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Each year Young and Hungry, in collaboration with Playmarket, commissions three NZ playwrights to write works specifically for young people aged 15-25 years.

Renee Liang talks to writers Nic Sampson and Joseph Harper about their plays, Dragonlore and Atlas/Mountains/Dead Butterflies respectively.

Both open this Saturday at The Basement as part of Auckland’s season of Young and Hungry

Nic Sampson - Dragonlore

Why do you make theatre?

Because it's fun and relatively easy compared to say making a film or a table or a restaurant quality meal.

Should theatre be about the small stuff, or the big questions?

I don't know?

What's unique about writing for Young and Hungry? What's been your experience of the process?

I tried to write a play that 16 year-old Nic would have wanted to be in. I probably still wouldn't have cast him though. It was pretty humbling to see young actors putting so much into the play and finding so much in the characters that I didn't know was there. I usually write things for myself so this was a new experience. Cool story huh.

What inspired your play?

I wanted to write something with fight scenes in it and I've been reading Game Of Thrones so probably that.

You're both actors as well as writers... does this give you an advantage when writing for the stage? Maybe?

I know how I would say all the lines. But then it's great to see other people do them differently and better.

Do you base your characters on yourselves or on friends?

Often on people I've met but don't really know. That way when I fill in the blanks I have a character that's almost definitely not like that person enough for them to ever know.

What do you do when you have a writing block?

Watch YouTube videos probably.

Do you cry when you write the sad bits?

I don't ever cry because my tear ducts are broken thanks to being insensitive.

What are you working on next?

I'm writing for Jono and Ben at 10 and I'll be writing the Christmas Show for the Basement with Barnaby Fredric so WATCH OUT FOR THAT THEATRE BUFFS!

Joseph Harper - Atlas/Mountains/Dead Butterflies

Why do you make theatre?

I dunno. Seeking out communion or some vaguely religious experience maybe. Some stupid base need to express myself in order to understand things better. Also because I can't paint or write songs or anything like that.

Should theatre be about the small stuff, or the big questions?

Anything I guess. So long as it is actually about something.

What's unique about writing for Young and Hungry? What's been your experience of the process?

It was a really good experience. I think the only unique thing was that I got paid money and I was conscious of trying to write for teenagers/young adults.

What inspired your play?

Trying to unravel deep-seated anxieties I felt in myself. That Bruce Springsteen song, dancing in the dark. The ghost of Edmund Hillary. The bit in cat's cradle where he talks about God just smiling at everything.

You're both actors as well as writers... does this give you an advantage when writing for the stage?

It probably would if I was any good at it.

Do you base your characters on yourselves or on friends?

Yes. They're all pretty thinly veiled projections of my own idiot psyche.

What do you do when you have a writing block?

I’ve never had a problem with not being able to write if I’ve got something I want to write. I don't think I’m disciplined or rigorous enough to get writer's block.

Do you cry when you write the sad bits?

No.

What are you working on next?

I’m doing a tour of a show about bonsai trees. And I’m making a new work/show thing where I hope to decode my 'soul' and express it so completely that I could maybe achieve immortality.

Head to www.basementtheatre.co.nz for more info.