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• Keith Gatchel

Keith Gatchel is a 23-year-old aspiring playwright and recent graduate of Southern Illinois University. His latest play, "Murder at Casualty CafÇ" can be seen Wednesday Nov. 30 through Saturday Dec. 3 at the Krannert Center's Studio Theatre. Keith's plays have been performed at the Moe Lab Theatre in Carbondale Ill., Paradise Alley Players in Marion, Ill. and staged at the Chicago Dramatists. He's also acted in a number of plays, including "The Real Inspector Hound" and "Brighton Beach Memoirs," and has played a technical role backstage in numerous shows, including the current production of "A Christmas Carol" at The Goodman Theatre in Chicago.

Why do you want to be a playwright?

To impress girls ... brunettes mostly. And basically I have a slightly active imagination. It's encouraging when people like my plays and understand them. It's a way to have an effect on people. And it's an enjoyable process. When you can make people cringe because you've changed their point of view, that's one of the best qualities of almost any media - to bring new ideas to people who don't consider them.

What was the first play you ever wrote?

The first official one was a play that was never produced called "The Ultimate Realm." I was 19 when I wrote it. It was about a guy who works in a comic book store, because at the time, I worked in a comic book store. It was just a big writing exercise, just a cute, humorous outlet for some stuff that happened in the store. One character is a robot, one is an alien from another dimension, and there are protests outside the store. So it's obviously fictitious.

What writers do you look up to?

There's Aaron Sorkin; he has great dialogue. I think every writer today tries to emulate that. Neil Simon - he takes normal situations and shows the absurd side. I think that comes from (his experience) writing sketch comedy for TV. And Edward Albee, who wrote "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."

I could (also) go on for days about cartoons that influence me.

What do you take away from these writers?

I take every line word for word and blatantly plagiarize them. Mostly it's their style. The mechanics of writing are like the mechanics of building a house. It's like architecture - how you arrange the words and actions, and what happens to make your scene distinct. I look for how other writers do dialogue, advance their stories and create the world they're in.

How has your family influenced you?

It's outrageous how strangely supportive they are. My dad and I used to watch sitcoms together. That was our pastime. And then we would talk about them. I think it's ironic when people say TV pulls families apart. My mom and step-dad are naturally witty people. My step-dad is a preacher, and watching him at church, even though we weren't really paying attention, helped. There's an off-kilterness to our family that every family has. I think we're just more aware of it than other families.