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.
I’m 8 days into my self-proclaimed #PlayIn19Days challenge and… I’m doing okay. In terms of my own guidelines, I’m actually a little behind. But I have a great idea/approach that I’ve never done before so I think that earns me a little leeway. Anyway, I wanted to blog a little bit about what I’m writing, to document my process and articulate the story. So here you go:
The play I’m writing is entitled Waiting for Villa. It’s about a Nicaraguan community that is uprooted by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Specifically (as I have written so far), it follows a man and a woman facing employment and relationship issues all while the storm rages Central America.
My idea is to tell the story through several short scenes (1-3 pages long) and this is how I’m approaching the 19 days part. Each day, my goal is to write at least 1 scene that moves the story forward. I think it’s neat and somewhat easy. This approach also lends to the fact that I did not live this experience, living in Nicaragua, escaping a hurricane. The short scenes allow me to write very little, while also opening a window to the truth.
This story is inspired by the small village of Villa Catalina, in Chinandega, Nicaragua. I was privileged to have visited the village through Teatro Catalina and Amigos for Christ last March. I got to see this poor community and meet some of the families and play with a lot of the children. We got to learn about the history of Villa, from before Hurricane Mitch all the way to the present. Many people don’t realize that the effects of a hurricane can be detrimental and life-changing. What’s worse is that some governments ignore the state of living of their people, making it difficult for families to prosper and children to get an education. Teatro Catalina is a company that advocates for theatre education for kids in Villa Catalina. A lot of people in the states (and everywhere) underestimate the power of theatre, but for a kid in Nicaragua, it can mean confidence and leadership and hope for the future. So I’m using my theatre education and my privilege to write a play, to enlighten the world on the horrific hurricane and the hope that followed.
I hope to finish in 19 days mostly to just finish it but also to give me time to edit it. I will reach out and do some more research to make sure that the story is realistic and factual. And I may want to submit it to some contests because why not? I really want this story to be shared, one way or another. If you have any insights, please share. 🙂
On another note, writing every day is helping me, emotionally. I knew that it would help me feel more whole, more purposeful. Creating is good for my soul!
To follow my writing and life on a more daily/140-character basis, you can follow me on Twitter @marissamaym .
I want to share a quick update about a big project I have embarked on.
Last school year, I wrote a play, Hapa Cup of Sugar. Hapa follows 22-year-old fresh-out-of-college Leila. Leila works in her parents’ laundromat with her younger sister and brother. She moves through the world as a hapa, someone who is bi-racial. As she learns how others perceive her, Leila tries to figure out what happens next in her life.
I had the privilege of putting on a staged reading of Hapa through SCU’s “New Playwrights’ Festival.” It was an awesome experience working with a director and a cast! I loved seeing my words come to life right before my eyes (it was super surreal).
That was just the first part, though.
Now, I have been privileged to receive the Hackworth Grant from my school’s ethics center to stage my play for real. That means with a cast, with a set, with costumes, with lights… in front of my classmates and peers! THIS IS HUGE!
The whole reason I started even thinking about writing this play back in Spring 2014 was to tell a story about someone who was different and to tell that story to my school. I feel so blessed to have been given this opportunity, to share my words with the SCU community.
But I also feel empowered and responsible. The point of my project Staging Hapa Cup of Sugaris to combat racism. It’s to tell a story about a girl who has not only graduated college, but who was also the first to graduate from college in her family, who grew up bi-racial in the Bay Area and was thrown into a school populated primarily by white people, who takes care of her siblings in a low-income home. I believe that this story needs to be shared with the community in order to create more understanding of race and diversity at SCU.
For those of you that know me, you know that I have been heavily involved with the Multicultural Center at school. I spent my first year at SCU on the Japanese Student Association board (I am not Japanese, just curious about the culture!) and I dedicated the past two years on MCC Staff. As a senior, I will continue to dedicate my time to diversity and inclusion through Staging Hapa.
Part of Staging Hapa is producing the play and another part is socially engaging with SCU students. We are starting a dialogue around diversity on social media, tabling in front of Benson, and conducting a talk-back discussion after the performances. Stay tuned for more information!
You will definitely see more of Staging Hapa without a doubt! Check us out on social media starting next week and check out the play on November 18 and 19 in the Fess Parker Studio.
TLDR; I wrote a play and now it’s really happening!!! Thanks for reading! Ask for details!
Marissa May Writes 