Who he is: Author, playwright, screenwriter, and poet, Ray Bradbury has been captivating imaginations for more than 50 years. In the theatre world Bradbury has never been busier: This year alone will see Los Angeles productions of no fewer than four Bradbury plays, including a collection of one-acts titled The Time of Going Away, currently at the Court Theatre. At the end of May his Pandemonium Theatre Company will present The October Country, followed by Something Wicked This Way Comes in the fall. In addition Bradbury will be presented with a Career Achievement in Theatre award at the L.A. Weekly Awards, on Apr. 28. Is it normal for an 82-year-old to have so many plays being staged all at once? "No. I'm abnormal," Bradbury quipped.
Why he writes for theatre: The successful novelist said he nonetheless writes for small L.A. theatre because it's his passion. He was 12 years old, growing up in Arizona, when he was first cast in the lead of a musical. "When I heard the applause, that was it," said Bradbury, laughing. His first attempts at playwriting were, in his words, "quite terrible." Said Bradbury, "When I started out 60 years ago in a little theatre group in L.A., I didn't know how to write plays at all. Over the years, I learned to write plays, but it took me 30 years to do it."
Bradbury regularly collaborates with his Pandemonium Theatre Company, which was founded in 1964 with his Time of Going Away director Charles Rome Smith. "We've put on 18 or 20 plays, and they've all been wonderful and perfect and terrific and loving," raved Bradbury. "Theatre is a sanctuary away from Hollywood, which ruins two-thirds of the things they touch."
What he thinks of his films: Bradbury has endured his fair share of disappointments from Hollywood adapting his stories into movies. "The Illustrated Man was done 30 years ago, and it was dreadful, dreadful, dreadful," he noted. "But Something Wicked This Way Comes turned out very well; it's a good film." What went wrong with Illustrated Man? "They didn't read my book," he said simply. "And they put swear words in, which are not in my books. They think they're being realistic, and as a result no children can see my film." Bradbury's favorite of his adaptations is The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, a sweet 1998 fable starring Joe Mantegna and Edward James Olmos. "It's beautiful," he raved. "They read my script and they used it. And they cast it so beautifully. The performances are fantastic." Bradbury also has high hopes for an updated version of Farenheit 451, which Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) will write and direct, with Mel Gibson producing.
How and what he writes: Although Bradbury considers himself a fantasy writer and not a science-fiction writer, many of his works feature bold visions of the future and are extremely popular in the sci-fi community. But Bradbury himself is surprisingly old-fashioned: He has never driven a car and doesn't use a computer to write his stories. "I have a typewriter," he said. "A computer is a typewriter. I don't need two."
Though a wildly popular writer, Bradbury's books aren't often on the bestseller lists, as the sci-fi/fantasy genre is still considered a niche market. According to Bradbury, such lists mean nothing to him. "It's better if you say to me, 'I love you and I love your stories.' That's better than the bestseller list." So is praise from his stars. According to Peggy McCay, who appears in The Time of Going Away, Bradbury is a rare find. "He's a unique writer in both his imagination and his language," said McCay. "His lines are not ordinary in any way."
Bradbury keeps involved with theatre purely out of love, putting his money where his mouth is. "I've never made a dime putting on my plays," he stated, warning others who consider writing for the theatre, "Do it because you love it. Don't do it for the money, because there isn't any."