Drew Eberly is Directing Plays, Making Records, Writing Songs and Definitely Not Making a Musical
Drew Eberly directs Dirty Laundry for Available Light Theatre, which opens April 30. Drew also just released his third record, “Last Night at the Lounge,” available in vinyl and digital forms from his Bandcamp page. Drew talked to his friend and frequent collaborator, Matt Slaybaugh, about these projects and more.
Matt: You’ve acted in about 20 productions for Available Light, and this is your fourth time directing for the company. What do you value about working with AVLT?
Drew: In theater, when you’re auditioning and trying to get parts, it’s very common to hear, “You don’t look like how I pictured it,” or, “You’re not the right type.” There are lots of ways of talking about actors and artists that are very limiting. Available Light doesn’t think like that. In fact, we might be very happy if you don’t fit a type at all or look like anybody that we’ve ever met before. What we want is for you to be yourself, to be your own force.
Matt: What excites you most about this particular play, Dirty Laundry?
Drew: I love a play where the tones can clash. That makes this play unique. On the one hand you have a very realistic tone, with the very serious questions that it asks. Questions about adultery and monogamy and about what we expect of our elders. I think audiences will be invited to consider their own standards and the standards they hold for their own aging parents.
And so there might be a devastating moment of realism followed by something very funny, or followed by the absurd. Dirty Laundry explores some tough family dynamics, but also includes a very witty chorus device that turns out be a lot of fun, and sometimes it contrasts with the tone of the realistic scenes.
Matt: What is your approach to directing a play like this?
Drew: One thing is that I really like to get a rough draft of the staging down very quickly. I’m the same way in my songwriting. I’ll go ahead and hit record on a draft of a song that other musicians might think is way too soon. But I like to get something out as quickly as possible, because then you can look at it, and talk about it, and you can work with it.
And that’s one of the great things about this cast. This cast has a high level of experience and professionalism, so there’s a lot of respect. Many of us have worked together over a decade or more, so we have faith in each other and we’re really willing to go for it. We have faith that even if it’s not great now that we’ll make it great.
Matt: You just put a record new out. What’s the story behind this release?
Drew: “Last Night at the Lounge” is my third record of songs. The writing explores themes of loneliness, resignation and also summer’s warm embrace. All of my records also have these fun tropes of dancing and having a blast even when you’re on your own. And all of my songs explore the unglamorous side of a life in the arts – with some humor, I hope.
This was the first time I’ve worked with Sean Gardner. We recorded at his studio. Sean produced the record and plays multiple instruments on the album. He and I are the same age, we were both English majors, and we both listen to a ton of different music, but we both speak the language of 90s indie rock. Which is funny, cause it’s a folk record, not an indie rock record. But I love the shadings of that era that show up in the songs, and Sean was instrumental in making that happen. He helped my songs grow and progress. It’s a big, sonic step forward.
Matt: What are you working on for the future?
Drew: I am writing another song cycle and it’s very collaborative and we’re going to present it in a really theatrical way. It’s called “Winterlong.” I’m working with some artists that I directed a few years ago in a show called Ghost Quartet, which was sort of a theatrical concept album. But it’s very much not a musical.
The concept is the long, grey, Ohio winter and how we fight our way out of that without becoming consumed by it. We started in April of 2025 and worked up to a show at the Rambling House. Now, we’ve written 85 percent of it, mostly in my basement, and we’re going to have a retreat this summer. We’re really excited to continue to add to the music and also figure out how it creates a full evening at the theater for Available Light (in February 2027.) It’s really exciting because Available Light’s audience, the audience that I’ve been fortunate to perform in front of, will know that a traditional musical is one way to present songs on a stage, but we can also explore other ways.
Matt: Last question. Who are your current inspirations?
Drew: I like letting a lot of mediums speak to me and I admire anyone who works in multiple genres or arts. The playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins – he is so playful in the theater he makes and he is absolutely confidant in throwing in a left hand turn into a different genre.
PJ Harvey has always been an artist that I admire. And I don’t even love it all, but she takes these huge swings. And so she’s a huge influence. I love when people move through their art with a little bit of fearlessness.
But also, I will say… My biggest inspiration is my son. I see myself trying to be brave and trying to do new things and it’s because I want him to see someone who tries hard and takes chances. As a parent, you work so hard to show that life is fun and full of possibilities, and to show that you should say “yes,” and you should do things. And I’m probably being a little much about it, but I want him to see that. I want him to have a steady diet of inspiration. And then, he gets to do with that whatever he wants.
See Available Light Theatre’s Dirty Laundry by Mathilde Dratwa, April 30 – May 16, in Studio One at the Vern Riffe Center in downtown Columbus.
About the Author
Matt Slaybaugh is the interim managing director for Available Light Theatre.
This article is part of a bi-weekly column brought to you by the Greater Columbus Arts Council as part of the Art Makes Columbus campaign. Explore a calendar of events, public art database, artist-curated public art tours and stories at columbusmakesart.com. To learn more about GCAC grants visit gcac.org.