A.J. Schaar shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning A.J. , we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Of intelligence, energy, and integrity, I value integrity most highly. Intelligence can be acquired, and energy is not always in our control, but integrity is an INTEGRAL part of a human being. If a person has little integrity, they cannot be depended on for much. If a person has great integrity, they can not only be depended on to do what they say they will do, but to do what’s best for the greatest good. To me, integrity is not just important; it is admirable.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Amanda Jane Schaar. I publish books and plays as “A.J. Schaar” in part because everyone called me “A.J.” (or “Age”) when I was a kid, in part because there isn’t another writer named “A.J. Schaar,” and in part because so many of my favorite authors publish under their initials (J.R.R., C.S. etc.).
I run the Black Chicken Unlimited, an exclusively indie publishing house for most curious bk-bk-bk-books (to purchase books or read free, visit: www.ajschaar.com).
And I proudly serve as the founding executive director of the New Fortune Theatre Company. Our motto is Theatre for the Daring, and Theatre for All (www.newfortunetheatre.com).
At both companies, we believe that stories and art are an integral part of human existence and education, and that access to art is a human right and public good.
For these reasons, many of our works are being made available free to the general public, and they are made possible by those who can (and who are excited to) contribute financial support. (If you wish to contribute, visit: https://givebutter.com/NewFortuneOrganizationalSupport). Thank you!
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As a child, I believed in the possibility of monsters. Today, I know that some monsters exist.
More specifically, as a child, I thought of monsters in terms of demons and vampires and deep sea creatures that lived by destroying the innocent. And today, while I don’t discount the possibility of demons and vampires and deep sea monsters… I realize that there are monsters that look just like the rest of us. They show us a front that often mirrors ourselves, our own words and beliefs and interests… but behind them, there is nothing but a void.
Monsters are real.
However.
As a child, I couldn’t imagine a way to defeat them. Today I KNOW from studying history, and seeing the same monsters appear in every time period and in every civilization– I KNOW that monsters most often defeat themselves. They are inherently lazy and cowardly things, and it can sometimes require shockingly little effort and risk on our part to make them retreat. A show of any resistance will make most monsters at least think twice about the effort and risk they are willing to take. And I know now what I only imagined as a child, that when push comes to shove, most of us do resist. I believe in us.
To pull from one of my most recent plays, “WE THE PYRATES,” when a Spanish fleet of 1500 (fifteen-hundred!) soldiers come to destroy the Pyrate Republic in the Bahamas, John Dunks (tavern keep) recounts:
“In fact, jest two of our sentries–two,
TWO– fired off enough muskets between ’em,
To frighten ’em All into a Retreat!”
That’s historically accurate!
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering teaches me that suffering, finally, has no permanence. To quote Olga in my interpretation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters…
“In time, we’ll die and be forgotten, our faces, our voices, how many sisters we were, but pain is forgotten too, just as distant times seem only filled with joy, Time will bring peace and happiness to earth, and even though they won’t know who we were, we’ll be remembered in a way, whenever they say a kind word or prayer…”
You ask some deep questions over here at SD Voyager!..
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes. Let me quote Dudley Field Malone now in my most recently published work, “American Monkeys” (the world’s first published abridgment of the Scopes Monkey Trial transcripts), because this is part of a STUNNING speech from 1925– that I feel speaks for many, if not for most of us in America today:
“We have come here to tell the truth as we understand it. We do not fear all the truth they can present as facts. The truth always wins, and we are not afraid of it. The truth is no coward. The truth does not need the forces of government. The truth does not need Mr. Bryan. The truth is imperishable, eternal, and immortal and needs no human agency to support it. We have come here ready for a battle. We are ready. We are ready. We feel we stand with progress. We feel we stand with science. We feel we stand with intelligence. We feel we stand with fundamental freedom in America. We are not afraid. Where is the fear? We meet it. Where is the fear? We defy it. We ask Your Honor to admit scientific evidence as a matter of correct law, as a matter of sound procedure, and as a matter of justice to the defense of this case!”
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
…You could argue that you’ve only done you’re absolute best if you haven’t been praised, because this would require you to be Selfless– a somewhat underrated virtue (because it IS so often unseen).
I would hazard that most people have given their best without receiving praise at some point in their lives. I do not think this diminishes their accomplishment, but dresses their accomplishment in Dignity, Grace, and Worldliness.
I think it’s fair to say that all of the people closest to me have moved mountains to benefit others– and I have watched some of those efforts go without acknowledgment from the people who most benefited. So let me say to my Mamacat, my Daddio, my sweet seesters, and my Richard Darling, that I love you so much for your greatness of heart, for your nobility of passion, and for your smiling self-confidence that needs not the world to smile, too, at ALL of the Greatness you are, and Do.
This praise itself is fleeting, but the accomplishments endure.
I send my best to every act that feels unseen.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ajschaar.com
- Other: www.newfortunetheatre.com
https://givebutter.com/NewFortuneOrganizationalSupport
