About jd stewart
jd stewart is a gay writer / performer / digital content creator based in Edinburgh.
He holds a MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University and a MSc in Playwriting from the University of Edinburgh. He co-created 'The One Fifty Marchers', a UK LGBTQ history podcast with Frazer Flintham.
Photo © Jake Lee Smith.
jd's comments
'I struggle to find structure. I do believe that sometimes the piece reveals itself on how it should be formed, but this doesn't always happen.
'With this piece, my main concern was creating the passing of a long period of time. However, once I found the way to do this, it felt easier.
'I enjoy auto fiction — I think it's a wonderful tool in writing and I think reproducing a version of it for the stage creates connection to audiences.
'Finally, the title of this play came first and it guided me to the end.'
jd stewart's commission (PDF)
(250 KB; 21 pages)
Nadine Aisha Jassat's comments
Poet, writer and creative practitioner Nadine Aisha Jassat led the Fresh Ink initiative. She writes about jd's commission:
'jd stewart's "Please answer your phone" will stay with me for a long time. jd perfectly balances humour alongside heartbreak, with an ever-growing sense of isolation and fear. There's a whole world in this play, which is set very much in the four rooms and workplace of jd's world, alongside phone calls from family, conversations with original characters, and aching, echoing, poetic words on longing and loneliness and loving someone both far away in place and in time. It's a piece which brought me everything: it made me laugh, made me feel deeply moved, it put into words feelings that need to be expressed. A powerful, skilful, piece.'