We sit down with Kate Kremer, playwright and publisher of 53rd State Press, which now also houses 3 Hole Press and Plays Inverse, making it an essential hub of independent and radical writing for performance today. We discuss how one challenge in publishing plays could be that “nobody likes to read plays,” how to think about the relationship between text and production, publishing unproduceable plays, inciting future possibilities for the impossible, and envisioning “the page as the arena in which this event is going to unfold.” We also consider the dangers of replying to email, how financial pressures on theaters affect aesthetics, learning to write grants, getting your time devoured, the aftermath of covid, and building bridges between the literary and theater worlds. Kate offers some pretty brilliant thoughts on how success might actually mean “managing a consistent relationship with failure.”

Also mentioned are the playwrights, writers, and publishers Karinne Keithley Syers, Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, and Tyler Crumrine. Find more of Kate’s work here and check out this ep especially if you’re wondering how one single person could run an entire press and become her own intern.