Q&A with Mark Childers, Bookwriter of the Musical Love Quirks

The new musical Love Quirks started out as a song cycle by composer/lyricist Seth Bisen-Hersh. Now it's a book musical about four roommates (two straight women, a gay man, and a straight man) living together in New York City and falling in and out of love. Mark Childers was asked by his brother, Love Quirks director Brian Childers, and Bisen-Hersh to write the book scenes.

The cast of Love Quirks: (from left) Teresa Hui, Brian Shaw, Lauren Testerman, Robert McCaffrey.
Photo credit: Mark Childers

Childers says that he and Bisen-Hersh work really well together, which made it easier to write a book for a collection of songs that already had a structure. "Seth is a great guy to work with. I feel we have a strong collaborative process in the sense that we don't hold back. We are very honest with each other and willing to listen to one another; rewrites, new dialogue, new songs, plot changes. It's all part of the process and we both really enjoy that side of it," Childers says.

Another challenge was writing in Bisen-Hersh's voice, so the songs wouldn't feel disconnected from the dialogue. Childers was able to do that by listening to him in conversations, but what he found most helpful was watching him work. I also spoke to Childers about how audiences can help in the development of the show, working with his brother, and what's next for Love Quirks.

Q: It says on the website that you intend to improve the show in front of an audience as a stepping stone to a commercial Off-Broadway run. Has the audience reaction been helpful to you so far?

A: Yes. When you see an audience see it for the first time and you didn't know something was funny, that's the fun part. You're listening for something and they're laughing at this other part and you're thinking, "I didn't write that to be funny." And then stuff that's [written to be] funny, they're silent. We're definitely learning a lot from audiences and we look forward to our next round of rewrites.

Q: So, are you rewriting now or are you waiting until this run is finished?

A: I write every day in my head. I'm always writing. I could change everything. You're always doing that because that's what writers do, or at least I do. You're always looking to improve. Especially when you're in the process. That's the mindset that you can change those things. But what's been nice is someone eventually takes it away from you and the production team has taken it away from us. I cannot make changes for this run, but we are absolutely thinking about it constantly. Looking to the next draft. Looking and thinking forward. 

Q: Bookwriting seems like a difficult job. People often blame the book when a musical doesn't work. Why did you want to get into that?

A: I started writing because I had stories. I've written for musicals. I've done this before for a book musical with material that was also existing except it wasn't already structured [The Kid from Brooklyn: The Danny Kaye Musical]. I write because I have stories to tell. Why do I write? I'm masochistic? I can't answer that question.

Q: Do you have any inspirations?

A: Probably the play that made me want to write was Six Degrees of Separation. The first time I read Six Degrees of Separation, I decided I was going to be a writer.

Q: What's it like working with your brother?

A: Working with my brother is great, actually. We make a great team and we've had lots of practice at it because he was part of The Kid from Brooklyn. We've worked together back in the day when I used to get up and do shows. Back in--I'm not telling you what year--he was Tony and I was Riff in West Side Story. So we've been working together for a long time. And if we fight through it, we fight through it and it always stays about the piece. We don't cross those lines.

Q: What else do you want people to know about the show?

A: I want people to know that this show is a lot of fun. It is not heavyhanded. It is just heart and just come and have a great time and laugh. Don't come in here looking to have your life changed or anything, but just remember moments in your life that you can relate to. The music is great. The actors are fantastic.

Love Quirks is playing at Theatre 54 through September 28. $30 tickets are available here.