I met these two lovely Aussie women last month when I read at Women of Letters, the reading series they curate and take around the world. The reading, which has included readers such as Martha Wainwright, Edie Falco and Moby, invites participants to read a letter aloud based on a particular subject, many of which are then published in an anthology. I was impressed, as a participant and as a producer myself, by what an organized, elegant and positive show it was. Writers themselves, McGuire writes for The Monthly and is the author of Apply Within: Stories of Career Sabotage while Hardy, a TV producer and writer, is the author of You'll Be Sorry When I'm Dead.

How did you originally know each other? What's your origin story as a working pair?
Hardy: Really, it was a case of mutual friends in the writing world.  Michaela comes from Brisbane originally and I'm based in Melbourne, so we weren't necessarily in the same social circle.  But given our work we inevitably gravitated towards each other.  I think our first interaction was when I interviewed Michaela about her first book on national radio.  One day when we're old and sitting on a porch shooting at squirrels it will be nice to listen back to that shy first date.
 
How did you decide who plays which roles in terms of the show's production?
MH: Having Michaela host was a no-brainer - I hate public speaking, and have taken a considerable step back from a previous incarnation being fairly saturated in the media.  She is cool, calm and confident where I am on most show days a frantic, overemotional mess.  I'm good at front of house - harking back to my days working in hospitality - and am much happier keeping the show running from the back of the room than being spotlit on stage.  We stepped into those roles naturally, and everything else just fell into place.  In terms of behind-the-scenes roles, there is no clear delineation - we both know the show so well and understand the checklist of what needs to be done before an event, so whoever is available will take care of it.  It's a beautiful, strong dynamic.  We got lucky.

What about the show has changed or evolved since its earliest days?
MH: Very little.  Probably the main difference is that we used to send people out from backstage to read their letter one at a time, until a formidable famous Australian actress berated us, saying that 'as women we should all be onstage together, supporting each other'.  We dragged all the chairs out and put everybody onstage for the whole show, and it worked really well.

We also branched out to do some splinter events - People of Letters, whereby pairs of people (creative partnerships, married couples, writers and editors) write letters to each other.  And Men of Letters, which we tour up the east coast of Australia once every year - ten prominent Australian men all write 'A letter to the woman who changed my life'.  Those shows are really fun to throw together.

What are your methods for finding talent in different cities?
MH: It's a combination of relying on friends in that city to give us the scoop on interesting writers/performers/comedians who we otherwise wouldn't know about, and just researching the town.  Often we find FB groups - Chicago Women Comedians or somesuch, or Chicago Women Writers.  Looking on Wiki for local famous women.  It's an interesting way to get to know a city.



What do you do when somebody drops out of an out-of-town performance?
MH: Well, considering it happens all the time we essentially take it in our stride (unlike the first time it happened - right before we boarded the plane from Aus to our first show in LA.  I believe there were tears (mine)). As we're a charity and we don't pay our talent (or ourselves), we're the first event for celebrities to wipe clean from their calendar when they have a bigger offer.  Obviously if we've lost an A-lister it's a pain as we don't want half our audience to riot when they discover the person they've purchased a ticket to see won't be gracing the stage.  But we have faith in the show. We've offered people money back if they've come for a certain person, and not once has anybody taken it.  They get swept up in the stories of the other women.



Aside from no-shows, what have been some of the biggest crises you've faced during a show and how did you address them?
MH: 
Apart from sound issues, drunk music festival audiences heckling, and the occasional tech meltdown (usually when someone wants to use powerpoint during their letter), I can't think of giant crisis.  For the most part I'm the one dealing with the offstage stuff (older audience members complaining about not having a good seat, or it's too hot/cold/loud/quiet etc), while she's tackling onstage issues (no foldback, traumatised readers).  I used to text her a lot during the show to let her know how things were going ('Gee, that letter was good.  I'm hungry.  Do you think I have nice hair?') until she gently asked me to keep it restricted to essential texts only.  I'm sure she misses me for those two hours she's onstage.

Why are the shows not recorded?

McGuire: This 'decision' of ours not to record shows initially came about because it simply never occurred to us to do so. After the first four or five shows in Melbourne, we started being approached by radio stations etc about turning the show into a podcast, or even just recording them for posterity, but once the idea was presented to us it was one we felt quite strongly against. Even in those first ever shows, many of our guests shared incredibly intimate, honest letters on stage, and it was important to us that they feel safe enough to do so. It'd probably make our lives a lot easier if we did just record these shows, especially when trying to sell the idea to an overseas audience, but we're fiercely protective of the safe space we've created.

Where are you still hoping to take the show that you haven't before?
MM: After a 9-city tour across the US, UK and Ireland we've just ticked off quite a lot of places on our wishlist, but there are still plenty of places we'd love to stage shows. We still haven't been to New Zealand, which we're hoping to remedy quickly, and after hosting our first multi-lingual shows in Indonesia last year we'd love to explore the idea of doing shows in countries where English isn't the most common language. 



What differences, if any, have you noticed about the live lit scene in the States vs. Australia?

MM: Our US tours have been such whirlwind affairs that we actually, shamefully, didn't get a chance to check out any lit shows other than our own! While we were booking this most recent tour though, we looked up a lot of live events, got a sense of the people who were participating in them, and the US scene seems to be just as vibrant and thriving as it is in our home town of Melbourne. 



What can you be found doing these days when you're not working on Women of Letters?

MM: I've just finished my second book which is out next month, so I've suddenly got a lot of time on my hands that I'm hoping to spend writing more magazine features. Most days I can be found half-buried in a stack of New Yorkers, or trawling the internet for story ideas.

What's the latest thing you've written?
MM: The latest thing I've written was a blog for The Monthly about the Lego movie and how the Australian Prime Minister is eerily similar to the blockheaded villain Spaceman.


You both have great hair. What's the biggest pain in the ass when it comes to maintaining it?
MM: Why thank you. Well, I don't use conditioner, and Marieke doesn't use a hairdryer, and neither of us use a brush, so I guess just remembering that I need to pack a hairdryer and that Marieke needs to pack conditioner? I think one of us can always be relied on to have shampoo on tours, though. 



How does it feel to be the 383rd and 384th people interviewed for Zulkey.com?
We feel deeply honoured and unworthy.