Interview with Jake Epstein and Kathy Kacer How is the Mom/Son writing team working out? JE-We’re still talking to each other so that’s a good sign! Truly I never thought we would be able to work together as well as we have. I’ve been such a big fan of my mom’s writing, and to be able to work with someone you have such respect for has been a gift. KK- I think it’s been fantastic – and pretty remarkable! I believe that we have a great respect for each other’s skills and insights. We have a similar work ethic and style. We’ve worked out an effective routine of writing apart and then coming together to hash out the details of scenes, characters, and story lines. And at the end of this whole process, we are still close! I always said that no matter what happened with this play, the best part was to have had the opportunity to work with my son on it. To see it come to the stage is really the icing on top of an already fulfilling experience. What was the spark in writing Therefore Choose Life in the first place? JE- My mom and I had been talking about wanting to create something meaningful and decided to collaborate on a play. Very soon after she had heard about an unbelievable story that resonated very deeply with both of us. We then took the crux of that story and spent that summer writing the first draft of Therefore Choose Life. KK- Jake and I were talking about the possibility of doing some kind of project together. We had tossed around a couple of ideas but hadn’t found anything that we both felt we could get our teeth into. Then I heard about the story of a man who had survived the Holocaust thinking he had lost his first wife in the camps. He remarried after the war and discovered years later that his first wife had survived. I immediately thought that this story would make a wonderful play and brought the idea to Jake. He loved it and that’s how we began. How has the workshop process helped you shape the play? JE-When you’re working on a new play you’re working in a bit of a vacuum, and it’s been so helpful to take a step back and hear the whole piece read aloud by talented actors. You immediately hear what’s working, where it drags and you begin to understand the emotional arc of the piece. I would say the bulk of work on our play has happened through our workshop process. KK-You can’t possibly know what a play is going to feel like until you’ve had the chance to hear it read aloud. While the root of this story has remained the same as when we first started, most of the scenes, dialogues, and even characters have changed through the course of several workshops. It’s tough to go through the process; I hate having to change something I felt so passionate about! But workshopping this play has been absolutely essential to its development.