It's been two months since Claire-Frances Sullivan earned her Music Theater degree from Central Michigan University, and she is already taking her playwriting talents internationally.

Sullivan was selected to have her play showcased in March at Talos, a London science fiction theater festival. She has experience in acting, writing plays and composing musicals. She received training as a playwriting apprentice at the Powerhouse Theater Training Company in New York.

Central Michigan Life spoke with Sullivan about her science-fiction play "Close Encounters," her playwriting and plans for the future.

CM Life: How do you go about writing a play?

Sullivan: It really depends. One of the biggest things I learned over the summer as a playwriting student was that it has to be bad before it can be good. I think the way you write a play is to just start writing and let it not be good for a while, if that makes sense. You can always go back and rewrite and edit and change, but you can’t edit a blank paper.

Can you describe the play you’re going to have produced in London?

It’s called "Close Encounters." It’s also going to be shown at CMU in April. When I sat down to write it, I wanted (my characters) to be abducted by aliens. But it’s not really a play about getting abducted by aliens — it’s more of a play about loneliness. It’s kind of funny, but it’s also a play about being lonely together.

How did you get into playwriting?

I’ve always written my own music. When I was in high school, I came out with an (extended play) and it was really cheesy. I was young, but I always have liked writing my own music.

My sophomore year of college, me and my friends did a song cycle poetry thing, where (one friend) wrote a bunch of poems and I wrote a bunch of songs, and we put it up as a show at CMU. That was kind of my first produced work at CMU.

Originally, I wasn’t going to write a script for that — I didn’t have anybody to write the script for me. I just decided to write the script myself because I had never done anything like that before, but I always wrote my own music so it just made sense to me.

Did that script lead to anything?

I used that script for that musical to apply for this playwright program in New York called the Powerhouse Theater Company and they did an apprenticeship program. It was really cool to do that because all of a sudden, I was writing plays all summer. It was funny because I kept calling myself a playwright, which was weird because I never called myself that before.

What are your plans with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater?

One thing I love about doing Musical Theater as a degree is that it’s a triple major — I have an emphasis in acting, singing and dancing. Because of that, I get to create my own career and do what I want. When I move to New York, I’ll actually be able to write plays and perform, depending on my free time.

What has been one of your favorite plays you’ve written?

My favorite play that I wrote was probably the one that’s going on in London, "Close Encounters," just because when I took a playwriting class, we would always have to sit down and write a play and I would just think to myself, “Okay, what’s the most ridiculous thing I can make my professor read?”

In “Close Encounters,” I said, “How can I make these characters get abducted by aliens and have that make sense?”

Tell me about Talos, the contest in London.

It’s a young festival that’s been going on for four years, I think, and it’s focused on science-fiction theater specifically. It’s around the end of March. I think there were 12 total plays selected. I feel really lucky.

Will you be going to London to see your play?

It’s at the end of March, so it kind of depends on if I have any money. As of right now, probably not.

Anything else you’d like to share about yourself?

I've been commissioned by Midland Center for the Arts to write a play adaptation of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and you can go see it this December at Midland Center for the Arts.