Before we announce the winners of our 2024 Critics’ Pick Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series.

 

Writer/director Alec Toller was the driving force behind one of my favourite theatrical productions of 2024. Nominated for Outstanding New Work, Outstanding Ensemble, and Outstanding Production, 13 Plays About ADHD All At the Same Time marked the return to theatre of some longtime favourite artists and the beginning of a new era for Circlesnake Productions. I spoke with the ensemble of the show for an audio instalment of this series (available now on our podcast feed) and even though Alec also participated in that conversation, I had a few more questions for him about the creation of the project so he’s also done a written Q&A for his Outstanding New Work nomination that delves a little deeper into the play and how it came about.

 

13 Plays brought you back to theatre after starting a new career. Tell us about the decision to come back and what it was about this idea that really inspired you. 



Okay, honest answer: like all great works of art, I had the title first. There was something so profoundly silly but genuinely representative of the experience of ADHD in the title that I felt compelled to write it. I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2021 and felt profound relief when I got the label. I thought a lot of the things I struggle with were just me being lazy or whatever, but it was so helpful to learn that my brain doesn’t totally work the same way as other people’s. I wanted to write something that captured the internal experience of having ADHD because a lot of people, myself included, carry a ton of shame about it. It’s such a mercurial condition that you and people close to you don’t always understand it. Hopefully the play made it feel a little more understandable.

In terms of coming back, from my perspective, I never left! I’ve been focusing more on writing, and otherwise directed a few things like a TV series for BellFibe. I had moved away to NYC for a year and then came back shortly before the pandemic hit. I’ve been working to get an agent for TV writing since I was tired of just making so, so much money from indie theatre.

 

You’re known as a collaborative creator but 13 Plays is a solo writing credit. What are some of the rewards and challenges of the solo creation process?
This show was the most personal one I’ve written, so it felt important to me to actually bring in my experience to it. I think that one reward was that, on paper, the show shouldn’t work – a ton of competing plays interrupting each other? C’mon! – but writing it myself means I had to just trust the idea. Sometimes collaborating too early could kill ideas that shouldn’t work but that, in this case, ultimately did.
 The downside is that sometimes you write a section and then, when going to rehearse it, realize your two-sentence description of something is actually like a 5-minute action sequence. You usually catch those earlier with collaboration. And definitely it runs of the risk of being too deep into my own POV. In rehearsal we still had a lot of contribution from all the actors, who are all incredibly talented performers and creators, and were always ready to throw in their own ideas. The rule we used in collaborative creation still stood in the rehearsal process: the dumbest idea wins.

 

How did your work as a cognitive behavioural therapist inform 13 Plays and its production process?

So this is a funny one, in all honesty, I sometimes forget that I’m a therapist when I’m writing. I kind of forget that that’s just a part of my perspective, particularly with this show when I’m writing from my own internal experiences with ADHD. I was conscious that I wanted to avoid it feeling in any way like a lecture or an early session of therapy where you deliver psychoeducation. The kind of therapy I do really emphasizes precision: you try to very explicitly identify what are the mechanisms that are keeping someone stuck (e,.g. in their thinking, behaviours, environment, etc). I think that kind of precision was an important part of the play, such as filtering out some experiences that probably aren’t part of ADHD, and focus on really core experiences of ADHD. I think that’s particularly important with ADHD because it’s not that well understood of a condition/disorder/neurodivergence, that there’s an urge to unify all their experiences into ADHD when some might be related and some might not be.

 

The unconventional structure is central to the concept of 13 Plays. Tell us about creating the flow of the piece and its illusion of chaos.

Oh god, I love this question, thank you – this was the hardest part! My central motto for this was “everything goes in the pot”. Unlike most other plays, I didn’t create a detailed structure: all I knew was that there was sort of a seminar about ADHD and it had to go wrong. I just started writing and let whatever idea come out that wanted to – I figured it would contribute to the sense that the show is just bursting with other plays wanting to emerge. And of course, I cut a ton of scenes that didn’t work or weren’t needed. There was a faux-medical melodrama where a kid had terminal ADHD that I loved, but we couldn’t fit it in.

The chaos was counterbalanced by focusing on the character’s arc, particularly the hosts played by Sharjil and Danny. Once I had written a bunch of nonsense I went back and tried to see how they’d react to these incursions, and knew that it had to build and build until it unravels. Danny’s character drives the emotional engine of the show, so I cast him early. Having him involved meant I knew I had an actor who could hit all the comedic beats but also find real depth and emotion so that we’d actually care about the people inside all the nonsense.

 

Tell us about finding your ensemble and how they helped shape the production.

I went through an extensive audition process: emailing people I had either worked with or wanted to work with, with the subject line being “A Terrible Opportunity”. Terrible because it was a no-budget profit share. These five fools said yes!

 

I can’t say enough good things about them. Many of them have ADHD as well and brought in their own experiences to the show too. I think that was essential for the show because all of the silliness and jokes wrap around some real heart from the characters. Standouts include: Danny writing an entire song, Sharjil being the “audience captain” to make sure we weren’t too mean to them, Jill for re-writing much of her character’s lines, Chloe for being sign-captain and for making a larger-than-life character feel real, and Jon for both drawing an entire map and somehow making each line have a joke in it, like even if the line was say, directions to a restaurant, he’d find a joke in it.

 

What were you hoping audiences would take away from from the production?
Really it’s to celebrate our dumb, silly, frustrating ADHD brains. I think celebrating neurodiversity sometimes means we have to laugh at ourselves. Maybe a lot of the time, actually. It’s too crushing not to.

 

What are some of the most memorable responses you received?
A few snippets: a mom and her 12-year-old kid, both with ADHD, looking at each other and laughing in recognition throughout the show; a friend of mine telling me the show made them feel less ashamed about their new ADHD diagnosis; and a message from a stranger who said they were in an argument with their partner when they remembered the “okay that’s bad but you’re not baaaa-aaad” chant and used it to help calm down.

 

What are you working on now/next? Anything to plug?
I’m working on a baby! I have a three month old. She was born two weeks after the close of the show, which is just, wow, so in the spirit of the play to have scheduled the run shortly before my wife was due.

 

I have a few other projects, including a TV pilot I’m working on and a couple plays. In brief, the pilot (Closet Monster) is about psychological monster-hunting; the first play (Content) is a choose-your-own-adventure mystery that changes based on audience input; and the second play (Little Victories) is a small two-hander about depression being kept alive by an otherwise good relationship and has a dance sequence between a person and their couch.

 

Otherwise, I’m working to remount this play! We’re a featured presentation at Toronto Sketchfest this year, playing on Sunday March 9th at 9pm at The Theatre Centre. Info HERE. 

 

Is there anything you’d like to add?
Always. I’d always like to add things! Too many things. That’s why I wrote 13 plays instead of one. God, that was tiring.