Meghan Brown
When do harmless ideas become dangerous? How do members of the same family develop radically different belief systems? How enduring are family bonds? Meghan Brown explores these questions and more in BIGFOOT, her edgy family comedy in which disgraced physicist Holly tries to persuade her Bigfoot conspiracy theorist sister Alyssa to return from the wilds of Oregon for a family Thanksgiving before their mother dies. A darkly funny high-stakes suspense play about sibling rivalry and the power of a good story.
BIGFOOT had its first public reading on June 17 at the Ensemble Studio Theater as part of the 2024 EST/Sloan First Light Festival.
Taking time out from her many new projects, Meghan kindly talked with us about her new play.
(Interview by Rich Kelley)
What inspired you to write BIGFOOT?
In light of the increasing visibility of anti-science thinking during the COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to explore the ways in which seemingly harmless ideas (like believing in Bigfoot) become dangerous.
I was also really interested in exploring a family dynamic where two sisters had diametrically opposed views on science, and imagining a set of circumstances where they were able to connect with each other in a way that made change possible.
The two sisters in the play have a lot of issues with each other and have developed dramatically different worldviews: one is a physicist; the other is extremely skeptical of science. Do you think family dynamics can determine a person’s worldview?
I think that human beings are at the mercy of stories, and that many of the most foundational, hard-to-shake stories about identity often crystallize within families. We all see the world through a very particular lens — and that filter is shaped significantly (though not necessarily permanently!) by childhood experiences and dynamics.
Frame 352 of the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film, alleged by the filmmakers to depict a female Bigfoot.
Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin / Public Domain
Holly, the physicist in the play, talks about some of the more puzzling theories in physics: quantum superposition, quantum entanglement, and dark matter. Is the play contending that some of the tenets in physics require a belief system similar to what a conspiracy theorist buys into?
Definitely not! There’s a big difference between believing in Bigfoot and believing in quantum physics — but one of my main interests in telling this story was trying to really highlight what that difference actually is. In BIGFOOT, Alyssa points out that Bigfoot is just a “weird animal,” not an “all-knowing bilocating electron or whatever” — I wanted to explore the idea that depending on your background, believing in something like Bigfoot might feel much more comfortable than “believing” in a scientific paradox you haven’t been given the opportunity to truly understand.
What would you like audiences to take away from seeing BIGFOOT?
That you can change your story. You can change your mind. You can learn new things and gather new evidence and release outdated beliefs and come to new, more evolved conclusions. And you can do this without being “incapacitated by shame.” It’s OK to have been wrong!
Have you had any personal relationship to physics?
I’m married to a quantum physicist, which has resulted in a much more personal relationship to physics than I ever would have predicted. Physics is mysterious and fascinating, and it has been a real privilege to get some small level of insight into how the world works on an atomic level.
Plays about sisters are always so rich with history and feeling. What are your favorite plays about sisters?
The first two that come to mind are Jiehae Park’s Peerless and Jen Silverman’s The Moors. (Both happen to have productions in July 2024!)
What’s next for Meghan Brown?
I’m currently working on a physics-related spy romcom screenplay called Superposition, and was one of the co-writers on a comedy thriller film for Buzzfeed/Lionsgate called F*** Marry Kill that shot last summer and will be released soon. In terms of theater, I’m currently collaborating on a few new musical projects and continuing work on my astronaut murder mystery play A Seam (developed at the Geffen Playhouse Writers Room) and the Much Ado About Nothing riff/sex tragicomedy What Happened While Hero Was Dead (developed at Moving Arts’ MADlab, the Great Plains Theater Conference, and the Ashland New Plays Festival). I’ve also got a production of my play The Pliant Girls opening in DC this fall!
BIGFOOT was one of six readings of new plays in development as part of the EST/Sloan Project in the 2024 First Light Festival, which ran from April 25 through June 17. The festival is made possible through the alliance between the Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
