<strong>How did you get into studying poverty? That&rsquo;s really different from your regular job.</strong></p><p>It was my thesis in college at Avila University. I wanted to experience a culture I knew nothing about. I spent a year interviewing people in soup kitchens and homeless people. Then I wrote a play about their lives. I created composite characters because I didn&rsquo;t want to be exploitative. </p><p><strong>Was your original intention simply to come up with a powerful piece of drama?</strong></p><p>Yes. I thought when I performed it to fulfill my thesis, that would be it. I performed it in the Screenland Theatre before it was remodeled. But I kept getting asked to perform it again and again and again.</p><p><strong>Who was asking?</strong></p><p>People who had seen it and wanted me to perform it for different schools and charities; for example, American Friends Service Committee &mdash; they are the group that did the &ldquo;Eyes Wide Open&rdquo; traveling exhibit of combat boots. </p><p>I had also begun giving speeches, and at some point a friend and I started a theater company. The company got some press, and we were asked to perform the play in St. Louis and elsewhere. This barrage of performances forced me to keep up on the research, so now eight years later I&rsquo;m still at it.</p><p><strong>Is the play a one-man performance?</strong></p><p>No, it ranges from two actors to as many as 10.</p><p><strong>What did you learn studying poor people that surprised you?</strong></p><p>That a lot of people at soup kitchens actually work more than full time. But food is the expendable expense that they will either do without or go to get help with. </p><p>Another thing I didn&rsquo;t know was how huge an impact health insurance has on the homeless. Medical bills are a catalyst for extreme poverty among some people. </p><p>And the cuts in mental health care spending in Missouri have led to tens of thousands of mentally ill people in Missouri being out on the street, which doesn&rsquo;t allow them to get a job and not be idle. </p><p><strong>You were recently in Peru. Why?</strong></p><p>I got a fellowship grant from Sisters of St. Joseph to go there. I wanted to experience poverty on a scale I wasn&rsquo;t familiar with, and in another country. </p><p><strong>How is being poor in Peru different from being poor in the U.S.?</strong></p><p>Here, there have been so many instances where people who aren&rsquo;t homeless tell me in interviews that poor people are lazy, they&rsquo;re bums &mdash; they mock and taunt poor people. Even well-meaning people here treat the poor as charities, not as real people. </p><p><strong>And in Peru?</strong></p><p>Poor people there were treated equally and with a level of dignity I don&rsquo;t often see here. </p><p><strong>What is the most important thing you&rsquo;ve learned?</strong></p><p>That there isn&rsquo;t really an American Dream. There is a dream, and it exists in other countries as well as here. </p><p><strong>What&rsquo;s the Peruvian version of the dream?</strong></p><p>To advance, to have a home, to have a family, to be stable, for your children&rsquo;s lives to be better than your own. Like anywhere, really.</p><p><strong>Do you make money from these plays?</strong></p><p>No. The only money I&rsquo;ve ever received is to cover expenses of putting on the play. We only do it to raise money for charities. We&rsquo;ve never taken personal profit.</p><p><strong>Does your work as a poverty researcher and playwright have any overlap with your day job, doing marketing for an arts group?</strong></p><p>Yes, one is the art component. In both cases, I&rsquo;m working on communicating and making art accessible to everyone. I am motivated by the fact that art is not prejudiced. It can bring joy to anyone&rsquo;s life no matter what their plight is.