Whitney Rowland is a Minnesota-based game writer, playwright, and screenwriter, and a 2024-25 McKnight Fellow in Playwriting. She recently wrote to us about writing video games vs. plays, the books she’s reading, and her new play by STYLE / by COLOR / by CUT / by SIZE (or) SORTED, which she is workshopping at Playwrights’ Center this week.
You can learn more about Whitney and her plays on her website. Experience her game writing work in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and the newly released Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Check out our full interview with Whitney below!
Can you tell us more about your life as a game writer? What is it like to work on a game writing team vs. independently on your own play?
Working on games is such a deeply collaborative, but also incredibly chaotic process. There are constantly shifting constraints (a huge percentage of which are outside of your control), so it breeds a kind of “roll with anything” attitude that I’ve found to be helpful in my work, both in and out of the games industry.
When I’m working on video games, my favorite feeling is the sense of satisfaction you get when all the words and items and objectives and action come together to make a fun, functional, and meaningful slice of entertainment. When I’m working on plays, my favorite feeling is the boundlessness of the creative process; I can go absolutely anywhere the story takes me, and there’s no Production Manager over my shoulder reminding me of the budget (at least, not yet).
What can you tell us about your upcoming workshop of by STYLE / by COLOR / by CUT / by SIZE (or) SORTED?
by STYLE / by COLOR / by CUT / by SIZE (or) SORTED is an early work-in-progress dark comedy (with a slight surrealistic or magical realistic bent) set in the fictional equivalent of an Ann Taylor Loft backroom. The play focuses on a group of employees who attempt to navigate fast-shifting company culture in the wake of new corporate leadership. I conceived of this play years ago, actually (based on my own time working in retail), but the idea deepened – and became even more relevant – after the election.
It’s a large cast play (with a lot of vibrant voices and opinionated characters), so I’m very excited to get into the workshop room with the actors and hear what new things they discover in the text. My hope is to use this workshop week at the Playwrights’ Center to rip this play apart and sew it back together again, only better and stronger and tighter.
What topics, themes, or genres are you most drawn to? What about them most excites or captivates you?
Science and philosophy always have a way of sneaking into my work. On the surface, this is essentially a “workplace comedy” play, but I find myself leaning into themes of identity, individual experience, and even “emotional intelligence” as a means of transcending time and space.
What do you value most in collaborators?
Good vibes and great questions! A positive, constructive energy is an absolute must. But that personality paired with open ears and a keen intelligence? Indispensable!
Being a professional playwright can sometimes feel like a constant hustle. How do you like to rest? What fills your cup when it’s time to recharge?
I like to soak my brain in good stuff. Good stories, good movies, good art. I’m usually reading two books simultaneously (right now, Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson and The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality by Richard Panek). If I’m short on time and energy, reading is probably the easiest way to fill my creative cup: listening to audiobooks as I wash dishes or curling up with my Kindle under the covers when it’s past my bedtime. But if I have more time to spare, I love playing video games, especially narrative-driven indies (recent highlights: Dead Letters Dept. and Slay the Princess, both available on Steam!). It’s so fun to engage with stories that are being spun out in such new and exciting ways. I find it incredibly motivating!
More about Whitney:
IG: @whitney.rowland (writing and life)
or @whitney_tries (visual art)