouse to their mistresses.

VIA: Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? Where did you attend college and what did you study there?

I am originally from Long Island, New York, but moved to Northern Virginia when I was young. I went to the University of Virginia for undergrad, where I got my degree in Religious Studies and Philosophy. Then I went to Hollins University to attend their MFA Playwriting program.

VIA: How did you get into professional play writing?

I have always been a writer of sorts. As a kid I would write short stories and turn them into books, and as I got older I would write poems and songs, and eventually, I started writing plays because I really enjoyed writing dialogue. I got into professional playwriting because I always felt like I had a story to tell, and in my opinion, there’s no better way to really reach the audience for it then through live theater. There’s nothing like it in the world! I’m so glad I got the opportunity to be a part of the Playwright’s Lab at Hollins University to hone my craft, and give me the contacts I needed to go be a playwright in the real world.

VIA: How many plays have you written and how many of them have been performed on stage?

I have written seven full-length plays and probably between fifteen and twenty completed ten-minute to one-act plays. I have had the great honor of having four of my full-length plays performed in theaters across the country, namely SkyPilot Theatre in Los Angeles, Hell-Tro Theatre collective in Brooklyn, and at Mill Mountain Theater in Roanoke and Playwrights Horizons 440 Studios in Manhattan in collaboration with the New Works Initiative through the Playwrights Lab at Hollins University. I have also had a few of my ten-minute plays performed in Los Angeles and Manhattan as well.

VIA: How many times has To the New Girl been performed, and how did Studio Roanoke get their hands on it?

This play has had one LA production and a workshop production in New York. I think the play was chosen for Studio Roanoke in part because they have always championed new works from new artists, but also because it was originally written to be performed in the same season as Jeff Goode’s The Emancipation of Alabaster McGill which had it’s east coast debut this February at Studio Roanoke. Back in 2010 at SkyPilot Theatre in Los Angeles, where both Jeff and I are Playwrights-in- Residence, “Alabaster” had already been chosen for an already male-heavy season of shows. Jeff Goode and Bob Rusch, our Artistic Director, approached the women playwrights in the company and asked us to each write a play that could solve the gender parity problem that faced the 2011 season. I was already inspired to write the show, so I quickly finished the script and turned it in. It was chosen soon thereafter and served to create a more balanced, equal season that featured the talents of our actors of both genders.

VIA: What is the main source of inspiration for your plays?

Cliché though it is, “The Triumph of the Human Spirit” is probably my biggest inspiration. It covers everything from Love to War (two topics I write about often), and also allows me to create well-rounded, interesting characters for actors to play. I also tend to write a lot about women, in part because of personal experience, but also because I love to see strong female characters represented in the arts, especially in theater.

VIA: Was there a single event or idea that inspired To the New Girl?

I plead the fifth.

VIA: Is To the New Girl family friendly?

I would not suggest bringing the little ones along. I have written plays for younger audiences, this ain’t one of them!