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.
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.
“Flower bushes evening out. Trees falling down. What about the ocean. The ocean overflowing. The ocean so vast. Barren. On its own. The ocean does its own pushing.” 🌼🌳🌊
Most of my plays are personal, but there was something heightened about “your twenties.” It felt like my heart on my sleeve.
Workshopping it this winter with the perfect cast and director was a very humbling experience, exploring my writing style and important themes (friendship, mental health, adulting). During the audience talkback after the reading, I was comforted and pleased when folks shared that they related to all the characters. Mission accomplished. ✅
I know there’s still a road ahead for “your twenties” so I’ll keep working on it. Writing takes a lot of time, energy, and thought; writing emotionally-tied heartfilling stories means thinking really hard not just about the story you’re writing but also about how it ties to your day-to-day growing up. And the thinking doesn’t stop. It can be exhausting. So, it’s time to rest. 😌
Thanks to all who read the script and everyone who came out to watch the reading. 🌼🌳🌊
The last few months were a whirlwind but the Neighborhood Theatre Project is now a wrap 🦋
👏🏽 Congrats and thank you to the entire cast, crew, artists, community members, and organizers who touched this project. It truly was created with all our neighbors.
This project was/is all about illustrating our community’s realities over the last 2.5 years and coming together to discuss solutions, even if those solutions are simply listening to one another and giving each other space. We’ve basically been working on this project for over 9 months straight 😮💨 It’s exhausting but making this art to reflect our community—in partnership with community—is fulfilling. Thank you to @calartscouncil for believing in us and giving us our first big grant 🌷
Some participant quotes that were shared during our workshops/interviews that inspired me: – Smiles, fake smiles Easier to understand – Paper was my best friend, Turn it into another story – Hard to know what the other person is trying to say or feeling – Monetize hobby – It’s nothing, just need an aspirin – How we communicate the truth – The doctors see you in a certain way – Truthful to yourself
1 big grant project down, 1 more to go, and many more to apply for 👐🏽
Follow @more.mas.marami or check out my carrd in my bio for all the info on our theatre collective. Next show is Sept 16 – 24 in DTSJ 👀📔👭🏽🦭
Marissa May Writes 