“Some things I cannot change, but ’til I try I’ll never know.”
— ELPHABA IN WICKED
Winnie Holzman is best known for writing the script of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Wicked, and for co-writing the screenplays for the two films based on the musical, Wicked and Wicked: For Good.
In her free time, she also leads a Giving Circle with The States Project — a community of people who organize their friends, families, and neighbors to build governing power in state legislatures.
Read on to find out why Winnie chose to focus on the states and how, by joining her in this work, you can drive real political change.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
The States Project: How did you first learn about The States Project’s Giving Circles community?
Winnie: I was feeling this sense of loss and frustration — and also a great need to try to help make real political change happen. But I also felt like I was kind of scattershot giving and donating, and doing it very emotionally and impulsively. I began to feel more and more pressed by this feeling of ‘I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what makes a difference and what doesn’t.’
And then I heard about The States Project from my friend Jill who I had gone to acting school with many, many years ago. For me, The States Project was an answer. I needed one place to focus. Once I did the investigating, I could see that this was a place where people had given a lot of careful thought to how best to proceed to actually change things for the better. I wanted to be part of that.
The States Project: Why did Giving Circles feel like an important way to solve that feeling of being lost?
Winnie: I realized that in a very calculated, careful way, the rightwing had been building up power in the states and they were using that to shift policy. And they’d been doing this for decades, but our side had neglected that.
At around the same time that I was realizing this, The States Project came to my attention. A lot of people don’t realize how many laws can be enacted or protected or changed by state legislatures — a lot of people aren’t focused there.
State legislatures are a real way to help people. We all still have our hard days when we’re faced with where the country is right now. But my work with The States Project has really helped me feel much more hopeful and like I’m doing something that matters.
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The States Project: What would you say to someone who is reading this interview and maybe feels the way you did before you started leading your Giving Circle?
Winnie: A lot of us want to find a way to feel better, feel more effective, like we’re part of something that’s making a difference. But the question is how, right? Starting a Giving Circle is one way to accomplish that. It’s a model that really spoke to me.
I don’t pretend to be an expert, and I don’t have time to figure out how to become an expert. I’m a writer. Other people do other things. But I know that if there’s a way that I can make even a small difference, I want to be about that. It’s a beautiful model for citizenship and participation.
I also think it’s tempting to tell yourself you can’t do this work. That you don’t know much about politics, or you’re not good at organizing. I always have those thoughts when my Giving Circle meets. I always feel a little inadequate. But you don’t have to do this perfectly. Just find some friends who feel the same way you do and jump in.
The States Project: What’s an issue that’s important to you that you think state legislatures can help solve?
Winnie: There’s a few. One of them is voting. The people that protect our voting rights are our state lawmakers. And right now it’s crucially important, like life and death important, to ensure our elections are fair and protected from rightwing shenanigans and lies.
The other one I would name that I feel very strongly about personally is freedom of choice for women. I was a young woman when Roe v. Wade first became law. And I saw that as a way of saying you have worth — you as a woman are not a second-class citizen.
Way before MAGA was even a term and before Trump even came on the scene, the rightwing has been working in concerted ways to take away reproductive rights, and they’ve succeeded in state legislatures. That was the beginning of the crumbling of Roe v. Wade. To go backwards like this is tragic, not just for American women, but for all Americans. Starting a family is a very personal decision, and it should not be one that the state makes for anyone.
The States Project: What has surprised you the most about joining a Giving Circle?
Winnie: The community and connection. There’s been the fun of doing it with people I care about and who have a good sense of humor. I’ve met new people too, friends of other Giving Circle members who just come in and join the work. I love how it feels when person by person, we come together. It lifts people’s spirits.
Winnie and her Giving Circle getting together on Zoom!
Winnie: That’s the other component of it that’s really big for me, because I think it’s really important right now to find ways to lift each other’s spirits, to feel that there’s a community that one can be part of. It helps you live through some of the harder situations that we find ourselves in. Things that raise our spirits become almost like a vital political act. Leading a Giving Circle is a way to accomplish that, and I love it for that reason.
That’s the whole idea of The States Project — doing your best to make a difference, in whatever small way you can.
