Rail theater editor Emily DeVoti conceived the IN DIALOGUE feature of the Rail Theater pages as a forum for “playwrights to engage with other playwrights.” I have been a devoted reader (and sometime participant) in these dialogues, which frequently illuminate the quirky and dark inspirations and methodologies of the theater’s most isolating process: solo script writing. But how does the writing happen when no one on the team identifies as playwright in the creation of a work of theater?

Fans of 31 Down—brainchild of the endlessly inventive Brooklyn-based pair of theater artists Ryan Holsopple and Shannon Sindelar—will be familiar with the company’s sensually immersive approach to play-making (emphasis on Holsopple’s mind-bending aural sculptures and Sindelar’s evocative visual compositions).