THE ELEPHANT PLAY Spotlight: Greg T. Nanni

We’re thrilled to continue the creative team of The Elephant Play by Kelly O’Donnell with dramaturg Greg T. Nanni! This is Greg’s first collaboration with Flux and we’re thrilled to welcome him. The questions are inspired by Kelly’s beautiful play—make sure to RSVP for the 6/27 and 6/28 readings in NYC!

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Do you have a favorite fact about elephants? If so, please share it.

They will hold burials and remember the ground where they lay relatives, and will sometimes return to mourn them.

Who is your favorite fictional pachyderm?

No, but I did enjoy looking up the word pachyderm — would the extinct giant platypus count? Love the giant platypus — mostly because I enjoy confusing things, and the idea of a giant platypus being carnivorous seems like a comedic nightmare.

Did you ever met an elephant in real life? If so, what was it like?

Sadly, only in zoos. It was both beautiful and sad to see such an intelligent creature reduced to an imprisoned couch potato, living life moment to moment with only the illusion of agency, most likely forgetting entirely how mammoth it really is.

Elephants are fabled to never forget. What’s your memory like these days?

The opposite. I’m hyper forgetful these days. Mostly because there’s too many things jumping in my brain at once from the world we live in.

Have you ever felt separated from your herd?

When I was younger, I’ve often felt like the male elephant, wandering the earth, searching. I think I’m still searching, but not alone anymore.

Greg T. Nanni (he/him) is a playwright, dramaturg, and former Philadelphian now living in the NYC area. As dramaturg, he was the former Literary Manager of the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, and assisted Kristina Wong and Aaron Malkin on the inaugural production of KRISTINA WONG, SWEATSHOP OVERLORD (NYTW, Pulitzer Finalist). Full length plays include: THE BEAR IS HERE (BAPF Semi-Finalist), RAGE (Emerson Stage New Play Workshop 2022), LOVE (AMONG DREAMERS) (BFA’s THE HOUSE debut lab workshop), and SUICIDE COWBOYS (Semi-Finalist: O’Neill, Premiere Stages; Finalist: BAPF). He is a recipient of the MFA in Playwriting at Columbia University in 2022, where he was awarded the Dean’s Fellowship.

How can people follow your work?

gregnanni.com or @nanniplaywright