It was an honor to be part of the 2nd annual AAPI Playwrights Festival with @catsasiantheater 🥺 Thank you @theycallmejlo for including me 🫶🏽 Can’t believe I was your stage manager when I was 17 and we are still doing what we love (theatre) all these years later
I loved working with @reed.flores and the cast for NOW IT’S A PARTY. 🥑 Everybody seems to relate in some shape to what it’s like to be a sibling and it was fun to write about it for the stage 😀😂 Older sisters ftw 🫶🏽
I’ll never get used to frequently asked playwright questions like what was your inspiration and are you working on anything else 😅 idk why they always catch me off-guard but I guess I stay ready bc these questions are the inside of my mind at all times anyways 🤓✍🏽
What a treat to write for @theloveedition for a third time 🥺
Thank you Raisa for bringing me into this special show! How incredible that we came up with this heartfelt hilarious story *TOGETHER* 😳😮💨
As a writer, I was pretty nervous to do this, I’m not gonna lie LOL. How were we going to fit all the pieces together? What can I add to this awesome mix of storytellers?
But I came up with a piece that filled a gap and when I started writing… it just started to flow. I swear I wrote the first few pages faster than anything I’ve written in recent years. I surprised myself.
Watching one of the rehearsals and seeing the story come to life made me feel really proud of how much I’ve grown as a writer. Not to mention I was in AWE of the cast’s ability to embody the characters. 🤩
Thanks to Raisa, Christina, the whole writer team, and the producers for creating a supportive, electric space. 💟
And I feel so lucky that Clarisse directed my piece! 🫶🏽From seeing her act in a script of mine a few years ago to now directing was a full circle moment and she really finesse’d the direction of this piece with so much care and thought for the story and the actors.
👉🏽 If you haven’t already seen/gotten your tickets for Love Edition, it’s not too late. Support community theatre. Support local artists. Support our stories.
It’s been a year since I started zine-making intentionally and it’s been such a fun year exercising my creativity in this new way!
I started sharing my zines at the genARTS table at First Fridays in downtown San Jose and people would stop by and be interested in *my* zines. I was blown away and humbled that strangers liked my little paper stories.
Historically, zines started as a way for marginalized voices to get their message across and I take that very personally.
My zines, like all my writing, are about my experiences as a woman of color, what it’s like to grow up, and how important it is to speak up for justice.
In addition to my own zines, I also pass out free zines I found online with information on the genocide in Palestine.
Also, over the last year, I developed a zine workshop where I could share the history of zines and how art can be shared for social justice and mental health. My first zine workshop was at a conference for college students. And then I took it to First Fridays.
Thanks to my community shouting me out, I also got the opportunity to do the workshop online as part of a virtual healing conference. And then at a different time, I got to support local San Jose residents in creating zines to tell their stories and advocate at City Council.
It’s been a fun and fulfilling ride so far, and I plan to make more zines this year.
P.S. I am also still writing plays and poetry!
(This post is a transcription of a short video on my Instagram)
What a privilege to be part of the 20th anniversary of the program that helped me hone my writing throughout college 🥺
🍒 stonefruit is about two friends, dreaming big, family legacies, farmworkers, hard choices, growing up, taking risks, and — most of all — cherries. 🍒 Like all my plays, I set out to share my feelings and I hope it encourages others to do the same. It can be lonely in this world, but like Tía Mattie says, “let [our feelings] connect us.” 😌
I started writing stonefruit 🍒 in Brian’s class, advanced playwriting winter quarter 2015, during the week 6 playwriting challenge. Then kept writing it for my final that quarter. Then kept writing it when I was 5 years post-grad at Bindlestiff during the full-length playwriting class in 2021. Then kept writing it for the staged reading at Bindlestiff in 2022. Then KEPT writing it when Brian invited me to the 20th Anniversary of the New Playwrights Festival this year, 2024. 🍒 7 drafts of the script later, and here we are. And there is more to come!! How much more? I don’t know but this is not the end.
I really unlocked something with this draft. And this draft unlocked something within me. 🍒 It would take me too long to write out what I mean by this but the short story is: Writing is hard work but it’s worth it for everything you discover about the world and yourself.
Anyway, thank you to everyone involved in the reading (cast, director Dr. Karina Gutierrez, SM, ASM, the SCU theatre department, Brian), and to all my friends and family who watched on Sunday (or sent good vibes 🙏🏽 ), and to everyone who has given me feedback on stonefruit over the years. 🍒 I am at version 7 because of you! Let’s see how far we can take it huh??
🌄 🍒 No hay camino, se hace camino al andar
🌱🍒 Kapag may itinanim, may aanihin
Lastly, peep my heart shaped keffiyeh pin bc it’s free pal/es/ti/ne now, during staged readings, during lunch, during commutes, during afternoon walks, and always. Contact your reps, don’t stop talking about plstn, and eyes on Rafah.
I have identified as an artist for years but I only really considered my writing as art. Not that I did much outside of writing, but I never really considered creating much else either.
Last year, I created my first cartonería paper sculpture — El morado, an alebrije — and now it’s been featured in a magazine! What! I’m a writer AND a visual artist!? What! I exercised my self-expression in another way! My art expands as I expand! What! I amaze myself. 🤯😇🤩😊
Thank you @elizabethjimenezmontelongo for sharing opportunities with me and giving me space to share my art with the community! 🙏🏽 Check out @laraizmagazine for more Chicanx artists! Plus, there’s an alebrije workshop this weekend if you want to make your own!! Happy Latinx Heritage Month ❤️🔥
Marissa May Writes 