FAQ's
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: We are casting a production of None of the Above and two seventeen year old girls auditioned, one looks closer to 14 and one looks closer to 20. What should we do?
A: I'd be careful about that. Depending on how young Clark looks, the play won't completely work if the girl looks too young.
Q: Do you imagine Jamie to be blond, necessarily?
A: No.
Q: Does Clark need to wear glasses?
A: No.
Q: I have more questions! Can I email you about my production of this play or another of your plays?
A: Yes, I'll be happy to answer them (assuming I'm in a place where I can access email).
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. Our phone fights are chronicled in "The Arguments" (Appendix 1) and our e-mail fights in "The Correspondence" (Appendix 2). We also had a fight about whether to publish the fights, but that one is not included.
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: I've read the excerpt of Manhattan Casanova in the Vintage collection Leading Women/the excerpt on this web site but I can't find the full-length play anywhere! Is it published in an acting edition?
A: No, not at the moment, but drop me a line and I can likely arrange for you to read it!
Q: In the picture in the New York Times feature about Manhattan Casanova there are 5 actors, but aren't there 6 characters in the play?
A: Doubling one role may be possible.
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. Sometimes things get lost in translation. It's okay. There's a long history of alternate spellings. I'm only a small part of it.