Very few playwrights could say they were influenced by The Alamo by way of Lindsay Lohan. Bryce Wissel can. OK, so not really by her but, more specifically, a movie she starred in before personal drama and drugs took over.

Bryce, originally from Indianapolis, is one of four playwrights participating in Polarity Ensemble Theatre’s Dionysus Cup. So how does the tart Lohan enter into the picture? As Bryce tells it, “It was pretty specific. I was beating myself up for not writing anything lately." One night he popped in Mean Girls, starring Lohan and written by Tina Fey.

“Not only was it a fantastic comedy, but it’s based on a non-fiction book,” Bryce said.

Around that same time, Bryce had just visited the Alamo. Liking the connection of a fictional work based on something non-fiction, Bryce forged ahead with a new work. As he said laughing:  “Ephemera is just the story of the Alamo set in space.”

This being his first full-length play, Bryce is eager to see the process of the Dionysos Cup play out. “You always learn something new when you hear it aloud,” he said. “Every new actor who reads it, you find something new.”

Along with the Lohan-Alamo connection, mix in a dash of yoga and Eastern thought: Bryce is also a yoga teacher. He ventured into that realm to help him with nerves and a tad bit of stage fright. Yoga then led some exploration of Buddhism.

“After I wrote most of the play, I started doing yoga, getting into Buddhist thought and attending a temple,” Bryce said. “Looking back at the play, you can kinda read it with a Buddhist slant.”

Either way, Bryce’s non-fiction life has come together for a funny, funky work of fictional theatre.

Polarity Ensemble member Travis Gauchay recently interviewed the playwrights of the Dionysos Cup, our upcoming Festival of New Plays. The festival also features David Alex, Darren Callahan and Lisa Rosenthal. This is the second in the series of profiles.