Meet Chris Cragin-Day

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chris Cragin-Day. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chris below.

Hi Chris, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I applied to The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group in the fall of 2007. That same fall, I found out I was pregnant with my first child. As I walked out the door of my and my husband’s Queens apartment to interview with the Artistic Director, the Associate Artistic Director, and the Literary Director of this very prestigious institution, I said to my husband, “They’re going to take one look at me and say “she can’t do this program because she’s clearly not a serious playwright”. You see, my pregnancy had begun to show. I was thin, and I had a noticeable bump. I thought for sure my pregnancy would disqualify me, but I went to the interview anyway. To my surprise, when the Associate Artistic Director stood to shake my hand, I saw that she had a bump the exact same size as mine–we were due two weeks apart. My chances of getting into this prestigious writers program were saved by another woman’s pregnancy.

I did get into the program and I was determined, though I would deliver my first child smack dab in the middle of it, to work harder than anyone–to prove that I deserved my place there despite the fact that I was about to enter motherhood. I never missed a session. I had my pages done before anyone. When my child was born, I missed one meeting but was there for the next with child and my mother in tow so that I could breast feed on our session break. I established the following schedule: I woke up at 6am, rolled out of bed, put on shoes and a hoodie, grabbed my laptop, and walk to the local diner where I wrote from 6:30am to 8:45am every morning. I was home by 9am so my husband could start his work as the creative director of an animation team that worked from our then Brooklyn apartment. I had a part time day job writing copy, which I did while the baby slept. (“Sleep when the baby sleeps” was never a piece of advice I had the luxury to take.) On Saturdays, my husband watched the baby while I caught up on both my copywriting and my creative writing. On Sundays I rested, unless I was at the theater because my husband and I also ran a small NYC theater company.

Before motherhood, I preferred to write at night. The schedule I was forced to adopt when I had a child changed that. My kids are older now, but mornings are still my best time for creative writing. Though being a playwright and a mother is hard, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Mostly, of course, because I love my kids. But also because of this: Motherhood taught me to see my time spent writing plays as a cherished gift. It taught me to protect that time–to hold it sacred. I never had the privilege of taking my writing time for granted, and because of that I’ve rarely experienced writers block. When I sit down at my computer, I am raring to go. I know my time is limited and so I am laser focused; I am jazzed; I am blessed.

Was it hard? Yes. Very. Sometimes, I cried in my shower because I didn’t want people to know how hard it was. But it taught me that I can do hard things. And now, there are few obstacles that arise that have the power shake my confidence.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My playwriting career continues to be full and adventurous. I write both plays and musicals. Some of these have been commissioned by arts organizations or individuals, others are passion projects that reflect my life more personally. Sometimes I collaborate with composers, song writers, and even other playwrights. Other times it’s just me in my office or at a coffee shop, putting into words stories that inspire me. www.chriscragin-day.com.

I also now work at the Artistic Director in Residence at Mile Square Theater in Hoboken. In this work, I get to use all that I’ve learned about the industry and the art form to lead other artists, playwright, directors, designers, actors, in making great theater that brings audiences together for meaningful experiences. I spend a lot of time reading plays, seeing shows, having coffee with other theater artists. I’m learning to collaborate with a board of directors–decision makers at the theater that help with fundraising, audience engagement, and programming. This work feels like a natural extension of all the skills I developed over the past two decades as a playwright. www.milesquaretheatre.org.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1. Don’t be afraid. Scary things happen. Sometimes you will disagree with your director, your actor, or even the producer who is putting up the money for your project. Almost always these conflicts can be worked out in a way that everyone feels good about. Don’t let fear into these moments. Have faith in yourself and the fellow humans you collaborate with.

2. You have all the time you need. If you manage your time well, including time for rest and play, you can do more than you ever believed you could do. You have time for all of the things that matter to you. Believe it.

3. You don’t need lots of money or fancy degrees. Those things help you get ahead faster–they do. But you don’t have to have them to do work that brings you joy and helps you grow as an artist. In the end, it’s the joy and the growth that matters more than the money and the awards. Make sure you are cherishing the right things.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

My mother is a CPA accountant and my father is an Entrepreneur and Business Professor, so they didn’t expect that one of their kids would end up as an artist. Yet they both launched me into my artistic career without even realizing it.

When I was a small child, my family lived in Hong Kong. This was in the 1980s, when Hong Kong was still a British Colony. My mother often took me to the British Ballet, The British Orchestras, and the British National Theater productions that toured to Hong Kong from London. Sometimes, when she took me to classical Orchestra concerts, I’d fall asleep half way through because I was so young. But I always wanted to go and so she always took me.

We moved back to the USA when I was a teen, and I became involved in my High School Theater program. I’d had some notable success by the time I was a senior. I remember one day, we were in the truck that my dad and I shared, (this was Oklahoma), and I told my dad I was going to major in Psychology in college. He asked me if I had considered studying theater. I told him I hadn’t because I didn’t know how to get a job in the theater. (I had never met a single person who had done theater professionally.) My dad asked if I thought it was my calling. Him asking that question gave me permission to see it that way. I went on to double major in Theater and Psychology, and then later earned my MFA in Stage Directing.

Contact Info:

• Website: chriscragin-day.com, milesquaretheatre.org
• Linkedin: Chris Cragin-Day

Image Credits

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