Jenny Lyn Bader

Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Why is your name spelled wrong? Shouldn't it be Jenny Lynn Bader? But no, it's Jenny Lyn Bader, with one 'N.'
A: My mother (pictured at left, feeding a pigeon) didn't want me to be called just Jenny Bader, the name Jenny was so popular at that time that if you said Jenny in a crowded room five or six girls would turn around... At one point even if you said Jenny Bader a couple of girls would turn around... Actually, she named me after the opera singer Jenny Lind. But she wanted me to have my very own spelling!

Q: The girl in your play None of the Above who answers the door expecting her drug dealer and finds her S.A.T. tutor - she's based on you, right?
A: No, I had neither a drug dealer nor an S.A.T. tutor. But I still managed to make it through life at The Dalton School.

Q: Ah Ha! So the Billington School in the play is based on The Dalton School?
A: Oops! Yes, while the characters are invented the world of the school is real. And the school names share the syllable "ton." Actually in a sense the "Billing" part is shared too... Hm!

Q: So seriously are the girl and the tutor people you know?
A: No, I really did make them up.

Q: When you wrote your male-female dictionary, were you dating your co-author?
A: No. Not only that, we were never in the same room while writing the book. In fact, we were never in the same state while writing the book! -Which I think helped a lot.

Q: Did you guys fight a lot while you were writing the book?
A: Yes. We fought by phone and e-mail. (See The Correspondence.)

Q: You say Warner Books published your book, but the link goes to Grand Central Publishing. What in tarnation is Grand Central Publishing? Is that something that happens at that midtown train station?
A: Grand Central Publishing is the new name of Warner books. Since they were acquired by the Hachette Group, and no longer belonged to Time Warner, they couldn't have the Warner name anymore. So Warner did publish the book but Grand Central publishes it now.

Q: But it's the same book?
A: Yeah, except it's grown an inch both length and width-wise! If you don't believe me order an old and a new copy. The text is the same though.

Q: I hate playwright web sites that don't have any script excerpts. Can't I read a scene on here?
A: You can! I have some excerpts on the Reviews page.

Q: Seems there's a lot of ways to spell your name wrong, huh?
A: Oh yes. I've seen Jennie Lynne Bader, Jenny-Lyn Bader, and, for those who think I'm related to the actor Mark, Jenny Linn-Baker. And many, many more. In programs or even in favorite publications or a random mention here or there. It's okay. There's a long history of alternate spellings. I'm only a small part of it.